• 1932.08 •
United Front of the Workers and Peasants declares that the
struggle for support of the oppressed nationalities: the
Macedonians, Turks and Armenians is a general task of all the
working population in Greece. This struggle should be directed
against spiritual, political and economic oppression and against
the forcible Hellenization practiced in schools.
• 1934.04.06 •
The whole bourgeois press reported yesterday that at the village
of Drenova, region of Drama, which is inhabited by
Macedonians, an ‘anarcho-communist’ organization which
intended…’to blow up and set fire to the whole town of Drama,
was discovered.’ … The workers and the peasants of Greece
should protest against the deportations of the Macedonians.
• 1934.06.06 •
Here, in Voden, and in our whole district, in the heart of
Macedonia, here where we Macedonians do not know any other
language but our own Macedonian, various agents of the Greek
capitalism force us to speak Greek. Consequently, they threaten
us constantly with expulsion to Bulgaria, they call us Komitajis,
expropriate our fields, which we have drenched with our sweat
just to produce a piece of bread. In addition, they deprive us of
the freedom which our fathers won after many years of struggle
in which they gave their lives for the liberation of Macedonia.
We live under the yoke of Greek capitalism, literally as slaves.…
In the elementary schools, the young children who speak their
own language are beaten every day. Particularly here in Voden,
the henchman and fascist Georgiadis beats the children if they
speak their Macedonian tongue, if they wrap their notebooks in
red paper, or if they use red ink or red colors.…
In the elementary schools, the young children who speak their own language are beaten every day. Particularly here in Voden, the henchman and fascist Georgiadis beats the children if they speak their Macedonian tongue, if they wrap their notebooks in red paper, or if they use red ink or red colors.
…
May the residents of Skopje forgive us, along with those who
speak a similar language: since they also do not understand our
[Bulgarian] language, nor can they speak it.
• 1934.06.08 •
We Macedonians should rise with greater courage and by means
of increased activities should reject this campaign because it
brings us an even more brutal oppression, starvation, misery and
war. Appropriate activities have also been undertaken at the
Anti-Fascist Congress. Five hundred drachmas were donated to
cover the expenses of our representative. However, this will not
do. We should start forming anti-fascist associations, and we
should bravely reject the yoke imposed by our oppressors, and
create a free and independent Macedonia.
• 1934.07.19 •
The Greek government has struck us a heavy blow. It has left us
at the mercy of Captain Marko Papaterpov, an Andart and goat
thief who robs us of our forests which provide a living for 2000
Macedonian families from Dolni and Gorni Nestram. The
plundering of the woods have aroused all the villagers, young and
old alike. We oppressed Macedonians address you and ask you
to help us in our struggle because you have been leading us for
some time now.
• 1934.08.02 •
The revolutionary traditions of the Macedonian people who,
since 1913 have been partitioned among three capitalist states,
maintains as a central bright symbol its armed uprising on St.
Elijah’s Day on August 2, 1903.
• 1934.09.08 •
We Are Neither Bulgarians, Nor Greek! We Are Macedonians.
Along the northern periphery of capitalist Greece, a whole
nation groans under the heavy boot of two-fold, economic and
national exploitation and pressure; that is the Macedonian
people. The Greek capitalists, landowners and generals, using
fire and sword, try to ‘Hellenize’ these people and make them
slaves. However, the long-suffering Macedonian people, who
have given so many sacrifices, are not prepared to surrender as
slaves to the clutches of their oppressors. They are struggling for
their liberation and independence. At their side as their allies
stand the Greek workers and peasants who know that ‘people
who oppress another people cannot be free themselves’. The
news report from western Macedonia, which is published below,
shows that the Macedonians are waking up and that they are
finding the true road towards their liberation.…
We shall struggle for full independence from the Bulgarian,
Greek and Serbian whip. We know that we shall be successful –
provided we are organized, and provided we enjoy the support of
the workers and peasants of Greece. At a conference which we
had one of our comrades presented the program and activities of
the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (United).
We formed two groups with ten members each, as well as a
three-member committee which will organize new groups in all
Macedonian villages in the Vrtikop area. We invite all the
peasants from the Lerin area and from the area of Enidze
Vardar, so that we may start publishing a newspaper for the
Macedonians in western Macedonia in our own mother
language.
• 1934.09.12 •
Whenever anyone utters a Macedonian word he is punished
with 10-15 days in jail. We are called ‘ignoramuses’ and are
constantly beaten. Disciplinary measures are taken every day and
we are often ordered to do forced labor. Despite all this we shall
continue to speak our language and to sing our revolutionary
songs.
• 1934.10.26 •
Two groups of Macedonians with nine members each, and
another one with six members were formed in the village Eksi-
Su. They have assumed the task of enlightening the peasants and
organizing the struggle of the Macedonian people for liberation.
These groups invite the other villages: Ajtos, Zeleniche and
Ljubetino to organize themselves in groups and to make efforts
to start publishing a Macedonian newspaper in our own mother
language. We should declare in full voice to our Greek masters
that we are not Greeks, nor are we Bulgarians or Serbs, but pure
Macedonians. We have behind us our history, our past with
much fighting for the liberation of Macedonia, and we shall
continue our struggle until we finally liberate ourselves.
• 1935.07.03 •
As for the name Bulgarian, which you are giving us, we tell you
that we are not Greeks, nor are we Bulgarians or Serbs. We are
Macedonians, with our own language, culture, customs, and with
our own history. We, who are young, are filled with pride when
we listen to our fathers telling us about the Ilinden Uprising,
about the heroism of Zlate, Petkov, Gruev, Tosev and Delcev.
Were they Bulgarians, Mister Pejo? No, they were Macedonians
and they fought for a united Macedonia. All the Macedonians
from eastern, central and western Macedonia are uniting, Mister
Pejo, in order to kick you out and all the other Greek, Serbian
and Bulgarian exploiters.…
One hundred and twenty Macedonian families live in this village.
They are Macedonians and they do not know any other language
except Macedonian. However, nobody should envy the fate of
anyone who might be heard by the authorities speaking
Macedonian. A threat hangs above his head of being expelled to
Bulgaria. All the villagers have relatives in Bulgaria who write to
them that the same thing is being done to them by the Bulgarian
authorities. However, the Macedonians in Bulgaria have their
own organization and they are struggling for their freedom.
