Introduction - Part 03

same Macedonian units fought bloody battles against the counter-bands in Kostur and Lerin Regions and against the Bulgarian sponsored “Ohrana” in Voden Region. For more information on the English political and military involvement in Greek occupied Macedonia see the chronology in this book from “1945 – March” to “1945 – April”.

As the terror, later dubbed “white terror”, against the civilian population in Greek occupied Macedonia escalated, armed Prosfigi (Asia Minor Turkish Christian settlers and colonists deposited in Greek occupied Macedonia by the Greek government in the 1920s) joined the fray in robbing, pillaging and terrorizing the Macedonian people. No one knew exactly why this was happening at the time, especially at this late stage of the war when people were looking forward to peace. All that was happening, however, was happening for a reason, all one had to do was pay attention to what the terrorists and the media were saying. They were urging the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia to leave their homeland. And that could not have been by accident. But, despite the daily horrors they faced, most Macedonians refused to leave.

While all this was happening in Greek occupied Macedonia, the CPY and CPM in Yugoslavia had different ideas. On April 23, 1945, they formed a new Macedonian people’s liberation front (NOF) as well as a women’s anti-fascist front (AFZH) and a peoples’ liberation youth organization (NOMS). These organizations were created in Skopje from the ELAS fighters belonging to the Macedonian battalions which left in October 1944. Formed under the initiative of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and the Communist Party of Macedonia (CPY/CPM), NOF, AFZH and NOMS were sent to Greek occupied Macedonia to organize the Macedonian people and prepare them for a new conflict. From the day they were formed to the day they were handed over to the CPG as part of the so-called “brotherhood and unity” initiative, NOF, AFZH and NOMS acted under CPM/CPY directives. After that they were placed under CPG command until they were disbanded. In other words, these supposedly “Macedonian” organizations were never allowed to act independently or for Macedonian interests. After NOF, AFZH and NOMS established themselves in Greek occupied Macedonia, English and American agents in Greece

initiated a strong propaganda campaign in support of creating an autonomist movement under the slogan “united and independent Macedonia”. At the same time the “white terror” perpetrated in Greek occupied Macedonia skyrocketed to new heights. Macedonian villages, especially in Kostur Region, were attacked all through April and May 1945, on a daily basis (see chronology for details).

Initially, when NOF, AFZH and NOMS arrived on the terrain in Greek occupied Macedonia and began their propaganda and recruitment, the Macedonian people did not want to join. They had had enough with being involved in the liberation war and were looking forward to peace. But, as the “white terror” reached unbearable heights they began to flee to the mountains and join these organizations. There they were trained, armed and told they needed to fight to protect themselves. At about the same time, on April 26, 1945, in a statement made in Moscow for the “New York Times”, Tito hinted that the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia wanted to unite with the people in the Republic of Macedonia and in Bulgarian occupied Macedonia. He said: “If the Macedonians from the Greek regions of Macedonia express desire to unite with other Macedonians, Yugoslavia will respect their aspirations...”

On May 8, 1945, Germany signed its surrender ending World War Two in Europe.

The Macedonian people between World War Two and the Greek Civil War

Between 1945 and early 1946 terror was the rule of law in Greek occupied Macedonia where rape, beatings, robberies, jailing and atrocities were committed daily against the Macedonian people and against the democratic citizens in general. And all this was done not only under the watchful eyes of the English but with their participation. English agents, officers and soldiers were personally involved in the atrocities. The jails, barns and stables everywhere were filled with Macedonians and people who supported the resistance movement. According to official statistics in 1945 there were 17,985 people jailed of whom 15,596 were jailed without a trial. Another 18,401 were accused of various crimes and 48,936 were accused of being members of EAM and ELAS. About 80,000 people in total were pursued by the Greek government in 1945. The terror, as a means to break the movement, took frightening measures with each passing day. This is how the situation was described on July 5, 1945: “After the December incidents terror became the rule of law with the arming and unprecedented growth of the extreme right. Every day life for most citizens became unbearable. This is a sad affair and the government cannot be without responsibility. The terrorist organizations of the far political right most of which were armed by the Germans and cooperated with them, now cooperate with the (Greek) government to extinguish the democratic spirit. It was the government that enlisted the skills and services of these terrorists and is allowing the atrocities to multiply daily. Therefore the government is responsible for the lockups, imprisonments, the raping of women, the hangings, the beatings and humiliations carried out against the free citizens. This has put a black spot on our civilization.” Here is how the Regional Governor of Kozheni Region described the situation in a letter to the Minister of Internal Affairs: “From a standpoint of public order the district is finding itself in a savage situation. Disgusting things are happening; multiple hangings, known criminals are being freed from jails, etc. These acts are carried out by known collaborators of the Germans, under whose leadership they developed these blood thirsty skills.” Regarding the bloody Greek Monarcho-Fascist terror, perpetrated against the Macedonian people, the NOF organizational leadership at its first meeting, held on May 21, 1945, decided to take a stand and, along with the other factors of the resistance movement, formed armed groups to confront the extreme Monarcho-Fascist gangs and traitors who were persecuting the Macedonian people to no end. The NOF armed groups were instructed to only attack the armed terrorist gangs if they attacked the Macedonian villages and to stop them from looting and terrorizing the Macedonian people. The NOF armed groups and their actions were managed by the NOF district and regional board secretaries. At that time there was no other way to protect the lives, honour and properties of the Macedonian people from these Greek terrorists. The evil needed to be prevented with organized countermeasures. Unfortunately, the CPG strongly condemned NOF’s armed group activities even though in practice they confirmed that they played a positive role in preventing terrorist waves. Another benefit from this armed self-defense was that it encouraged more people to join the resistance movement and bolster its militant actions.

While all this was going on, Greek governments kept collapsing and being replaced by new ones. The Nikolaos Plastiras government was replaced by a newly formed “administrative government” headed by naval officer Petros Vulgaris. After it was reorganized on August 11, 1945, Petros Vulgaris, on October 17, 1945, was forced to resign. Authority over the government was then taken over by the regent Archbishop Damaskinos, but only for a of couple weeks, before it too fell apart. On November 1, 1945 a new government was formed, this one headed by Georgios Kanelopoulos. This government only lasted three weeks before it fell apart. There was an imperative need to legalize and strengthen the power of the political right in Greece but it had to be done by the people through “elections”.

In the meantime Zahariadis found himself in London, England, a guest of the English intelligence service. After spending two or three weeks in England, on May 29, 1945 Zahariadis was flown from England to Greece on a special British military aircraft, wearing a British military uniform. The English delivered him to Athens. The Siantos CPG leadership welcomed him back and immediately gave him his old position - CPG Secretary General, the function he served before he was arrested and later surrendered to the Gestapo (see “Who was Zahariadis?” in the section entitled “Personalities”).

The “white terror” unleashed on the Macedonian population continued to spread without end forcing more and more Macedonians to join NOF, AFZH and NOMS. The rapid growth of these organizations began to worry the CPG prompting it to act. On June 28, 1945, the CPG Central Committee, during its 10th Plenum, made the following comment: “NOF with its rapid promotion of its military formations is dangerously threatening the Greek character of Macedonia. It is threatening Greek interests and the territorial integrity of the Greek state.” Then out of the blue, ten days later, on July 8, 1945, the CPG went on to say that the Macedonian nation existed. An article entitled “The truth about the Slavo-Macedonians” was published in the newspaper “Rizospastis”, the CPG Central Committee’s organ, in which, among other things, it said: “that the Macedonian nation has its own customs, personality and history and its national awareness is quite developed.”

On the international scene meanwhile, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively, with the consent of the United Kingdom, as required by the Quebec Agreement. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of them civilians.

On August 8, 1945, the “Nea Alithia” a Greek nationalist newspaper fed the flames of hatred against this phantom “Slav threat from the north” when it wrote: “Greece fought, suffered, sacrificed and today is victorious but it cannot ignore threats from the north…”

The CPG in the meantime began to reorganize and held its 7th Congress in Athens in early October 1945, ten months after the bloody events in December 1944 and eight months after the signing of the Varkiza agreement. Then on November 7, 1945, the CPG held its 1st Plenum during which the new CPG Central Committee Political Bureau was appointed. Seven permanent members were appointed. They were Siantos Giorgios, Zahariadis Nikos, Ioanidis Gianis, Hadzhivasiliou Hrisa, Partsalidis Michos, Bardzhiotas Vasilis, Petridis Tassos (Anastasiadis Stergios). Appointed were also three candidates for permanent membership. They were Stringos Leonidas, Zevgos Gianis and Rousos Petros. During the second half

of the 1940’s, the CPG was represented by a large number of fairly young people. These were the people who led the disastrous Greek Civil War that brought devastation and genocide to the Macedonian people.

But no sooner had the so-called new communist leadership taken power of the CPG Central Committee and Politburo, when it unleashed a new bag of tricks starting with helping its opponent, the Greek government in Athens which had great difficulties holding onto power, to come to power. To this end, the English used their main and last trump card, the liberals headed by Themistoklis Sofoulis which came to power on November 22, 1945. During this crucial moment, the CPG came to the rescue. It came out in support of the Sofoulis government. In a press release dated November 25, 1945, the CPG Politburo told the entire democratic world, civilian citizens as well as the armed forces, to do their duty, by any means possible, to prevent the political right from taking power and follow the directives issued by Sofoulis! So, when the English sponsored liberal government needed support to legitimize itself in the eyes of the Greek people, the CPG and EAM gave it their support. And because of the general support it received “from all sides”, (which was not the case with previous English created governments) it placed itself in a position to perform an “electoral coup” against the political right and led up to the March 31, 1946, falsified elections, about which we will talk later.

During the December 28, 1945 General Assembly of the Provincial Committee for Macedonia and ThraceError! Bookmark not defined., speaking about a flyer published by the Voden branch of NOF, Zahariadis, among other things hypocritically said: “Every Greek democratic citizen, I am sure, will agree with NOF’s call from Voden Region, to fight together for our freedom, for political rights and social equality and for a general amnesty. We will struggle together for our bread, our freedom and for a new Greek democracy.” It seems that the change in attitude on the part of the CPG towards NOF was owed mainly to the CPG’s need to reorganize for a new armed struggle against the Greek political right. A new armed struggle at this point was not possible without involving the Macedonians. The call for a new struggle was made during the December 28, 1945 CPG General Assembly when the

slogan “We call on the people wherever they are, in the cities and in the villages, to carry out an armed struggle against the political right” was first introduced.

Then, after NOF was handed over to the CPG, in October 1945, the NOF leaders in January 1946 issued orders to its members and to the Macedonian people in general, to co-operate with the CPG. All NOF, NOMS and AFZH cells were ordered to establish links with the CPG, EAM, AKE and EPON organizations and to show them flexibility in resolving outstanding issues. Mutual accusations, attacks and conflict were to be avoided “at any cost” in order to achieve unity. To show appreciation the CPG newspaper “Rizospastis”, on January 13, 1946, came in defense of the Macedonian people when it wrote: “…this is the greatest and most dreadful persecution ever heard of in modern Greek history...” Then, on January 21, 1946, with intentions of helping the EAM coalition, which had been persecuted in the country since the beginning of 1946, a Soviet delegation at the UN raised the Greek question in the Security Council with a request to adopt a resolution to “withdraw the British occupation forces from Greece”. This resolution, however, was met with bitter resistance from the English as well as from the American, French and other Western Power delegations which, after lengthy discussions at the Security Council, ended on February 6, 1946 with a vague resolution that read as follows: “The Security Council took into consideration statements made and opinions expressed by the Soviet, British and Greek delegations regarding the presence of British troops in Greece. The statements were entered into the Council’s documents and thus the issue was considered closed.”

Unfortunately nothing was done to stop the terror perpetrated against the Macedonian civilian population in the cities and villages which by this time had reached unprecedented levels. The perpetrators demanded that “the Macedonian people leave Greece”. These brutal attacks were fuelled by the Greek media which propagated vicious anti-Macedonian propaganda in newspapers such as “Elefteria” and “Elenikos Kirix”. On January 28, 1946, “Elefteria” published an open letter demanding the expulsion of all Macedonians from their native homeland. In part it said: “The Slavo-Macedonians can leave our Macedonia. They can go

wherever they want. They need to disappear from here; they need to emigrate immediately and compulsorily. There is no place for them here.” In a similar tone the nationalist paper “Ethnikos Kirix” paved the way for conflict and for persecuting the Macedonians when it proposed that: “…there is a need to get rid of 180,000 Slavo-Macedonians as soon as possible…” Even stronger criticism against the Macedonians came from the newspapers “Foni tis Kastorias” and “Ethnos” when they published quotes from a former Nazi collaborator, insisting that: “…there is no place for Greeks and Macedonians in Greek-Macedonia…”

On February 12, 1946, the CPG held its 2nd CPG Central Committee Plenum in Athens during which, in his introductory speech, Zahariadis said: “...Today, just a year ago, the Varkiza Agreement was signed giving Greece a fair chance in taking the path of a peaceful and democratic evolution, which will allow us to freely express our will during the elections, so that our country could take the path to peace and reconstruction. That was our goal and our tendency. This was the right thing to do. Without a doubt today we can say that Varkiza was correct. It was the correct path to take because it absolutely served our democratic and national interests. The signing of the Varkiza agreement was the only correct step that could have been taken under those circumstances...” During this Plenum, Zahariadis also called for organizing an armed struggle but, according to him: “…only as a bluff, without having any serious intention of starting one…” What Zahariadis however failed to mention is that his party, the CPG, was in crisis and losing its support, not because those who supported the communists were changing their minds, but because the English and the Greek government were terrorizing and jailing everyone who was supporting the democratic side. While the British and the Greek press continued to speak of free elections in Greece, the nationalist and chauvinistic elements continued to rain terror on the civilian population arresting and imprisoning people uncontrollably. By the time the elections took place on March 31, 1946, almost all of the former resistance fighters were either missing or serving jail sentences under trumped up charges. Interestingly some of these election irregularities were confirmed by British, Colonel Shepard who was quoted by the newspaper “New Democracy” on December 8, 1947 as saying: “During the election a Greek officer was

watching a British officer and finally got enough nerve to speak to him. The Greek officer boasted to the British officer about how his regime was capable of creating conditions where 100% of the people would vote for the royalists. ‘Even if not 100% then at least 95% and for those 5% who vote differently we will call them the enemies of the regime and invent reasons as needed to bring them in’ explained the Greek officer.” The March 31, 1946 elections in Greece were a total farce, not only because of the coercion by the political right forcing voters to vote for them but also because of the perpetrated election fraud. In most European countries like France, Italy and others the population had naturally shrunk because of the war but not in Greece. In spite of the half million deaths due to starvation and war, Greece, according to the number of people who voted in 1946, showed a massive population increase, much greater than those voting in 1936. For example, 1,753,000 voters participated in the 1936 elections and 2,200,000 voters participated in the 1946 elections (voting in Greece was mandatory). Above that another 250,000 voters, known democrats were intentionally left off the lists so that they could not vote. The March 31, 1946 elections sparked an uprising with an attack on the village Lithohori, in which 23 government soldiers were killed. This attack was accepted by some historians as the beginning of the Greek Civil War.

The Macedonian people in the Greek Civil War

The Greek Civil War officially began on March 31, 1946 by decision of the CPG 2nd Plenum held on February 12, 1946. It did not happen by accident, it was planned. But why did Zahariadis publicly announce that he was going to start an uprising and secretly tell his people that it was a bluff? There were all kinds of indications that the resistance movement was not preparing for an uprising. The period from March 31, 1946 to September 1947 was the most suitable time to bolster the armed uprising and even take power... It seemed like almost all throughout 1946, the CPG leadership showed apathy to the drama committed against ordinary CPG members, former ELAS fighters and the Macedonian people in general. Even during the first months in 1947, when CPG activists from field committees raised the issue of seizing power in the country, Zahariadis’s position was: “We are not going to take power for now, we will see, perhaps in 1948…” During this time the CPG leadership insisted that the primary tasks of the Party were to solve economic problems and bring reconciliation. The CPG forbade ELAS fighters from joining the partisans, and those who insisted on doing so were labeled cowards, suspicious characters and provocateurs. It was during this period that all conditions were perfect for recruiting fighters into DAG and DAG could have easily grown into an army of over 60,000. According to Mavromatis when, in 1946, the Provincial Bureau informed Zahariadis that 20-25 thousand partisan fighters could be recruited in Macedonia within a month, the Bureau was ordered “to stop, because the armed struggle was conceived as only a bluff, as a fake tactical maneuver for political needs, that is, to achieve political goals…”

Then, on April 2, 1946, after returning from Moscow, Zahariadis went to Belgrade where he met with Marshal Tito and discussed his decision to initiate an armed struggle in Greece. Tito gave Zahariadis his full support and promised to supply him with moral and material aid. This meeting was arranged to also accomplish the following: 1. Pass control of the Macedonian national liberation movement in Greek occupied Macedonia, led by NOF, to the CPG. 2. Transfer part of the CPG Central Committee Politburo composition, headed by Ianis Ioanidis, to Belgrade with the task of

managing supplies for the armed struggle and representing the CPG abroad, i.e. to take care of supplying the partisans with weapons, clothing, food and other materials. 3. Organize recruitment of fighters from the Republic of Macedonia, more specifically from the so-called Greek political emigrants who fled to Yugoslavia to organize hospitals for the wounded and sick DAG fighters and for Yugoslavia to take on the role of organizer and coordinator of assistance for DAG from other countries.

While all this was going on, on May 4, 1946, the first Macedonian unit was formed at the “Trsie-Turie” mountains in Lerin Region. A couple of weeks later, on May 21, 1946, another right wing newspaper the “Ethnikos Kirikas” wrote: “Greece should soon expel 80,000 Slavo-Macedonians.” The same was said earlier in the weekly Republican newspaper “Eleftheros Typos” on January 28, 1946 in an article entitled: “Let the Slavo-Macedonians leave our Macedonia - let them go wherever they want to go.” All through the month of June 1946, everyone involved in the resistance movement, including former ELAS fighters faced extreme attacks from the Athens based Monarcho-Fascist regime. According to General Markos Vafiadis, by June 1946 some 80,000 Greeks and Macedonians, members and supporters of the CPG and EAM, as well as ELAS fighters were detained and imprisoned without a trial. About 8,000 ELAS fighters, officers and commissars were expelled from Greece and exiled in Yugoslavia. This violent crackdown perpetrated by the Greek government, with English blessings, was a turning point for the CPG prompting it to re-arm the resistance movement and fight back. Up until this point Zahariadis was wasting time looking for a political solution when he very well knew there wasn’t one. All Zahariadis was doing was giving the Greek government and the English the time they needed to consolidate their power in Greece so that they could have an appropriate and deadly response. As a result new partisan units were created from the former ELAS fighters and their numbers were increased with time. By July 1946 there were Greek partisans in the mountainous regions of Thessaly, Epirus, Greek occupied Macedonia and other places. By CPG Central Committee Politburo decision, Markos Vafiadis was appointed supreme commander of the new forces. There were only a few Greek partisan units in Greek occupied Macedonia because, at that time, both the CPG and EAM were

unpopular with the Macedonian people. This, however, had to change because, we are told, that the Greek resistance movement could not take on the Monarcho-Fascists on its own, it needed Macedonian help. So, on June 16, 1946, the CPG Regional Committee for Greek occupied Macedonia and Thrace held its 3rd Session during which Secretary General Zahariadis announced NOF’s recognition as a “democratic and progressive organization” representing the Macedonian minority in Greece. Zahariadis’s speech, during which he recognized NOF, was published on June 19, 1946 in the CPG central newspapers “Rizospastis” and “Laiki Foni”. The publishing of Zahariadis’s speech informed the entire Greek public about NOF’s recognition. This made many Greeks unhappy, including many Party leaders who quickly changed their attitude towards NOF and further deteriorated the internal political situation in Greece. And, as I said earlier, Zahariadis insisted that the recognition was done to secure Macedonian support in the struggle against the Monarcho-Fascist regime. Guided purely by self-interests, the Communist Party of Greece recognized the Macedonian national organization as a respectable political and potential military factor, as the sole legitimate representative of the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia. Soon after recognizing NOF, the CPG leadership decided to initiate an armed struggle against the Monarcho-Fascist regime in order to seize power in Greece. The Macedonian people and their organization began to emerge as a reliable ally in this fight. The Macedonian people, we are told, had no other alternative but to fight against the Monarcho-Fascist regime in solidarity with the CPG.

In response to the call to arms and after Zahariadis recognized NOF as an ally in the struggle against the Monarcho-Fascist regime, the Macedonians used great restraint when dealing with the Greek communists. They also used restraint because the CPM from the People’s Republic of Macedonia insisted that NOF normalize its relations with the CPG.

Towards the end of June 1946 the NOF Main Board was summoned to see Lazar Kolishevski and Tsvetko-Uzunovski-Abas, CPG Central Committee Organizing Secretary, in Skopje to review the situation in Greek occupied Macedonia and NOF’s position in relation to the CPG and EAM. Kolishevski and Uzunovski

expressed support for the normalization of relations and noted that “the unity of NOF with the CPG was of vital interest to the national liberation movement of the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia.” In the meantime terrorist activities against the Macedonian population continued to escalate and peaked on July 7, 1946 when the Greek government voted to take “extraordinary measures” to further deprive the people of their rights by prohibiting political and professional organizational activities and by openly moving towards reinstating a military dictatorship. In view of the Macedonian national liberation front and its activities, these “extraordinary measures” were particularly brutal against the Macedonians. By treating the Macedonians even harsher and by accusing them of having “separatist tendencies” the regime was attempting to vilify them and bring division between the Macedonian people and the democratic Greek people. Here is a quote from part of the “extraordinary measures” act adopted on July 7, 1946: “Those who aim to partition a section of the national territory or create opportunities to conspire inside this country or take part in them will be sentenced to death…” Ironically these measures were only a pretext to attack the innocent Macedonians and not the real conspirators; the British consulate in Lerin, Vice-Consul Hill, Captain Evans and the Greek Colonel Bafas who, as I mentioned earlier, started a conspiracy to create an “autonomist” organization calling for Greek occupied Macedonia’s independence from Greece by separation. The “extraordinary measures” were immediately put into effect and the courts were transformed into death factories in which hundreds of real patriots, the ones who spilled blood to free Greece from the occupiers, were sentenced to death on a daily basis. All one had to do was accuse someone of “committing subversive activities against the state” and the military did the rest. “Article ten” of the “extraordinary measures” allowed for the searching of premises at all times. This part of the law was utilized to justify the brutal measures taken against innocent people in response to press allegations of conspiracies. Names of so-called “autonomists” were printed and people were pursued by state organs without the slightest proof of wrongdoing. While the Greek parliament was voting to pass the “extraordinary measures” the Greek newspaper “Makedhonia” published the following: “Our competent government officials have uncovered concrete information that proves that in the first 15 days of June disorder of a

revolutionary character was taking place, which spread throughout the entire region of Macedonia, both inside and outside of cities. According to government sources, bandits who entered the villages and are concentrating their forces have been advised to act on a moment’s notice. We have information that these orders came directly from NOF whose long-term objectives are to free Macedonia from the Greek yoke and proclaim it a “People’s Republic” and then join it with Tito’s federation of Peoples’ Republics.” This well planted Greek propaganda, by the way, today serves as the “Greek side” of the story. With this well fabricated, well planned and well executed program along with the use of well paid “professional witnesses” the Greek government managed to send thousands of Macedonians, sometimes entire families, to the Greek concentration prison camps in the waterless and parched Greek islands, not to mention the many that Greece senselessly sentenced to death and executed.

Among the many executed were six high ranking Macedonian NOF cadres, one of them Mirka Ginova sentenced to death by the military court in Enidzhe-Vardar. The campaign against NOF was becoming fiercer by the day especially in the spring of 1946 after the appearance of a Macedonian military unit in Kaimakchalan. The unit’s rapid growth was seen as a threat to the Republican and Royalist control of Greek occupied Macedonia and they took immediate action to liquidate it. Gendarmes from Western Meglen were dispatched in pursuit and one day in the middle of July 1946, when the detachment was taking a rest near the village Pochep, it unexpectedly came under attack from three sides. Over 500 gendarmes were involved and in view of such an overwhelming force the Macedonians decided it was wise to retreat. Unfortunately during the withdrawal a group of seven people, leaders of NOF, who that day were having a conference, were left behind and mistakenly took the wrong route to escape. During their retreat they ran into the enemy and were captured alive. Of the seven only Mirka Ginova was armed with a pistol. As the seven were rushed by enemy soldiers, Mirka fired all her rounds and in frustration threw the pistol at the soldiers. Among the seven was also a Greek. All seven were taken to the city Voden. Mirka Ginova’s capture was touted as a big success for the Republicans and Royalists. To demoralize her and the Macedonian people, the gendarmes had her dressed in rags and

paraded through the streets as a scarecrow. But this fiery revolutionary walked with her head up and saluted onlookers calling on them not to cry for her. “Mothers don’t cry the revolution will be victorious!” A local woman who lived near the gendarme station in Voden, afterwards reported that for three nights in a row a motorcycle was left running just outside the police station under Mirka’s cell to mask Mirka’s screaming. Mirka was severely tortured by the gendarmes using middle age inquisition methods. Several times she was led to the city cemetery and buried in an open grave up to her neck. She was then fired at with blank shells to frighten her to disclose information on activities and people in her organization’s network. Even after all that torture Mirka told them nothing.

During 1946 a Commission made up of British Labour Representatives visited Greece and examined the political situation in some detail. Upon their return to their own country, on July 17, 1946 they announced that Greece was 90% Fascist, after which Laski, former British President of the Labour party, prophetically said: “The return of King George to Greece will convert this state into a second Spain…”

In the meantime the CPG was relocating part of its command and leadership to Yugoslavia. Based on prior agreements between Tito and Zahariadis, one part of the CPG Central Committee Politburo composition, headed by Ioannidis, on August 24, 1946, was moved from Athens to Belgrade. General Markos Vafiadis, who was appointed in June 1946 by Zahariadis to organize and lead the partisan groups, left Greece and moved to Belgrade. There, he received specific directives and promises of support from the CPG Politburo.

The following classified dispatch explains the situation in Greek occupied Macedonia at a diplomatic level and reveals what the English knew at the time. The dispatch was sent from Mr. Peake to Mr. Bevin. Here is what it said: WITH reference to Mr. Clutton’s dispatch No. 310 of the 13th August, 1946, have the honour to report that the leading article in the issue of Borba for the 26th August was devoted to Greek, or, as the Yugoslav’s call it Aegean Macedonia. At the head of the article was a map, a copy of which I attach,

showing the present national frontiers and also the ethnical frontier. As you will notice the latter embraces Salonica and almost all Greek Macedonia. The article opens by saying that the frightful terror which is being carried on by Monarcho-Fascist bands in Greek Macedonia is already known to the Yugoslav public. Thousands of Macedonians and democratic Greek refugees are living witnesses of the murder and incendiarism which these bands are committing on “our brothers.” This terrorism has become much worse latterly, when the Monarcho-Fascist clique, which has not been able to find deep roots in the Greek people, began its attempt to purge Greek Macedonia of Macedonians and Greek democrats. Just now active purging of Greek Macedonia is going on- tens of villages are burning, women and children and powerless old men are being murdered, as in the most terrible period of the German occupation. The district, in which a particularly violent terrorism is being carried on, and which is known under the name of Greek (Aegean) Macedonia, is, in fact, ethnically a part of Macedonia. In the whole of the Balkans there is no district which has passed through in the course of recent history such a bitter terrorism as has been suffered by the Macedonian population from the Greek imperialists. The ethnical history of Macedonia is then traced from 1896-1914, during the whole of which time it is shown that the Macedonians remained in an absolute majority in Greek Macedonia. After 1914, however, the picture began to change. The Greek soldiers killed tens of thousands of Macedonians, they destroyed villages, they burnt down houses. In the place of their former inhabitants there came Greeks or philhellene “Aromuni.” The greatest ethnical change was caused by the enforced exchange of populations between Greeks and Turks after the Greek defeat in Asia Minor in 1922 and the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. At that time the Greeks were forced by the Turks to take in all the Christian inhabitants, among whom “Karamanlija,” Greeks, Kurds and other Caucasian people predominated. The great part of these people were settled in Greek Macedonia. The Greeks, for their part, sent into Turkey all the Mohammedans, such as Turks, Mohammedan Macedonians, “Arbanassi” and “Aromuni.” Large numbers were also forced into Bulgaria from Macedonia. After this war, in which our Macedonian brothers fought heroically shoulder to shoulder with the Greek patriots, the Monarcho-Fascists had chased into Yugoslavia and Bulgaria about 20,000 Macedonians from Macedonia. As the result of this persecution 150,000

Macedonians had been displaced or killed from 1914 up till now. In the course of the years 1941-42 our partisan representatives personally completed a list of Macedonian families in Greek Macedonia, and they reckoned that there were still about 250,000 Macedonians there. If one also takes into account the places in which the Macedonians do not represent the absolute but only the relative majority, then this figure of 250,000 should be considerably greater. What, the article goes on, can our brothers expect from the present regime in Greece? The latest terrorism which is being carried on in Greece only confirms that the Monarcho-Fascist bands are continuing the prodigious terrorism which was carried on by the reactionary cliques in the past, and that it is intended that this terrorism shall completely annihilate our brothers in Greek Macedonia. The Macedonians in Greece do not enjoy any kind of rights. It is forbidden for them to speak their national language even in their own homes. Absolutely no Macedonian schools exist. Even their local political organizations have been rendered powerless. Chauvinistic cliques try to sow hatred among the Greek and other nationals against Macedonians, and to destroy that fraternity which was created in the course of the war of liberation. But to-day, opposed to that reactionary Greek policy, there is not the old Yugoslavia in which the Macedonians were oppressed equally with other peoples, but the new democratic Yugoslavia where all peoples have equal rights. The Macedonian people who fought with Greek partisans for their liberation expected, with reason, that this war would bring them, in the spirit of the proclamations of the Great Allies, the right to advance and unite themselves with their other brothers. With justice they expected, that finally all the Macedonian people would be united and break away from foreign slavery. But it is only the Macedonians in Yugoslavia who have succeeded in bringing about their own complete liberation; and while in the People’s Republic of Macedonia a new national life is awakening, on the other side of the frontier our brothers are suffering under the yoke of Monarcho-Fascist bands. Greek imperialists have no right at all to hold Macedonians any longer under their intolerable yoke; ,they can no longer answer that Belgrade and Sofia are persecuting their Macedonian populations and that such people as free Macedonians in their own countries do not exist. They have even less right because they are stifling with all their force the democratic movement and the democracy of their people, accepting foreign

support and giving over their country to the mercy, or otherwise of foreign exploitation. The people of Yugoslavia watched patiently what was happening to their brothers in Greek Macedonia. They believed, and today still believe, that the Greek people cannot oppose the fight of the Greek Macedonians for democracy and national independence. But the latest statements of responsible Greek circles, not only in Greece but also in the international arena, and also the frightful terrorism which is being carried on in Greek Macedonia, show that the Greek, reactionary circles have become the provokers of tumult in the Balkans and have decided to annihilate their Macedonian population. There is no hope at all that the reactionary Greek circles, who to-day with naked force and with the help of foreign troops keep themselves in power, will show the slightest wish for the solution of this problem in conformity with the demands and interests of the Macedonians in Greece. This problem has become part of the fight which is being carried on all over the world for peace, for democracy and for the self-determination of peoples. Therefore, the article concludes, our country cannot remain indifferent to the annihilation of our brothers in Greece, nor to their rights and their demands for self-determination and union with their brothers in Yugoslavia. The theme of this article again predominated in the Belgrade press of the 27th August, when all three papers carried leading articles, which in Borba and Politika were headed by another map. The tone of these articles was extremely violent. I am sending copies of this dispatch to His Majesty’s Ambassador at Athens, His Majesty’s Political Representative at Sofia, His’ Majesty’s Political Adviser at Caserta, and to His Majesty’s Consul-General at Salonica. I have, &c, C. B. PEAKE.

A plebiscite, to bring the monarchy back to Greece, was held on September 1, 1946. It was conducted under extreme conditions of anarchy and terror. Now that the counter-revolutionaries (Republicans and Monarchists) were “legally” in power and their authority was given to them by the people in the March 31, 1946 elections, they threw themselves with even greater vigour against the democratic forces. They liquidated all provincial EAM and CPG organizations and shut down all democratic newspapers. After the parliamentary elections, as terror increased to unprecedented levels, open armed resistance began to take shape in the country. The democratic organizations and the political left in general did not

abstain from the plebiscite. But who could now doubt the success of the monarchy? If falsification could succeed in parliamentary elections, then why not in a plebiscite?