CHAPTER TWO - (Self) sacrificing the Macedonian people and leaving nothing beh

CHAPTER TWO - (Self) sacrificing the Macedonian people and leaving nothing behind

Dobrin quoting Fromm reminded me of what Andrei Tarkovski once had said:

“A person should aspire to spiritual greatness. He or she should strive to leave something good behind so that people might study and interpret it for thousands of years. A person should never just leave ruins so that they are only mentioned when people talk about disasters.” Russian writer Andrei Tarkovski (1932-1986)

The next series of questions I asked Suvogorski were: “Could we Macedonians have saved our homes from the disaster that took place after World War II? Did we Macedonians need to get involved in the civil war in Greece?”

After looking at Suvogorski for a reaction, I continued: “What is the truth? Who directed the fate of the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia that resulted in our genocide? And for whom did we (self) sacrifice ourselves and lose our father’s eternal home? For whom did we become wanderers in the world? Were the communists that cunning to have manipulated us to do this to ourselves? Were the communists this immoral?”

I used strong words which made Suvogorski very unhappy. I could see it in his face as he stared at me wickedly. He curled forward looking like he had swallowed fire and it was burning in the pit of his gut. But, in spite of his discomfort, he kept silent and listened to me as I continued:

“Did we Macedonians in that period of time have a unified Macedonian revolutionary platform?”

Suvogorski now began to look at me curiously as I persistently looked him in the eye and continued with my fiery questions. But before I was finished he interrupted me and said:

“We Macedonian Communists, who lived in Greece, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria at that time (before WW II), had no contact with each other. We were completely isolated from one another.

But I can personally tell you that we Macedonians could have, once and for all, put an end to this harmful Macedonian syndrome, because otherwise we would have lost a lot… and that is exactly what happened to us later.

With regards to your question of ‘what were our Macedonian national interests in the civil war?’ We had none… not only that, we had no say in it… were not allowed to take part in the daily politics, not even make petty political points… or any other interpretations thereof, because nothing depended on us Macedonians… absolutely nothing. Everything about our ‘involvement’ was artificially created though rumours and lies.

Suvogorski stopped talking for a moment, took a deep breath, and said: “It was hard to feel human when you were a slave to the Greeks, regardless of who was in power, the communists or the Monarcho-fascists…”

And what happened later? Well, various contacts began to materialize, especially during World War II (1940-1943).

Most members of the Communist Party of Macedonia’s Regional Committee were also members of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia… up until 1940 at which time the First CPM Provincial Conference was held on September 8, 1940, during which the first Macedonian Revolutionary Regional program was accepted. The proclamation adopted during this Conference, in part, read: “Ilinden is the Day of the Macedonian revolution, a bright light and the Macedonian flag…” The Resolution adopted, in part, read: “The policy of national repression, assimilation, wild terror, relocation, and destruction of everything Macedonian, erasure of the Macedonian culture, language and songs implemented thus far is being heavily challenged. The long-time suffering, deprived and enslaved Macedonian population is finding itself before a great struggle…”

Metodia Shatorov – Sharlo was appointed Party Secretary at the Conference. Shatorov was a man with high Macedonian awareness and sufficiently familiar with the problems facing the Macedonian people. Beside him was Kuzman Iosifovski, a highly valued member of the Party Committee. It was said that Kuzman Iosifovski followed Gotse Delchev’s ideals and was viewed as a second Delchev for Macedonia. Shatorov and Iosifovski called for unity of the entire Macedonian nation in all parts of occupied Macedonia in a struggle against a common enemy: the regime, the looting, the violence and national oppression, regardless of where these evils were taking place, be it in the parts of Macedonia that were under Serbian, Bulgarian, or Greek slavery. The liberation of Macedonia was seen as the liberation of all of portioned Macedonia, not just parts of it. This was contrary to what the Communist Party wanted, which was to opt for a partial solution within existing borders. On August 20, 1940, in an article entitled “Liberating Macedonia from the Serbian, Bulgarian and Greek yoke of imperialism”, Shatorov wrote: “...The Macedonians are not at fault for not having their own state. At fault here are the Serbian, Bulgarian and Greek imperialists who, with their alliances, have invaded, occupied, portioned and enslaved Macedonia…”

Under Shatorov’s leadership the CPM Regional Committee called for; - the liberation of Macedonia under a joint struggle together with the other Balkan nations; - the formation of an independent Macedonian national political party entity and for the CPY to replace the Central Committee for Yugoslavia, which was the political party entity in Macedonia; - based on historical traditions of the struggle, it called for a sovereign Macedonian Republic to be organized but not under Yugoslav sovereignty; - the Regional Committee’s goals were to be decisive in the national liberation of a sovereign state in its entirety, and not just what the CPY desired “to liberate only the Macedonian part within Yugoslavia…” and many other such CPY requirements that contradicted the Macedonian point of view.

* * *

The Communist International and its time

It was a time of truth when the CPY, the CPB and the CPG were members, more precisely, parts of the same strong authoritarian organization, or common superior authority - the Communist International (Comintern) whose decisions were binding. It was not possible in such an organized constellation for one entity to do anything alone. At the same time no Party organization or Party could accept anything without a decision from this high authority.

On May 26, 1941 Shatorov was invited to talks with the CPB Central Committee in Sofia. During his meeting with the Bulgarian party leaders, Shatorov was given approval to link the CPM Regional Committee to the Bulgarian Party as was decided by the Comintern and personally by Georgi Dimitrov. For Shatorov this meant that he had received approval from the highest body and, as a Party cadre, he knew very well what that meant. Shatorov officially accepted the decision… But his mistake was not in accepting the decision, but in his failure to immediately inform the CPY Central Committee. He was hoping that “those up above would understand…”

* * *

Placed under Yugoslav Party observation

In the meantime a CPY appointed instructor arrived in Macedonia and brought with him a signed letter, signed by Tito himself on July 24, 1941, which criticized Shatorov’s behaviour and poor performance. The instructor had orders to remove Shatorov from his position as Secretary and to ban him from the Party. This naturally prompted a Party meeting to convene in Macedonia on August 17, 1941. The meeting was attended by Petar Bogdanov, a delegate from the CPY Central Committee, whose job was to clarify the situation in regards to Shatorov’s Party status and to once again convince the attendees that the idea of connecting the Party organization with the Bulgarian party was truly a decision made by the Comintern. This is exactly what Petar Bogdanov also told Dragan Pavlovich, another delegate from the CPY Central Committee who then in turn informed his own Central Committee.

Approximately ten days later a telegram from the Comintern, addressed to the Regional Committee, was delivered by the Bulgarian Red Cross, ordering it to: “Keep Macedonia in Yugoslavia for practical and meaningful reasons because at the moment our main struggle is being waged against the German and Italian occupiers and their agents. Given the military situation in Macedonia, it is imperative that we create close cooperation between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, particularly on the ground…”

This order, for example, clearly shows who actually made all the decisions in Macedonia… and it certainly was not Shatorov. This order also put an end to the uncertainty and to the many questions being asked about the direction of the revolutionary program in Macedonia. Shatorov, being taken out of the decision making process, was then placed under severe isolation.

* * *

The Greek Communist Party’s political platform

On July 18, 1943 General Sarafis, commander of ELAS Headquarters, and Colonel Eddie Myers, of the English mission, signed a declaration at ELAS Headquarters according to which ELAS was to be placed under Middle East allied army command and all the operations it undertook would be conducted on the orders of English command. (See book: “ELAS”, by Stefanos Sarafis, page 120.)

As a result of this Agreement, English command began to heavily influence ELAS developments determining what operations it was to conduct, especially in relation to the nationalist EDES and EKKA formations which, even though they had no significant power, were imposed on ELAS as partners and were directed by the same British officials who had signed the two Agreements: the Plaka and Caserta Agreements, while completely restricting ELAS’s independence during the most opportune moments when the communists were ready to take power in Greece.

The above information was obtained from statements made by Vasilis Bardzhiotis, Commissar of DAG Headquarters and member

of the CPG Central Committee Politburo. (Neos Kosmos no. 2/1957.)

Sometime in mid-1943 a massive popular struggle was waged all throughout Greece. It was exactly at this time that ELAS, the then People’s Liberation Army, and the CPG, EAM and ELAS leaderships were put under English command. All Headquarters, including ELAS General Headquarters, were manned by British officers who in turn followed orders issued by the Middle East British General Staff. All large units, divisions, groups, etc., were actually in the hands of the Intelligence Service.

* * *

In the summer of 1943 Svetozar Vukmanovich – Tempo, representative of the CPY Central Committee, spent about 10 days in Greece.

The CPG together with EAM and ELAS were then leading events mainly by following English policy. This, of course, does not mean that the CPG did not popularize the Soviet Union and the Red Army. But its overall national liberation movement, in those days, was primarily geared towards English interests.

* * *

Christopher Montagu Bunthauz (Chris), Deputy Chief Intelligence Service representative in Greece and later head of the British Military Mission, said:

“If we did not have British officers in the resistance movement in Greece, not only would Greek history but also European history have gone in a different direction...

The presence of the British military mission in Greece prevented the communists from taking power in 1943 and 1944. The communists were in fact placed under absolute control. If the communists were to have taken over the government in September, 1944, while the Germans were retreating from Greece, it would have been very difficult to take it back, especially in the eyes of world public…!”

Review of events - April 1940

There are historic records of Tito, CPY General Secretary, having given a dramatic speech, who, at that time, warned Macedonia’s neighbours that: “This poor oppressed country dipped in blood is not here to serve as a royal ornamental crown to someone, or to be a dowry for the Serbian, Bulgarian, or Greek bourgeoisie. The Macedonians are not Serbians Bulgarians, or Greeks. They are Macedonians, a nation entitled to their own freedom and independence…”

* * *

Macedonians under the British mission’s watchful eye and the Greek Communist Party, ELAS and EAM

The Macedonian Organizations SNOF (Slavo-Macedonian National Liberation Front) and SNOB (Slavo-Macedonian National Liberation Army), as mentioned earlier, were created in the fall of 1943 in Greece as a way to liquidate the Kostur Region and other counter-bands existing in Greek occupied Macedonia.

The Founding Conference for the creation of SNOF in Kostur Region took place on December 24, 1943, and for Lerin Region on December 26 and 27, 1943.

At the Founding Conference Tempo provided the instructions on which SNOF was to be created. This was based on a platform for a joint struggle between the Macedonian and the Greek people. The basic settings for the platform were:

1. Unity between the Macedonian and the Greek people, in the Aegean part of Macedonia, as a condition for a victorious struggle against fascism;

2. Mobilize the Macedonian masses into ELAS units in aid of the armed struggle and in the defeat of the occupiers;

3. Initiate a political and armed struggle against the counter-bands, Kalchev, Mihailov and the Gestapo who, with their autonomist propaganda, are seeking to create problems between the Macedonian and Greek people;

4. Persuade the Macedonian people to struggle together with the Greek people, as part of EAM and against the occupiers. The Macedonian people, with help from the Greek people, will realize their national aspirations and the right to self-determination based on the Atlantic Charter principles and on all other resolutions offered by the allied powers. By doing all this, the SNOF District Committee, for the first time, will officially put the “Macedonian National Question” before the Communist Party of Greece.

While SNOF was still in its infancy, the CPG unfortunately had already restricted all its initiatives. The only initiative SNOF was allowed to carry out was to eliminate the counter-bands. The CPG did this because of the EAM and PEEA program principles agreed to by the Greek government in exile and by the British mission, which did not recognize the rights of the Macedonian people. So, in fact, the only reason for creating the Macedonian forces was to eliminate the counter-bands… to get the Macedonians to eliminate their own kind… leaving the British and the Greeks guilt free…of any wrongdoing.

Historical fact: Up until April 1944, the CPG and EAM Leaderships used SNOF for their own political and military purposes, particularly the showdown with the counter-band movement.

For the Macedonian people this was pure CPG manipulation modeled after the infamous Balkan syndrome of patriots and traitors, now a Macedonian syndrome of patriots and traitors.

And this is why the so-called patriotic Macedonian partisans had a showdown with the Macedonian counter-band Bulgarian traitors… Or was it the Macedonian patriotic counter-bands having a showdown with the Macedonian communist traitors. But, no matter which point of view you take, it was “…Macedonians fighting against Macedonians…”

Being unsuccessful in destroying the Macedonian counter-bands in Greek occupied Macedonia on their own, the Greeks charged Siantos, a CPG leader, to come up with a solution. Siantos in turn asked for help from the CPY and as a result met with the Montenegrin Tempo.

In their talks in August 1943, Tempo suggested to Siantos that he create special all-Macedonian units in Greek occupied Macedonia and instruct them to begin spreading propaganda and agitate the Macedonian people in the Macedonian language.

And this is exactly how SNOF was formed and organized… But it was not Macedonians who created SNOF… Let us be clear on that.

* * *

There was a sudden and strong creaking sound created by one of the beds. The person sitting on the bed, a resident of the same shelter, leaned forward and said:

“A while ago I read something in a history book. The title of the book, I believe, was: ‘The Macedonian National Liberation Platform in the Aegean part of Macedonia (January 1944)’. It was written by Dr. Alexander Litovski, and published in Skopje in 2008. On page 233, as I recall, Dr. Litovski, among other things, wrote: ‘... in its treatment of the Macedonian National Question in Aegean Macedonia the institutionalization of the Macedonian liberation movement in the Aegean part of Macedonia, was accomplished through SNOF.’ On page 236 Dr. Litovski wrote: ‘In fact, when considering SNOF’s political and propaganda activities, one can clearly see two dominant strands of action. First, action aimed at attracting the Macedonian population in EAM and the CPG, and second, action aimed at strengthening a separate Macedonian national identity in the Aegean part of Macedonia’...”

Suvogorski stood there silent… moving his head from side to side.

Then, in a high tone of voice, Bozhin Risuichin blurted out, saying: “It is easy to make statements when you don’t take into account the core reality of the situation…”

“Does this Macedonian historian, Dr. Litovski, not know that the ‘S’ in SNOF, ‘Slavo-Macedonians’, represents a tribal attribute? There is nothing more painful and demeaning for a Macedonian than to see Macedonian science, after so many years (half century) celebrating fraud, perpetrated by foreigners the likes of Siantos and Tempo, who were representatives of the left, of the CPG and the CPY, who made ‘useful idiots’ out of us Macedonians…” replied Suvogorski and went silent.

* * *

After a long pause Suvogorski continued: “Yes, that was a historic time, a time which history has recorded as ‘the time of the Balkan syndrome…’ of patriots and traitors… a phenomenon that has divided us Macedonians...

It was a time when we Macedonians, renamed to ‘Slavo-Macedonians’ by the Greek communists, were well manipulated into doing dirty deeds, fighting in the Greek Civil War, a war not of our making, and paying for it with our blood to please foreigners who worked against our interests…

Did the CPG (the Greek Communists) ever truly depart from the racist and assimilationist laws adopted by the Greek government? If it did then why did the CPG disband SNOF in May of 1944? Why was SNOF the main obstacle for the CPG in its middle of May 1944 negotiations with the Greek government in exile and with the civil parties in Greece in its attempts to form a coalition government?

The CPG, EAM and ELAS leaderships created SNOF for only one reason. They were supposedly concerned about the situation that existed on the ground in Greek occupied Macedonia, which they themselves supposedly could not handle; the elimination of the Macedonian rebel counter-bands in Lerin, Voden and especially in Kostur Region. The Greek communists supposedly found themselves in a bind and had no other choice but to form SNOF, a

Macedonian organization, to deal with the Greek problem. However, there was another reason in this diabolical Greek and British plan, about which little was known until recently. The reason for getting “Macedonians” to eliminate “Macedonians” was so that this kind of war crime would not be blamed on the Greeks. The communists did their part to convince the Macedonians to do their bidding while the British refused to recognize a Macedonian entity… and if such an entity was not recognized it meant that it did not exist. And if it did not exist then no rights would be granted to it in accordance with the Atlantic Charter. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that SNOF was purposely created so that no legal blame could be placed on the British or on the Greeks for the destruction of the Macedonian counter-bands. The vast majority of these bands were patriotic Macedonian fighters fighting to protect the Macedonian people from the Greeks and from the Bulgarians. These patriotic bands were fighting for the Macedonian cause and to create a free and independent Macedonia, something that the Greeks and their British patrons did not want the world to know. So, what better way to destroy these Macedonian bands than to have Macedonians destroy them? So, the creation and organization of SNOF was intentionally and purposely perpetrated by the Greeks from the CPG District Committee for Western Macedonia, the likes of Hristos Kalfas (Andreas), Antonis Antonopoulos (Periklis), CPG District Committee Secretary for Kostur Region, and Thanasis Kartsunis, CPG District Committee Secretary for Kozhani Region, in order to destroy the Macedonian counter-bands and place the blame on the Macedonian communists for doing it… even though these Macedonians were totally oblivious to their actions and blindly followed what they were told.

Dissolving SNOF

Within six months of its formation, SNOF in Kostur Region, with help from ELAS, managed to restore order and win over a large number of counter-bandits.

Having 4,770 members among their ranks, the Macedonian counter-bands, being exposed to SNOF, quickly realized that SNOF’s entire composition consisted strictly of Macedonians, which led them to believe that SNOF was a strictly Macedonian organization

struggling to meet the national and social demands of Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia. They believed that SNOF was the new IMRO for the Macedonian people following in the footsteps of Ilinden... (See: “Slavo-Macedonian Voice”, number 3, April 1944.)

Despite all the promises it made to the Macedonian people, once SNOF accomplished its intended task, the CPG dissolved it. This proves that the promises made were only lies and manipulations to get the Macedonians unknowingly involved in its dirty deeds. The Greek government in exile and the British wanted the Macedonian counter-bands eliminated and the CPG did exactly that without directly staining its own hands in Macedonian blood. The CPG did this, we are told, because it supposedly wanted to achieve “national unity” with the Greek bourgeois parties and with the government in exile with which it had signed the notorious Lebanon capitulatory agreement on May 20, 1944, which sealed the fate of the democratic people’s struggle and especially the fate of the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia.

Then, on September 26, 1944, the CPG, EAM, ELAS, Papandeou’s Greek government in exile and British Headquarters for the Middle East signed the Caserta Agreement in Italy. This Agreement called for all the Greek guerrilla forces to be placed under the command of the Greek government in exile. However, the Greek government in exile then passed on this responsibility to English General Skobie. Naturally, this Agreement was yet another concession that the Greek leadership resistance made to the Greek government in exile.

* * *

Suvogorski said: “On May 5, 1944 the Great Powers began their negotiations for the division of the Balkans into spheres of influence. Britain gained supremacy over Greece and the Soviet Union over Romania. On May 20, 1944 the CPG, EAM and ELAS signed the Lebanon Agreement with the royal Greek government and, under pressure from the British, dissolved the coalition government.

The Macedonian communists did not agree with the Lebanon Agreement and during a Conference, held on June 25, 1944, unanimously voted to cancel the Agreement. They also voted for the People’s Liberation Struggle to begin applying revolutionary tactics which would strictly rely on its own forces and on the People’s Liberation Struggle of the Yugoslav people. As a result the CPG leadership was fractured into two groups, one willing to accept the Lebanon Agreement and the other wanting to cancel it.

The group that advocated for accepting the Agreement prevailed. Colonel Grogori Popov, heading the Soviet military mission, who arrived in the free territory in Greek occupied Macedonia on June 28, 1944, was mainly responsible for repairing the division. Knowing the bigger picture of world events, especially of the organization that Stalin had created in Russia with a one-party dictatorship under a totalitarian regime, and of the other revolutionary communist parties worldwide with totalitarian movements, Popov advised the local communists that Stalin did not approve of divisions within the communist parties. He had succeeded in creating totalitarian regimes by abandoning internal party democracies and transforming national parties into branches of the Comintern led by Moscow. Moscow was the absolute centre for managing all communist parties.

Years later, Soviet citizen Grigori Popov, high up in the ranks of the Soviet party, had only this to say:

‘Here is the Directive… This is what Comrade Stalin wants!’

On August 17, 1944, the CPG Central Committee accepted the Agreement and began to participate in the coalition government led by Georgios Papandreou.”