NOF, AFZH AND NOMS SLOGANS

NOF, AFZH AND NOMS SLOGANS

NOF, AFZH and NOMS created a militant movement as early as November 22, 1945, that’s one year before the Greek Civil War was officially declared in Greece:

Slogan of the NOF anti-fascist organization:

“No Macedonian should be left outside of NOF, the anti-fascist organization.

Only this way we will be able to destroy fascism and get our rights and the right to full self-determination.”

Slogan of the AFZH anti-fascist organization:

“All forward! All Macedonian women join the Anti-Fascist Women’s Front (AFZH) for the complete destruction of fascism, for our freedom and for our rights.”

(NOTE: The entire world knew that on May 9, 1945, the Fascists lost the war and fascism was declared dead. Unfortunately it seems

that our NOF Macedonian leadership somehow missed that, and as per their slogans, continued to fight against the Fascists sending our good Macedonian sons and daughters, villagers from Kostur, Lerin, Voden Regions, etc. who endlessly trusted them, to their death. If the Greek leadership used such slogans, no Macedonian would have entered that war).

The Macedonian people knew exactly who the NOF leaders were. They were the people who made them euphorically happy, they promised them what the earned for centuries; freedom from slavery! The NOF leaders were worthy people and I respect them, because their delusion was beautiful, but it was a delusion. Their delusion was beautiful, they loved their people, there was nothing more beautiful than that, but they did the right thing the wrong way. As a result they destroyed the people that they loved: they made them sacrifice themselves, deprived them of their children, made them homeless and threw them out of their homes with no chance of ever returning. In the end our NOF and AFZ leaders were blamed for loosing the war and were sent to the prisons in the Siberian tundra.

Before the Greek Civil War started the Macedonian people were terrorized, persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and forced to flee the country. All this was done by the Greek government and by some Greek communists in order to spur them to join NOF and fight. This was the state the Macedonian people found themselves in before they massively participated in this dreadful war and were crushed. Tragically this is what the NOF and AFZ leaders and activists called “the continuation of Ilinden” (Ilinden Uprising).

There is a saying: “For someone to believe in me I have to say something that I believe in.” So the question is: why did the NOF and AFZH leaderships trust these foreigners (CPY/CPG) so much?! Why did they believe they could win this war under the given circumstances and with unclear Macedonian goals? Another question is: Why did the Macedonian people trust NOF and AFZ, and not the CPG? This question can easily answered, that is: “Because the people leading NOF and AFZH were Macedonians and those leading the CPG were not.” And because they were Macedonian the people believed them. And, like I said before, NOF and AFZH offered them what they wanted: “To be free as

Macedonians!” Unfortunately what these poor Macedonians did not know was that the architects of this entire fiasco were foreigners (CPY/CPG) with entirely different goals in mind. And, as it turned out, they wanted to get rid of the Macedonian from Greece...

No one has ever openly and publicly said that they “wanted to get rid of the Macedonians from Greece”. That however, was the end result, the outcome of this war. The Greek government prepared laws in advance to not allow the Macedonians to return, after they crossed over the Greek border. After the Greek Civil War ended when people started asking “what happened” the Greek government and the CPG openly said: “Tito had territorial claims on Greece (ibid., p. 205), and was attempting to annex Aegean Macedonia with NOF’s help.” (ibid. v. 271).

REVISION OF CONSCIOUSNESS

A statement that Tito made in Moscow on April 26, 1945, may have given the Greeks reasons to suspect that Yugoslavia was making claims on Greek territory. On April 26, 1945, during his stay in Moscow, Marshal Tito gave a statement to the “New York Times” in which he said: “If the Macedonians from the Greek areas express a desire to unite with other Macedonians, Yugoslavia will respect their wishes…”

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Interview:

“With a pure heart and a clear conscience…”

During an interview entitled “With a pure heart and a clear conscience”, conducted by journalist Jovan Pavlovski and published by the weekly magazine “Start” (year 2, no. 62, p. 21), this is what, among other things, Lazar Kolishevski 28 said:

28 Based on the decision made on October 14, 1946, by Tito and Zahariadis, the CPY, represented by Karaivanov, and the CPG, represented by Ioannidis, reached the following agreement: “The entire leadership heading the Macedonian organizations NOF, AFZH and NOMS was to be taken from the CPY and subordinated to the CPG, and NOF’s armed units were to be placed under the START: “Speaking of Rankovich: His name is closely associated with the aid that Yugoslavia provided to the Greek partisans in 1945, after the end of the Second World War. And it is well known that among the Greek partisans there was a large number of Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia.”

KOLISHEVSKI: “Little has been said about it in authentic sources. Perhaps this will be the first time more can be said so I want to say that it was about the survival of the Aegean Macedonians, who were threatened with expulsion, so we advocated for the formation of party organizations and partisan detachments there, in Aegean Macedonia. Together with Rankovich and a few generals, we led that action under extreme discretion. Yes, we established a Provincial Committee and armed formations for the defense of the villages in Aegean Macedonia. We supplied weapons to the partisans and took care of their wounded. We fed them, we clothed them, we armed them, and we trucked them over to this side of the border. Objectively, they waged a war in 1946 under very favourable conditions: we gave them everything that we, as partisans, lacked in the war. I will tell you a short story, which I have not told anyone before. During the first year after our victory (after WW II), Kidrich managed the Yugoslav economy, and, within that framework, he was responsible for feeding the people in this country. He was an excellent mathematician and he couldn’t help but notice that I constantly asked him for food for Macedonia, more than what was allocated for us. We gave the surplus to the Macedonians in Aegean Macedonia. Kidrich kept getting angry at my constant requests for more food, but he was diplomatic about it. One day he said: “Please Lazo, how many Macedonians are there in Macedonia that you have to constantly ask for more food…?!” I became uncomfortable, so I spoke to Rankovich and asked him if we should tell Kidrich our secret? Rankovich agreed that we should. And when we told him what it was all about, he accepted our secret

command of General Markos. Some time after this agreement was finalized, Lazar Kolishevski, CPM Central Committee Secretary, invited the entire NOF Main Board, headed by Pascal Mitrevski, to his office and, among other things, told them the following: “Now you go down there (to Aegean Macedonia), the CPG will lead your fight. The CPG’s line is correct. Have confidence in the CPG. Fight with all available forces against chauvinism, separatism and local tendencies...” with a laugh and did not complain when he was subsequently asked for more flour and other kind of supplies. After we explained to him what was happening he gave me a kiss. The group that supplied the Macedonian and Greek partisans was headed by General Jovo Kapichich.”

Given what Kolishevski and the generals were doing shows that this war was dirty war for the Macedonian people in Greece and confirms that NOF was misled by foreign goals and interests led by the JNA military General Staff and by the CPY.

Now let us get acquainted with Kolishevski and his take in all this:

“...The question about Macedonia’s unification was brought up again in the months immediately before Federal Macedonia’s constitution was adopted. This was during the time when the Paris Peace Conference was taking place. Regarding the First Congress of the People’s Front for Macedonia, held from August 2 to 4, 1946, the Foreign Office was notified on August 13, 1946. According to a report, the following people were present at the Congress: Kolishevski, President of the People’s Republic of Macedonia and Secretary of the territorial board of the People’s Front for Macedonia, M. Neshkovich, President of the Serbian Government, Frane Frol, Minister of Justice of the Federal Government, a delegation from Pirin Macedonia headed by Krsto Stojchev, a delegate from the Bulgarian Assembly, delegates from Greece (or Aegean Macedonia as they called it) and Eugene Laurenti, a delegate from Trieste. This Congress was special because it spelled out the “Macedonian people’s desire to be free and united in the Republic of Macedonia within the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia.” However, this idea could only be realized if cultural ties were created between the people of Pirin Macedonia and those of the Republic of Macedonia. But such conditions were not created. In other words the “idea of unification”, was not publicly promoted in the Republic of Macedonia. I.e. ‘little to almost none was publicity said in Yugoslavia about such unification until the Manifesto appeared’. At the same time ‘the attitude towards Greek Macedonia was uncertain and was something more than platonic sympathy’. From this it was clear that something was floating in the air…”

In his speech he gave in Bitola, Kolishevski opposed the idea of a united and independent Macedonia outside the borders of Yugoslavia or under a protectorate of the Great Powers. According to Kolishevski, that would represent “the destruction of the current Macedonian federal unit…” (See: T. Chepreganov, 1997/152).

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This however was viewed as NOF threatening Greece’s territorial integrity which prompted the Greeks living in Macedonia and in all of Greece to fight against NOF, to save their Greek Macedonia.

So when NOF appeared in Greece hell broke loose in that region which created a gray zone, a dangerous place to live and a field for military-strategic competition between ideologies for other people’s goals.

If we analyze this unfavorable situation a bit more, especially from the point of view of national interest, no one in their right mind would have taken up arms at that time, especially not the non-violent Macedonian people. But, led by the CPM/CPY, NOF did take up arms. The Greek Civil War was an illogical war for the Macedonian peoples so why did NOF get involved and why did it mobilize the entire Macedonian population in Greece? WHY?!! How did NOF think it could achieve success?

Everyone who has suffered in that war has asked the question WHY?!

IT SHOULD BE WELL UNDERSTOOD THAT NOF WAS CREATED AND ORGANIZED BY THE CPM/CPY AND THE MACEDONIAN PEOPLE WERE ITS VICTIMS WHO SACREFICED THEMSELVES FIGHTING FOR OTHER PEOPLE’S INTERESTS

First: NOF, AFZH and NOMS were created on April 23, 1945 by the CPM Central Committee in Skopje and were managed by the CPM/CPY until November 1946. Their program goals were to win the national rights and the right to self-determination for the

Macedonian people living in Greece. (See: Kirjazovski Risto, 1966/181 and Rakovski Pavle, 1990/199).

Historian Lazar Lazarov (1998/62) has also made references to reports that Gérard Raoul Duval, French consul general in Solun, sent to the French government on September 26, 1945, in which he said the following:

“...The headquarters of the NOF organization is located in Skopje, on Yugoslav territory... but it seems to me that the propaganda spread by NOF to the Slavophones deals with the idea of an autonomous Macedonia, and the Yugoslav government controls this organization and sees Greek Macedonia as own part of the Yugoslav territory...” (p. 62).

According to historian Vanche Stojchev (see: featurette “The forces that prevented the unification of Macedonia” (N. M. of 8. 9. 2001): “...A founding bureau for the People’s Liberation Front (NOF for Aegean Macedonia) was constituted in Skopje on April 23, 1945, on the initiative of the CPM. This bureau was headed by the CPM Central Committee. The main task of this Macedonian organization was to stand at the head and lead the struggle of the Macedonian people in the Aegean part of Macedonia. The composition of NOF included NOMS and AFZH. All their members were transferred to the Aegean part of Macedonia. The presence of NOF was immediately rejected by the monarcho-fascist and British forces. The presence of NOF was also rejected by the CPG Central Committee and by EAM who declared it a threat to the territorial integrity of Greece. The Macedonian people gave NOF their support in the struggle however NOF failed to establish itself as a governing body. The CPY and CPG were also unable to provide significant assistance to the Macedonians in the Aegean part of Macedonia, while the CPG protected Greek interests. Tito’s statement to the ‘New York Times’ if ‘Macedonians from the Greek areas express a desire to unite with other Macedonians, Yugoslavia will respect their wishes...’ acted as stimulus for the Macedonian people and for the CPM Central Committee to act. This also acted as stimulus for the opposing forces in Greece which took criminal measures against NOF and the Macedonian forces in Greece...”

As a result the Macedonian people in Greece became victims in a war that should have never taken place. Given the international situation at the time, there was absolutely no external or internal support for the Macedonians fighting for their rights in the way they did. So getting involved in the Greek Civil War was pure illusion. But the question that still remains unanswered is why did NOF get into this situation? Better still why did Tito and the CPY support this venture? Perhaps the answer lies in the results of what happed at the end; the Macedonians became victims of the CPY and the CPG and lost everything. We Macedonian may have not understood what we were doing but the CPY and the CPG surely did. So, why did they lead us into a destructive path of no return?

When NOF was created the CPM/CPY was not at war with anyone and NOF operated outside and independently of the CPG. It was managed by the CPM/CPY (See: Kirjazovski 1995/10). So why did the CPM/CPY create NOF?

On top of that, there is no doubt that NOF’s (CPM/CPY) optimal goal was to induct all Macedonians living in Greece into the war. Why all of the Macedonians? If the CPM/CPY wanted NOF to “win the national rights and the right to self-determination for the Macedonian people living in Greece” then why didn’t it do that not too long ago when the Macedonian people wanted to fight in Solun and not in Srem. Why was the top Yugoslav leadership against the slogan: “Let’s turn our weapons towards Solun”, that is: “On to Solun and not to the Srem Front?!”

Following CPM/CPY strategic goals, NOF, AFZH and NOMS established themselves in 5 districts, 10 sub-districts, 3 cities and 32 regional leaderships. There were 120 professional cadres in 220 villages (half of these villages were completely destroyed during the Greek Civil War) of which 170 had functioning organizations. Military formations were also created - up to battalions. (See: Kirjazovski 1985/143).

From a historical point of view, WW II ended with the defeat of fascism, unfortunately, it seems no one told the Macedonian leaderships in NOF and AFZH, as they continued to use anti-fascist slogans in their rhetoric and propaganda before and during the

Greek Civil War. That, and the fact that NOF and AFZH took up arms inside Greece gave the Greek government reason to not only attack NOF but to pass laws to get rid of the Macedonians, once and for all. Even though there were Greeks involved on the partisan side of the Greek Civil War, these laws only applied to Macedonians. This however, was nothing new. The Greek government used violence and unprecedented terror against the Macedonians even before the Greek Civil War had started. This terror was intensified after February 12, 1946, after the CPG held its Second Plenum during which it decided to raise arms, but the actual Greek Civil War was not officially declared until March 31, 1946.

The ratio between the forces of the left and the right at the time when the decision to start the armed struggle was made was as follows:

The Greek Government forces were composed of 44 battalions. The National Guard consisted of a total of 30,000 fighters. There were 8,800 officers and soldiers from the hill army brigades. The Gendarmerie was the first state military force to be reorganized in the spring of 1946. It then numbered 27,000 soldiers, of whom 14,000 were in Northern Greece (in Macedonia: Kostur, Lerin, Voden, etc.) In addition to the regular units and the paramilitary and military formations, there were also units such as the MAI (units that protected the interior), MAD (persecution units) with about 35,000 soldiers. All of them were under the command of experienced army officers. At the same time, there were about 166 armed terrorist gangs operating throughout Greece, organized and directed by the extreme political right.

THE ATTITUDE OF THE WESTERN POWERS WAS CLEAR, BUT THE SOVIET ATTITUDE (STALIN) WAS STRANGE: “LET THEM MEDDLE IN CAPITALIST AFFAIRS” AND SUPPORT THEM – BUT WITH JUST WORDS. YUGOSLAVIA, ON THE OTHER HAND, POSSESSED A DOUBLE POLICY -PUBLIC, WHICH RESPECTED THE INTEGRITY OF GREECE AND PRIVATE (SECRET) – PREPARE THE MACEDONIANS IN THE AEGEAN PART OF MACEDONIA FOR AN ARMED STRUGGLE.

So, in short, the unjust order, imposed in Yalta, was followed by a disorder, also cruel and no doubt even bloodier for us Macedonians living in Greece, who found ourselves divided into four states. The idea of “world communism” was emptier in meaning than ever before, and it is astonishing to ascertain that in the face of all this helplessness. But, after the Second World War, for us the ideological propaganda, successfully waged by the “foreigners” who led us did its job – we trusted our “strategists” without question.

CPG and Greek government reaction to NOF’s establishment

How did the left forces in Greece react to the creation of NOF, AFZH and NOMS, by Yugoslavia in Skopje?

This is what the CPG Central Committee proclaimed during its 12th Plenum, which took place two months after the founding of these organizations:

“We resolutely oppose any territorial claim from any side against Greece. Preservation of the Greek state territorial integrity is the primary task of every Greek patriot…” (TO KKE AP TO 1931-1952, p. 110).

WHO WERE THE IDIOLOGICAL LEADERS OF THE GREEK CIVIL WAR (1945-1949) AND DID WE MACEDONIANS PARTICIPATE IN CREATING CPG POLICIES?

It has been said that 123 delegated attended the CPG 7th Congress, held on October 1, 1945, of whom the majority belonged to the labour parties and the agricultural peasant party.

At this time there was a change in the Central Committee and Politburo Party leadership. Most of the people who took over were young Party cadres in their 30’s. CPG General Secretary Zahariadis was only forty-two years old at the time.

The CPG Central Committee composition consisted of the following people:

1. Permanent members (30)

Anastasiadis Stergios, Arambadzis Nikos, Vasiliadis Aristos, Vutusianos Michos, Vafiadis Markos, Vlandas Dimitris, Grios Apostolos, Eritriadis Giorgis, Zaguridzis Nikos, Zaharatos Miltiadis, Zahariadis Nikos, Zevgos Giannis, Zografos Zisis, Ioannidis Giannis, Katsavras Vasilis, Markezinis Vasilis, Mavromatis Panagiotis, Mouzenidis Adam, Bargiotas Vasilis, Blandas Ahilleas, Parsalidis Michos, Plumbidis Nikos, Porphirogenis Miltiadis,

Rousos Petros, Siantos Giorgis, Soukaras Sotiris, Stringos Leonidas, Titilos Giorgis, Hadzivasiliou Hrousa, Hadhis Thanasis.

2. Candidates for permanent membership (15)

Vazvanas Vangelis, Vetas Vikos, Vontissios Giorgis, Giftodimos Kostas, Dimitriou Giorgis, Theos Kostas, Kapeta Allegra, Katou Rodi, Koligianis Kostas, Loules Kostas, Makridis Theodoros, Maharaopoulos Hristos, Partsalidis Avra, Roumeliotis Nikos, Tsianis Mihalis.

3. Composition of the central control commission (5)

Danialidis Polidoros, Karagkitsis Pantelis, Paparigas Michos, Sinakos Mihalis, Farmakis Kostas.

One day after the November 7, 1945, 7th Congress ended the First Plenum was convened during which the CPG Central Committee Political Bureau was constituted. The following people were elected:

1. Permanent members (7)

Sianthos Giorgis, Zahariadis Nikos, Ioannidis Giannis, Hadzivasiliou Hrisa, Partsalidis Michos, Bargiotas Vasilis, Petridis Tasos (Anastasiadis Stergios).

2. Candidates for permanent membership (3)

Stringos Leonidas, Zevgos Giannis, Roussos Petros.

In terms of age in the ten-year period (1940 to 1949) the CPG was represented by a body of quite young people.

The age groups at the 7th Congress were as follows:

20-30 years 73 representatives 31-40 years 100 representatives 41-50 years 46 representatives

Note: This means that Macedonians were not a political or military factor. (Not a single name belonged to a Macedonian in the above lists).

See: ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟΥ ΕΜΦΥΛΙΟΥ ΠΟΛΕΜΟΥ 1946-1949 τομος 1 ΓΙΩΡΓΟΣ ΜΑΡΓΑΡΙΤΗΣ, 2001, στρ. 136

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Overview: CHRONOLOGY OF MAJOR EVENTS IN 1945

Date

12.02.1945

23.04.1945

26.04.1945

Description of events or documents

An agreement was signed in Varkiza, a resort located near Athens, between the CPG and EAM resistance movement leadership on one side and the Plastiras Government and British General Scobie on the other. With that agreement, Greek command was subordinated to the British in the Middle East. (On February 12, 1945). EAM and ELAS practically handed over power to the political right.

NOF, AFZH and NOMS were created in Skopje in the CPM Central Committee premises. From their formation until the so-called “Brotherhood and Unity” was established between NOF and the CPG, NOF acted according to CPM/CPY directives. After that NOF acted under CPG directives until it was disbanded.

In Moscow, Marshal Tito gave a statement to the “New York Times” in which he said: “If the Macedonians from the Greek areas express a desire to unite with other Macedonians, Yugoslavia will respect their wishes.”

NOF for Voden held a District Conference on June 20, 1945, near Voden, Aegean Macedonia which was attended by 125 delegates from the city and from the surrounding villages. Pavle Rakovski, member of the Main NOF leadership, submitted a report regarding the ideological content of the struggle and how it was doing. Vangel Ajnovski – OCHE, NOF District Secretary, submitted a report on the financial situation. Among other things, the delegates demanded that the village civil guards terrorizing the villages be liquidated. (NM/94)

28.06.1945

29.06.1945

1945

07.07.1945

18.07.1945

The CPG Central Committee during its 12th Plenum decided that: “NOF, with its rapid growth and its military formations, is dangerously threatening the Greek character of Macedonia; Greek positions, Greek interests and the territorial integrity of the Greek state”.

PROCLAMATION signed by the Voden Region CPG District Committee, by CPG members and by some people in Voden Region, condemning NOF.

The Greek legislature passes laws against the organizations NOF, AFZH and NOMS. LAW 543/45: “Against the organization NOF and the persons who act for the secession of Greek territories”.

LAW number 453 and LAW TOD:/45 “For order, peace and justice”. “For ensuring public safety.”

LAW CC 43: “Against autonomist activities”. By this law NOF, AFZH and

NOMS were declared autonomist, and were placed outside the Law. Their members were declared bandits and tried for High Treason.

20.07.1945

20.07.1945

16.12.1945