WE NEED TO FACE THE TRUTH - THE LAST ACT IS NATIONAL FORGIVENESS - Part 01

WE NEED TO FACE THE TRUTH - THE LAST ACT IS NATIONAL FORGIVENESS

And, finally, the question: “Why have the ideological activists (including the CPG, CPJ, CPM, NOF and AFZH), for the last fifty years have not bothered to apologize to those children, mothers and fathers that they tormented… but instead stand on the side that: “We saved you! We saved you from the Monarcho-Fascist clutches...” How hypocritical is that?!! Or, perhaps in their naivety, ignorance or delusion, they truly believe they save those people. In other words they pretend to be unaware of any wrong doing…

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DID WE MACEDONIANS UNDER GREECE HAVE A STRATEGY FOR THE SPIRITUAL AND PHYSICAL SURVIVAL OF OUR HEARTHS?

Here are some undeniable facts and key moments in NOF’s history that show how NOF entered the conflict and fought (and sacrificed its own people) for other people’s interests. In other words, NOF under the influence of the CPY and CPG was responsible for convincing the Macedonian villagers living in Greece to enter an ideological war under the guise that they will gains their human rights but in the end they lost everything.

Did NOF deceive its own people?

How was that possible?

Who wanted the peaceful Macedonian population living in Greece, to enter the global process of Sovietization the Balkans? The communists (CPY/CPG) of course!

And why did these Macedonians enter the socialist model in the Balkans, especially after the Second World War was over when that model was already outdated and meaningless? Because the communists offered them what they wanted the most: human rights and the possibility to re-unite Macedonia. This however, turned out to be a lie because after WW II ended, re-uniting Macedonia was no longer possible because, as Churchill put it, the “Iron Curtain” dividing east from West was drown in the center of Macedonia. So why did the communists lie given that it was nearly impossible to re-unite Macedonia? Because, as we will show, the so called Greek Civil War was motivated for nefarious reasons which included the expulsion of the Macedonian people from Greece.

It is well known that Greece and the other Balkan countries that occupied Macedonia had long term plans to either assimilate the Macedonian population or get rid of it. This is what the various “legal migration movements” carried out since Macedonia’s occupation and division in 1912 - 1913 were all about. So, this was the next step in the evolution of getting rid of the Macedonians from Greece, this time through ideological activism! The same foreigners

who created catastrophic consequences for the Macedonian nation since pre-1912 were now doing it through ideological activism. In other words, they, through lies and manipulation convinced the Macedonian villagers in Greece to pick up guns and fight for their rights. But instead of giving them their rights they massacred them and permanently exiled the survivours and their families. Worst than that was the foreigners who started and lead this war put the blame on those poor villages and forced them to accept responsibility for what happened.

Being blamed for something that was not under their control, the poor villagers kept silent for the next fifty years while those same foreigners and their lackeys decided their fate and wrote their history.

Over fifty years later there are people who still insist that for the Macedonian people in Greece, the Greek Civil War was some kind of a grass roots autochthonous revolution - a continuation of the Ilinden Uprising - and are refusing to accept it for what it was. This thesis however is problematic! Even though no one wants to admit that mistakes were made, the truth will eventually come out.

No one wants to admit that lives were sacrificed and people lost everything because mistakes were made, especially those Macedonians, such the NOF leaders, who initially encouraged and later forced the Macedonian villagers to fight in an ideological war designed not to help them, but harm them. They were expected to give it their all believing everything the NOF activists told them. After all they were Macedonians, and who to trust more than the Macedonian leadership. It is true that the NOF leadership was responsible for dragging the Macedonian people in this war but did they know what they were doing?

Let us look at the situation on the ground:

1. During the war period the Macedonian people were living divided in four sovereign countries each with a different political system and separated by the iron curtain

Worst than that was the application of the famous “Comintern thesis” which called for “One state - one party”, which had severe consequences for the Macedonian resistance movement operating in those countries.

Speaking of the “iron curtain”, after the Second World War ended and the famous great powers agreement on the division of spheres of influence was signed, the Macedonian people found themselves in the following situation:

The Macedonians living in the Vardar part of Macedonia (the Republic of Macedonia) found themselves 50% under eastern and 50% under western influence.

The Macedonians living in the Pirin part of Macedonia, in Bulgarian occupied Macedonia found themselves 90% under eastern and 10% under western influence.

The Macedonians living in Greek occupied Macedonia found themselves 100% under western influence.

The Macedonians living in the Albanian part of Macedonian found themselves 10% under western and 90% under eastern influence.

Over time, after Macedonia was divided, especially after the 1919 Treaty of Versailles was put into effect and the Macedonian people’s liberation struggle became illegal, and after Stalin dissolved the Comintern on May 15, 1943, under pressure from the USA and Great Britain to allow each communist party to decide on national matters on its own, it became increasingly more difficult for the Macedonian people to pursue their common struggle.

2. The thesis “One state, one party”

When the communists introduced the idea that each existing state with recognized borders can only have one Party, and no single party can exist over more than one state, the Macedonian people once again found themselves fragmented and had to struggle alone in the state in which they existed. In other words, they could not

have a single Macedonian party covering the four states in which they existed.

This fragmentation of the Macedonian territory did not only disconnect the Macedonian people’s struggle but it also provided legal support for the continued annexation of Macedonian territories. With the introduction of this thesis the existence and development of the all-Macedonian liberation organization, that is, the establishment of a single Macedonian national liberation struggle leadership was permanently prevented.

This also meant that if a Macedonian organization were to exist in any of those four states which called for a common struggle under one united Macedonian front, it would be treated and condemned in advance as secessionist, treasonous, destructive and factional. The state-legal realities of the state-occupiers who occupied and established power in the occupied Macedonian territories were strictly opposed to Macedonian national aspirations. The Macedonian national movement under these conditions acquired a separatist character (like it happened with NOF in 1945). This was true not only with the CPG but also with all four communist parties (Yugoslav, Bulgarian, Greek and Albanian). Here the essence of the problem can be defined by asking several questions. To be clearer and to avoid misunderstandings, it is necessary to explain these problems accordingly.

This is how Dr. Stojan Kiselinovski explained the basic communist movement thesis in his article:

“The national and state revolutionary movement (1893-1944) in Macedonian” published in the daily magazine Pulse on March 17, 1995.

“Lenin and the communist movement did not provide a solution to the national question in favour of minorities (which would have been in line with the interests of the enslaved nations), but instead Lenin offered a solution in favour of class (which was in line with the so-called class interests that were always in line with state interests and with the interest of the dominant nations) and thereby essentially denying some people’s right to self-determination.”

This means that during the so called Greek Civil War years it was more than clear that the Macedonian people could not have created a common and united Macedonian front but instead had to struggle as minorities in accordance with the wishes of the CPG, CPY, CPB, and CPA.

The Comintern program however did support minority rights which were accepted by the CPG. This is what the program said: “Full rights for minorities equal to those of other citizens within the Greek state.” Unfortunately this was only valid from 1935 to 1949. This was confirmed by our (CPG, CPJ and CPB) instructors who had graduated from the Party school in Moscow in the years before World War II. They themselves agitated for this. This was true for all parts of occupied Macedonia. The instructors however strictly adhered to these Comintern resolutions, which were passed during the 7th Congress in 1935. Even though the program originated from the communist movement at the beginning of the Second World War, the thesis “One state - one party” represented a fundamental obstacle to every program or action taken that had aims to unite Macedonia. But, here again the Greek communists asked the Macedonian leadership to convince the Macedonian population to rise up and fight for the right to self determination even though they knew it would not be possible to achieve anything. They did this after the population exchanges took place in Macedonia, when the Macedonian people were already a minority within their own ethnic space. Why did the Greeks do this? Obviously so that they can get rid of the Macedonians and carry out their program to fully Hellenize their part of Macedonia. So the question that needs to be asked here is “did NOF knowingly participate in this genocide or did it blindly follow CPY and CPG directives?”

It is highly unlikely that NOF and the Macedonian leadership really knew what was going on - outside of their own circles. They simply believed the Greek communists trusting that they were truly our partners in this war. But, in the end it was the Macedonian people that paid the ultimate price. We did not only loose the war; we lost everything; our country and our young generations who to this day still roam the world with no hope of ever being allowed to return.

There is also the question about how much did the Macedonian communists in the CPG know about this? And did they struggle for an independent and united Macedonia? If they did, how could they have given the situation with the Comintern program and the fact the Macedonian territory was divided by the iron curtain? Did they ignore these obstacles?

If the basic principles on which nations and states are based one are: territorial, state, historical and cultural past, ethnic, linguistic and economic, then the Macedonian communists, as members of the CPG, must have practically abandoned the two principles: territorial and state.

It was a priority for the CPG to fight exclusively for the territorial and state sovereignty of the Greek state, and therefore only the ethnic and linguistic identity, as well as the historical and cultural past of the Macedonian people remained on the table; sometimes accepted but most of the time not accepted. This means that for all the (self) sacrifice we made during the war years this is all the CPG was prepared to offer us, especially after May 15, 1943, after Stalin dissolved the Communist International (Comintern) thus allowing every communist party to operate independently. (See: History of the Macedonian people, Skopje, 1988, page 345).

3. Great Britain’s position

Since Britain, under the Yalta agreement was given full influence over Greece which had 51% possession of the Macedonia’s territory, then Britain also had something to say. According to a document entitled “Macedonia – Memorandum”, dated August 16, 1944, written by the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs: “Britain was ready to give consent for the establishment of a Macedonian state within the framework of a federal Yugoslav state. At the same time, the British insisted that this country must not annex or claim other territories, regardless of whether those territories belong to Bulgaria or Greece.”

Further down the same document the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs made sure to remind everyone about: “The Agreement on the division of spheres of influence, and that Greece

was 100% under British influence, with the right, if necessary, to be able to intervene at any time by any means possible;

That, in the summer of 1944, Tito had asked the Macedonian NOV units to secure Greece’s southern border, meaning they had to protect the sovereign borders of these countries;

That, at that time, the USA demanded STATUS - QUO in preserving the pre-war borders of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece…And that the USA was categorically against any kind of revision, even though it recognizes the Macedonian territory in Greece. (See: Vlado Ivanovski: “Why not to Solun”, “Nova Makedonija”, October 11-12, 1997, issue 3.)

Note: The following is a broader explanation of Great Britain’s position: British diplomacy was mostly concerned with the Macedonian issue especially after the end of the Second World War. At this time the British became more concern about their interests in Greece and in the Balkans. They were worried that their interests in the region would be threatened by the creation of a Macedonian state. Great Britain’s position on the Macedonian question was expressed in a Memorandum on Macedonia, prepared by the Foreign Office research department on August 20, 1944. According to the Memorandum, the idea of an independent Macedonia was not accepted but instead a number of variants for a federation were being looked at as follows:

a) This variant called for creating a Balkan Federation, which would include Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey? In that variant, Macedonia would be autonomous. The Great Powers however would not accept this variant.

b) This variant called for creating a Federation between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, whereby Pirin Macedonia would join Vardar Macedonia. This variant received support from the USSR, but only if the interests of Greece, Turkey, and Britain would not be threatened.

c) The British would not even accept the formation of a future Macedonian state within a Yugoslav federation, unless the

Macedonian state and the Yugoslav state leadership agreed to British demands that no attempts would be made to annex Pirin and Aegean Macedonia, because that would threaten British interests in Greece and Turkey. This Memorandum was submitted to the United States and to the USSR governments and they too had to agree to it. After that the Memorandum was sent to the Yugoslavian, Bulgarian and Greek governments. (See, “British Documents on Macedonia”, Vol. 1, 15, 22 and 64).

4. The USSR’s position

WHAT WAS THE USSR’S POSITION ON THE QUESTION OF CREATING A MACEDONIAN STATE IN MARCH 1949?

On March 8, 1949, Chernishov, the Soviet diplomatic agent in Greece, telephoned Moscow and informed the Soviet authorities of the Greek reactionaries using unprecedented aggressive and active propaganda against the Communist Party of Greece and against the “Andart” (Greek fighter, mercenary during the Turkish Empire, fought for the conquest of Macedonia to join Greece. This is what the Greeks called the DAG fighters) movement as well as the “Macedonian question” (a decisions made at the CPG Central Committee 5th Plenum and at the 2nd NOF Congress). This propaganda, according to Chernishov, was primarily aimed at the CPG’s actions and at the Andarts (DAG), who were allegedly inclined to destroy Greece’s sovereignty. Therefore the question of unifying Macedonia should not be pursued at this time because this kind of propaganda will help the Athens government to recruit and transfer government troops with high military readiness to these parts controlled by DAG. The Greek people have a special sensitivity to the issue of Greek integrity and sovereignty, but the same concern arises among the people who now live in the cities and are communist and Andart (DAG) sympathizers. In particular, the next NOF congress is expected to convene on March 10 in the free territories that are under DAG’s control. On that occasion, the Anglo-American League state press, with provocative intentions, will declare that the Congress will decide on the annexation of Greek Macedonia into a common state with Bulgarian and Yugoslav Macedonia and that the Communist Party of Greece is “betraying Greece”.

In accordance with the information that Chernishov received back from Moscow, regarding the USSR’s position 5 on this matter, the Congress organizers were told that their intentions to speak about this issue during the Congress would not only be reckless, but would be detrimental to the future of the Macedonian people within the framework of some kind of Balkan Federation. Instead of pursuing this course the USSR recommended to the Congress delegates to turn their orientation towards the population in Greek Macedonia, and orient them to the fight against the monarcho-fascist society in Greece and to fight for the creation of a free and democratic Greece.

5. The ELAS and CPG’s position

On October 16, 1944, ELAS commanders Evripidis Bakirdzis and Markos Vafiadis issued orders to the ELAS army units operating in Macedonia to begin destroying German army units retreating from the south of Greece and attack and destroy the so called “Slavo-Macedonian” battalions which had defected to Yugoslavia. These orders came directly from the CPG, 6 which shows that at that time

5 The Soviet Union’s policy towards the Macedonian Question was a function of USSR’s global policy and strategy in general and for Greece in particular. Stalin used the Macedonian Question, as well as the British, Americans and Greek attitude towards the Macedonians living in Greece, as a cover for his policy that he implemented in the countries that fell under Western influence after the Second World War. During the Second World War, the communist parties in the countries that had divided Macedonia firmly respected the declarative principle of the great powers for not changing the pre-war borders. We should also know that Stalin on his own initiative decided to dissolve the Comentern and formally recognized the right to each communist party’s independence. Stalin also supported the thesis of ‘One state, one party’. The same Stalin with his forces in Moscow (October 1944) decided the division of spheres of influence in the Balkans and allowed the borders to remain ‘status quo’. This was Stalin’s answer to us and all the others who were looking for salvation from the USSR. That was the first blow struck against us and the reason why we lost our spiritual unification which left us without a strategy for our spiritual survival of our ethnic space in the Balkans.

6 In May 1944, a larger group of Macedonian fighters and activists from Kostur and Lerin Regions, separated from ELAS and moved to the Vardar part of Macedonia where they joined the ranks of NOV and POM. As a result, the CPG labeled them deserters which prompted even those who had later returned to leave again. Markos was not a “Titoist” and did not sympathize with the ideas of a United Macedonia, within the framework of a Balkan Federation.

A persecuted person may ask:

Why did ELAS want to destroy the Macedonian battalions, like they wanted to destroy the German army? And, knowing that Markos Vafiadis signed the order to destroy the Macedonian battalions during WW II in 1944, why did NOF and AFZH want to enter into a partner ship with him later, during the Greek Civil War (1946-

At this point it is important to explain how ELAS and the CPG viewed the Macedonians: For example, one side we have ELAS commanders Evripidis Bakirdzis who, during his famous interview with he CPG Party newspaper “Laiki Foni”, told the world that the Macedonians were “Bulgarophone Hellenes”. On the other hand we have General Stefanos Sarafis, supreme commander of ELAS, in his famous book entitled “About ELAS” (1946, 331), he told the world that the Macedonians were “Slavophone Hellenes”. There is one more thing that we should know: After the Balkan wars, after the 1919 Treaty of Neuilly with Bulgaria and after the 1923 Treaty on Lausanne with Turkey, Greece changed the ethnic composition in Macedonia with the so-called mandatory population exchanges. By the time WW II started the Macedonian people had already lost their ethnic-territorial status. During WW II Greece eliminated the Macedonian question, especially after the ELAS, EAM and KPG leaderships signed the 1943 Lebanon, the 1944 Caserta and the 1945 Varkiza Agreements with English colonel Eddie Myers guaranteeing Greece’s territorial integrity and the STATUS QUO with its borders. Later on the so called Greek Civil War (1945-1949), also the work of the CPY and the CPG, pushed the Macedonian people into chaos bringing their destruction in rivers of blood and with the loss of their hearth. All these demagogues who were in favour of the slogan “United Macedonia” were well aware of the lies they were propagating. They officially maintained the position that the Macedonian question was a threat to peace in the Balkans, but for us Macedonians, it was indisputable that we had historical inviolable right to our fatherland, because it made no sense to live without an identity. But did we have to sacrifice ourselves like that under this foreign fraud?! This is what the by-weekly magazine KOMEP, organ of the CPG Central Committee, number 16 published in August 1943, nicely said: “There is no national confusion in Greek Macedonia... The Slavic and Turkish population were evicted according to the conventions, and the Greek population was gathered from all the countries of the Balkans and from Asia Minor and placed in Greek Macedonia... which has become as Greek as any area of Greece proper!” (s, 331.) On the other hand we Macedonians are proud of our history and to this day we still say that the Greeks were our most faithful allies during the Greek Civil War. No wonder our older and wiser people say: “We suffer from our own false beliefs!” 1949)?!! Did they not know what they were doing? Or was there some other reason?

On July 16, 1943, ELAS Commander Sarafis and British military mission leader Colonel Eddie Myers signed a joint declaration which recognized ELAS as an allied army and placed it under Middle East Command. On October 31, 1944, a large group of British soldiers with armored vehicles entered Solun. They were followed by ELAS. WHY? Why did ELAS allow the British to occupy Solun when in effect ELAS had the power and opportunity to do so?

Three days later, BBS, the London radio station, announced the news that British troops had liberated Solun. On February 12, 1945, an Agreement was signed in Varkiza, a resort near Athens, between the CPG and EAM leaders on one side and Plastiras’s Greek government and British General Scobie, on the other. With that Agreement, EAM and ELAS practically handed over power to the Greek political right, ELAS’s and the CPG’s opposition. As a result ELAS was finished.

Here we presented the facts as they happened but now let us have a look at what kind of assessment the CPG Central Committee Politburo gave? According to a CPG resolution dated November 15, 1948 this is exactly what was said: “…As the Commissar of the group of ELAS division in Macedonia, Markos Vafiadis followed a chauvinistic policy towards the Slavo-Macedonians fighters...” (See: “Neos kosmos”, August 1950, “Ten years of War” p. 470). But, why was this said after Markos was already removed from his post and more Macedonian fighters were needed to fight in the Greek Civil War? The answer should be obvious. Once again the CPG fooled the Macedonians into fighting for its interests!

False memory syndrome

Question: Despite the Great Power attitude of not wanting a Macedonia, why did the state and political leaderships in Macedonia and in Yugoslavia did not give up on the Macedonian people’s desire to unite Macedonia? There was desire to solve the problem of joining the newly created Macedonian state in Yugoslavia to Pirin

Macedonia trough the creation of a Federation between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. But if that were to happen, it was argued, the Macedonians from the Aegean part of Macedonia, with their massive participation in DAG, would then exercise their rights after their victory. Unfortunately the Federation between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria could not be achieved, nor could DAG win, so Macedonia’s unification never happened.

To look for logic in “fraternal” support, after Macedonia was partitioned in 1913 7 and to look for our proud ideological activists to lure the Macedonian people to “Unite Macedonia” after WW II, was a triumph like “dancing in the dark”.

Is there anyone who thinks that the Greek, Bulgarian or Yugoslav governments would be so stupid that they would arm NOF or any other Macedonian liberation movement, so that it could separate part of its national territory?

I am pretty sure that a reasonable person would say NO! And that it would be obvious that the so called “fraternal” communist parties (the CPG, CPY and CPB) would not believe it would be good idea to support organizations that want to separate parts of their state territories, especially in favour of the Macedonians who they claim do not exist. On the contrary, in such a case, any of the above mentioned parties would be declared traitors. If the CPG did that with NOF especially during the Greek Civil War, it would have been condemned and declared a traitor.

How did they react at that time?

6. Bulgaria’s position

7 As a result of the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) and the August 10, 1913 Treaty of Bucharest sanctioned by the November 14/27, 1919 Neully Peace Agreement and the August 10, 1920 Sevres Peace Agreement, Macedonia was divided between Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Albania, which received Dolna Prespa and Golo Brdo. Greece received 34,356 km2 or 51% of the Macedonian ethnic-historical territory; Serbia received 25,713 km2 or 39%; Bulgaria received 6,798 km2 or 9.5% and Albania received 0.5% of the Macedonian-historical territory. Trajcho Kostov was one of the fiercest opponents of a Federation between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. In a long-standing tradition of Bulgarian statehood he reasoned that, with the differences that had arisen over time in the structure and mentality of Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, in his opinion nothing good could come out of such a federation. Chernenko was in favour of a Federation without delay, while other members of the Politburo (Kolarov and other Bulgarian communists) in principle were in favour of a federation, but with great reservations and were not enthusiastic. It was obvious that this principle was based solely on pleasing Moscow.

We should not forget that after Aleksandar Stamboliski’s government fell in Bulgaria in 1923, the Macedonian movement (with a Bulgarian ethnic historical tendency) in Pirin Macedonia was passed on to the VMRO (Supremacists) Todor Aleksandrov and especially Vancho Mihailov, who wanted to convince the international public that he wanted to create a future piedmont for an independent Macedonia.

7. Yugoslavia’s position

How and why did the CPM allow Yugoslavia (CPY) to have a two-sided policy: public and secret - with which it encouraged the Macedonian people in Greece to take part in an armed struggle? Wasn’t that against the will of the Macedonian people who after WW II were looking forward to living in peace? By doing so did the Macedonian people allow “someone else” to shape their destiny? Why was this “two-sided policy” on the part of the CPM/CPY not explained in the integral Macedonian historiography?

Let’s follow the events:

We should also mention at this point that the national liberation war in Vardar Macedonia in the fall of 1941began with the slogan “free Macedonia”. But after ASNOM was held and the People’s Republic of Macedonian was created, there was no longer need for NOV (People’s Liberation Army) in the Vardar part of Macedonia. NOV’s basic goal was to liberate the Vardar part of Macedonia and to assist with the liberation struggle of the other nations in the Yugoslav space. However, one should also take into account CPY

policies which had a huge influence on the Macedonian communists in the Vardar part of Macedonia. So, the position of the CPY Central Committee was to channel the focus of the national liberation struggle into a common struggle with all the Yugoslav peoples.

See: Edward Cardel: Struggle for recognition and independence of New Yugoslavia, 1944-1957, Memoirs, Communist, Skopje, Misla, Skopje 1980, 122.

Edward Cardel, in a long welcoming speech which was longer than the ASNOM Presidium Report, outlined the possible scenarios under which Macedonia can survive as a state. During his speech Cardel made sure to emphasize that Macedonian was impotent and incapable of conducting its own policies as an independent Macedonian state. He was sure to emphasize that Macedonia could only exist in a “strong Yugoslavia”, which was a prerequisite for a “happy Macedonia without fearing for its freedom and independence”, that “a free and equal Macedonia was the strongest pillar of Yugoslavia... there is no freedom for any of our people without our unity...” (Nova Makedonija, January 3, 1945, Year 2, number 28).

On October 16, 1945, as a candidate for Kumanovo district, Svetozar Vukmanovich - Tempo, in his pre-election speech in Kumanovo, resolutely opposed all those who saw the unification of Macedonia outside the borders of Yugoslavia, or a united Macedonia under the auspices of the Great Powers. According to Tempo, all those who supported that idea were the same people who were responsible for the Bulgarian occupation of Macedonia from 1941 to 1944.

But, as far as a united Macedonia was concerned, Great Britain was of the opinion that unification could not take place or that an independent Macedonia could not exist outside of Yugoslavia. That process was especially blocked during ASNOM’s Second Session, when the Macedonian people, represented by Pavel Shatev, Petar Piruze, Kiro Gligorov, Metodi Andov - Chento, Shakir Vojvoda, Panko Brashnarov, Mihajlo Apostolski, Lazar Sokolov and others, who advocated for a free and independent Macedonia. At the time Macedonian national aspirations were condemned by the Yugoslav

representatives headed by Svetozar Vukmanovich - Tempo and Edward Cardel. Namely, after the First ASNOM Session and after the Macedonian state was created, the Macedonian leaders began to act politically independent from Belgrade, and a certain number of Macedonian politicians began to make attempts to open trade and economic cooperation with Bulgaria, Albania and Greece, without consulting Belgrade. After Tito was informed about this, he sent his representatives to attend the ASNOM Second Session, who condemned the Macedonian politicians labeling them “separatists and chauvinists” and calling Macedonian policies “nationalistic and chauvinistic”. After the Second Session and after they convicted Metodi Andov - Chento and others, the CPY Central Committee held a meeting in Belgrade during which a decision was made to clean up the “separatist-chauvinist elements” in Macedonia one by one and gradually removes them all. And, as is known, the entire job was done by the end of the fifties which was especially critical during the existence of the Information Bureau, which was used to cleanup the national elements in Macedonia more than anything else. After this was done the British seemed to breathe easier. According to British documents from that time it was said that the “controversial Macedonian question” was not mentioned at the ASNOM Second Session, concluding that Tito brought the rogue Macedonian elements under control and that we (the British) will no longer have any problems…” See: interview, Dr. T. Chepreganov, January 23, 2002, “Vesnik”.

This means that the Macedonian factor that was concerned with preserving Macedonia’s historic and cultural whole was gone and replaced with Macedonians who towed the CPY line and carried out CPY policies which had a huge influence on the Macedonian communists in the Vardar part of Macedonia... So, in this evolutionary historical process, the Macedonian movement turned into a pro-Yugoslav movement which made its official position clear: “There will be no United and independent Macedonia! But there could be a unification of the other parts of Macedonia (Pirin and Aegean Macedonia) within the framework of Yugoslavia...” (In other words if Yugoslavia was accepted as the mother country of the three parts of Macedonia, they could unite under a Yugoslav umbrella).

This means that the CPY wanted the Vardar part of Macedonia to be declared the “Piedmont” which would unify all of Macedonia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. 8 This was also attempted by the CPM/CPY in 1945, through NOF’s program created by the CPM/CPY which called for: “Organizing the Macedonian people in a struggle that would bridge the artificial gap between Macedonians from all parts of Macedonia, and especially with the Macedonians from the Republic of Macedonia which represent the “Piedmont” for the complete liberation and unification of all the Macedonian people…”

So, what have we learned from all this; especially from the Yugoslav experience? If we learned anything it should be that it is very difficult to achieve goals in an unwilling world. We should have also learned that in our desire to satisfy our national Macedonian primordial desires we were prepared to do anything… including allowing ourselves to be manipulated by outsiders for their own gains to our detriment. To satisfy our national Macedonian desires to be united and independent brought us more harm than good. No matter how we look at this and how many historians and authors analyzed it, what we attempted to do during the Greek Civil War proved to be unrealistic and impossible to achieve… That does not mean that we should stop fighting for our rights… It means that we should be more careful who we trust…

So what was Yugoslavia’s official position?

This is what Tito said on November 15, 1944 in Belgrade during a meeting between him and Anastasiadis, member of CPG Central Committee Politburo: “Yugoslavia has no claims on Greek Macedonia and this entire campaign (about unification) has nothing to do with us...”

8 According to a number of analysts after several years of persistently building the Yugoslav unity a crisis developed in the Yugoslav “identity” around 1980. The SFRY national identity began to weaken and was rejected by most of the people living in the SFRY. Macedonia had already gone through similar phases when Bulgaria and Greece refused to recognize the existence of the Macedonian nation. By now it should be obvious that creating a new national identity is not so easily achievable even after many years of trying. Then, in January 1949, when the CPG Central Committee announced its new position on the Macedonian national question during its Fifth Plenum which recognized the Macedonian people’s right to self-determination and statehood, and allowed them to create Macedonian state within a Balkan Federation, Rankovich said that such an act was directed against Yugoslavia’s integrity. He said this two times, once on February 8, 1949 during a CPG delegation visit to Skopje led by Miltiadis Porfirogenis, member of the CPG Central Committee and Minister of Justice in the Provisional Democratic Government of Greece. He then said it again in Belgrade on February 16, 1949. Rankovich again said this to Porphyrogenis in Belgrade in April 1949 during their second visit but this time it was said with more emphasis.

Why did the CPY have such hatred for everyone that was in favour of a united Macedonia? Why did the CPY do everything in its power to destroy them? Why did Yugoslavia sent so many people, mostly young men, to prison because they were supporters or sympathizers of the idea of an independent Macedonia. Why did the CPY believe these people were “undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yugoslavia?” Or was it something else? Something still unknown to us…?

What about NOF’s role in all this. NOF was created by the CPM/CPY and later subordinated to the CPG. 9 So how was NOF

9 April 23, NOF (People’s Liberation Front) is formed along with the Women’s Anti-Fascist Front (AFZH) and the Youth organization (NOMS). The ELAS fighters who earlier had left Greek occupied Macedonia and went to Yugoslavia came under the leadership of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and the Communist Party of Macedonia (CPY/CPM). It was from these fighters that, in Skopje on April 23, 1945, the organization NOF was formed under the initiative of the CPY/CPM and sent to organize the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia in preparation for a new conflict - the Greek Civil War. From the day it was formed to the day it was handed over to the CPG as part of the so-called “brotherhood and unity” formation, NOF acted under CPM/CPY directives. After that it was placed under CPG command until it was disbanded. NOF never acted independently. The NOF organizational leadership, named in the documents as the “NOF Main Board” or the “NOF Senior Leadership”, was made up of six members that included Paskal Mitrevski, Giorgi Urdov-Dzhodzho, Atanas Koroveshovski, Mihailo Keramitdzhiev, Pavle Rakovski and Mincho Fotev. The leadership was appointed on May 21, 1945 in Skopje, in the “Matsura” building on “Ortse Nikolov” street. Paskal Mitrevski was appointed Political Secretary. different from any other liberation organization in the world that participated in a war? NOF was never allowed to act independently. But when it came to placing blame, NOF and the Macedonian fighters paid the heaviest price. What was worst than that was the truth was never told... There are some who still say the Macedonians fought heroic battles and should be seen as “patriots who died for their homeland…!” Whose homeland? The Macedonian in Greece lost their homeland… The truth is that it was the Greeks who turned out to be the heroes because, as the Greek state claims, they convinced us to fight and win Macedonia for them. The Greeks led the war… Every commander who led us and participated with us in the Greek Civil War was Greek. Those Greeks who commanded us during the war turned out to be great patriots to make us fight and die for their homeland so that Macedonia would remain Greek. Isn’t that what General Marcos solemnly declared in Athens. 10

Atanas Koroveshovski was made responsible for military affairs. Mincho Fotev was appointed Secretary of NOMS and SKOJ. The NOF leadership functioned under the body of the CPM (Communist Party of Macedonia). During NOF’s constitutive meeting, discussions took place to determine responsibilities for the various organs and functions of people’s Boards as well as the responsibilities of the AFZH Secretary. However, the answers to these questions were deferred to the next meeting. After NOF was established, British and American agents in Greece initiated a strong propaganda campaign in support of Vancho Mihailov, creating an autonomist movement under the slogan “united and independent Macedonia”. Their real goal was to create spy and sabotage centers to combat the people’s liberation movement in Greek occupied Macedonia and to work against the People’s Republic of Macedonia with “espionage and subversive activities against the people’s democratic Balkan countries, but primarily against the SFRY”.

10 After the battle for Gramos was fought in 1948, Zahariadis suspended Markos Vafiadis and sent him into exile in the city Penza in the USSR. When the great general and strategist as he liked to be called, returned to Greece from the USSR, he was welcomed at Athens airport by General Shakalotos a Greek government army officer who welcomed him as an honored Greek. In an interview with Greek journalists, Vafiadis was asked: “What was the main benefit of the Greek Civil War?” He said: “The eradication of the Slavo-Macedonians from Northern Greece…” During the Greek Civil War Markos Vafiadis, a tobacco worker was the Macedonian people’s legendary general to whom the Macedonian fighters entrusted their freedom and the Macedonian people’s rights. But what is even more humiliating than that is that, fifty years later, our historiography still claims that we the Macedonians, especially NOF, were a military and political factor in this war and that the Greek Civil War for us Macedonians was a continuation of Ilinden’s ideals, goals and traditions for the unification of Macedonia.

This truly was a tragedy…

8. The ideological offensive with its cosmopolitanism (against the Macedonian national consciousness) terribly shook the Macedonian people at the core

Even worst that that, incomprehensible even to this day, is how we Macedonians, participants in the ranks of ELAS, followed Greek orders to destroy Macedonian units 11 which were truly fighting to protect our people and preserve our Macedonian identity. We actually participate in the destruction of a compact unit, organized by 64 Kostur Region villages, 12 with more than 9,800 armed

11 After the CPG formed its resistance army called ELAS, it began to disband the Macedonian armed groups in the mountains and made every effort to incorporate them into ELAS. Those who refused were attacked and disbanded by force. When it amassed enough of a fighting force ELAS began to attack the fascist gangs and the Macedonian bands in Kostur Region but without success. They were simply too powerful. The CPG needed a better plan, especially against the Macedonian bands in Kostur Region, so with Yugoslav help, it came up with the idea of forming a Macedonian organization called Slavo-Macedonian National Liberation Front (SNOF) and its military wing Slavo-Macedonian National Liberation Army (SNOV). The idea behind SNOF was to have the Macedonians fight it out – Macedonians fighting Macedonians - and get the Kostur Region bands to surrender. The plan worked. All the Macedonian bands in the villages, one by one, surrendered their arms and joined SNOF. SNOF’s peaceful tactics of persuasion and its agitation through the Macedonian language press contributed a great deal to not only the surrender of arms but also in convincing members of these bands to join SNOF and even ELAS. After that SNOF was abruptly dissolved and SNOV was disbanded and its fighters were absorbed by ELAS. In other words, SNOF, regardless of what the Macedonian people were told or thought of it, was nothing more than a communist weapon concocted by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) and by the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) to destroy the Kostur Region Macedonian bands.