Macedonian Struggle

[Prokomenos]

From MacedonianGreece.com who happens to be a good friend of mine....

Macedonian Struggle

The modern political history of Macedonia is agreed to have begun in 1870, while still under Ottoman occupation, with the formation of the schismatic Bulgarian Exarchate Church. The church was used as a cover for the Bulgarian Nationalist and Pan Slavic movement to steal Macedonia- its land and people from its future incorporation into a Greek state, and its annexation to Bulgaria. The Church was recognized by the Sultan, over the objections of the Patriarchate in Constantinople in the rightful belief it would divide the Christians and lead to internal national struggles amongst themselves. This new Church was then used as a weapon by Bulgarian nationalists to convert the Greek and Slavic speakers (slavophones) to Bulgarism. The majority of the people in present day FYROM (Vardar Macedonia) and Western Bulgaria (Pirin Macedonia) either had no concrete national consciousness or professed to be Greek, even though they spoke Slavic. It is commonly accepted that their Slavic dialect is most similar to Bulgarian than to Serbo-Croatian.

Bulgarian dreams of conquering Macedonia were temporarily realized in 1878 in the aftermath of the Russian- Turkish war. The negotiated Treaty of San Stefano gave to Bulgaria all of Vardar Macedonia, most of present Greek Macedonia and part of eastern Albania! Luckily, knowing that Bulgaria would merely be a Russian satellite, the other European powers revised the Treaty at the Congress of Berlin and Bulgaria retreated to its pre-war borders. Beginning at this time, Bulgarian teachers and priests were sent into Macedonia with the mission of inculcating on the population a Bulgarian National Consciousness. The Task was most difficult since a majority of the people either spoke Greek or considered themselves Greek. The difficulty the Bulgarians had is exemplified in a report issued by the Secretary General of the Bulgarian Exarchate in 1885, speaking in ethnological terms about the population of Macedonia states that if the population of Macedonia had to choose a nationality to which they identified, the vast majority would declare itself Greek. Further evidence of the strong Greek presence in Macedonia at the time is found in the book, The Turks in Europe by James Baker, 1878.

Upon asking local Slavophone Macedonian peasants about their identity, they declared themselves as Rum, (Roman) a term used exclusively by Greeks.
The Bulgarians, realizing ‘peaceful conversion’ wasn’t working out as they had planned, formed in 1893 the Internal Macedonian Revolution Organization (I.M.R.O.), a terrorist organization whose mission was the expulsion of the Turks, as well as the conversion of the Macedonians to Bulgarians. Although founded by Bulgarian nationalists Damian Gruev, Goce Delchev, Petar Pop Arsov and other nationalist, its goals were often ill defined and changed according to current events and the personal beliefs of its leaders. Its true history runs counter to the claims of its supporters that it was a true ‘Macedonian’ liberation movement. It was always in a schizophrenic state in the service of other powers- i.e. Bulgarian, Yugoslavian or Communist- but a real Macedonian movement it was not.

In the early years of its operation IMRO only operated in Exarchist Church controlled areas in the north of Macedonia with a stronger Bulgarian presence. However, In order to gain support from non Exarchists and other nationalities, they changed their rallying cry to a Macedonian rebellion against the Turks- i.e. anyone who inhabited the area- not any specific Macedonian ethnic group. Due to little popular support their rebellions were easily crushed by the Turks. It is also of interest that during the 1920’s the same rallying cry for a Macedonian rebellion by Slavic communists was geared at the overthrow of ‘middle class oppression’.

The inability of the IMRO to agree on a common ideological goal- Macedonian autonomy or annexation by Bulgaria led to the establishment of a Supreme Committee in 1894, which brought the organization under direct control from Sofia. These divergent views were just the beginning in IMROs long schizophrenic history. Members were polarized between either supporting autonomy or annexation, and by loyalties to high ranking members who only temporarily and superficially united the organization. The ascension of the ruthless Boris Sarafov as leader in 1898 officially began the IMROs long history of murder, criminality, terrorism and intimidation. Armed bands called Comitadjs (Turkish for Committee Man i.e. rebel) were sent terrorizing the Macedonian population- even the slavophones who refused to convert to the Exarchate (Bulgarian) Church. Despite international calls for its disbandment, Bulgarian Premier Danev stated in 1902 that IMRO was a patriotic organization and had the support of the Bulgarian people. If IMRO was a nationalist ‘Macedonian’ organization fighting alleged Bulgarian (and Greek) oppression, as its supporters claim today, why would the Bulgarian Premier make such a statement? Further why would they attack ‘fellow Macedonians’ for the sole reason of belonging to a different church?

The Greek reaction to the Bulgaro- IMRO Comitadji raids was the creation of the National Society in 1894 which organized counter raids to protect the Macedonian population. Its also gave financial support to the Greek schools and institutions in the region. This continued until the 1897 Greek- Turkish war, when the Turkish victory forced the disbandment of the National Society and Greek withdrawal of financial and military aid to the region. The war’s outcome further played into the Bulgars hands by causing many Macedonians to convert to the Exarchate Church out of fear of persecution by the Turks.
Perhaps IMROs ‘crowning failure’ was the instigation of the failed Ilinden Revolt on August 2, 1903 in the Greek town of Krusovo. On that day Comitadji proclaimed the “Krusevo Republic”, independent from the Ottoman Empire, and the inhabitants forced to join the rebels or face persecution. The only clear winners were the Turks who quickly crushed the revolt and destroyed the town. It is also ironic that the events at Krusovo lead the Greek government to finally take decisive action to prevent the loss of Macedonia to the Bulgars. The years 1903-1908 are known as the Macedonian struggle.

[Prokomenos]

Balkan Wars

As deep as the mutual hatred between the Greeks, Bulgarians and Serbs had grown the previous 30 years over the ‘right’ to Macedonia, beginning in 1911 negotiations were underway for a united effort to expel the ‘sick man’ from Europe. Although the Bulgarians were adverse to a geographic partition of Macedonia, they agreed with Serbia to divide Vardar Macedonia between them. Serbia was to get about 40% of the northern part and Bulgaria the rest. However, knowing Greek ethnic claims were much stronger in the rest of Macedonia, it would be difficult to limit Greek claims prematurely. Instead they would hope to conqueror as much land as possible during war. The Greek- Bulgarian Treaty of 1912 was merely a military cooperation treaty.

On October 5, 1912, Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria declared war on the Ottomans. With the Turks on the retreat, the Balkan ‘Little Entante’ moved to fill the vacuum as fast possible. Almost immediately, the Serb-Bulgarian partition agreement was negated by Italy and Austria Hungary who prohibited the Serbian advance toward Albania. Serbia then redirected its army toward Macedonia and captured the entire Vardar region up to the southern town of Monastiri.

The Greek army liberated Thessaloniki on Oct 26, only a few hours before the Bulgarians arrived. This may have been the reason they didn’t propose a pre-war partition agreement with Greece; They planned to steal Thessaloniki and as much of Macedonia as they could in battle. The post war treaty in 1913 left Bulgaria as the clear loser, gaining a small part of Macedonia (Pirin). Unsatisfied, Bulgaria declared war on Greece and Serbia immediately. This began the Second Balkan war on June 16, 1913. Bulgaria was quickly defeated and by the Treaty of Bucharest in August she further lost the Dobrudja region to Romania.

- World War 1

World War 1 broke out in August 1914 with the Central Powers (Germany, Austria, Turkey) on one side and the Entante (England, France, Russia) on the other. Both sides made offers to the Balkan countries in exchange for their alliance. In 1915, under pressure from IMRO the Bulgarian government sided with the Central Powers, who gave them larger concessions in Vardar Macedonia. Bulgaria immediately moved in, as well as into eastern Greek Macedonia. In Greece, the Comitadjis show their true colors by collaborating with the Bulgarian army’s ethnic cleansing of the Macedonians. As stated by Elizabeth Barker in Macedonia Its Place in Balkan Power Politics:
“The Bulgarian occupation authorities in Greek eastern Macedonia had behaved towards the Greek population with brutality singularly inappropriate in supposed liberators.”

Further, according to an Allied Commission in 1919, 94 villages were demolished and 30,000 people died of brutalization, hunger and disease and 42,000 were deported. In the Vardar region the population accepted the Bulgarians as liberators and their annexation to Bulgaria. In fact many Skopjeans then joined the Bulgarian army- and the IMRO- in the official Bulgarization of the region. Apparently there was no ‘Macedonian’ national consciousness among the people, except for perhaps some communists. Where was the guerilla war waged by the IMRO in the name of Macedonia against this ‘Bulgarian occupation’? There was none, since they were too busy collaborating in the occupation.

In fact, one of the Bulgarian administrators sent there was Dimitar Vlahov, a latent communist and IMRO member, who after spending the 10 years in Moscow, returns as the first president of the Yugoslav Socialist Republic of Macedonia in 1945. Who is left for the Skopjeans to claim as Macedonian when their first president was part of the Bulgarian occupation army.

The war ended in 1918 with Bulgaria on the loosing side, and was forced to withdraw to its previous borders, as well as loosing the small piece of Vardar Macedonia she had before the war. Serbia- now the Kingdom of Yugoslavia moved in and retook the region as part of the post war settlement, and Greece finally liberated Thrace after the Bulgarian withdrawal. The postwar Greek- Bulgarian Treaty of Neuilly provided for a voluntary population exchange. About 30,000 Greeks left Bulgaria and 53,000 Bulgarians (or Slavophones) left Greece fearing possible retaliation for their wartime collaboration with Bulgaria. Although the postwar Greek and Bulgarian governments acceded to he terms, the IMRO, still imbued with Bulgarian irredentism reacted negatively. They felt that population transfers would weaken Bulgarian claims on Greece and sometimes threatened any slavs who repatriated to Bulgaria. After the ethnic cleansing of the Greeks from Anatolia by the Turks, they were repatriated to Macedonia, rendering any Bulgarian claims futile. The borders established after the war were accepted by Greece, Serbia and officially by Bulgaria. Unofficially the Bulgarian government used the IMRO to destabilize Vardar Macedonia (now Southern Serbia). The constant Comitadji cross border raids continued until Yugoslavia made a formal complaint to the League of Nations. The moderate Bulgarian government at the time lead by Stambuliski agreed to secure the border and crack down on the Comitadji raids, as well as favoring closer ties with Yugoslavia. This earned him the hatred of the IMRO and Bulgarian nationalists who conspired to his overthrow and murder in 1923. Again we see IMRO actively involved in Bulgarian politics and national causes more than anything ‘Macedonian’. This trend only increases until the Second World War.

The conclusion of the war left Yugoslavia as the main Balkan power. The first order of business in the region was to integrate it into the rest of the country, i.e. Serbia. The region was renamed South Serbia and the inhabitance recognized as Serbs while the church was placed under the Serbian Patriarch. Fearing the latent Bulgarophilia of the population, and Bulgaro-Comitadji attacks, Yugoslavia tried to alter the composition of the region by promoting Serbia settlement. This began a long policy by Yugoslavia, through the communist era to de-Bulgarize the Vardar Slavs. During Tito’s reign, the attempt to instill a ‘Macedonian’ identity was undertaken.

Unfortunately Greece never laid claims to the parts of Macedonia still occupied by other countries. Geographically, she had 51% of the generally accepted area of Macedonia (although historically inaccurate, ancient Macedonia never extended so far north). According to League of Nations statistics, by the mid 1920s had 1.34 million inhabitance (88.8% were Greek) and 77,000 slavophones who may or may not have been Greek. In any case no mention is made of a Macedonian minority there- or any place else. An attempted Greek-Bulgarian reconciliation of the minority dispute resulted in the Kalfov-Politis Protocol of 1924, where Greece was to recognize all the slavophones as Bulgars. The agreement ultimately failed since many did not want to label all Slavic speakers as Bulgarian, when they mite not be. It was also opposed by the Yugoslav government since the agreement implied that the inhabitants of south Serbia were Bulgarian as well.

[Prokomenos]

Besides anachronistic Bulgarian nationalism, the other main ideology which created the ridiculous schizophrenic identity of the Skopjeans is communism. The goal of an independent Macedonia was championed by both the Bulgarian and Yugoslav communist movements but only to serve their own national aspirations. However there was never any talk of a Macedonian ethnic group until Tito came to power in Yugoslavia after World War II.

Before World War 1, the communist movement in the Balkans was weak just as in the rest of the continent. Europe was concerned more with either building or maintaining its empires, or economic and military expansion on the continent. Nationalism was the ideology of the time. However, the economic and social destruction wrought by The War, as well as the Soviet Revolution weakened society enough to give communism a strong ideological foothold. The aftermath of the war finally gave the Balkan communists the chance to alter the course of Macedonia’s history- for the worse.

- Balkan Communist Parties

In 1919, the Balkan Communist Federation (BCF) was established as an umbrella group for the various Balkan communist parties and had the official endorsement of the Soviets. Its first meeting was called in Sofia to promote Bulgaria’s Macedonian policy. It was heavily influenced by the policy of the Bulgarian Communist Party (CPB), which had the strongest following of either the Greek or Yugoslavian parties. The CPB was formed from the previous narrow wing (radical) of the socialist party and its agenda was endorsed by the Soviets who felt it best served their goals of communizing the Balkans. They felt the Bulgarians were the most revolutionary in desiring an overthrow of the World War peace settlements enforced by the national bourgeois establishment (middle class) of the Balkan states. They could also play the Macedonian card as a source for revolution.

The Yugoslav Communist Party (CPY) took its form in 1919 with the union of the various local socialist parties with the Serbian Social Democratic Party. In contrast with the Bulgarians, it was often at odds with Moscow’s positions, and was heavily pressured to change its doctrine, notably its policy of the non-recognition of its ethnic minorities and their right to autonomy or federation. Not surprisingly however there was no previous Macedonian socialist party in South (Vardar) Serbia. More often any socialist inclined individuals joined the IMRO.

The Greek communist party (KKE) originates with Socialist Federation of Thessaloniki in 1909 which wasn’t Greek at all- it had over 90% Jewish membership. In 1918 it merged with the Greek Social Party and was called the Workers’ Socialist Party of Greece. In 1920 it joined the Third International and in 1923 changed its name to the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). Its position on Macedonia was often either vague or outright treasonous, although some leaders were su****ious about Bulgarian motives behind the independent Macedonia movement.


- Balkan Communist Propaganda

Macedonia was used by the Balkan communists as a rallying point to overthrow the existing social and political order. They hoped that the many restless nationalities in South Serbia could be used towards this end. In no instance- ever, is there any mention of a Macedonia ethnic group, only reference to the local inhabitants. For the communists, Macedonia was to be a political entity of various nationalities. As stated by Soviet revolutionary Zinoviev in 1920, referring to Yugoslavia:
“Against the rule of the Serbian bureaucratic and landowning oligarchy, there are rising up the Macedonian Bulgarians, the Albanians, Montenegrins, Croats and Bosnians.” (Elizabeth Barker reprint) Referring to Macedonia he specifically qualified them as Bulgarians i.e. Bulgarians in (Vardar) Macedonia oppressed by Yugoslavia. We can also infer the pro-Bulgarian bias of the Soviets as regards Macedonia; the use of the Bulgarian minority for revolution. The CPB took full advantage of this bias.

To further its goals, the CPB enlisted the support of the leftist IMRO “Centralists” Philip Athanasov, Dimitar Vlahov, Dimo Hadji Dimov who espoused autonomous views. They changed their name to “Federalists” and in 1918 outlined their policy in a manifesto. Its main points being the restoration of Macedonia to its original boundaries (whatever they were) including Greek Thessaloniki , and its organization similar to the Swiss canton system. Their autonomy policy led them into open confrontation with the IMRO Supremists of Todor Alexandrov and Alexander Protogerov who were old style Bulgarian Comitadji nationalists. There were frequent gun battles in Pirin and Vardar between the two. Ironically it should be noted that the Federalist autonomy solution was also used by Bulgarian nationalists such as Ivan Mihailov as proposed in his outdated 1950 polemic, Macedonia: A Switzerland of the Balkans. Although he supported Macedonian independence, he correctly knew that the people there are Bulgarian and not Macedonian in ethnicity. According to him, a Macedonian state would simply be run by Bulgarians.

At the Balkan Communist Conference in May 1922, the Bulgarian delegate Vasili Kolarov first raised the issue of Macedonian and Thracian autonomy. Knowing the proposal was a threat to their countries borders, the Greek and Yugoslav delegates were unable to endorse it at this stage. This is perhaps the official starting point of part of the Skopjeans idea of independence- by the Bulgarian Communist Party since the IMRO Federalists were powerless to affect any change without communist support. However in order for any chance of success, the communists needed the support of the IMRO Supremists- and they would get it in the typical IMRO opportunistic tradition.
As stated previously, in June 1923, the IMRO collaborated with a nationalist military clique and over threw the Bulgarian government. The government was condemned by the Communist International, as well as the absent communist resistance to it. When the communists did try to revolt that September they were quickly crushed by the government and its IMRO allies. The new president Alexander Chankov released the imprisoned IMRO chiefs Alexandrov and Protogerov who were arrested by the old regime as part of their IMRO crackdown agreement with Yugoslavia. However the thankless IMRO were quick to betray the government’s support.

During the spring of 1924, at the sixth conference of the BCF, they unveiled their Macedonian resolution, which not surprisingly had a pro-Bulgarian IMRO stance as the communists were attempting to win over the organization even though they had to take the leftist Federalist view for autonomy. The resolution states that an autonomous Macedonia can “assure right and liberty to all its nationalities”, and hails the. “…Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, the real leader of the Macedonian slaves…” Macedonian autonomy is portrayed in light of a class struggle of its inhabitants against the oppression of the middle class of the occupier countries, not an ethnic struggle.

The IMRO’s deep rooted schizophrenic condition is hard to conceal. That spring and continuing into 1924, secret negotiations between the IMRO Federalists, CPB, and official IMRO representatives were conducted to unite all groups under the same goal: The independence or autonomy of a Macedonian state. In May 1924 party leaders Alexandrov, Protogerov and the communist Chaoulev signed the ‘Vienna’ agreement and issued a new manifesto; The New Orientation of the Macedonian Revolutionary Movement. This communist influenced document reads as an excuse for a Macedonian state for the silliest of reasons: “…endowed with the most varied natural riches and a favorable climate; with its ethnically diverse population of upwards of 2,302,000 persons; with a strategic and economic position in the middle of the Balkans…has all the rights and conditions necessary for an independent political existence. Forming an independent and self governing state.”

All of this is merely political opportunism tailored to Bulgarian communist whims. The same case then could be made for any ethnic group anywhere. Once again the IMRO explicitly states ‘Macedonia’ is multi-ethnic. If the IMRO ever believed in a Macedonian ethnic group they would have stated it.
As regards Greece, the document states the IMRO will fight
“…against any government which supports the present partition of Macedonia, denationalizes the population of Greek Macedonia, and forcibly changes the ethnological character of the area by evicting the indigenous population in order to replace it by settlers from Asia Minor and Thrace.”
It also declares as a goal: “…the liberation and reunion of the separated parts of Macedonia in a fully autonomous and independent political unit within its natural geographic and ethnic frontiers” (Ethnic taken to mean Bulgarian)

These passages clearly reveal the hidden Bulgarian agenda of the document. If it was stated that Macedonia is multi ethnic, how can a ‘Macedonian’ be denationalized? In reality the passage is really referring to the slavophone Greeks who remained in Greece after the war and those who chose to leave as a condition of the Treaty of Neuilly. It is also curious that this “minority” is referred to historically as Bulgarian by Bulgaria and the IMRO and “Macedonian” by the communists- Bulgarian irredentism under a red mask. During World War 2 this same “minority” is referred to as Bulgarian by Bulgaria and Macedonian by the Yugoslav communists.
Referring the Bulgarian government, the IMROs duplicity is even more poignant:

As regards Bulgaria, the IMRO declares that in spite of all the sacrifices which the Bulgarian people has made and is ready to make for the independence of Macedonia, the present Bulgarian government of Chankov is following an openly anti-Macedonian and anti Bulgarian policy an openly Serbophil policy…” further: “IMRO proclaims that the policy of the Chankov government is hostile to the Macedonian and Bulgarian peoples and calls on all Macedonians and Bulgarians to start an energetic struggle against this government.”

We see once again the IMRO changing sides and favoring autonomy and not annexation to Bulgaria. Only six years before they were collaborating with the Bulgarian army in its occupation, and now they denounce it. But if only their hypocrisy ended here! They denounce the same Bulgarian government they themselves put in power less than a year before and even call for an uprising against it- an uprising that happened a few months before which they assisted in crushing. Now the IMRO is clearly conforming with the communist solution to the Macedonian question. As stated previously the IMRO was never a truly independent Macedonian organization but always in the service of other powers- and this time it’s the communists. However to their credit, part of their nationalist legacy lives on in the twisted self identity of the Skopjeans today.

The new position of the IMRO is identical to that of the Balkan Communist Federation and won for the CPB the endorsement of its policy by the Comintern (meeting of all communist parties in Moscow) at its fifth congress that summer. “The Congress considers the slogans formulated by the sixth Balkan Communist Federation Conference- United Independent Macedonia and United Independent Thrace wholly correct and truly revolutionary.” The meeting further strengthened Bulgarian views by encouraging the Greek and Yugoslav parties to support this independence.

The revelation that the formerly Bulgarian patriot IMRO officially sanctioned such a heretical document caused uproar in its ranks as well as the Bulgarian government. It was first published in Dimitar Vlahov’s communist inspired rag “Federation Balcanique”. Caught “red” handed, the IMRO officially rejected its support of the document and its leaders even denied endorsing it. This did not spare them from the wrath of the Bulgarian government and its hit man Ivan Mihailov. In August 1924 IMRO chief Todor Alexandrov was shot, as well as many high ranking leftist members Hadji Dimov, and Todor Panitsa. In 1928 Alexander Protogerov was killed by Mihailov at the Bulgarian government’s bidding, after which he took personal control of the organization. The only support it had left was due to its perceived anti-Serb activities in Vardar. The IMRO, unable after 30 years to establish its own identity became what it was essentially from the beginning: a gang of criminals, terrorists and extortionists.

As for Vlahov, together with the survivors of Mihailov’s purge, formed in 1925 the ‘United IMRO’, a socialist offshoot which took the official communist line (Comintern, BCF). Although it supported Macedonian independence it drew little popular support, (Barker p.69, Kofos p.89) and only added to the cacophony of Bulgarian contradictory voices on Macedonia. Part of its declaration states its resistance to “the leaders of the Bulgaro-Macedonian Organization (IMRO) , Protogerov, Mihailov…” In any case the United IMRO only lasted for nine years after which Vlahov disappeared in Moscow until the end of the Second World War.

- Yugoslavia

The Serb dominated Yugoslav Communist party (CPY), far weaker than the Bulgarian, was further compromised by its ethnic minorities who wanted to organize under their own national communist parties. Grudgingly, under heavy pressure from Moscow they altered their platform to allow organization on ethnic lines. Regarding Vardar Macedonia (after 1929 renamed Vardanska Banovina), heavy pressure was placed on the CPY by the Bulgarian dominated Balkan Communist Federation to recognize the ‘Macedonian’ (Bulgarian) right to autonomy. The BCF was further supported by Moscow at the fifth Comintern Congress in June 1924, which insisted that a communist Yugoslavia be organized along federal (national) lines. There they also signed the program agreeing in principle to Macedonian autonomy.

At the third CPY Congress in December 1923, the party began moving in the ‘federative’ direction. In the section discussing Macedonia it agreed that since it was a multi ethnic area, the rule of one group meant the oppression of others, therefore autonomy was the best solution to free the many nationalities (slav or other) from oppression- and not a Macedonian nation per se. (Yugoslav Communism & the Macedonian Question). If the prerequisites of defining an ethnic group (language, culture etc.) were applied to the area, they would easily be called Bulgars. However, commenting on the meeting Tito would later claim for his own purposes that it was an affirmation that a Macedonian ethnic group indeed existed- the one which he would create. “At the Third Party Conference, the correct stand on the Macedonian question was finally taken, that is the Macedonian nation, and by this it is recognized as a nation, has the right to its own life and equality.”

[Prokomenos]

Macedonia Under Bulgarian Occupation

In the years preceding World War 2, Bulgaria was offering an alliance with Germany in exchange for the right to occupy Greek Macedonia. According to Bulgarian President Filov’s diary, as the result of secret negotiations, the Axis agreed to give Bulgaria Greek Eastern Macedonia and Thrace between the Evros and Nestos rivers and on March 1, 1941, Bulgaria signed the Tripartite Pact with the Axis. Since the Germans were still attempting to woo Yugoslavia, they made no concessions to Bulgaria over the Vardar region until the Germans invaded Yugoslavia in April.

In April 1941, without declaring war, the Bulgarians invaded Greece. The next four years were to be a period of unprecedented barbarism in Macedonia since the Turkish occupation. Without German approval, the Bulgarians proceeded to annex the region, forcing at least 200,000 Greeks to be refugees in their own country. True to their past, the Bulgarians either forced the Macedonians to switch ethnicities, or face expulsion and death. With pride, the Bulgarians were rejoicing over this situation, as the newspaper Zora gloated:

“Now that the Greeks have been expelled for good from these Bulgarian regions, our Thracian brethren return in masses to their ancestral homes” Zora September 3 1942.
Even the Bulgarian president didn’t conceal anything in an interview with the German newspaper Borsen Zeitung, November 11, 1941:
“In a few days we will begin with the colonization of the Aegean area. Thousands of Bulgarian families will be transported and settled in this area within the next few months.”

Just like their Comitadji predecessors, so fanatic were they in eradicating Greek culture, they would threaten, and attempt to bribe with food and medicine the local Greeks to convert nationality and become Bulgars. To complete their extermination they also began cultural genocide by destroying historical and cultural centers, the closing of Greek schools and forbidding the Greek language.

However for the Bulgarians, too much barbarism was never enough. They soon attempted to sink their teeth into the German and Italian controlled western and central Macedonian regions, were lived the infamous Greek slavophones. Through liaison officers, such as the infamous Anton Kaltchev, they were able to smuggle weapons to the slavophones to terrorize their Greek neighbors. Special organizations were established to organize them such as the Bulgarian Organization of Thessaloniki, where Bulgarians or converts were given privileged treatment such as food and medicine. The organization was also a cover for Bulgarian agents to penetrate the rest of Macedonia. Through their network, they formed the pro Bulgarian Ochrana paramilitary lead by Kaltchev, which waged communal war and burned over 40 Macedonian villages. However they were merely opportunists, who at the end of the war switched sides, and came under the leadership of Tito’s Yugoslavia. This catastrophic period in Macedonian history lasted until 1944, when Bulgaria found itself again on the losing side, and formally joined the allies on 9 September 1944 under the new leadership of the communist Fatherland Front government. In the meantime the Slav communists in Macedonia mostly under the leadership of Tito’s CPY began the next phase in Macedonian history whose result leads directly to the current controversy, the creation of a Macedonian nation.

FYROM during World War 2
By way of comparison, the Bulgarian occupation of Vardar Macedonia in April 1941 was hailed as liberation by the inhabitants from Serbian oppression. As during WW1 many collaborated with the Bulgarians, including the remnants of the IMRO, even though many, including Mihailov ultimately favored autonomy. By the end of the war however the IMRO was rendered a mere historical curiosity.

Pro Bulgarian sympathies were strong within the local Vardar communist organization, the Macedonian Provincial Committee (MPC), which was considered part of the Yugoslav Communist Party. One of the few Skopjean leaders who did endorse resistance, Lazar Kolishevski was taking orders directly from Tito. The communist MPC lead by the Bulgarophile Methodie Shatorov refused to join the CPY in partisan warfare against the Bulgarians and Germans, and instead took its orders directly from Sofia party headquarters. In fact until 1943, there was no sign of Slav Macedonian resistance to Bulgarian occupation, neither by the IMRO nor by the communists even though many grew resentful of the overbearing Bulgarian presence. According to the book “Tito” by Yugoslavian Vladimir Dedijer, (p.173) he recalls Tito’s frustration at the Skopjean communists by a letter he wrote to the Macedonian Central Committee where he chides them because: “The Macedonian Committee has failed to organize partisan detachments, it has failed to organize any actions or sabotages (against the Bulgarians), it has failed to act according to the request of the Comintern, but on the contrary it has deliberately sabotaged these actions and run off to Sofia in order to escape our control.”

Run off to Sofia indeed just like the IMRO before them.
Being merely opportunists and followers, they waited until it appeared the axis would lose, before resisting occupation, and then only under orders from Tito’s CPY. Even after the German attack on the USSR, the Slav “Macedonian” communists only engaged in passive resistance like boycotts, so beholden were they to Bulgaria. After severe condemnation of their inaction by Moscow they reverted back to their interwar position of a “Free Soviet Macedonia”. They are again attempting to walk the thin grey line between Bulgarian annexation and autonomy.

Throughout the duration of the war a political and ideological battle was fought between the pro Bulgarian Slav Macedonian communists and the CPY over the fate of the Slav Macedonians. The only type of Macedonian independence activity came from Mihailov’s IMRO who played a mostly subservient role to the Bulgarians. According to some analysts, had Mihailov been active the IMRO would have posed a serious threat to Tito’s activities. This fact is admitted by one of Tito’s operatives in the region Dobrivoje Radoslajevic in 1942: “The IMRO poses the chief danger in the struggle for the Macedonian people.” The IMRO, as usual never looses the chance to support Bulgaria.

In February 1943 Tito deployed his political troublemaker, Svetozar Vukmanovic Tempo to the region in order to counter the IMRO and organize the local communist partisans. There he helped form the Macedonian Communist Party (MCP) which was to organize resistance in the name of the CPY and support Macedonia as part of a Yugoslav federation. In contrast, the IMRO acknowledged that an independent Macedonia would be Bulgarian in culture, since they recognized the fact that the slavs were Bulgarian more than anything else. The CPY’s long term strategy was to politically control the dissatisfied elements and ally them to the Yugoslav partisan movement. As more of the population became disenchanted with the excesses of Bulgarian occupation, and the inaction of either the IMRO or CPB to offer a viable alternative it slowly gave its support to Tito’s partisan movement. It is ironic that the “founders” of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia saw the IMRO as the greatest threat to Macedonia since it had been so historically linked to Bulgarian nationalism in Macedonia and that it was necessary for the ”Macedonians” to reject it as being chauvinist. The main weapon that was gradually adopted by the CPY to create party loyalty in the region was its recognition of the Slavs as neither Bulgarian nor Serbian but “Macedonian”.

This legitimized its incorporation to a federal Yugoslavia of various nationalities as opposed to being an independent Bulgarian dominated state or a part of Bulgaria. The gradual acceptance of this new nationality weaned them from their natural pro Bulgarian tendencies, and alleviated fears of being reincorporated to Serbia after the war. The first step was to win the allegiance of the communists to the Yugoslav side.

The Yugoslavs took the initiative and began organizing Slav resistance groups against the Bulgarians. On August 2, 1943 under the supervision of Tempo, the MCP met near Lake Prespa and officially formed the Macedonian National Liberation Front from members hand picked by the CPY. Its declaration mentioned that the “Macedonians” were ready for “independence” but only within Yugoslavia and that they had “…all the conditions for realizing their age old dream, unification.” Slowly the hollow Bulgarian dream of conquering Macedonia became Yugoslavian. Finally on November 29, came the infamous resolution on the future Yugoslav federation at the second Anti Fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ) at Jajce, Bosnia. It partly stated that “Yugoslavia is being built up on a federal principle which will ensure full equality for the nations of Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Hercegovina.”

This was the first formal recognition of Macedonia as a separate republic which implied, according to communist theory that it was a separate nation like Serbia, Croatia etc… By the stroke of a pen the Bulgarians there were re baptized as “Macedonian” One of these new “Macedonians” was former Bulgarian communist Dimitar Vlahov who is now an AVNOJ vice president.
Although the plan was endorsed by Moscow, the Bulgarians immediately objected while the CPB issued a rebuttal: “Macedonia is an apple of discord. Rivers of blood have been shed for it. It is the cradle of the Bulgarian renaissance. After the establishment of the Bulgarian State the fate of Macedonia was always near to the heart of the Bulgarian people. To avoid new historical mistakes and to give Macedonia lasting pacification the Fatherland Front (communist party) proclaims the watchword “Macedonia for the Macedonians”, neither a change in the present cleavage of Macedonia by its enemies, nor its full annexation to any one of the Balkan states.”

We can see the Bulgarian communists are referring to their old slogan for autonomy. This is the same as the position taken theoretically by Ivan Mihailov and the IMRO at the same time, but they were even more passive and ineffectual than the CPB. An interesting note is that the Skopjeans blindly use the slogan “Macedonia for the Macedonians” even though many deny linkage to Bulgaria or the “chauvinist” Mihailov, stemming from decades of Yugoslav brainwashing.

The Skopje republic was officially proclaimed on August 2, 1944 (Ilinden) by the Anti Fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM), which itself was a creation of the CPY. Its president was the infamous Bulgarian communist and United IMRO founder Dimitar Vlahov. In its declaration, the ASNOM again openly declares as a goal the unification of the Macedonia. As part of the Skopjean “declaration of independence”, its central committee of the communist party issued the statement: “Macedonian People: In your three year popular liberation struggle you achieved your unity and you established your own army and set the foundations of the federative Macedonian state. With the participation of the entire Macedonian people against the fascist occupiers in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece you will achieve the union of all parts of Macedonia which the Balkan imperialists seized in 1913 and 1918. As for the demand for the complete unification of the Macedonian people, there are today on your side all the other peoples of Yugoslavia, the Anti fascist People’s Liberation Council of Yugoslavia and the heroic People’s Liberation Army of Yugoslavia.”

All of this political fantasy is still repeated verbatim 60 years later by the Skopjeans although any reference to the now non existent Yugoslav Liberation Army is carefully omitted. The new regime is clearly catering to the supporters of the CPB’s pre war position as a means of gaining popular support. The difference being that this new Macedonia would be part of Yugoslavia and not independent, and that its inhabitants were now ethnic Macedonians. These new ethnic “Macedonians” were now somehow anti IMRO. In the years after the war numerous individuals were sentenced for subversion including ASNOM president Methodie Antonovcento who was accused of secretly supporting the IMRO by the Skopje government. Clearly the Skopje regime was concerned of a revolt by its Bulgarian population. Even by 1949 it was reported in Nova Makedonjia that there were 134 terrorist organizations in the republic and can also be inferred that they were Bulgarian in sympathy. Perhaps the Skopjeans now will claim that by this the “Macedonians consciousness” was somehow being oppressed by Belgrade, but on the other hand it was the Belgrade regime which gave them political organization, a new identity and military and political support to harass its neighbors.

Further moral justification was given to the formation of a Macedonian republic by Tito's mouthpiece, Yugoslavian Jew Mosha Pijade. Writing for the journal Nova Jugoslavia in May 1944 he states: "The establishment of the modern history of Macedonian people means the resurrected right of the Macedonian people to direct their own destiny themselves. They took up arms, formed their own national partisan units and under the leadership of marshal Tito took an active role in the liberation war..." A liar by nature, Pijade is clearly giving the Skopjeans too much credit. The vast majority of them supported Bulgaria or the CPB. He further patronizes their so called heroes to win their favor: "Faithful to the traditions of their revolutionary national fighters and teachers, Goce Delchev, Damian Gruev, it has unfurled the banner of the struggle for its national freedom..." As if they would have approved of Macedonia under Yugoslav control. He further quotes the Bulgarophile "historian" H.N. Brailsford as stating on London radio that Macedonia as part of Yugoslavia is the best assurance of peace in the area. (Yugoslav Communism & the Macedonian Question, p.109). Apparently current events had gotten the better of Mr. Brailsford and could no longer support his former pro Bulgarian, IMRO position.

By the end of the Second World War the Tito’s criminal CPY became one of the strongest communist parties in Europe exploiting the support of the opportunist “democratic allies” (They always had the option of supporting the various non communist resistance groups). They wasted no time in expanding their power and become the next Balkan bully. To do this they exploited both Bulgaria’s discredited government and communist party and Greek civil unrest.

- Greek Civil War

Although the “third round” of the Greek Civil War officially began in July 1946, it is admitted by the Greek communist leader Nikos Zahariadis that the revolt would not have been possible without the support he was pledged from Tito earlier that year. Tito also had an interest in establishing a communist regime in Greece that would, he hoped, join Greek Macedonia to his republic of Skopje. It was therefore no accident that in the three years prior to the war he attempted to organize and arm the various Slav villages and groups in Greece. In the summer of 1943 Tempo visits the Greek resistance group E.L.A.S to convince them to place the slavophone partisans under Yugoslav control, who until then were openly pro Bulgarian. The CPY had nothing but contempt for its Greek counterpart and felt they should be subservient to them. The request was turned down, the Greeks naturally being su****ious of Tito's motives.

Yugoslav intentions were no well kept secret. In a letter dated August 8, 1943 from Tempo to the Central Committee of the CPY he states: "The Greek partisan movement has not reached the great majority of the Macedonian people there who, under the influence of the IMRO are serving the occupiers and fighting against the Greek partisan army... At the request of the Greek general staff our chetas (rebels) from the Bitolj (Monastiri) crossed over into Greek Macedonia and there accomplished great political penetration of the Macedonian (slavs) masses. The Macedonians want to be under the command of our headquarters for Macedonia." (Yugoslav Communism & the Macedonian Question, p.81).

This passage is very revealing. First he admits that the Yugoslav partisans are at odds with the IMRO and the slavophones- called Macedonians- in Greece whom he admits are pro Bulgarian and must be brought under the control of the CPY. Also, it reveals the unfortunate cooperation between the Yugoslavs and the opportunist power hungry Greek partisans (E.L.A.S./KKE), Tito’s new ally in his scheme to steal Macedonia from Greece.

Because of the large numbers of Slavs who were joining the Greek partisans, it was decided to allow them to form their own units but under Greek partisan control. The Slav partisans called the S.N.O.F.- Slavomakedonski Naroden Osvoboditelen Front (Slav Macedonian National Liberation Front) formed by early 1944 but soon began conflicting with the Greek commanders since many of them wanted separation from Greece. The Greeks only agreed to grant them political equality should they come to power. It should also be noted that at the time the non communist element among the Greek partisans was still strong. Only after 1945 was the rebellion a top down communist run operation.

In April 1944 SNOF leader Naum Peyov revolted and was deported to Yugoslavia and Elias Diamakis (Gotsev) became the new leader. By August E.L.A.S. was pressured by Yugoslav forces to allow the return of the SNOF and grant them an independent "Gotsev" battalion of about 700 men. Although the whole area was still under the control of a crumbling Bulgaria, it was obvious that Tito was calling the shots. In a conversation between Gotsev and his Greek partisan friend "Captain Slobotas" in October, the former admitted that "... my battalion obeys neither the KKE nor the ELAS. We are connected with Serbian (Vardar) Macedonia from where we receive instructions and liaison men... We received orders to draft as many men as possible, but they should be pure Slav Macedonian.” (Kofos, p. 126 from Greek Foreign Ministry archives)

The Greek –Yugoslav border by that time was non existent, allowing Tito’s soldiers and propagandists largely uninhibited entrance under the pretext of fighting the Germans. Further revealed is the drafting of the “Slav Macedonians” who were former either IMRO, slavophones, or Ochrana members that terrorized Macedonia during the war. Although some nationalist Bulgarians objected, many indeed deserted and joined the pro Yugoslav SNOF to save themselves as Bulgaria was about to lose the war. Yet again the Bulgarians, devoid of any loyalty, changed their allegiance according to current expediency.

The truth behind Tito’s intrigue was quickly coming to the surface as Yugoslav officials began making public pronouncements of their goal to create a greater Macedonia. Even before 1945, the Yugoslavs were becoming bolder in their statements. In a speech by arch communist and Tito crony Milovan Djilas on November 7, 1944 he brashly stated that “…the armed forces under the command of the Papandreou government exercise a violent terror against our Macedonian (slav) populations without any serious reason. The Macedonians in Greece…want to speak their own language and exercise their national rights.” It would have been difficult for the Greek government to commit such acts even if it wanted to, considering its forces only entered Macedonia in April 1945. However, Macedonia was the stronghold of Yugoslavia’s erstwhile allies, the Greek partisans who, between November 1944 and February 1945 attempted a failed overthrow of the Greek government. At the Varkiza armistice, the rebels agreed to end the revolt in exchange for early elections. As a result about 25,000 rebels and former Bulgarian collaborators left Greece voluntarily for Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, but they could hardly be categorized as refugees. In fact the American government even proposed that a British, Soviet and American commission be established to investigate these accusations of violence and terror against the Slavs, but was denied by Yugoslav refusal to have observers on its territory. This is not at all surprising since many of these “refugees” were SNOF guerillas who were either regrouping at the Bulkes military camp in Skopje or joined the Yugoslav army for redeployment in Greece.

By early 1946 Nikos Zahariades met with Tito to discuss plans to launch a new war against the Greek government. Zahariades agreed to accept the SNOF into his ranks so long as their official declaration was for equal rights and not autonomy. This new guerilla group was named the N.O.F. , removing the ethnic character from its original name- Slavomakedonski. This was done apparently since it was only supposed to be part of the Greek communist army, and not Yugoslavia. Within a year however their sinister motives were becoming apparent. It was admitted by N.OF. leader Michael Keramadiev at the Second Congress of the Macedonian People’s Front in Skopje in May 1948 that they had established their own Slav Macedonian churches, newspapers and about 7000 children and adults in Greece had learned the “Macedonian” language. As the war progressed, the N.O.F demands for greater autonomy for the Slavs belied the hidden hand of Yugoslavian expansionism. The treasonous Greek communists however continuingly relied more and more on the Skopjean fighters until they numbered 11,000 men or over 20-30 percent of the rebel army. (Yugoslav Communism, p.129. Kofos p. 172) Macedonia was again fighting for survival again a new Comitadji invasion. However, not all slavophones in Greece were pro Skopjean or Bulgarian. In fact, when the Greek army entered Macedonia at the end of the war, they found whole villages who were heroically fighting the rebels and joined the National army. Even the NOF had to issue a statement advising the slavophones not to support the National Greek forces. Regarding the IMRO, the NOF stated that it “s truggles uncompromisingly against the autonomist movement and terrorist bandit organization I.M.R.O. led by Ivan Mihailov.” Since the NOF was allegedly fighting for the Macedonians and against Greece, why would they oppose the IMRO? Perhaps because nobody forgot its support of Bulgarian expansionism under the cloak of autonomy. Now however the Yugoslavs had given the Macedonian Bulgarians- turned Skopjeans- their support in return for their political allegiance to Belgrade. How typical.
In any case it was at the time of the Greek civil war that the Yugoslav regime began an official all out libel campaign against Greece over Macedonia. Here is a small sample of the vicious anti-Macedonian rhetoric spewing from

Skopje and Belgrade:
“Comrades, you know very well there is a part of Macedonian people which is still enslaved. We must openly state this case. There are tens of thousands of Macedonian men and women who suffer and mourn under the Greek yoke…”

Svetozar Vukmanovic Tempo, August 2, 1945.
One of the most well known tirades on Macedonia was by the bombastic Tito himself on October 11, 1945 in Skopje:
“We will never renounce the right of the Macedonian people to be united. This is our principle and we do not abandon our principles for any temporary sympathies. We are not indifferent to the fate of our brothers in Aegean Macedonia and our thoughts are with them. We will steadfastly defend the principle that all Macedonians must be united in their own country.”

Timed to coincide with the beginning of the Greek civil war, the Yugoslavian magazine “Borba” on August 26, 1946, in it’s article “Aegean Macedonia” announced to the world Skopje’s true designs on Macedonia. The article- complete with a map, states that: “Greek imperialists have no right any longer to keep the Macedonians under their yolk;” under the pretense that the “Greek reactionary circles had decided to exterminate –the significantly more than 250,000 Macedonians in Greece.” It became a common propaganda tactic in Europe during the war years to float the decimal point of casualty statistics to skew the facts- and sympathy in your favor. According to Tempo just a year previously there were only tens of thousands of “Macedonians” in Greece.

Finally, Nova Makedonija printed a speech by Peoples Republic of Skopje President Dimitar Vlahov, in Monastir on September 22, 1946:
“We openly declare that Greece has no right whatsoever over Aegean Macedonia. The Macedonian people (in Greece) are struggling for their union within the Macedonian People’s Republic which is an integral part of the Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia”.

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[Prokomenos]

- Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Crisis

Regarding Bulgaria, between September and December 1944 meetings were held between delegations from Yugoslavia and the now Bulgarian communist government to induce the latter into becoming a Yugoslav republic. Representing the Yugoslav side was of course Tempo and Skopje communist Kolishevski. These meetings also highlighted another of FYROM’s myths; the existence of a “Macedonian” minority in western Bulgaria (Pirin) who they claim are oppressed by the Bulgarians. What is not admitted however is that between 1944 and 1948 Bulgaria was coerced by Yugoslavia to recognized this minority and to eventually give the Pirin area to Yugoslavia as part of a future greater Macedonia. The entire movement of Pirin Macedonian recognition was only due to Yugoslav attempts to dominate the Balkan peninsula and postwar Bulgaria’s weakness. They merely exploited a non existent issue to weaken Bulgaria and increase Yugoslav power. As an offset they promised Bulgaria support in its also non existent claims on Greek Western Thrace.

Intense propaganda was used, on behalf of the Skopje republic to bring Bulgaria to capitulate on the issue. In a speech in Skopje by Kolishevski on August 2, 1946 he stated: “The strivings of our people from Pirin Macedonia for union with the Macedonian People’s Republic are a clear fact… We are convinced that the responsible factors (Bulgarian government) see this fact, and that they will make it possible for our people in Pirin Macedonia to have those conditions for free national development which the Bulgarian national minority enjoys in Yugoslavia. We hope that the fatherland Front government will introduce the teaching of the Macedonian language and history…”

Note the typical communist double speak of calling the Skopjeans Bulgarian, yet calling for Bulgarian recognition of Macedonian language and history as a means of winning their favor.

The Yugoslav government took advantage of its diplomatic power in relation to Bulgaria and relentlessly pressed the issue until Bulgaria capitulated. At the Tenth Plenum of the CPB on August 6, 1946 it stated in an unpublished resolution that a united Macedonia belonged as a part of Yugoslavia, and that Pirin must be first culturally “Macedonianized”. The resolution further supported previous statements by Bulgarian president Georgi Dimitrov agreeing in theory to Bulgarian-Yugoslav federation.
Although many Bulgarian leaders agreed to this sell out to the Yugoslavs, including president Georgi Dimitrov, many objected unless it was under the cover of a full Bulgarian -Yugoslav federation. It is ironic that 20 years previous it was the Bulgarians who forced the Yugoslavian and Greek communist parties to agree to establish a united Macedonia and give up their own territory.

By August 1947, negotiations were nearly finalized at the Bled Conference between Tito and Dimitrov where it was declared that a mutual federation was “a mere formality” No doubt this federation, would have included a greater Macedonian republic as the Tito backed N.O.F. were fighting with increasing strength and numbers in the Greek civil war.

The Macedonianization process in Pirin was stepped up with the distribution there of the Skopjean tabloids Pirinski Vesnik and Nova Makedonija as well as student transfers, scholarships, show tours of Skopje and cultural exchange programs. Laws were passed in Pirin calling for the mandatory teaching of “Macedonian” history and language. The Bulgarians even granted to Skopje the relics of one of IMRO’s fathers Goce Delchev who was until then buried in Sofia, as well as books from the Scientific Macedonian Institute of Sofia. It was obvious to the Bulgarians however that this one sided policy was playing right into the hands of the Skopjeans. As Pirin Bulgarian party leader Ivan Delev noted, the Skopjeans took the liberty of tearing down Bulgarian leaders and revolutionaries from public places and replaced them with tributes to Tito and Kolishevski. So began the next phase of the Skopjean’s history of not only betraying their Bulgarian roots, but attempting to spread their political schizophrenia to Bulgaria itself.

Luckily for Macedonia however, their attempt was stopped short from a most unlikely source. On June 28, 1948 Stalin made the shocking announcement of Tito’s expulsion from the official communist bloc organization, the Cominform- formerly called Comintern. Tito was declared as a “heretic” and his CPY “schismatic”. This was the communist version of the various medieval ecclesiastical schisms which divided The Church. Although some of the causes had to do with the interpretation of Marxist theory, the main cause was political realism. The hyper paranoid Stalin felt Tito, being the only non Soviet appointed East European leader was becoming increasingly difficult to control. After the Yugoslav Bulgarian negotiations of the previous year and a speech by Dimitrov in January, the communist world was abuzz with rumors that a future federation would also include the other Eastern Bloc countries as well. This was a direct challenge which Stalin could not tolerate. After a severe scolding by Uncle Joe the Bulgarians quickly fell into the Stalinist line while Tito remained defiant. Short of a Soviet invasion of Yugoslavia (as in Matayas Rakosi’s Hungary in 1956), Stalin hoped Tito’s expulsion would cause his overthrow by his own party, which of course never happened. What was inadvertently achieved however was the deliverance of Macedonia from the Skopjean menace.

The Bulgarians, immediately after the announcement freed themselves from their unpleasant concessions to Yugoslavia’s Macedonian designs. Using Stalin as a cover, they could justify their non adherence to the Bled and other agreements they made with Tito. Skopjean workers, teachers and newspapers were expelled and banned from Pirin which was placed under firm centralized control. Even Tito’s four year balkan bedfellow, president Dimitrov announced their “divorce” at the Fifth Congress of the Bulgarian Communist Party, December 9, 1948: “Our country, in good faith allowed a great number of Macedonian teachers and booksellers to come to Pirin. Soon however it became evident that we have been betrayed, from the teachers and booksellers turned in to Tito agents and under the pretense of fighting greater Bulgarian chauvinism and with the aid of the state apparatus and all the political and cultural organizations they began a systematic campaign against everything Bulgarian, against the Bulgarian people. Their culture the people’s democracy, and our communist party. In the Macedonian Republic, no Bulgarian newspaper was allowed, not even Rabotnichesko Delo, the organ of the Bulgarian communist party. The family names of the population were altered as to have no resemblance to Bulgarian names. For example Kulishev, Uzunov and Cherkov became Kolishevski. Uzinovski and Cherkovski…” (Barker, p.105)

Further, president Dimitrov again states the infamous Bulgarian slogan: “Our party has always advocated and continues to advocate that Macedonia belongs to the Macedonians.” (Barker, p.105), (Kofos, p191).
Further testimony on the intolerance and divisiveness of the Skopjeans was given at the Sixteenth Plenum of the BCP: “Because of the policy of the Yugoslav leaders and the leaders of the Macedonian Communist Party, there was in practice created in the Pirin region the intolerable situation of a state within a state because various secret emissarys of the Macedonian Peoples Republic were permitted, without control, to rule the Pirin region and to disseminate hostility towards the Bulgarian people, the Bulgarian state and the Bulgarian Communist Party.” (Barker, p.106)

Although Bulgarian policy on Macedonia was largely passive afterwards, it was constantly accused of oppression and denationalization of the Pirin “Macedonains” by daily Skopjean radio broadcast and newspapers. All of it mere political rhetoric- the real Macedonians were themselves under attack as the Skopjean- N.O.F. infiltrated Greek Democratic (Communist) Army was waging war on the Greek government.

The isolation of Yugoslavia from the communist world was the beginning of the end of the civil war and Tito’s designs on Macedonia. At a meeting on July 28, 1948, the KKE passed a resolution endorsing the Soviet decision but kept it secret to continue receiving aid from Yugoslavia. However, to keep the unity of the army they soon expelled NOF members who were pro Tito including Gotsev and Keramadiev. The slavophones and Skopjeans, already divided over their loyalty to Greece, were further balkanized by their allegiance either to Tito or the KKE.

By the end of 1948 the KKE realized that the rebellion would crumble without the support of the NOF and issued their infamous resolution on a future Macedonia at its fifth Central Committee meeting on January 30, 1949: “There should be no doubt that with the victory of the Democratic army of Greece and of the peoples revolution, the Macedonian people will realizes their full national restitution as they themselves want it.”

A few days later the NOF announced over Radio Free Greece on February 27 that at their meeting in March: “It will announce the Union of Macedonia into a complete, independent and equal Macedonian nation within the Peoples Democratic Federation of the Balkans.” (Kofos,p.179) It is also clear that the NOF now intended Macedonia to be independent from Yugoslavia, along the lines of the old Bulgarian Comintern plan. The KKE in its announcement even granted the NOF it’s own political party, the Communist Organization of Aegean Macedonia (KOAM). It was hailed by the Bulgarians as: “…the only correct way of solving the Macedonian question…” -Trud, February 14, 1949. Now that Bulgaria itself was rejecting the Skopjean incursions into Pirin, they could also endorse the change in the KKE/NOF policy. So confused was the situation in Macedonia between pro Greece, Yugoslavia and Bulgarian armies that by the summer of 1949, that the United Nations U.N.S.C.B. report stated: “Radio broadcasts, newspapers and statements of public officials in Bulgarian and Yugoslavia have continued to support conflicting claims for the detachment of Greek or Aegean Macedonia from Greece and for the establishment of a unified Macedonia in some form or another.”

The Yugoslav version of events was quite different. Throughout the first part of 1949 they were continuing their support of the rebels however with increasing concern that the rebellion would ultimately turn on them. According the Vukmanovic Tempo’s 1950 book How and Why the People’s Liberation Movement in Greece met with Defeat, referring to the 1949 position of the KKE: “Here in fact one had an attempt on the part of the government of the Soviet Union and the other Cominform elements to detach the Peoples Republic of Macedonia from Yugoslavia and render it subordinate to the Soviet Union (Cominform)”. The fact that the Skopjeans were in favor of either an autonomous (Bulgarian) or Yugoslav Macedonia is irrelevant. The nature of the problem still remains the same after 70 years.
Despite a disclaimer broadcast on March 9 over Radio Free Greece by the NOF of their plan for autonomy, their rebellion had already been condemned to death. Mutual accusation of betrayal the pro KKE and Tito NOF factions, as well as desertions by Greeks caused by the KKE’s treasonous announcement severely weakened the rebellion internally. The final blow came from Tito’s decision to formally close the Greek-Yugoslav border to the rebels on July 23 1949. Apparently so distrustful was Tito towards the intentions of the pro Stalin rebels that he buried his plans for Macedonia and Greece to save his own regime.

Within a month of Tito’s decision the civil war came to an end as the Greek army led by General Papagos reasserted sovereignty over the whole country. Zahariades and his minions fled to Albania from where they were also expelled on grounds of subversion of the communist movement. From there many NOF members sought refuge in Yugoslavia under invitation from Kolishevski, while others went to pro Cominform countries.

The toll of the civil war on Greece was extensive with over 70,000 killed and almost 30,000 abductees in other countries. Fortunately however Greece was finally cleansed of treasonous Stalinists, Titoists and seditious slavophones and Bulgarians. Approximately 40,000 such “refugees” (enemy combatants) fled abroad with approximately 30,000 living in Yugoslavia according to Greek statistics and Skopje newspaper Pirinski Glas.

There still remained in Greece about 42,000 slavophones, many of whom fought the communists and fully identified with their Greek compatriots. Had they felt threatened, surely they would have left. Of coursed there are always exceptions, but their numbers are minimal.

[Psaltis]

Very good article tell your friend he did a good job! Very good information and has very great information things I never knew. But I thought IMRO was actually VMRO.