REMEMBRANCE IN TIME - Index of

Milen MIHOV: Democratic Macedonia– Outside` the Grasp of Tito 265
resolution of the Macedonia issue from the Paris Peace Conference via uniting the three parts
of Macedonia to create an “independent Macedonia” under the auspices of the Great Powers.
In connection with the preparation of the Paris Peace Conference in 1946 the leaders of
IMRO prepared a summary memorandum to the Great Powers. The main claim in the
document is the victorious countries to defend the right for self-determination of the
population. Under international control a plebiscite to be conducted for the separation of
Tito’s Yugoslavia and the creation of free and independent Macedonia [3][vii].
The Yugoslav delegation in Paris receives the Memorandum and this leads to revealing
and annihilation of the organization. In June 1946 mass arrests were carried out and over
3 000 people were sent to prison. There is a trial against the 13 members of the Central
Committee and accusations are bought which foresee a death sentence.
The extent of the repressions is so big that it leads to the intervention of the Great
Powers. In January 1947 the Soviet Union, England, the USA and France sent joint
delegation which had to make an inquiry concerning the case and to meet with the
arrested people. The meeting is held in Belgrade and only Ivanov, Trenchev and Terziev
are allowed by the authorities to be present. The prisoners are preliminary “prepared” for
the conversation with the foreign diplomats and they have an ultimatum that the only
position they might have is repentance, otherwise they will extremely aggravate their
situation. Personally the Interior Minister of Yugoslavia Alexander Ranković warns them
to give up their claims because “all IMRO members and all Bulgarians in Yugoslavia will
turn into skeletons”. In the presence of the representatives of the victorious states the
three leaders of IMRO repeat the claims contained in the memorandum of the
organization and insist on separating from Yugoslavia in a legal way via referendum
approved by the Great Powers and proclaiming an independent state under international
guarantees [3][viii].
At the end of March 1946 in Skopje is held the trial against the thirteen members of the
Central Committee. The seven leaders who signed the memorandum for the Paris Peace
Conference were sentenced to death. Under diplomatic pressure the Supreme Court in
Belgrade confirms the death sentence only of Dr. Konstantin Terziev. While serving the
term of imprisonment in Idrizovo near Skopje other three of the convicts die [3][ix].
The problem with the rising anti-communist and anti-Yugoslav opposition raises
justified concerns among the new rulers of Vardar. The issue was discussed in series of
special meetings of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Macedonia. (CPM)
in May and June 1946. Presentations and analyses indicate that the top communist
governing body notes with alarm the public support of the idea about “Autonomous
Macedonia under the protectorate of the Great Powers”. For achieving their aim the
population depends mainly on the United Kingdom and the USA. In the Party’s
documents the supporters of these ideas were labeled with such names as “IMRO
members”, “mihailovists”, ‘Great Bulgaria shovinists”, ‘bugarashi’ and ‘pro-Bulgarians”
which were meant to replace the ethnonym Bulgarians [2][x].
According to research in Macedonian historiography the number of oppositional
organizations exposed in 1945 is 8, in 1947 – 19, in 1948 -16, 1949 – 7. The official data
produced by the Ministry of Interior of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
(FYROM), made at the request of a group of MP’s from IMRO-DPMNU reveals that
during the period between 1945 and 1991 105 underground organizations were exposed.
For the same period 1045 people were sent to prison, and 245 were sentenced to death
or sent to prison for more than 15 years[8][xi]. Prof. Dimitar Gotsev, an erudite scholar of