THE BCP CONTINUES ITS NATIONAL BETRAYAL
B Dolenliev "Macedonian Tribune" Vol 263 No.3043 20/04/89
During 1988 in Sofia a small text was published by Ivan Alexandrov [the complete English translation of this text is now available online at Knigi]. To allay the readers' suspicions that he is just not another "Mihailovist" or "Fascist", we note that he is in fact an old and prominent member of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP). Being a historian, and well versed in events which relate to Macedonia during the last 100 years, he declared some truths, which naturally caused significant agitation amongst those who for years have followed and implemented the Belgrade policy on the Macedonian Question.
Mr Alexandrov appeals for an end to the national nihilism which reigns in Bulgaria. He resolves the question of Vrhovism and Centralism when he stresses that in the Vrhovist organization, 90% of the members were Bulgarians from Macedonia. Also examined is the so-called Left-Wing (Levitsata) in the Macedonian Liberation Movement (MLM). The author reviews the circumstances of the wars led by Bulgaria to free the enslaved Bulgarian people, and shows that irrespective of the regimes in power they were not "imperialist" and "expansionist" as some historians suggest, but "justified" wars for the liberation of occupied Bulgarian ethnic lands.
He also emphasises that information about the Tikvesh and Ohrid-Debur rebellions against the Serbian occupation in 1913 has only recently begun to appear in Bulgarian historiography, but still very little, while in todays Macedonian Republic no reference exists for these events and many others. Alexandrov summarises the relevance of these events
but these rebellions are primarily acts of IMRO, ie Bulgarian rebellions. By their denial as such we follow the same path as the foreign falsifiers of our history and directly support themIn another place Mr Alexandrov writes
it is not right that the activists of one revolutionary district in Macedonia, like the Serres one, are given special acknowledgement and priority, just because they were called the "Levista" (Left-Wing), when in reality they only represent 5% of the historic record of the Macedonian Liberation Movement. With this practise we deny the Bulgarian national essence of the Movement, and this is the Greater-Serbian thesis - Macedonism. Therefore we are manipulated by the foreign falsifiers and chauvinists. Their object is for us to deny our past and then erase it completelyThe author of the brochure describes the role of the Levista in the MLM, and makes it clear that during the Huriet (Young Turk Revolt) in 1908 it fully cooperated with the policy of Ottomanization, while the remaining activists of IMRO, supported by the population which, as Alexandrov writes, represents over 95%, stand firm for their National Liberation positions. For the Levista, the Huriet more or less ends their liberation cause and they no longer engage in activities for the benefit of oppressed Bulgarians in Macedonia.
The author also states that after WWI it was Todor Alexandrov who succeeded in organizing the people against the new policies of denationalization in Macedonia, whereas many of the Levista became collaborators with the oppressors. Mr Alexandrov also discusses "Mihailovism", which is so bitterly attacked by the BCP. He notes that Ivan Mihailov stands not only for an independent Macedonia, but also the national position, and that after 1944 only the Mihailovists in Bulgaria took a firm stand against the policy of converting the Macedonian Bulgarians into ethnic "Macedonians". Here are some excerpts from the text with respect to Ivan Mihailov and IMRO, the leadership of which he assumed after the murder of Todor Alexandrov
the slogan of Mihailov is not union with Bulgaria but Independent (sovereign) Macedonia. He published an entire book called "Macedonia: Switzerland of the Balkans" on this very question. However the continual references to "Mihailovist bands of killers" is not only false but also politically damaging. We know that the first arguments in the MLM which started between the Vrhovists and Centralists began from the beginning of this century. Furthermore the fratricide and killings of the leading IMRO activists were directly connected with Yane Sandansky. Even a part of these "bands" (the militia of IMRO) engaged and defeated the Greek Army which entered the Petrich district under the regime of Pangalos in 1925Because of the publication of this text, some of the "Macedonists" in Bulgaria complained vehemently and loudly, and organized protest meetings in parts of Pirin Macedonia. They had sufficient influence to not only stop the distribution of Alexandrov's text but to also have found copies confiscated. We can assume there are many aspects of Bulgarian life that the Macedonists don't enjoy at present, like the shortage of food. But what is all this emotive "hysteria" really about? That a historian from the BCP decided to tell some truths from his own personal observations?the time will come when our historic record will have to explain and answer why in enslaved Macedonia between the two World Wars, and in fact 87% of her, IMRO had great influence amongst the masses and they opposed with all means at their disposal the Serbanization, Hellenization and Macedonism. The finest representatives of the people considered themselves as Bulgarian patriots, protecting the national cause. At the same time prominent members of the Levista in the Pirin region, where there was not even national oppression, waged a war against IMRO and sanctioned Macedonism!
For many years in Bulgaria there has been a systematic falsification, not only of the MLM, but the whole history of Bulgaria in unison with the anti-Bulgarian policy of Belgrade; and these very same "comrade Macedonists" not only failed to oppose this course but in fact were an integral part of it. A policy of national self-desecration.
The frenzy of the "Macedonists" in Bulgaria also manifested itself on another recent occasion. In honour of the 95th anniversary of the MLM, a meeting was organized on 28th November 1988 in Sofia. The hall at which the celebration was being held was completely full with only standing room available. And a most curious thing occurs. The table for the "presidium" members, at centre stage, is completely empty! The people who should be chairing the meeting fail to arrive. They have all declared themselves "sick" and unable to attend. There is no doubt that these people are indeed unwell, but only with respect to their mental state; the same applies to those who organized this boycott. This type of SICKNESS has a special name - NATIONAL BETRAYAL!
At this meeting Dimitar Gotsev, assistant Professor of History, introduced himself and delivered an excellent lecture. The celebrations continued, including the participation of the choir "Gotse Delchev" and when it sang the song dedicated to Todor Alexandrov "Neshto Ke Te Pitam, Babo, Pravo Da Mi Kazhesh" the whole crowd erupted into tumultuous applause.
The Macedonian Bulgarians notice these type of occurrences throughout Bulgaria and come to the only conclusion possible:- that within the BCP resides the "heart" of the national betrayers, who for their own egotistic ambitions and obstinacy, will not relent in their demented effort to destroy the Bulgarian spirit in Macedonia and so benefit the Belgrade chauvinists. The Bulgarian historian Krumovsky is correct when, in one of the final issues of the magazine "Vekove" he claimed that due to the policy of the Bulgarian government after WWII, the Macedonian question suddenly somehow became a Yugoslav question. By some of our contemporary historians this is referred to as a "MISTAKE", whereas even the blind can see that it is a "TREASONOUS NATIONAL CRIME". Lenin at one time wrote, "one step backwards two forwards", but on the national question the BCP follows another guideline, "one step forwards, two backwards"?
That is why one day, the BCP and its creations will be consigned to the metaphoric "sewer" by the Bulgarian people, by the free Bulgarian historiography, and by the Macedonian Bulgarians who will never forget that in their moments of heaviest oppression and need, the BCP "stuck a knife deep into their backs."