BANITSA IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND THE POPULAR REVOLUTION 1941–1944 - Part 03

Even though they did not receive schooling in their mother tongue, the youth kept up Macedonian culture in Banitsa. They staged the play “Macedonian Blood Wedding”. This was organized by Pavle Mangov and Tsile Ricalov. The lead roles were played by Dzole Ricalov as Tsveta and Gele Krishe Kochev as Aga. Macedonian sketches and poems were also performed at many events in the village.

On 7 November 1944 there was a large gathering and celebration of the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s October Revolution and of the victory over fascism. There was a parade with socialist banners proclaiming brotherhood and equality amongst people paraded through the streets of Banitsa. Dine Robev, an instructor for the regional

committee of the CPG, Lerin District, gave a speech stressing the contribution ofthe Red Army to both the warand to universalsocialism. The celebration lasted long afterwards with many songs and dances.

The NOO and the local branch of the Red Cross opened a kindergarten for the children and provided free food for them in November1944.Thisservedabout200childrenfromagesfourtoseven and forchildren up to nine for select families.Thekindergartenoperated from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and was located at Josef Janin’s house, formerly the police station.

The kindergarten operated until late 1945 when the monarcho-facist government came to power in the village. Until the arrival of the monarcho-facists, the villagers had worked in harmony doing everything necessary, both young and old together. This included the fall planting season activities and the gathering of wood for winter fuel.

After the December riots in Athens and the agreement reached between the leadership of the CPG, ELAS, EAM and the former Greek administration, the partisan units disbanded, their weapons were handed, and the fighters returned home.

Thus, the glorious saga in the maelstrom of the National Liberation War and the Revolution of 1941 ended, but without enjoyment of the benefits of victory. Lying in wait was a newer, bloodier and longer war against the units of the former government in exile, the former collaborators with the occupation who were aided by the British army and by international imperialism.

Reasons for the Failure of the National Liberation Movement

From the viewpoint of my personal participation and beliefs and from the relatively large volume of material that I could examine, here are the causes for the failure of the National Liberation Movement:

• The CPG leadership had the wrong strategy for leading the National Liberation War against the Germans and domestic traitors, and this led to the restoration of the old regime.

• The CPG formed a joint military general staff with the units of EDES (Greek National Army), even though it was known that they had cooperated with the occupying forces (rehabilitation of domestic traitors).

• The leadership of the CPG, ELAS, and EAM made concessions in the Lebanon Agreement which betrayed the people, because they objectively allowed British reactionaries, the government in exile and domestic reactionary forces a legal pathway to come to power.

• The CPG consented to the decision of the Papandreou government on 21 November 1944 to form a single unified army and to disarm the units of ELAS, an army of 90,000 fighters, which deprived the people of both its protection and the gains made by the National Liberation Army.

• They did not take advantage of the mood of the people at the demonstrations in Athens and Piraeus on 3 December 1944, and allowed them to be attacked by government police, with thirty persons killed and over 100 wounded, while at the same time ignoring other protests staged by the labour movement.

• ELAS units were withdrawn from Athens and Piraeus when they should have been activated for the fight, near and far, against the British army and government forces.

• The CPG accepted the truce and final agreement of 14 January 1945, between ELAS and the British representative, General Scobie, and conceding to imperialist forces and domestic reactionary powers instead of continuing the struggle to final victory.

With the concluding of the Varkiza Agreement on 12 February 1945, there was a total ruination of the movement, capitulation, and a betrayal of the people and the gains made by the popular uprising between 1941 and 1944.

There were other factors which contributed to the reign of political instability in the country and brought to the surface those who would collaborate with the fascist occupation. With this, the country was brought to the brink of a new civil war.

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