Skopje, August 1944

MANIFEST ISSUED AT THE FIRST SESSION OF THE ANTI-FASCIST COUNCIL NATIONAL LIBERATION OF MACEDONIA TO THE PEOPLE OF MACEDONIA
 August 2, 1944
Macedonians under Bulgaria and Greece,
…The unification of the entire Macedonian people depends on your participation in the gigantic anti-fascist front. Only by fighting the vile fascist occupier will you gain your right to selfdetermination and to unification of the entire  Macedonian people within the framework of Tito’s Yugoslavia, which has become a free community of emancipated and equal peoples. May the struggle of the Macedonian Piedmont incite you to even bolder combat against the fascist oppressors!

PROCLAMATION TO THE PEOPLE OF MACEDONIA ISSUED BY THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF MACEDONIA

August 4, 1944
People of Macedonia!
…In the course of three years of combat you have achieved your unity, developed your army, and laid the basis for the federal Macedonian state. With the participation of the entire Macedonian nation in the struggle against the fascist occupiers of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Greece you will achieve unification of all parts of Macedonia, divided in 1915 and 1918 by Balkan imperialists.
 Source: The University of “Cyril and Methodius”, Documents on the struggle of the Macedonian people for  dependence and a nation-state, volume two (Skopje, 1985)

The Secretary of State to Certain Diplomatic and Consular Officers The following is for your information and general guidance, but not for any positive action at this time. The Department has noted with considerable apprehension increasing propaganda rumors and semi-official statements in favor of an autonomous Macedonia, emanating principally from Bulgaria, but also from Yugoslav Partisan and other sources, with the implication that Greek territory would be included in the projected state. “This Government considers talk of Macedonian “nation”, Macedonian “Fatherland”, or Macedonian “national consciousness” to be unjustified demagoguery representing no ethnic nor political reality, and sees in its present revival a possible cloak for aggressive intentions against Greece”. The approved policy of this Government is to oppose any revival of the Macedonian issue as related to Greece. The Greek section of Macedonia is largely inhabited by Greeks, and the Greek people are almost unanimously opposed to the creation of a Macedonian state. Allegations of serious Greek participation in any such agitation can be assumed to be false. This Government would regard as responsible any Government or group of Governments tolerating or encouraging menacing or aggressive acts of “Macedonian Forces” against Greece. The  department would appreciate any information pertinent to this subject which may come to your attention.

Stettinius

Source: U.S.State Department, Foreign Relations vol.viii Washington, D.C., Circular Airgram, (868.014/26 Dec.1944)

Stalin to the Bulgarian delegation (on Macedonia): “Cultural autonomy must be granted to Pirin Macedonia within the framework of Bulgaria. In view of the present situation no haste should be displayed in this regard…. You do not want to grant autonomy to Pirin Macedonia. The fact that the population has yet to develop a Macedonian consciousness is of no account. No such consciousness existed in Belorus either when we proclaimed it a Soviet republic. However, later it was shown that a Belorussian people did in fact exist” ….

Stalin to the Bulgarian delegation (on Bulgarian access to the Aegean): “We and the Americans were not parties to the drawing of the borders [in 1919J and do not recognize them as just. You should demand territorial access to the Aegean, and if this is not accepted, you should demand economie (access). You have the right to demand territorial access, but it is difficult to count upon obtaining it today. Such demand can be fulfilled only through the use of force. But in any case you should prepare yourselves for the future”…

Source: The text of these minutes was taken from the Archives of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Bulgaria. It was published in the Sofia newspaper Otecestven Vestnik, June 19, 1990.Document A: Proclamations of the Anti-Fascist Assembly of the National Liberation of  Macedonia (ASNOM), Skopje, August, 1944

MANIFEST ISSUED AT THE FIRST SESSION OF THE ANTI-FASCIST COUNCIL NATIONAL LIBERATION OF MACEDONIA TO THE PEOPLE OF MACEDONIA 

August 2, 1944

Macedonians under Bulgaria and Greece,

…The unification of the entire Macedonian people depends on your participation in the gigantic anti-fascist front. Only by fighting the vile fascist occupier will you gain your right to selfdetermination and to unification of the entire Macedonian people within the framework of Tito’s Yugoslavia, which has become a free community of emancipated and equal peoples. May the struggle of the Macedonian Piedmont incite you to even bolder combat against the fascist oppressors!

PROCLAMATION TO THE PEOPLE OF MACEDONIA ISSUED BY THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF MACEDONIA

August 4, 1944

People of Macedonia!

…In the course of three years of combat you have achieved your unity, developed your army, and laid the basis for the federal Macedonian state. With the participation of the entire Macedonian nation in the struggle against the fascist occupiers of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Greece you will achieve unification of all parts of Macedonia, divided in 1915 and 1918 by Balkan imperialists.

A united and autonomous Macedonia is now the slogan of the Macedonians in all corners of their Fatherland, which is covered with ruins. It is under this slogan that they are organizing and conducting the struggle…. In setting up the ideal of a workers’ and peasants’ government, the communist parties and the Communist Federation of the Balkans declare that the Federative Republic of the Balkans will assure peace, independence and liberty of development of all the peoples of the Peninsula that it will be a voluntary union of independent Balkan Republics, including the Republic of Macedonia and  Thrace.

The following is for your information and general guidance, but not for any positive action at this time. The Department has noted with considerable apprehension increasing propaganda rumors and semi-official statements in favor of an autonomous Macedonia, emanating principally from Bulgaria, but also from Yugoslav Partisan and other sources, with the implication that Greek territory would be included in the projected state. “This Government considers talk of Macedonian “nation”, Macedonian “Fatherland”, or Macedonian “national consciousness” to be unjustified demagoguery representing no ethnic nor political reality, and sees in its present revival a possible cloak for aggressive intentions against Greece”. The approved policy of this Government is to oppose any revival of the Macedonian issue as related to Greece. The Greek section of Macedonia is largely inhabited by Greeks, and the Greek people are almost unanimously opposed to the creation of a Macedonian state. Allegations of serious  Greek participation in any such agitation can be assumed to be false. This Government would regard as responsible any Government or group of Governments tolerating or encouraging menacing or aggressive acts of “Macedonian Forces” against Greece. The Department would appreciate any information pertinent to this subject which may come to your attention.

Stettinius

 Source: U.S.State Department, Foreign Relations vol.viii Washington, D.C., Circular Airgram, (868.014/26 Dec.1944)

Source: The text of these minutes was taken from the Archives of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Bulgaria. It was published in the Sofia newspaper Otecestven Vestnik, June 19,1990.