BROTHERHOOD UNITY - Part 04

It was announced that a letter from Mihail Keramitchiev and Ilia Dimovski – Gotse, dated June 2nd, 1949, had arrived for Zahariadis at the headquarters of the CPG (Communist Party of Greece) Central Committee in Mala Prespa. It took ten days for the letter to arrive. Zahariadis was expecting the letter, but not what it had to say. After reading it he called a meeting with his closest associates and read the letter out loud to them. He then made comments about each item he had read, emphasizing that everything in the letter was a slanderous lie and that the entire letter was directed against the Party. He then concluded that the authors of the letter should be strongly condemned. “Comrades what do you think?” he asked. “I, comrades,” offered Vlandas, “fully support comrade Zahariadis. The letter is not only directed against our Party but it is also slanderous against our democratic movement and the struggle we are leading.” “We should call an emergency meeting with the Central Committee,” proposed Porphirogenis, “and decide…” “Call a session with the Central Committee,” interrupted Partsalidis, “such disgusting slander cannot remain without a very strong response.” “Comrades, there is no need for this to be discussed by the Central Committee,” interrupted Zahariadis. “We don’t need to give it importance, significance and weight or debate with the Central Committee the lies these traitors and deserters are spreading. I propose that we make the contents of the letter known to the Macedonians. Let the Slavo-Macedonian Cadres of NOF (People’s Liberation Front), AFZH (Women’s Anti-Fascist Front), the Commanders of DAG (Democratic Army of Greece) and the seven or eight members of KOEM (Communist Organization of Aegean Macedonia) know what’s in the letter. Nearly all of them are familiar with Keramitchiev and Gotse. After all, they founded NOF and AFZH together. Let us invite them to a meeting and familiarize them with the contents of the letter and let them condemn these traitors and deserters who wrote this slander. We will help them with the condemnation by giving them intellectual and moral support. In fact, to make it easier for them to condemn these traitors, we will write a resolution for them and have them sign it. Afterwards we will make the resolution public by announcing it over the radio and publishing it in the newspapers…” Even though the cave, located between the village Nivitsi and Orovo, was too small to fit the 45 or so KOEM activists, DAG political representatives and Unit Commanders, it was chosen as the place to hold the meeting. They all knew they would be meeting with Zahariadis so some felt satisfied, thankful and proud to have the rare privilege to meet the legend of their own creation. The strong grip of the hand and the cheerful smile were all indications of such sentiments. Others, on the other hand, received the news with some suspicion. In any case, almost everyone either knew everyone else or had heard of them. The cave was buzzing with conversation thundering through the grove. Two lamps giving off pale light made the inside of the cave visible as guests began to arrive. Two people from security services were doing their rounds checking everyone. There was a faint smell of mold inside the cave and a huge portrait of Stalin hung on the front wall. There was only one table in the place, covered with a red tablecloth, and beside it were four chairs. There were however many benches made of rough cut boards. Zahariadis, Portsalidis, Vlandas and Bardzotas entered the cave at a quick pace and took their place at the table. Everyone stood up and the place went silent as people looked at each other. A fly was heard buzzing in the cave when suddenly a loud voice thundered in the middle of the cave calling out: “Long live comrade Zahariadis!” It was Vera. Zahariadis stood up, raised his arm and threw a sharp glance at everyone. They understood the look – the meeting was not a rally. There was silence. Then there was anticipation.

The laughter died out and so did the smiles from people’s faces. Now there was only the worm of doubt scratching. Vera stood wide-eyed, frozen with her mouth gaping wide open. The awkwardness was interrupted by Zahariadis who first started speaking quietly and later raised his voice. “This acting body of KOEM is assembled here under the initiative of the CPG Central Committee Politburo. The reason for the assembly is a letter sent to us by the traitors and deserters Gotse, Dimakovski and Keramitchiev. We will familiarize you with the letter to which we will need to respond. The CPG Central Committee has proposed a resolution for the traitors Gotse and Keramitchiev with which you need to become familiar and adopt. Among those present I don’t believe there is anyone who does not know Gotse or Mihali. That’s right Mihali is what they called Keramitchiev; Mihali from Gabresh and Gotse from Statitsa, both from Kostur Region, now living in Skopje.” Perched at the head of the table, with his certain gaze, Zahariadis had everyone under his control. It was as if he had caught them in his spider web. No one dared to even move, not even breathe loudly. Only the damn fly could be heard buzzing and buzzing and buzzing as it flew around inside the cave… They thought, as he stood before them looking over them with that piercingly menacing look, what had happened to those peaceful, familiar smiling eyes they had seen of him in so many of his photographs? On top of that they were also bewildered as to why he did not greet them with the familiar “comrades”… “Your conference today,” echoed Zahariadis’s voice inside the cave, “extends the circle of aspiration of the Macedonian people towards their struggle and their liberation…” He paused for a second to tell everyone that those who wanted could take notes. Kole quickly opened his officer’s briefcase, took out a notebook, leaned over to the person next to him and quietly whispered: “What is the date today?” “June 12th…” he whispered back with a terrified sounding voice. “The formation of the Communist Organization of Aegean Macedonia (KOEM),” continued Zahariadis, “was a serious, decisive and definite step in the struggle. KOEM was created in a time full of hope and at the same time full of difficulties. With Tito’s betrayal the people of Aegean Macedonia experienced strong fears, much stronger than those of the Greek people. With this betrayal some hopes and dreams collapsed and KOEM is now going over the ruins to fix them and to build new buildings which will result in the creation of a multitude of hopes. Before KOEM’s formation our difficulties with the struggle were great, but in some respects we can say that these difficulties have prompted the formation of KOEM. Here we should also mention that with the creation of KOEM we cleared up some old accounts. The Macedonian nation was created, developed and cast off with its own national revolutionary mission, traveling a hard road and breaking barriers such as the Ilinden Uprising, whose anniversary we celebrate to this day. The aim of all these necessary historic struggles is to create a free People’s Republic of Macedonia which will follow the road of socialism and communism. In a historical reversal of this history the Macedonian nation found itself without a helmsman. Our movement, even before the occupation and to some degree the serious difficulties experienced, is to blame for that. And now the question is, ‘why doesn’t this leadership have a helmsman?’ Well, because we have had external interference in the people of Aegean Macedonia’s national democratic movement development processes. We have had external interference from Tito’s opportunistic and chauvinist clique, which explains the absence of a helmsman. The Macedonian people followed the road to their revolutionary development together with the Greek working people led by the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) and with all the mistakes made and weaknesses experienced in the past, we had much success in establishing proper policies that took root in the Macedonian people.

Our alliance with the Macedonian people is necessary for the successful execution of the revolution, for victory and for the creation of a People’s Republic in our country. This way our movement won the missions on the road to victory. But, the movement in our country because of economic, political, geographic and military reasons encountered certain specific difficulties, especially during and after the Second World War, which needed to be evaluated and removed. The Red Army liberated South-Eastern Europe and the Balkans, but the English entered our country. That, for us, was the main difficulty. The various conditions which existed, emphasizing particularly the relations between the powers in the Second World War and afterwards, increased our specific difficulties creating a need for another resistance. These difficulties were used by imperialism. But, outside of them, new ones appeared for which the Macedonian sector KOEM will play a big role to overcome. So, what happened? We need to reply clearly. The problems appeared when our two nations were fighting. Tito and his nationalist, chauvinist program undermined and broke our unity. He used the party cell of the Macedonian People’s leadership and from it he created his own authority and without doubt broke the national democratic movement in Greece. That which the Anglo-Americans were doing before, Tito is doing today. He strives to secure a base in South-Eastern Europe. We can conclude from this that Tito’s work evidently began in 1943. But here only now he is clearly revealed as an Anglo-American authority and bearer of their goals in South-Eastern Europe working against the Soviet Union. Under the guise of communism, Tito was posing as a friend which had a decisive influence on the leadership of the Macedonian people’s struggle. Tito strove to place his own chauvinistic policies in NOF in order to bring it under his own authority and to lead it into splinter… The truth is that you were not the only guilty party in the 1944 split. The CPG is also guilty. It truly was a mistake, but Gotse had no right, on account of some of our mistakes, to take the army and leave for Yugoslavia. You needed to think like communists and fight in the ranks of the CPG. In the past, however, the NOF leadership failed to meet its set duties, it did not make any effort to organize its work to systematically begin to address the implementation of tasks for a comprehensive assistance of DAG, especially in recruiting men and women for DAG, food and other assistance, transfer of weapons and wounded, etc. NOF not only did not make any progress in its massive political and ideological work, it primarily invested its energy in dealing with fractious issues such as the rivalry between Keramitchiev and Mitrovski struggling for a higher position in the leadership, which resulted in organizational stratification. The fractious struggle that erupted between the leading Cadres of NOF – Mihailo Keramitchiev and Paskal Mitrovski, led to a split in the leadership of NOF. The leadership became divided into two opposing groups which is a reflection of how the Slavo-Macedonian nation is leading the struggle. This is a reflection of its character and awareness and of the authority of the CPG. And in place of NOF taking a firm line, it busied itself with internal strife, quarrels and reciprocal slandering. To sort out its problems, NOF solicited assistance for help and advice from the outside with which it became a spy-ring impeding the implementation of the CPG line the result of which caused trouble and inflicted damage on the general democratic movement in the country. But even after NOF came under the leadership of the CPG, it continued its links with the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. You were not honest towards the CPG and you did not help it. They worked in Aegean Macedonia and still had connections to three spy rings – one with OZNA (People’s Security Agency), another in the Information Service and a third with Kolishevski, which controlled the remaining spy rings.

Today these imperialistic and chauvinistic aspirations of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) have been uncovered and for that we have the documents in our hands. Zevgos’s assassin was an agent of OZNA who passed through Skopje. All agents submitted written statements. When last year we imprisoned two agents in Prespa and asked the CPY if they were its people so that we could free them, the CPY said no, so we executed them. That was the end of the agents. The CPY uses you and at the end sacrifices you. The Party, on the other hand, wants to help you and save you. Terminate all connections with the CPY and pull yourselves away ideologically. The CPY has connected itself to the imperialists and has turned against the Soviet Union and the people’s republics. Today those communists who have openly expressed support for the Inform Bureau have been thrown into prison where they are tortured and destroyed. If any of the prisoners sign a statement against the Inform Bureau, abandon their convictions and agree with Tito’s line then they are immediately freed. They are using similar tactics to those used by the fascists during the Metaxa era when prisoners were forced to sign political declarations against communism. They wanted to use Markos’s case, for which Piade wrote an article in which he praised Markos, but Markos responded with a letter of his own. The national question is the reserved strength of the struggle. According to the conditions it either gains ground by setting the daily agenda or it is again left behind… The position on self-determination that we adopted was premature because it was adopted before the creation of the conditions. We adopted that position under pressure from the Tito regime. Tito’s agents agitated the Macedonian masses and the masses in turn challenged us with the desertion of Gotse and Keramitchiev. The stand we took caused us a lot of harm. The reaction, based on my attitude, has strengthened their ideological front. In the various camps where various fighters and patriots were imprisoned, the Monarcho-Fascists came and told the prisoners that we sold Macedonia, that we were fighting for foreign interests and as a result many, under pressure, were forced to sign statements against the CPG and DAG. The CPG always, as it is now, is fighting for the freedom of the Macedonian people. The traitors who wrote this letter and had no courage to sign it, are accusing us of supposedly having made some written agreement. Such an agreement with NOF does not exist… Tito did everything against the victory of the People’s Republic of Greece and that’s why he is fighting with such rage against the CPG. His aim is to implement the aggressive Anglo-American policy. The fact that a strong political line exists among the Aegean Macedonians has enabled and has helped his deed…” Zahariadis paused, placed his hands on the table, looked up and stared at everyone with a long, shrewd and untrusting look. He then said: “As I pointed out at the beginning of my speech, the CPG’s Central Committee has prepared a resolution for you to authorize and confirm with your signature. This is your chance to condemn the treacherous role and activities of the deserters, national chauvinists, Tito’s agents and breakers of our unity. On the table you will find the text of the resolution and a list of your names...” rang out his cruel, voracious and authoritative voice. To everyone it seemed like the voice of the leader echoed in the distance, came back and hung over them like a hot, sharp knife spinning over their heads, darkening their cognitive abilities, muddying their awareness and stiffening their thoughts. Kole felt chills all through his body. It seemed to him like he was attacked by an entire ant colony crawling all over his body. He bowed his head low and barely noticeably wiped the sweat from his forehead. In the scorching heat of the night filled with the smell of sweat and mildew, quietly, with a lowered, frowning, muddy look on their faces and with bowed heads, clenched in their tight shoulders, all of them, all forty-five cadres of NOF, AFZH and DAG, who, a few months before were inducted into KOEM, now in front of the leader were feeling very guilty.

They looked helpless in their movements. They dragged their stiff legs towards the table. There was a look of bitterness, alarm, anxiety and endless dismay on their faces… They listened to Zahariadis’s report to the end and not a single one of them said a word. They listened but could not believe what they had heard. In front of them, like thunderbolts in the middle of a storm that came and fell hard and angry, threatening and abusive, cruel and disturbing, were words – some more dangerous than others – threaded one after the other like machine gun bursts. It seemed that he, the leader, had slapped countless blows with both his hands. Staying in line, they obediently approached the table and looked for their name on the list… That day, June 12th, 1949, all forty five invited leaders and activists of NOF, AFZH and KOEM, standing one behind another, signed a pre-prepared resolution. There was silence. Only the creaking of the rotten boards could be heard under the pressure of heavy shoes and military boots. No one looked anyone in the eyes. They exited the cave all sweaty, silent and scared, with their heads bowed. They spit a bitter spit as they inhaled fresh air. A tall and slender man wearing a military uniform without markings leaned over to the man closest to him and whispered: “What shame was this? When I listened to him it felt like he was reading a death sentence and when I signed I thought I had signed that death sentence… What shame, what humiliation…” They separated without saying another word. Missing from the talks were the smiles and the hard grip of hands. It seemed like they were not the same people as yesterday. Only a few of them, stood aside, argued, but up here away from Kole and Krste, where they could not be heard. And those two did not join the others. They tightened their belts, threw their backpacks on their shoulders and left. The security people checked their passes and pointed them in the direction of Vineni. They walked one behind the other until dawn and not a word was exchanged. Further down they took the same narrow and steep rocky path which only yesterday took them up hill, but today perhaps from fatigue or from the long trip or the long day of excitement meeting with the leader, the road seemed to be much steeper. The sleeping waters of small Lake Prespa reflected the dim moonlight of the full moon. The mooing of a cow was heard coming from Sveti Aihil Island. A bird was heard squawking in the coastal reeds. The sky over Mount Bela Voda and beyond, over Lisets, began to take on a pale pink colour. They were in Peroo by the time the sun came up. Here was another checkpoint where they were required to show their pass. By noon they were on the road to Preval. To the left of the road was an oak forest where axes could be heard cutting trees. Uphill were two pairs of oxen pulling a large oak trunk. Further up, on the bare hilltop, the base of a bunker being built could be seen. Fresh trenches were dug to the left and right of it. “They are digging everywhere,” said Kole and after a long sigh he continued, “we have ploughed all the mountains… We have changed their character. They no longer look like our mountains or like trenches, not even like bunkers… They are ugly…” “We did it so that our enemy could not cross Vicho,” Krste responded and continued to walk. Those were the only voices that were heard this far as they came to an intersection on the road, which on the left headed for Zhelevo and on the right for Rulia. They stopped. “Now what?” asked Krste. “Why don’t we rest under that pear tree by the river?” replied Kole. They crossed the road and walked through the meadow to the other side. A few steps later they were in the shadow of the pear tree. They unloaded their backpacks from their shoulders and took their boots off. They dipped their hot and tired feet into the cold mountain water. A hawk appeared high above the forested hills. It flew in circles. They muddied the clear water with their, for who knows how long, unwashed feet as they watched the hawk fly.

“It looks like we have harvested our grapes…” said Kole in a stretched out tone of voice. “What?” asked Krste. “That, which our leader read to us…” replied Kole. “Yes… He scolded us…” said Krste. “Was that appropriate? I swear on my mother’s life I heard what he said but I don’t believe what I heard. I don’t know if you are going to believe me, but the entire time he was speaking, it seemed like he was passing judgment on us and while I was signing my name I thought I was signing a death warrant… Is this not shameful for us, not for you and me specifically, but for our devoted people who have become a burnt offering, to be so harshly accused like that? Did you see how he stared at us? Did you see how much scorn there was in his eyes? Did you see how he was shaking his finger? NOF he said is a spy ring. In other words, all those who lit the fires, who strengthened the spirit, who ignited the coals, who sparked the flames and jumped into them, were all agents? Are we not the ones who went from village to village, from house to house carrying the torch of great hope? Who would he and those around him be if it were not for us?! We and no one else, we and our simple people raised his name, made him great, celebrated him and turned him into a god! Are we not the ones who planted the faith of him into our people and persuaded them to join the struggle on his behalf…? It took great courage to defend Gorusha and Krusha, Nikoler and Amuda, Alevitsa and Charno for seventy days and nights. It took great courage for old men and women, working for two months delivering hundreds of horses and mules loaded with ammunition from Prespa to Gramos during the night. It took great courage to march on a long march from Koreshta, over the Lerin plains to Voden and Negush. It took great courage to engage the enemy in the battle for Lerin… Was it courage or madness?! And what was it that we signed today? And because of it did we not just enter the great descent? And who knows where it will take us? You were not at the Congress in Nivitsi. It took courage for a simple village woman to go on stage and throw a burst of burning questions at Zahariadis. Who, since then, has had the courage to question him?” concluded Kole. “And what did he say, I mean Zahariadis?” inquired Krste. “What did he say? Wait, I have it written down… Ah, here it is. ‘I from here, from this podium,’ he said, ‘promise, I promise to all the Slavo-Macedonian mothers who lost their most beloved children and most solemnly promise that we will win the struggle, we will win it because with these kind of fighters, the kind born of the Slavo-Macedonian people, it is impossible not to win and for certain we will win; I promise you that. I promise you,’ he continued, ‘but my promises will mean nothing if you don't fight and sacrifice yourselves and show examples of courage, self-sacrifice and devotion. Exactly for this reason about a month and a half ago our Party, during its Fifth Plenum, made a decision by which you, the Slavo-Macedonians, as a result of DAG’s victory and the success of the people’s revolution, will earn the right to self-determination, which means you can have your own country in which all Macedonians can unite…’ This is exactly the answer he gave the woman and this is exactly what he told us. And this is why we ripped our throats cheering and calling out slogans and swelled our hands clapping to praise and honour him… And now that I think about it, I constantly ask myself how did this person manage to turn us into a single voice, a single fist and to be used at his will? How did he manage to sow into us such vast, unlimited, unconditional, immeasurable, huge, deep, persistent, unbreakable and blind trust and faith in him before everything, so that when his name is mentioned we feel hope, like being rescued and a sense of security. How did he do that? Do you know?” asked Kole. “I don’t know, but I want to ask you something. You, the activists of NOF and AFZH, all this time, where have you been and where are you now?

And let me ask you, did you ever, at any time, make any decision without his knowledge or approval? Did you ever speak publicly without his knowledge? I did not attend the First or Second NOF Congress but let me ask you, were your articles, speeches, decisions, positions and even the lists of delegates attending the Congress and those NOF delegates being voted in, not personally selected and approved by him? Can you recall, outside of yelling out slogans in his honour, ever doing anything without his knowledge and consent…? Why the silence? So be silent… and save your notebook… Keep writing in it… write some more… maybe someday your notebook will talk back to you…” concluded Krste. There was silence. Only the flow of the crystal clear mountain water could be heard gently rushing down the stream. There was something flying high above the hills but it did not look like a hawk or an eagle. Kole licked his finger and flipped the pages in his oily and dirty notebook. He paused and asked: “Is that what you think? Maybe you are right. We worked along the Party line directives. Do you understand what is meant by ‘party discipline?’ It is more than just an order. Tomorrow they will curse us, not him, for the senseless loss of so much young life, for the burned houses and for the torn up life… We made our people homeless… Do you see how we are divided and some of us have taken his side and argue that he, our leader, is right? He attacked Keramitchiev and silenced Mitrovski. He accused Keramitchiev and protected Mitrevski. Why? What will I, tomorrow, tell the mothers, the wives, the engaged young women? How am I going to explain to them the loss of their most beloved, the burning of their homes, the loss of their livestock, crops and belongings… Yes.. We are standing at a crossroad deprived and divided among us… He finds Tito at fault for his own problems. Yes, today Tito, tomorrow us, we will be the ones at fault. Our entire self-sacrifice and dedication has been tossed in the mud, spat on and stepped on. He has sown the seeds of discord, irritation and loathing and has dug a big divide between us. Dreadful, isolated and ruined we sleep in hatred. And those over there in Skopje, far from hell, did they ever think that this may be the wrong time to write such a letter? Did they ever consider to whom they were writing the letter? Such a letter was not needed just on the eve of the greatest and most fateful battles. Did they make that decision with or without the knowledge of anyone? Was there no one in their right mind to advise them to abstain from sending the letter or to advise them that now was not the right time to write such a letter? Did they not consider the kind of damage it would cause and who was going to suffer the most? Did they give it a thought and were they aware of the consequences and of who was going to be the victim of this ‘great truth’ of theirs and of the allegations they made? Did they not know who they were dancing with? Did they not know who Zahariadis is and who is his teacher? They must have known that such a letter in Zahariadis’s hands would be a knife stuck in the back of our people? They must have known that their letter, in Zahariadis’s hands would be an indictment against the very people on whose behalf the letter was written? Did they not know that they too would be included in these convictions and sentences? Did they not know that even a note of best intentions in the hands of Zahariadis becomes proof of allegations? Once Zahariadis began to speak about the letter with such anger and fury, humiliating our people, I figured there must have been a great deal of truth in it. He told us that he would let us read the letter, familiarize ourselves with its content but did he give it to us? No! Why not? Can you think of anything as to why he did not give it to us? Is it because there is resistance to knowing the truth? This is exactly the kind of letter Zahariadis needed. Exactly with this kind of letter he will justify his own mistakes and look for perpetrators among us.

That’s all Zahariadis, and those he surrounds himself with, will need. We are now at a crossroad. We have now become WE and THEY, quarreling brothers. He smeared us with a lot of filthy words, US here and THEM there, now with a greater conviction and with filthier words we are going to continue to smear one another… Why is it allowed to be this way, to blindly believe without thinking and understanding and to have that same belief passed on and planted into others? Why are we so very obedient… Do you remember, on the way, he, Lazo told us ‘from today on you will listen to Zahariadis, meaning the CPG’. We listened to him all right and look where we are. Others did the judging and we signed the verdict. Did you hear what Zahariadis said, shaking his finger in front of our noses? ‘NOF,’ he said, ‘was a spy ring organization that impeded the implementation of the CPG line… You were not honest towards the CPG and you did not help us…’ Did you hear your wise man say these things? He said he would be creating a Macedonia for us with resolutions and with plenum decisions and even before the ink was dry, he gave up, he changed his mind… Did you hear him?!” Kole raised his voice and looked into Krste’s eyes. “Look, here, I have it written down, exactly what he said right here on this page of my shabby old notebook. ‘History has proven,’ he said, ‘that NOF has had many gaps and deficiencies. In NOF, because it was not led by the Party, there appeared petty bourgeois and chauvinistic tendencies’. And he, Zahariadis, found the solution. The entire Macedonian self-sacrifice he considers a merit of the CPG. Without an ounce of shame he openly says to us ‘so, comrades, our party made a mistake here. Conditions were premature. We made a mistake, but we recognized our mistake,’ he says, ‘and here is our strength, the strength of the Party which recognized its mistakes.’ But do you know why Zahariadis is so mad at Keramitchiev and Gotse? You don’t know? I will tell you… Those two promised him that if they were allowed to go to Skopje they would mobilize around five-thousand Macedonian refugees who had fled Aegean Macedonia and make arrangements to return them. But instead of doing that, they began to criticize the CPG for not acting favourably on the Macedonian question… Zahariadis, of course, has not forgotten this and when he was preparing for the battle of Lerin, he sent Mangovski, Mitrovski and Marika to Skopje, with Porphirogenis in charge, in order to remind them of their obligations and to begin with the mobilization. Of course Keramitchiev and Gotse not only refused to mobilize the refugee Macedonians, but also subjected Zahariadis’s policies to harsh criticism...” “And you, Kole, from where do you know all these things?” asked Krste. “From where? People talk… Marika, the woman that was with them in Skopje, said a few things… she told people how they welcomed them and what they said… Zahariadis was prepared to do everything, to meet all their demands just so that he could get his five thousand new fighters. But as you know he did not get them… There was nowhere for him to get fighters to replace those lost in the Voden, Sobotsko and Lerin battles. And what did he do? He sent the same Porphirogenis to mobilize the children…” concluded Kole. “I have heard about that… They brought ten children to my unit. I returned them to Prespa…” replied Krste. Kole swung his arm and angrily interrupted: “You returned them but they then sent them to Mali-Madi…” “I have heard about that too…” replied Krste. “We have all heard about a lot of things, we heard and hear things and fill our mouths with water… Why? Why do we only listen and… and wait to be complimented? Five days before the start of the NOF Congress in Nivitsi, Bardzotas, one of his shadows, in front of the DAG political commissars for Vicho Region, said: ‘…the Slavo-Macedonian fighters and officers are the best fighters of DAG. They fought and are still fighting heroically. But lately we have had quite a few desertions from the ranks of the Slavo-Macedonians, especially Slovo-Macedonians...’ Did you hear me?

Whack! Not on the forehead but on top of the head… He strokes us with one hand and beats us on the head with the other. And further down he says: ‘What is the reason for the desertions? The great difficulties experienced by the Slavo-Macedonian people. That heroic nation gave it its all; it gave its children, its possessions, its homes. Every house has at least one dead and one wounded and with all that, how can there be no effect on the Slavo-Macedonian people? Those difficulties are used by the enemy and by hostile elements to bring discord…’ And do you know who they are blaming? Listen to what he said further down. I have written exactly what he said. ‘To overcome the difficulties and to comprehend the actions of the hostile elements,’ the person surely was thinking of someone in NOF, ‘we need to expand our political and advisory work between the Slavo-Macedonian fighters and their families. In the last days, the eleventh division undertook a good initiative. It sent a number of its leading cadres to speak at important conferences in the villages,’ more like frighten the people, ‘during which they condemned the slogan “Go to Yugoslavia to save yourselves” and called on the people to fight against the difficulties…’ Well, think about this. They had to tell those heroic best Slavo-Macedonian fighters and officers and their families that they are politically immature… And look what kind of names they labeled us with… Sometimes they call us Macedonians and other times they call us Slavo-Macedonians and even Sloveno-Macedonians… This is not because of ignorance but because of disrespect… And he, Zahariadis, spit in our eyes when he said there was absolutely no agreement between NOF and CPG… There are, there are, but he wants to convince us that there aren’t and we, in the name of Party discipline, will say, of course Comrade Zahariadis, there aren’t any. I however, have written it down in this notebook… here, I found it, I have written that the agreement to join NOF to the CPG took place on October 14, 1946 and on November 21 of the same year NOF together with all Macedonian detachments came under the leadership, meaning under the control of the CPG. And do you know what our people were asking from them? They were asking to be given leadership positions for the leaders of NOF… Not much, only a secretary here, a secretary there and some unit commanders. And what did the CPG do once it took control of NOF? It promised them everything and then it disbanded the Macedonian units. Immediately after that Markos began to send radio-telegrams asking for more and more Macedonian fighters to be sent to Thessaly and Rumeli to help him develop a Partisan movement there. As a result about 1,000 fighters, one unit from the Kostur and Lerin Regions and one unit from Voden Region were ordered to go there. The Macedonian fighters, is understandable, spoke Macedonian and sang Macedonian revolutionary songs. And do you know how they welcomed them? As a foreign army! Rumours began to circulate that foreigners had arrived … The Greek newspapers went wild claiming that Bulgarians had arrived and nothing more was needed for those in Thessaly and Rumeli to flee to the cities. Instead of going to the Partisans these people left for the cities. A lot of damage was done. To stop the exodus the Macedonians were prohibited from speaking Macedonian and singing Macedonian songs. And to the people of Thessaly and Rumeli, they had to explain that the newcomers were Greek Partisans, indigenous to Northern Greece… They should have promptly sent the Macedonians back before something awful happened to them… Zahariadis did the same thing with KOEM. NOF he says, has national liberation aspirations, but lacks communist ideals and communist leadership, with which only the right CPG leadership could bring the Macedonian people to victory… Have you ever heard that?” asked Kole. “Yes, I have heard that…” replied Krste. “I know you have heard it but did you understand what it meant?

And speaking of NOF, let me tell you this: Partsalidis, you know the guy who is now president of the interim government, while feasting on roasted carp in a house in Nivitsi, and while talking about the Second NOF Congress, said to his friends, ‘anyone who sees NOF as an equal to DAG and to the revolutionary movement is a candidate for a psychiatrist...’ Okay now if you are so smart, tell me with whom have we partnered when our own president thinks of us like that? I once heard how General Kikitsas stood up to Vlandas. ‘What do you think,’ said Kikitsas, ‘there would have been a national resistance against the occupier in this part of Macedonia? Or do you think that today, now, there would be a movement? You had best understand that it was those cadres who today have been tainted in the books of the A2 Bureau, exactly those same cadres created the movement here, they are well known and trusted by the people and they also have influence and trust in the people and the fighters. Without them here there would be no resistance in this region and DAG would not exist…’ And you can’t but ask yourself: did they not distinguish us from the newcomers [Christian settlers brought from Turkey in the 1920’s], at home and in school, in church and in the army, and call us like that twenty years ago? Were they not teaching the newcomers to hate and despise us? And now you believe that they are thinking of respecting us? And what if all this fails? Will they not then put the entire blame on us? Or will they like us only until we are useful and then discard us? Blindness… Sometimes I think to myself that blindness is our worst sickness? Or perhaps it’s our mutual put-down and informing on each other? What do you think?” concluded Kole. “I am a military man, my job is to execute orders, not to think,” replied Krste, turning, stretching out his arm and pulling on his backpack. He then took out half a loaf of brown bread and an onion and with his knife opened a can of meat. He cut it into pieces and said: “Help yourself, the table is set and lunch is ready. Everything you say may be the truth, but it is no reason not to eat…” Kole closed his notebook, put it back in his backpack and asked: “Do you see that hilltop?” “Yes I see it…” replied Krste. “We made it to there… What’s behind the hilltop?” asked Kole. “Do you want to know what there is behind the hilltop? Of course there is the downhill…” replied Krste. “Well, we’ve reached that now…” concluded Kole. Kole looked at the sky and said, “Look at the hawk, it is still circling…” “Yes it is… circling,” repeated Krste, “but it’s not a hawk, it’s an airplane… it’s an airplane… It’s one of those that watches all the time and reports our movements in the mountains and hills… It tells them there and there are new bunkers and new trenches. Then those on the ground mark them on the maps. In other words, we, ourselves tell them ‘hey, you up there, we are here… Yes… For two and a half years the government forces could not remove us from Vicho… They fought us in various military offensives with a large army and many cannons but were not successful in removing us from here… And do you know why? Because then we were not hiding in bunkers and we did not lead a trench war. We fought the enemy on our terms. Last year we initiated a frontal war in Gramos and the enemy fought us where it wanted to fight us and took us out of Gramos. And now the enemy will fight us where it wants to… Understand?” The Great Lie – Chapter 15