Ideological Activism – Macedonians Under Greece By Stoian Kochov (Translated from Macedonian to English and edited by Risto Stefov) Ideological Activism – Macedonians Under Greece Published by: Risto Stefov Publications [email protected] Toronto, Canada All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written consent from the author, except for the inclusion of brief and documented quotations in a review. Copyright 2015 by Stoian Kochov & Risto Stefov e-Book Format May 20, 2015 2 REMEMBERING: IDEOLOGICAL ACTIVISM - MACEDONIANS UNDER GREECE (1945-1949) Digging into the past has allowed me to better understand the truth about the genocide committed against the Macedonian people living in Greek occupied Macedonia in the years 1945 to 1949, precisely during the period when the Communist International was active in Greece. Historical studies and research conducted after the genocide inspired me to write about the very activities (attitudes, views, crucial decisions) which were detrimental to our future. These “ideological” activities were ordered “from above” by the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) and by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia/Communist Party of Macedonia (CPY/CPM) and were blindly followed and implemented by the National Liberation Front (NOF) and Anti-Fascists Front for Women (AFZH), to the detriment of the Macedonian people. It later became obvious that we the Macedonians, as soldiers of the Democratic Army of Greece (DAG), did not have any control of the Macedonian political movement. We were novices and all the knowledge we had was planted into our minds; all the effort and compassion we put into this service was already pre-planned by the ideologues of war - strangers to our kind. After conducting my own investigation, I was able to confirm that: Our organizations NOF and AFZH were always under the watchful eye of “big brother” who ruthlessly had the organizations under his control. Everything was under his control; perception, attitude, view of the world, importance of action, engagement in achieving certain social and especially political problems, etc. By digging deeper and analyzing details of NOF’s and AFZH’s activities, I was able to provide evidence that Yugoslavia and its ideological movement was in favour of Greece and the Western powers. Yugoslavia was in favour of the division of the spheres of influence, a decision that was made in Yalta and in Crimea from February 4 to 11, 1945, regarding the new post-war settlement of the planet earth. My research and my results documented in this book aim to answer the following questions: 3 1. How and why was the “Macedonian syndrome” activated, through ideological activism, in Greek occupied Macedonia after World War II and during the Greek Civil War (1945-1949)? 2. With what kind of strategic objective did we organize NOF and who actually pushed us to take a military option and fight in a war? Was that our strategic goal or was it organized by strangers through ideological activism (Operatives of strategic tasks) with the awareness that, for half a century, we were forced to follow a “comfortable” policy with Greece? 3. Were the Macedonian people living in Greek occupied Macedonia, intellectually, military and political capable, through such a strategic option, of preserving the territorial integrity of Greek occupied Macedonia and the compactness of the Macedonian population after World War II when international state borders, particularly after the international border between Greece and Yugoslavia became a militarized frontier between the Western and Eastern camp? 4. Why did we discard the alternative of not getting involved in the war? Was it because it would have been less glorious not to have fought? Had we chosen that option there was a good chance that today we would still be at home in our own iconic Macedonian space; on our grandfather’s piece of land! 5. The Greek Civil War (1945-1949) spilled a lot of our blood and left our villages and homes burned to the ground. Worse than that, it permanently drove the Macedonian people out from their native lands and left them stranded to roam the world. It ruined our lives as Macedonians. The Author Skopje, 1995 4 FOREWORD The political manipulation of the Macedonian people living in Greek occupied Macedonia, by Communist International and the Communist parties (CPG; CPB (Communist Party of Bulgaria) and CPY) during the war years (1940-1950); The half a century of wandering and silence after the 1953 Balkan Pact; are only a couple of factors that have led to severe consequences for the Macedonian people. These were people who were recruited (most by violent mobilization) and pushed into becoming ideological soldiers (“useful idiots”), victims who became unwilling servants of other people’s interests. And as a result they not only lost their political identity, but were thrown into total political discrimination and social marginalization (they were thrown into the ideological waste basket), with aims at turning them into ideological and political believers. Today all this is reflected in the overall national interests of the Macedonian people. For them, the Macedonian Question, or a representation of it, from a political or even ethnic point of view, was a huge plot and that is why there was no reality to the slogan “United Macedonia” after the Second World War. And that is why we, the Macedonian people from Greek occupied Macedonia, found ourselves outside of our homes and exiled forever. To attempt to examine if we had a strategy of our own during the Greek Civil War is beyond reason, but we do have to admit that it was our blood that the strangers used to write their own great stories. The topic “(Self) sacrifice of the Macedonians under Greece”, in a range of dilemmas, about which I have touched upon in my book, is of vital interest to the Macedonian nation and can be summarized by answering a few important questions: Are we defending a revolution in the “History of Greek occupied Macedonia”, or are we covering up a fraud for all those (self) sacrifices we experienced?! Was there any point to our entry into a new war (Greek Civil War) after World War II was over and after most problems created by it were already globally resolved, including the international border running right through historic and ethnic Macedonia? Why did we enter this war without any clear idea as to where we were headed? Why did we follow the absurd suicidal strategy to bring socialism to Greece and 5 allow the “communists” to use us in a fictional strategy concocted by strangers to “Soviet-ize the Balkans” and whatever else they were doing? Surely we must also have known how the Greek government with an Army of 250,000 trained soldiers equipped with the most modern weapons, leaning towards the far right, would have reacted to this, especially since they referred to us as “Bandits” and called this war, not a Macedonian revolution, not a Greek Civil War, but a “Bandit war”. Objectively speaking, most of the historiography about this war has been referred to as a “Partisan War with 90% of the fighters being forcibly mobilized peasants under the leadership of the CPG”. But, as a matter of fact, we the Macedonians contributed about 50-60% of the total resources available to DAG from the villages where NOF and AFZH had influence and pushed us into the war. The problem seemed complicated but apparently the truth was simple, but only if we were honest and impartial about how we regarded our historical objectivity. We Macedonians living in Greek occupied Macedonia were always under close watch or under the watchful eyes of the anti-Macedonians. But the fact is that we never paid much attention to ourselves, our vital interests, but rather we hoped that our national problem would be solved by our ideologically affiliated “Big Brothers”. Today’s findings are telling us that many powers did whatever they could to force the indigenous Macedonian people out of Greek occupied Macedonia and silence them permanently. These “interventions” were most apparent after the Second World War. But then the question is: What did we do in this “stormy chaos” after the world was divided into spheres of influence between the two camps? What did we do after they had dropped the “iron curtain” between us? Also surprising is the fact that, even after the creation of the Macedonian state and even when two sovereign states, Greece and Yugoslavia, stood between us, we were still obsessed with the idea of unifying all of historic and ethnic Macedonia and all the Macedonian people, including those living in Greek occupied Macedonia by “starting a revolution” which “fit with our historical needs” and was based on “ancient traditions.” But, from what had happened and the stage we were in, after World War II ended, and after the world was divided into rigid spheres of influence, when it 6 should have been very clear to us why such a political option was not viable at that point in time, we, it seems, were still too blind to see the truth. It seems that the “architects” who were planning our demise were sure that we would be “blinded” by our ancient desires to create a United Macedonia and that we would dismiss the truth even though it was staring us in the face. And sure enough they were right and that is why, at the end of April 23, 1945, they created the Macedonian organizations NOF, AFZH and NOMS (People’s Liberation Youth Organization) in Skopje and through them urgently called on the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia to stand up and fight: “Now or never!” It was done in the period when we were under the spell of the ideological force of strangers.