__________________________ VLADE STERIOVSKI - Part 09

In the face of all this, what should be our duty? In my opinion our duty should be that all of us united put the shoulder to the wheel, and help to push forward that which we now have. Only this way we will achieve the total unification of our now divided homeland, Macedonia. For these reasons we cannot afford the luxury of indiscriminate and destructive criticism and splits. We may disagree with certain actions, but at no time we should tried to assume the role of the Macedonian government, which is the only viable factor, able to solve all problems, including our desire to see a United Macedonia.

Our interference will only provoke disunity and hinder the progress and the complete development of a fully united and independent Macedonian nation.

In my considered opinion, the main trouble is that few people, especially those living outside of Macedonia are unable or failed to catch up with the fast moving and changing forces and conditions in the world today. Those forces and real friends, who will without any doubt take our side and help in the final solution, not only of the Macedonian question, but the greater question of peace and the salvation of the human race as a whole.

Dear comrade Srbinoff, I ask you. What I should think of your group, when your cousin Sime Srbinoff, was in Toronto, it was natural to discuss many questions and problems, facing our people in Australia and Canada. Besides these questions I asked him, what does he think of the national development in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, since its liberation in 1945 -such development as I mentioned above? His reply was “that all these so called achievements were negative and completely false, because the Macedonian people cannot find jobs, and are forced to immigrate to Europe and elsewhere looking for a job”. In my opinion such an answer is not only anti-Macedonian, but it is a reactionary propaganda against our nation as a whole. Who will be the beneficiary of such propaganda? Our enemies of course, especially the Greeks and the Bulgarians, using it as an excuse to further confuse the real question for their own sinister designs over the future developments of the Macedonian nation. Such an answer to me by your cousin Sime is not objective and is politically motivated. I have been trying hard to find out, what could be the motive to such position? Taking into account the present political division in the world, it could be one of the following: Any person or group of persons, thinking this way, shows that they have failed to grasp the situation as it exists today. I am sure it cannot be the national question. In this case it must be a question of international politics. Anyone trying to justify the wrong position on the national question because of having taken wrong position, of any nation whichever it may be on the international question is absolutely wrong, and these individuals or nations are obviously trying to cover- up their sinister imperialist plans to further colonize the Macedonian territory and denationalize its people.

I want to be clear, you are talking about co-operation between us, this has been my idea always, I am fully conscience that there are many problems of mutual interest. But for your information I want to familiarize you with my work in Canada. I shall try to be modest, but the facts are open for all to see. With very little help from outside, I am trying to keep our people informed. As you know Toronto is the center of most of the Macedonian activities. Besides looking after our organizations, we have to be always on the alert, because most of our enemies are concentrated in Toronto, not to mention of our internal enemies who are like termites within our organization.

These groups of anti-Macedonian enemies are very small, but there are people without character. Their policy is the big lie they do not hesitate to use the lowest forms of falsehoods and propaganda. Their main target is Spiro Vasileff and a few of my best comrades and colleagues. The main source of this vicious propaganda comes from the M.P.O. and the Bulgarian churches, which now are associated with our so called “communist” of the Bulgarian academy of “sciences”. Their main reason is my disagreement on the Macedonian question. The Greeks are no less vicious, who presently are good “friends” with our so called Bulgarian “friends”, because they fully agree on the Macedonian question. All of them “Pan-Makedoniki”, "AHEPA" and now the so-called 1948 “communist”, all of them spend millions of American dollars for anti-Macedonian propaganda. As far as the old Serbian chauvinists, the Macedonian people made a good job in 1945. We have no problems with them.

Knowing all this, I wonder why we cannot see the dire need for unity of all Macedonians, regardless whether they come from Aegean, Vardar or Pirin Macedonia.

For us must not be such a division of artificial names in our dictionary. For us there is only one Macedonia, period.

My dear friends and comrades, please try to understand me, that I am not one of those naive people, who think that everything is cake and honey, in Macedonia or anywhere else for that matter. For that we will never stop to make constructive criticism, but never against each other. And we should never even think of disunion, in here lies the strength of the nation.

In your letter send to me, one is led to understand that you are ready to fight again the head of the Macedonian church, as well against the representatives of Macedonia and of Yugoslavia as a whole.

In my opinion such an action from your side, will exactly serve the interests of our enemies.

Let me warn you as a friend, that you two will be held responsible by the people of Australia for it even contemplating such an action. Let us be clear, that today all Macedonians wherever they are must unite behind our Macedonian government and their national policy, regardless of their domestic and foreign policies.

Our Macedonian Communities and organizations, outside of Macedonia, are cultural -educational organizations. They are not political agencies to no one. Every one of us has the right to keep and to protect his ideas, over the wider issues of international character.

For your information, we in Canada the majority support the socialist Republic of Macedonia and their government. There are only a handful of mislead people who are against it. This is so because we are fully aware, that only this way we will be able to achieve our main aims, and affirm Macedonia throughout the world.

This we can do. Your policy is only an illusion.

Comradely yours, Spiro Vasileff, Toronto, Aug.15/1973.

My experience with my November 30, 1980 election for Church President In 1964, as a member of the church board of directors, I had a cordial relationship with the other members of the board. I worked hard and supported the executive board in their decisions, with no questions asked. The situation, however, changed soon after the executive board lost the support of some prominent Macedonians, members of our church and members of the board of directors, the so-called “Bazelovtsi” (Spiro Bassil’s followers).

When the “Bazelovtsi” withdrew their support, some members of the board began to see me as a 'Bazelovets', only because I became a vocal opponent of some of their actions. Soon afterwards I was more than a 'Bazelovets'. Some board members began to accuse me of being “the voice” of the Bazelovtsi. In my defense, I did what I had to do because I had my own convictions on many church issues and I became vocal in support of them. I refused to fall in line with the dictates of the “big men” on the board who, I believed, were influenced by outsiders and were not doing everything in the interest of our church. As a result, I was seen as a non-conformist and therefore, in their eyes, I became a Bazelovets.

If I were a “Bazelovets” I would have resigned from the board the moment the other members resigned but I did not resign in spite of my torment. I stayed and remained active in the board until the church construction was completed. By doing so, I learned about the many intrigues and various games some of the board members played.

In all that time, I gave the Holy Synod my uncompromising support and wholeheartedly opposed the unholy church by-laws which Kosta Andrews and son, Bill Andrews, were trying to push through the Board.

Unfortunately, not everyone understood what I was doing. That I was working hard in order to protect the interests of our church and our Macedonian community and as such, many saw me as an obstacle in the way of “achieving certain aims”. These people, many of whom belonged to the church board and the church membership, began to act in an “unfriendly” manner towards me on a personal level, to put it mildly. Some board members did not want to even see my face. In other words, my dedication to our church and to our Macedonian interests, in general, were misconstrued and opposed both by members inside and outside of the board. All thought I had the desire to run for the top job much earlier than when I actually did, it was the large oposition that kept me from deciding to jump into the presidential race.

I was certainly capable and more qualified than most candidates, including the likes of Chris Dimoff and Teli Morihovitis. I was also very much involved in the United Macedonians and that, combined with my activities in the church, kept me very busy.

To emphasize again, the main reason for my opposition was my stand against the kind of church by-laws being proposed for our church, which I believe would not work in the best interests of our church and the Macedonian community, in general, because of my uncompromising support of the Macedonian Orthodox Church Holy Synod in Skopje, at a time when such support was most needed, just before and after the church’s consecration.

Mind you, at that time, as president of the United Macedonians, Canadian Committee, I had some support from the United Macedonians membership, including members who belonged to Teli Morihovitis’s clique. The vast majority were very vocal against Kosta Andrews’s 1964-1965 presidency and against his old executive board.

Unfortunately, the events that took place during the first United Macedonians of North America National Convention in 1970 and my election as president of the United Macedonians of the North America Joint Executive Board left many in Teli Morihovitis’s group disappointed. By joining the old opposition, they became my new opposition, not only in the United Macedonians organization but also in the church activities where I was involved.

By 1980, I was not only facing resistance from my old 1964-1965 opponents, I was also facing new opposition from the United Macedonians of Canada, Toronto Branch, led by Teli Morihovitis and actor Anton Pavlov. That, however, did not stop me from running or being elected president of St. Clement of Ohrid Macedonian Orthodox Church in Toronto.

Looking back, after so many years, in spite of the opposition I faced, my dreams have come true and my aims have been fulfilled. I still support what I did then and my views are still uncompromising. I don’t apologize for the stand I took at the time and I am proud of my accomplishments. I held onto my convictions and stood firm in my beliefs during that entire experience, which not only brought me close to some people but, unavoidably, distanced me from others.

Another reason why I faced more resistance from the old opposition was the election results of September 1965, which created a split in the congregation. I have to admit that I played a small role in that because, while my opponents were putting a lot of the blame of what had happened on me, I in turn, during the years 1965 to 1980, was very critical of some of the work of the people who held the church's presidencies. I was especially critical of the secretary-treasurers, a position familiar to me which I had also held in the past. Unfortunately, some of these people knew little about the job and, if I may say, did not help the situation, especially at that time when Paul Stergiou was bookkeeper and was making many mistakes.

I was compelled to be critical of the way the board presented the congregation with poorly prepared and misleading financial statements. I was especially critical of Gadjovich’s work when he was president and of Kosta Apostolovski’s work, as secretary-treasurer. My questioning of their methods of operation, however, did not sit well with either of them and they eventually became my staunch opponents. I served on many St. Clement Church boards as director in various different capacities from 1963 to

1980.

In 1980, when I was a member of the board under Vasil Pandovski’s presidency, I decided it was time for me to run for the top job in the 1980 elections. Running against me for president was Bill Andrews, Kosta’s son.

At this point I need to mention something about Bill Andrews’s involvement in the church in the past. From the very start of the formation of our congregation in 1962, our first lawyer representing the church was Victor Paskaleff. Paskaleff worked for free and was responsible for registering the church in accordance with the Ontario Corporation Act and acquiring the charter for our church, but soon after Kosta Andrews was elected Church President Paskaleff was squeezed out and replaced with Bill Andrews, Kosta Andrew’s son. Bill acted on behalf of the church during its construction and also worked for free.

Bill Andrews, however, was not only “the lawyer of our church” but he was also a member of our congregation. Therefore, he was well-qualified for the jobs and thus became a strong candidate for the church presidency.

The following are the Minutes of the General Election Meeting that took place on November 30th, 1980 Minutes of the regular election membership meeting at St. Clement of Ohrid held in the church hall on November 30, 1980, with the following agenda:

1. Election of the chairman of the meeting; two recording secretaries; scrutinizers; and two persons to certify the minutes

2. President’s report

3. Financial report

4. General discussion

5. Election of a new board of directors.

For chairman of the meeting, the nominees were; Vlado Steriovski and Filip Angelkovski. The vote was carried out by a show of hands. For Vlado - 34 votes and for Filip - 92 votes.

Filip was declared elected as chairman.

The recording secretaries elected were; Lupcho Spasevski in the Macedonian language and Tom Yaneff in the English language.

The scrutineers elected were; Nikola Stoyanovski, Sam Gadjovski, Vasko Lazarevski.

The certifiers elected were: Dr .Dragi Denkovski and Alexander Karanfilovski. The chairman of the meeting, Filip Angelkovski, thanked the members for electing him as chairman to conduct the general meeting and requested the outgoing president of the church board, Vasil Pandovski, to report the work of the board for the past year.

The president, Vasil Pandovski, in his report stated that this past board achieved great success in its work - there were 112 christenings, 51 weddings, a successful Caravan (1980), Sunday school with over 60 pupils and three teachers. Of utmost importance was the achievement of the folklore group Makedonka, with its concerts in the church; its first place standing at the church annual convocation; its first place standing at the C.H.I.N.

Festival and other appearances. A church choir was formed, but what’s most important was the success in collecting monies (over $20,000) to burn the church mortgage and, as a result, the church was free of any mortgage as of November 15, 1980. The names of the donors were read.

For all the above achievements, Pandovski thanked the committee members who contributed their time and effort which made our success possible.

The chairman of the meeting, Angelkovski, thanked the president of the church committee for his report and opened the floor for discussion of the report.

Many members participated in the discussion and voiced their approval of the successful work of the committee, and the report was accepted with praise. At the same time, some weaknesses and the negative side of the work of the committee were brought out. In their discussion, many members stressed the importance and the role of the incoming church committee, especially with regard to the preparation of the convocation of the Macedonian Orthodox Churches of Canada and the USA, which would be held in Toronto next year.

A motion was made that the report be accepted as a whole and the discussion was ended. The members unanimously agreed.

The financial statement was read by the bookkeeper George Lazarevski and each member was supplied with a copy of it. In examining the statement it could be seen that the church committee had good control over the church affairs so that, as of October 31, 1980, the church had monies in the bank in the amount of $77, 536.

During the discussion of the financial statement, many members praised the accuracy of the work of the treasurer and the bookkeeper. Sam Gadjovski, a member of the control committee and Dr. Aleksandar Georgievski, the chairman of the control committee, fully agreed with the financial report and they too praised the work of the bookkeeper, George Lazarevski.

Under “General Discussion”, Filip Angelkovski, the chairman, suggested a number of things which should be done by the newly elected church committee:

1. To air condition the hall.

2. Membership dues.

3. Working budget.

4. If necessary, even to change the church by-laws.

In this discussion, John Argiris moved and John Tsarvengos seconded that the membership dues be reduced from $25 to $10 and an overwhelming majority of the membership passed this motion that the dues be reduced to $10 by a show of hands.

The president of the outgoing church committee, Pandovski, requested that the membership release the existing church committee of its duties and approve a donation of $200 for the earthquake in Italy. Both requests were unanimously approved by the membership.

The chairman, Angelkovski, asked how the vote was to be conducted; by ballot or by show of hands. By ballot was approved and the floor was then opened for nominations for president of the new church committee.

First: Sime Miloshevski nominated Bill Andrews for president, and was seconded by Vasil Pandovski.

Second: Nikola Kozovski nominated John Givens for president, and was seconded by Vlado Shukovski.

The chairman of the meeting, Angelkovski, gave the floor to the nominated candidates for the position of president to explain their platforms.

Bill Andrews extended his thanks for the nomination and reported in point form what he would do if elected:

1. Repair everything that needs to be done to the church building.

2. Install air conditioning in the church hall.

3. Open a historical and cultural museum.

4. Provide a scholarship for studies of the Macedonian language.

5. Literary and scientific awards.

6. Committee for better achievements.

7. Activate the membership.

8. Form a youth committee with new and progressive ideas.

On the basis of the above points, Bill Andrews sought the presidency.

John Givens, the other nominee for the presidency, stated that:

1. He will work to make the newly elected church committee approachable by everyone.

2. Give support to the more than 40 benefit societies in Toronto.

3. Activate the cultural and educational activities of the church.

4. Work within the framework of the by-laws of the church and for the non-separation from the Mother Church.

5. Upkeep, maintain and modernize the church buildings.

The names of the members eligible to vote were then called and ballots were distributed to all bona fide members to vote for the position of president.

During the balloting, the chairman of the meeting, Filip Angelkovski, suggested that the newly elected president be permitted to choose his committee as per the two lists of slates distributed amongst the members. Dobri Stoyanovski and Vlade Ristevski made a motion that the suggestion of the chairman be adopted as a good idea. It was overwhelmingly adopted by the members.

After the balloting was completed, the scrutineers counted the votes and verified the following results; Bill Andrews received 178 votes and John Givens received 179 votes.

Because the difference was only one vote, the ballots were counted twice more by the scrutineers and it was verified that John Givens was the new president elect, together with his slate as agreed upon above.

The newly elected board for 1981 - 1982 was as follows:

President-John Givens First vice-president - Nikola Karanfilovski Second vice-president Dr. Aleksandar Georgievski, Secretary - Professor Stase Ralevski, Treasurer - Aleksander Crkovski, Assistant Treasurer - Hristo Hristov.

Board of Directors: James Naumovich, L.L.B., Dr. Dragi Denkovski, Peter Kondoff, Ratko Chachorovski, Petre Gulevski, Aleksander Petlichkov, George Trajanovski, Vangel Stoikovski, Petre Ristevski, Yoshe Dimitrievski, Kole Volchevski, Mitko Gajtanovski, Tony Markovski, Tom Yaneff, B.A. Alex Petkovski.

Members left from the previous board of 1980 for 1981 were: Zivko Mojanchevski, Mile Petkovski, Boris Bojchevski, Tane Andonov, Josiv Stefanovski, Josiv Nichevski, Kuze Pismarov, Bill Clechoff, Nove Stefanovski, Nikola Iprakovski Pete Kondoff and Jonche Paunovski. New members for 1982 - 1983 were: Zivko Mojanchevski, Mile Petkovski, Boris Bojchevski, Tane Andonov, Josif Stefanovski, Josic Nichevski, Kuze Pismarov, Bill Clechoff, Nove Stefanovski, Kole Iprakovski, Pete Kondoff, Jonche Paunovski, Jonche Dimitrievski and Paul Bassil.

The following are the names on the slate who lost the elections:

President Wm. (Bill) Andrews, B.A., L.L.B., Q.C.

First vice-president -Vasil Pandovski Second vice-president - Pavle Costandinou Secretary - Chris Dimov Treasurer - Branko Stojchevski Asst. Treasurer - Metodija Bakalovski Board of Directors: Kosta Apostoloski, Andy German, Dragan Dzolganovski, John Bekaris, John Dimovski, Vasil Shopov, Dorche Saveski, Spero Mangov, Steve Neshevich, Borche Kulevski, James Trentos, Dimche Malakovski, Charlie Svetiko, Tode Vrglevski, Kire Globochki, Alex Derlis, Tom Bogoevski, Teli Morihovitis.

The Control Committee was appointed and approved by those who were present at that stage of the meeting, and are as follows: Aleksander Karanfilovski, Zorka Bassil and Vasko Lazarevski.

The Judiciary Committee was: Filip Angelkovski, John Tsarvengos and Ljupco Spasevski.

Dated: November 30, 1980, Toronto.

Recording secretary: (Ljupco Spasevski) --Signed., Signed Filip Angelkovski (chairman of the meeting)

The minutes were verified and signed by: Dr. Dragi Denkovski and Aleksandar Karanfilovski.

*** After the elections After the election results were announced and most of the people congratulated me for my victory, my friend Giorgi Plukovski rushed towards me and took a picture or two while people were congratulating me.

To this day, I have yet to see those pictures that Giorgi took.

When we were finished, everyone left the church hall without incident and went home. The next day someone called me to let me know that the scrutineers had been called back to the church to re-examine the election ballots.

Who were the scrutineers? They were Nikola Stoyanovski, Sam Gadjovich and Alex Karanfilovski, all three of Bill Andrews’s supporters, and the fourth was Vasko Lazarevski, one of my supporters.

The meeting was called by Pandovski, who then was still president of the church.

Vasko Lazarevski, the fourth scrutineer, was not present. According to these three individuals, after counting the ballots twice on Election Day and mentioning nothing before leaving the church hall, the election results were “not valid”. It was noted that one of the ballots had two names: “John Givens” and “Dr. Georgievski” who was running for second vice-president on John Givens’s slate. The entire issue rested on that one ballot which clearly had “John Givens” written on it and which clearly belonged to John.

On December 23, 1980, a meeting was called, again by Pandovski, and again to talk about the same subject; the election results, which to my understanding were resolved.

As I remember, Bill Andrews then said: “Let John be the president but there should be new elections for the board of directors.” The difficulty with this “famous motion”, as our lawyer Miss Sigurdson called it, then put forward by Walter Ristevski, a staunch Bill Andrews supporter, was that the rules of the game were being changed mid-stream. The only opposition to this famous motion came from Dr. Georgievski who was running with me as vice-president. The candidate and lawyer, Bill Andrews, was never opposed to the idea that whoever won the presidency also won the slate of that candidate, which had been common practice until that day. The question on everyone’s mind regarding this was, had Bill Andrews won the election, would he have proposed that a board be also elected, or would he have gone with his original slate? Since this approach was not decided before the elections and because this was not common practice up until now, the newly elected board said “no” to Mr. Andrews’s proposal.

The newly elected board believed that it had won the election, fair and square, as was the practice, and that there was no need to take the issue any further. Besides, the membership was present during the general meeting that had declared the newly elected board of directors “elect” and by the power of the decision taken during the general meeting, no one had the authority to alter the membership’s decision, except for the membership itself, by taking another vote!

Bill Andrews, however, was not content with that decision and started a new chain of events when he and his supporters decided to test the new board’s decision by taking the new board of directors and the entire St. Clement of Ohrid Church Congregation to the Supreme Court of Ontario. In the meantime, the new board took an oath before parish priest Dragi Kostandinovski, to conscientiously perform its duties and the church affairs entrusted to it, in accordance with the church by-laws.

What difficulties did the new board experience after it took over? Well, there were plenty of difficulties. According to the church by-laws, the old and outgoing board was to turn over all documentation and bank accounts to the new incoming board. All properties and assets belonging to the church also needed to be turned over to the new church executive. Unfortunately, Pandovski, the outgoing president, refused to do that.

The same invitation, to turn over everything belonging to the church, was also delivered to outgoing secretary, Vlado Steriovski and secretary-treasurer, C. Dimovski.

*** Following was the letter of request to Pandovski:

Toronto, December 27, 1980 V. Pandovski President of the Macedonian Orthodox Church St. Clement of Ohrid

76 Overlea Blvd., Toronto Special Delivery Dear Mr. President:

On behalf of the newly elected board of November 30, 1980, we kindly invite you to attend a special meeting of the officers of both boards to be held on December 30, 1980, at 8:00 PM at the Saint Clement Church Parish Hall.