WHO HIJACKED DOOM?

The MLUM or DOOM, as it is usually referred to (pronounced DOM in Macedonian), can justifiably claim to have been the first genuine post-war Macedonian emigre movement established to advance definite global political goals - the liberation and unification of Macedonia. At its zenith in the mid to late 1970's, DOOM claimed many hundreds of members across western Europe, North America and Australia and undoubtedly, many thousands of spiritual adherents amongst Macedonian emigre circles across the world. Today, less than 20 years later, the original DOOM, to all intents and purposes, has ceased to exist, and only few of its most loyal supporters remain, isolated in remote minority cells in the aforementioned continents. Ironically however, DOOM's spiritual leader, Dragan Bogdanovski, incarcerated for a decade in the Republic of Macedonia, was released to the West some two years ago, and currently resides in Sweden where he presides over the further dissipation of the movement. Earlier this year, this same person returned briefly to the Republic of Macedonia where he attempted once again to become a major player in the current mainstream political scene. We understand that this attempt proved somewhat fruitless, and Bogdanovski returned to his permanent base in Sweden. Yet, during his absence from the scene in the latter part of the 1970's and throughout the 1980's, ideological control of the organisation was usurped by elements which even today, as the self appointed "beneficiaries" or "guardians" of the movement, continue to propagate a platform which cynically distorts and misrepresents the character of the original movement. How this usurpation took place will be examined below.

Suffice it to say that in general there is a paucity of analytical or evaluative data available about DOOM which would consolidate a more reasoned appraisal of its origins and objectives. This dearth of worthwhile information has in itself fuelled many myths about the movement which have no factual basis. The political climate which has been produced as a consequence has lent itself to manipulation and simple

DOOM: a historical treatise

The frustration and desperation experienced by the Macedonian community in western Europe at its inability to effectively oppose the denationalisation of the Macedonian minorities in Greece and Bulgaria, and the degeneration of the Titoist regime in power in Yugoslavia and the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, led to the need for the formation of an organised vehicle which would channel and mobilise the patriotic and political fervour of these emigres.

The organisation which arose as a result of this desire to defend Macedonians in the Balkan homeland and which was the direct political and spiritual precursor of DOOM was Osloboditelniot Komitet na Makedonija (Liberation Committee of Macedonia), otherwise known as OKM. OKM was formed in 1962 in Trelleborg, Sweden. Its goal was to organise the western European Macedonian emigre community, and ultimately the population of Macedonia itself, in defence of Macedonian human rights in the Balkans, with the final goal being the reunification of Macedonia and its establishment as an independent state, free of Greek, Bulgarian, Serbian and Albanian domination.

Its first president was the political emigrant from the SRM, Dirnko Nechevski. Risto Nedanovski was vice president and Blagoja Blazevski was secretary. The founding conference of OKM was held in Copenhagen in 1965. Dirnko Nechevski was again elected president, Blagoja Sambevski vice president and Blagoja Blazevski, secretary. In 1971 an extraordinary conference of OKM was held in Copenhagen, with the decisive third conference being held in 1972 in Bremen in West Germany. It was at this conference that the decision was taken to change the organisation's name to DOOM, Movement for the Liberation and Unification of Macedonia, reflecting the movement's increase in confidence, organisational capability, greater membership and a growing participation of Macedonian emigrants from outside the Scandinavian and northern European theatre.

The goals of DOOM remained those of OKM, the liberation and unification of Macedonia and its establishment as a sovereign Balkan state. The 1972 Bremen conference was significant in that the split that had been brewing within the ranks of OKM as a result of forces opposed to the leadership, and led by Dragan Bogdanovski, widened. Bogdanovski, who had been the editor of the OKM organs Makedonija (first published in 1962) and Makedonska Nacija (first published in 1965), resigned from DOOM, which was still led by Nechevski. He was formally expelled from DOOM's ranks at a meeting of DOOM's central committee held in Bremen in July 1972.

(a) DOOM - Ideology and Political activity

It must be said at the outset that DOOM grouped together people who held varying and quite diverging political opinions, from committed communists to supporters of bourgeois democracy. whilst it was emphasised that the major call of the movement (indeed its "holy mission") was the liberation and unification of Macedonia, and that the political and social system of the country would be decided by the voters after independence was attained, DOOM's leaning towards western liberal democracy and free market ideology was apparent.

Given this orientation DOOM's line was anti-communist to the extent that it opposed the "communist" regime in the SRM and Yugoslavia as being tyrannical and anti-Macedonian. However, it was not viscerally opposed to communist and socialist ideas per se, as some of its literature was later to reveal

Bogdanovski's Makedonska Nacija betrayed a belief in western liberal democracy as the optimal political system, and one which could be applied having regard to specific Macedonian conditions, in the Republic at least. It argued for the necessity, indeed, for the Macedonian peoples' sacred right, to live in a united and independent Macedonia, composed of all three parts of the homeland. It was under no illusion that this would be a difficult task, yet it retained a belief that an independent Macedonia was ultimately realisable in the foreseeable future. Bogdanovski obviously felt that such an emphasis would mobilise Macedonian opinion within the SRM and within Aegean and Pirin Macedonia, such that momentum would be built up for a revolutionary, and if need be, armed struggle for the unification of Macedonia. However, he did stress that peaceful reunification was the favoured option and that the Balkan states within whose borders Macedonia lay should respect the Macedonian peoples' right to self-determination.

The view of DOOM vis-a-vis the SRM was that it was an historical achievement for the Macedonian people in that it had been constituted in 1944 as their national state, albeit on only one part of Macedonian territory, thus crowning hundreds of years of struggle for dignity and self-determination . As Bogdanovski himself said:-

Without any doubt, it represents national, spiritual and cultural freedom (Makedonska Nacija January-February 1976, No.31, p4).

The Macedonian leadership was severely criticised for its silence on the denial of basic human rights to the Macedonian minorities in Greece and Bulgaria. DOOM considered that this leadership had consistently sold out Macedonian interests in Aegean and Pirin Macedonia by cooperating with the Titoist line that the Balkan status quo vis-a-vis Macedonia not be called into question by a defence of the human rights of the Macedonian minorities in Greece and Bulgaria. To this extent the leadership of the SRM was considered to be collaborating in advancing an anti--Macedonian Yugoslav political line. To quote Bogdanovski on this issue:

The leaders of the SRM have not once up until now appeared before the United Nations or before any other international forum in order to expose what the Greek and the Bulgarian denationalisers are doing to the Macedonians in Aegean and Pirin Macedonia, and to make representations so that their national rights may be recognised. (Makedonska Nacija January-February 1976, N6.31, p4).

The leadership in the SRM was also harshly attacked for the perilous state of the economy which had led to the mass emigration of Macedonians to Australia, North America and western Europe. This leadership had destroyed the village economy by allowing Macedonia to be used as an experimental base for collectivisation.

The immediate post-war leadership comprising people such as Lazar Kolishevski, Lupco Arsov, Mihailo Apostolski, Strahil Gigov and Vidoe SmilevsId was especially attacked for its role in purging the Macedonian leadership of people such as Metodija Andonov-Chento (the spiritual progenitor of DOOM), PavIe Shatev and Georgi Karev, who had sought a more independent role for the SRM within the Yugoslav federation and had been willing to resolutely defend the rights of the Macedonian population in Greece and Bulgaria.

We have mentioned above that DOOM and Makedonska Nacija favoured a political system for Macedonia modelled upon western European liberal democracy. However, Bogdanovski had often said that the future political system of a united Macedonia would have to be decided by the Macedonian people in a referendum

Nations live under social systems and political regimes that have been thrown up by history. Pirin Macedonia finds itself within the socialist block, for that reason the national question of the Macedonian people in Pirin Macedonia must find a socialist solution. This point has been well set out in the Memorandum of the Macedonian Question which the central committee of Doom sent to the central communists of many communist and socialist parties throughout the world. However, DOOM does not have anything against a "capitalist" solution to the national question of the Macedonian people in Aegean Macedonia. If the present regime in Aegean Macedonia is truly democratic then it should respect the United Nations' Charter and carry out its articles on the defence of the lights of national minorities. The final political goal of DOOM is the unification of Macedonia as an independent state, but until this goal is realised DOOM is fighting to achieve for the Macedonians in the Greek and Bulgarian parts of Macedonia, those national rights which are stipulated as belonging to national minorities in the United Nations' Charter.( Makedonska Nacija, January-February 1976, No.31, p5).

DOOM is not an instrument of the capitalist World, nor is it a vehicle for some sort of bourgeois ideology; DOOM is not fighting for the overthrow of the socialist social system in Pirin Macedonia; that is why DOOM should not be considered a reactionary movement with bourgeois ideology by the leadership of the Peoples' Republic of Bulgaria. (The Elements of the Ideology and political platform of DOOM, report given at the fourth congress of DOOM, Munich, 1977, Page 14).

Here I must say that all three parts of dismembered Macedonia are equally dear to DOOM, for that reason when I speak of Pirin Macedonia becoming a Macedonian state I do not do this because I love her more that Vardar or Aegean Macedonia, but because I think that in the present political conditions she is in the best position to become an independent Macedonian state. This is possible under the protection of the socialist block, if it correctly understands the Macedonian question.(Makedonska Nacija January-February 1976, No. 31, Page 5).

Another distinguishing feature of DOOM under Bogdanovski's tutelage was the emphasis on the Slavonic roots of the contemporary Macedonian people's national identity which contrasts strongly with the view that came to be increasingly expressed by DOOM after Bogdanovski's imprisonment in 1977; that is, that the modem Macedonian people are direct descendants of the ancient Macedonians of Phillip II and Alexander the Great, and have little if nothing to do with the Slavonic tribes which inhabited Macedonia in the sixth century AD.

Even whilst editor of OKM's Makedonska Nacija, Bogdanovski had strongly pushed the correct and historically and ethnographically based line that modem Macedonians descended from those Slavonic tribes (ie. in an ethnic, cultural, linguistic and biological sense) and refuted the naive view that they had sprung from the ancient Macedonians. In describing the historic role played by activists such as Georgi Pulevski and Isaie Mazovski and others in the formation of Macedonian national consciousness, he states:

These semi-literate, self taught people made great efforts to discover an historical framework for the Macedonian nationality, which they felt so deeply within themselves, by proclaiming the modern Macedonians as descendants of the ancient Macedonians. The academic world could not take their version of Macedonian national consciousness seriously into account as it was based on an illusion, however the role they played in the formation of the Macedonian Peoples' national consciousness is more than significant, it is historic. (Makedonska Nacija January-February 1971, No. 1, Pages 20-21).

The Slavonic nature of the Macedonian Slavs obtained its concrete national form when it collided with another Slavonic national organism, in this concrete case with the Bulgarian. From that moment, their separate Slavonic individuality began to crystallise. (Makedonska Nacija March-April 1971, No. 2, Page 13).

Apart from the split which existed between Nechevski's and Bogdanovski's DOOM, splits soon occurred in Bogdanovski's breakaway organisation. In January 1975, Ivan Petrovski and Goce Atanasovski, members of the central committee of DOOM, sent a letter to the overseas members of the central committee informing them of the exclusion of Bogdanovski from the organisation for espionage on behalf of UDBA and the Bulgarian regime. This decision was published in their own pirate "Makedonska Nacija" of March-April, No. 26, 1975.

In return, Petrovski and Atanasovski were expelled from DOOM by the overwhelming majority of the central committee (according to Bogdanovski), as they were themselves "found" to be agents of UDBA. Bogdanovski's Makedonska Nacija published this decision in No.25 of January-February 1975.)

For a time two different magazines by the name of Makedonska Nacija were being published, one by Bogdanovski and Mileo Sirakov (according to Petrovski and Atanasovski, in the printery of the Bulgarian Agrarian Party in Paris - see Makedonska Nacija March-April 1975, No. 26) and the other by Petrovski and Atanasovski, with the alleged assistance of UDBA, according to Bogdanovski (see Makedonska Nacija [editor Bogdanovski], January-February 1976, No. 31). As one would expect, Bogdanovski's Makedonska Nacija and Petrovski's, which came

Bogdanovski understood the need to develop international support for the Macedonian struggle. With this in mind, he appeared at the first Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe held in Helsinki in 1975, with a Memorandum on the Macedonian Question. This had been translated into French, English, German and Russian. In it was stated that there could not be an enduring peace in Europe if national questions were not solved. DOOM sought national and cultural autonomy for the Macedonians in Egei and Pirin as the first step towards the solution of the Macedonian Question. In the Memorandum it was foreseen that the unification of Macedonia would come about with European and Balkan integration.

At this conference the DOOM delegation met with the then Bulgarian leader, Todor Zhivkov. A meeting was also sought with the Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito, who declined the delegation's request. However, DOOM's Memorandum was handed to him.

In order to establish some greater organisational cohesion and develop an infra-structural basis for his DOOM, Bogdanovski called a fourth Congress of DOOM which was held in Munich in July 1977. Prior to this a conference had been held in Munich in April 1974 and another, of members of the European section of the central committee and of the control commission, held in Strasbourg, France in October 1974. By the time of the 1977 Munich Congress, Bogdanovski's DOOM had made significant inroads amongst the Macedonian emigre community in Sweden, West Germany, Belgium, France, Denmark, Australia, Canada and the United States of America. The communities in these countries regularly received and disseminated DOOM's organ, Makedonska Nacija, which simultaneously helped to raise the organisation's profile and extend its influence significantly, such that it was viewed by both the Yugoslav and Macedonian governments and by Yugoslav diplomatic circles as a significant threat to its policies vis-a-vis Macedonia, the Balkan states and Macedonian communities abroad.

It is for this reason that supporters and members of DOOM in Australia believe that the Yugoslav secret police, UDBA and Yugoslav diplomatic representatives tried so hard to destroy DOOM's influence and organisational base. It is precisely for this reason that Bogdanovski, in a recent interview in Nova Makedonija (August 1990), alleged that he was kidnapped in Paris in 1977 on the orders of UDBA, and returned to the Socialist Republic of Macedonia where he was sentenced to thirteen years' jail on three charges:

1. formation of anti-state and anti-people organisations
   
2. counter-revolutionary activity intended to change the constitutional order in Yugoslavia by force, and

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3. endangering the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia.

It is important to note that Bogdanovski was allegedly kidnapped soon after the fourth Congress of DOOM in Munich at which he presented a 29 page report on the ideology and political platform of the organisation. Bogdanovski, inter ali , stated that the fourth Congress would have to seriously examine the issue of armed struggle and whether conditions in Macedonia were ripe for such an approach. While not specifically arguing that the time was in fact ripe for h Bogdanovski did state the following:

At the present stage of DOOM's development only one form of armed struggle following the example set by the national revolutionary movement in Ireland may be taken into consideration, namely, separate terrorist actions.

After Bogdanovski's imprisonment, Makedonska Nacija under the editorship of Jovan Isakovski, adopted a more nationalistic, right -wing orientation, and began to vigorously disseminate the historically incorrect thesis that Macedonians are the direct descendants of the ancient Macedonians. The tone of the articles declined substantially in quality, with savage personal attacks being made on the "traitors" of the Macedonian people, especially those Macedonians considered to be in the pay of Belgrade and Yugoslavia.

Whilst it cannot be said that DOOM had many members in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia due to the repressive nature of the one party regime, it is certain that it had many sympathisers there, as well as in the regions of Lerin and Solun within Aegean Macedonia in Greece. Makedonska Nacija was often smuggled into the SRM and distributed amongst the population by emigre Macedonians and Turks who were willing to lend their support. On two or three occasions in the 1970's DOOM's propaganda was also disseminated in Aegean Macedonia by DOOM sympathisers returning home to visit from western Europe. It is not clear to what extent DOOM's ideology made inroads amongst the Macedonians in Pirin Macedonia, Bulgaria. What is clear though, is that the frequent trials in the SRM in the 1970's of people charged with "anti-state activities" and "conspiracy against the people", as well as two isolated bomb blasts in Skopje, indicated that DOOM's ideology had significantly influenced certain elements opposed to the prevailing Macedonian political regime.

Dirriko Nechevski, the first President of OKM and DOOM is now general secretary of NOF, and has been actively opposed to Bogdanovski since his exclusion from DOOM in 1972. This opposition has intensified of late in the run-up to the first multi-party elections to be held in the SRM, on the 11th November 1990, especially in view of Bogdanovski's leading role in the nationalist right-wing party VMRO-DPMNE.(Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity)

(b) DOOM in Australia

The first issue of Bogdanovski's official DOOM organ, Makedonska Nacija to be received in Melbourne, was edition No. 5 of 1972. Whilst the mainstream leadership of the Macedonian community in Victoria, grouped as it was around the Macedonian Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria, was of mainly leftist persuasion and initially wary of the rightist opposition represented by Bogdanovski's DOOM, it eventually warmed to the organisation as it felt that its leading lights were sincere patriots who had Macedonia's true interest at heart.

Links between DOOM and the Melbourne Macedonian community were established by means of letters sent to Dragan Bogdanovski by a prominent community leader on behalf of a group of sympathisers. The names of these sympathisers were provided and a small sum of money sent for the publishing of Makedonska Nacija.

After this initial contact had been made DOOM made bigger inroads in the Macedonian community in Australia within a relatively short time. Makedonska Nacija aroused the patriotic passions of the community with its emphasis on the human rights of the Macedonians in Egej and Pirin, and its unmasking of the corruption of the official regime in the SRM. DOOM's supporters in Australia were especially impressed by its focus on the injustices brought about by collectivisation, the political oppression and censorship in the SRM and its call for the SRM "to come to its senses" and develop a more independent pro-Macedonian line.

The movement in Australia, led by its Melbourne branch, periodically published its Makedonska Nacija. This publication tended to have a more leftist orientation than Bogdanovski's Makedonska Nacija.. Whilst mainly concentrating on the activities of DOOM in Australia and abroad, political developments in Macedonia and in the Balkans, and general political events which concerned Macedonia, a major theme of this publication was it attacks on the alleged vigorous efforts of Yugoslav diplomatic circles and sections of the Macedonian clergy sent out from the SRM to destroy DOOM and its organisational structure in Australia. This publication came out during 1976 and 1977.

DOOM's Australian chapter also produced other publications whose goal was to inform Macedonian and wider Australian public opinion of the struggles of the Macedonian people. In November 1976, this branch also undertook the translation of a major statement by the central committee of DOOM entitled, A Statement On the Macedonian National Question. In December 1976, it published a lengthy pamphlet on the struggle of the Macedonian people for national liberation and unification. In this document, special attention was paid to Tito's role in emasculating the Macedonian partisan leadership of its most independent minds and capable militants and his betrayal of the Macedonian struggle in Aegean Macedonia (Greece) during the 1946-49 civil war.

In June 1977 the Melbourne committee of DOOM sent a copy of the Memorandum On the Macedonian National Question that it had prepared and forwarded to the 35 countries participating in the Conference on European Security and Cooperation in Belgrade, to newspaper editors, professors of political history, secretaries of political faculties at Universities and political commentators and students of history around Australia.

The alleged kidnapping of Bogdanovski in mid-1977 created confusion in the ranks of the Melbourne sub-committee of DOOM. The committee had sensed that something was not in order when letters addressed to Bogdanovski started to be sent back. This confusion deepened with the appearance of articles in Nos. 41, 42 and 43 (late 1977 to early ), of Makedonska Nacija which used extremely abusive language in attacking the Macedonian leadership in Skopje and expressed ultra-nationalistic points of view.

In July 1978, the Melbourne sub-committee issued a statement in which it disassociated itself from Makedonska Nacija and the views expressed in the above mentioned editions, as it considered that this organ had been taken over by politically immature, irresponsible and extreme people. It also criticised four brochures apparently prepared by Bogdanovski, because of inconsistency in the

It is obvious now that at least three of these brochures had been put out in Bogdanovski's name - as he had already been kidnapped - and that the confusion that ensued within the Melbourne sub committee of DOOM, was as a result of Bogdanovski's name and "functions" being used as part of the power struggle within the European section of the central committee of DOOM.

After Bogdanovski's kidnapping, the Australian chapter of DOOM began to disintegrate, as it had lost a "European" focal point and had become disillusioned with the ultra -nationalistic and ultra- rightist direction of Makedonska Nacija under the editorship of Jovan Isakovski. It had also not established close links with Dirnko Nechevski's original DOOM and could not reorient itself politically and organisationally before it officially disbanded in 1978.

What is significant however is that a small core of DOOM supporters remained active in Australia, and soon organised themselves into small units with a view to propagating not the original DOOM line, but in fact the extremist proclivities as encapsulated in Isakovski's Makedonska Nacija. This phase then can be regarded as the beginning of the usurpation of the ideals of the original DOOM.

D00M : A Concrete Analysis

In order to evaluate the aggrandisement of the organisation, it is imperative to test the validity of the movement's current rhetoric and philosophy against the first major pronouncements of the European leadership. The differences, both in terms of ideology, language and methodology are stark.

The regular mouth piece of the organisation, as we have stated above, was the Periodical Makedonska Nacija (Macedonian Nation), which came to be distributed internationally in the latter part of the 1970's, and for the most part was edited by Bogdanovski himself. Indeed, several of Bogdanovski's pronouncements, as indicated above, were indicative of the state of affairs within the movement itself

However, outside of this publication, the most expansive and authoritative document issued by the organisation was a text entitled A statement on the Macedonian National Question, prepared and approved by the entire central committee of DOOM in December 1975 (and first featured in Makedonska Nacija). As indicated above the English translation was in fact undertaken by the Australian chapter in November 1976. This text provides a comprehensive and descriptive account of the organisation's key policies on the Macedonian question during that formative period, and given its unanimous backing by the central committee, in reality represented a major platform for the organisation, and as such a yard stick for its activities. It should be stressed that this publication was a product of the Bogdanovski version of the organisation, and was not tied in any fashion to the philosophical view expounded by the DOOM pioneers, including Nechevski himself, who by and large confined his activities to his immediate European sphere during this period.

One particular characteristic of the aforementioned document, which readily stands out, is the type of language used. It follows a narrative style, is precise, rational and largely unevocative, avoiding the use of "loaded" epithets so characteristic of the movements' usurpers today, which was initially brought into vogue by Isakovski after Bogdanovski's imprisonment. Indeed, this is perhaps the best indicator of the fact that the original DOOM was not ideologically based on any excessively nationalistic or extreme platform, despite many assertions to the contrary. This is further borne out by an assessment of the Statement's contents. The text's first paragraph reads:

In the 6th and 7th centuries the ancient Macedonian homeland of Phillip and Alexander the Great was densely populated by several slav tribes remaining so up to the middle of the 11th century. The Byzantinians had named it "Sklavinia" or "land of the Slavs".

Indeed, these initial observations are reinforced by the following descriptions of the political and social forces which condemned the Macedonians to centuries of oppression:

(note - the use of the terminology "Macedonian slavs", "slav - Macedonian" - ed.)

The Macedonian slavs have never been a part of the Bulgarian, Serbian or Greek people. The Macedonian slavs have always manifested their own ethnic identity through their own culture, their own language, and their own history ...

The slav Macedonian people have lived under the oppressive rule of various other nations, with one rule being replaced by another ...

State power in Macedonia changed hands many times, but irrespective of this the Macedonian people remained to live there inspite of the presence of the uninvited godfathers from the outside world. The slav Macedonian people remained a people without a name until the 19th century, because of the frequent changing of masters and the unfavourable conditions for the creation of a state of their own which they experienced. History knows other slav peoples without names, for example there were the Slovenians amongst

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the south slavs, the White Russians amongst the eastern slavs, and the Slovaks amongst the western slavs. Not until the 19th century did the above named slav nationalities win legitimate recognition in the world. No one denies today the existence of the Slovenian, White Russian and Slovak nations, yet during the middle ages these nationalities were not known by their present names.

Regrettably, even today, the existence of the Macedonian nation is still being denied and suppressed by the national-chauvinistic Balkan imperialists - because the Macedonian slavs were not known under the name Macedonians during the middle ages. The Macedonian nation, however, exists today in the same way as the Slovenian, White Russian and Slovak nations exist. The Macedonian slavs, adopted the geographical name of their homeland as their own national name in the 19th century, in order to assert their national identity and to identify their national existence separate from that of the Greeks, Bulgarians and Serbians.

In the world today there exists a number of examples of nations adopting the geographical name of their homeland as their own national name. The present Egyptians are a nationality of Arab ethnic identity, who from the viewpoint of ethnic outlook have nothing in common with the ancient Egyptians. But this people, having adopted the geographical name of its country, has also thus identified its nationality. The same applies to the present day Syrian nation, which has derived from the ancient (non Arabic -ed.) name of Assyria

The classic teachers of Marxism-Leninism have shown that the nation, as an entity is born during the period when the feudal system is dying and the capitalist order emerging. Accordingly, the present day nations of the Balkan peninsula came into being in the 19th century when new capitalist

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relations made their appearance in the life of the common people. It is unmarxist and unscientific to indicate the existence of a Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian people in feudal times, and deny the current existence of the Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian nations. If the ethnic names of the middle ages and the feudal states have nothing in common with present nations, then the Ukrainian, White Russian and other nations would not exist. However, this is not the case. The historical past of the Russian, Ukrainian and White Russian peoples is a vivid example for all to see. Today, in the Soviet Union, these nations occupy the relationship of three individual nations. It is known that the Russian and Ukrainian peoples have long lived together under the ethnic name of "Russians *, but this is not an obstacle to the brotherhood of the peoples of the Soviet Union today, nor does it prevent the Russians and Ukrainians from existing as separate, fraternal nations. Regrettably, historiography in today's People's Republic of Bulgaria has no such Marxist-Leninist understanding of history, but in the spirit of national-chauvinistic historiography, the borders of the present day Bulgarian nation are said to be the same as the borders of the feudal Bulgarian state of the middle ages, thus denying the existence of the Macedonian nation.

In its commentary on the emergence of the IMRO, the Statement makes a point of affirming its humanitarian ideals, encompassing the "fraternal brotherhood" of all groups in Macedonia fighting oppression, not only the Macedonians:

Their principal aim (VMRO-ed.) was to achieve political freedom for Macedonia, and for this cause they were determined to unite with the entire population of Macedonia, irrespective of their true (or adopted) nationality.

... in the autumn of 1944, Vardar Macedonia was freed, mainly by its own armed partisan units, which had grown into a truly national

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Macedonian army. The Macedonian Republic, as a national state of the Macedonian people, became an accomplished fact.

The first point of contention relates to Tito's infamous "closing of the frontier" in 1948, a decision accepted even by most moderate Macedonians as being a serious error, notwithstanding the pressure that Stalin was applying on Yugoslavia at the time:

In 1948 the conflict between the Cominform and the Yugoslavian Communist Party broke out. We are not here concerned with arguing as to who was right or wrong - the Cominform or the CPY. However, 28 years later we will state that the social system and government of Yugoslavia is anything but socialist. This conflict brought catastrophe to the Macedonian people. Tito monstrously betrayed the anti-monarcho-fascist revolution in Greece by closing the Greek -Yugoslav border to the partisans. This was also an act of treason against the national liberation struggle of the Macedonian people in Aegean Macedonia.

The existence of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia is a great historical achievement, not only for those Macedonians who are living there, but also for those who still remain under Bulgarian and Greek rule. Over the past three decades the Macedonian people in the Republic have realised many of their ideals and aspirations, whereas those in the two other parts of Macedonia have had no opportunity to do so.

At the same time, the political situation of the Macedonian nation in Yugoslavia has its negative side, through no fault of the Macedonians ..... The negative aspects are an effect of the economic backwardness of the country. Due to the social composition, geography and history of pre-war Yugoslavia, the advance of the scientifically planned socialist economic structure was stunted by the ideology of the Yugoslavian Communist Party ..... (This) ideology also made a mockery of the Macedonian national question. In the years immediately following the Second World War, Yugoslavia talked of the unification of the Macedonian nation. By this unification was envisaged the uniting of the Bulgarian and Greek parts of Macedonia with the Macedonian Republic, within the borders of Yugoslavia. After the Cominform resolution, Yugoslavia stopped talking (about unification), It adopted a policy against the unification of Macedonia. In the name of "good neighbourly relations" with Bulgaria and Greece, Yugoslavia betrayed the Macedonian nation's unification ideal.

The Statement points out that, in the face of this new CPY policy, Yugoslavia's relations with Italy suffered a severe set back in 1954 over the latter's alleged treatment of its Slovenian minority. Stridently acknowledging what is called "a hypocritical stance", the Statement singles out the CPY's Macedonian leadership for criticism:

The pro-Tito leadership of the Macedonian Socialist Republic continues to observe a frozen silence on the anti-Macedonian policy of Yugoslavia. Today this leadership is known amongst all Macedonians as a clique of Macedonian quislings, which has sold out the life interests of the Macedonian people, above all betraying their unification ideal.

Criticism of the leadership in the Republic in the Statement led to a subsequent exposition of DOOM's raison d'etre:

The situation in which the divided Macedonian nation now finds itself, following the national chauvinistic "Great Bulgaria" policy of the Bulgarian Communist Party, the disastrous defeat of the anti-monarcho-fascist revolution in Greece, the new anti-Macedonian policy of Tito's Yugoslavia, together with the stand taken by the Macedonian Titoists in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia has led the revolutionary ranks of the Macedonian people, and the honest and sincere Macedonian communists in particular, to begin thinking about ways in which to develop a new struggle for the national freedom of the Macedonian people, to rekindle the idea of national unification of the Macedonian people and the motherland.

Thus the Movement for the Liberation and Unification of Macedonia was born (MLUM). The idea to inaugurate this movement was born inside the Socialist Republic of Macedonia itself and was crystallised by Macedonians from all three parts of Macedonia, residing in the Republic. It was decided that the movement would be a progressive and revolutionary national movement.

(However), because such a movement could not exist legally in either of the three parts of divided Macedonia, it was decided that the base of its activities and its official leadership - its central committee - would operate in exile, where a great many Macedonian migrants have been won over to support its political cause ....

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The central committee formulates its political activities in close cooperation with the ranks of Patriotic people inside Macedonia, who perform their duties under conditions of total illegality. Thus it cannot be said that the MLUM is merely an organisation of Macedonian migrants exiled in foreign countries.

The MLUM is not a movement which aims to turn back the wheel of historical development. As a progressive movement, it asserts that socialism is a historical accomplishment of the working class, and should remain so in the future.

The MLUM does not encourage any sort of hatred towards fraternal peoples. In fact, it rejoices for example, at the great achievements of the Bulgarian people in attempting to build socialism and transforming Bulgaria from a backward agrarian country into an advanced, developed industrial state ..... The MLUM is not inspired by any sort of hatred for the fraternal Bulgarian people, nor is it against socialism and its historic achievements.

The MLUM is waging its struggle only against the injustices which the Bulgarian Communist party perpetuates against the Macedonians, against the national oppression of the Macedonian people.

1. recognition of the Macedonian minority

2. the right to self-determination for Pirin Macedonia,

3. leading to the creation of a Macedonian national state with a socialist system, with the assistance of the "fraternal" Bulgarian people.

..... the realisation of a 'united' Macedonia is not possible within the borders of any of the three Balkan states which divide Macedonia. Thus (we) struggle for the Liberation and self- determination of the three parts of divided Macedonia, in one united Macedonian national state. Only in this way will Macedonia cease to be the "apple of disruption" between the Balkan states and become the "apple" of mutual understanding between them.

To be fair however, it was envisaged even by Bogdanovski himself at around about the time that the Statement was produced, that the potentially integrationist forces may in fact assist the reunification struggle of the Macedonians in the Balkans in the future. Credit needs to be given to Bogdanovski and the organisation for their foresight at a time when prediction of what Europe may look like in 1990 must have been almost impossible.

The Statement. however, with its focus still on Bulgaria in 1975, goes on to perhaps betray some of the sentiments which attracted considerable criticism from the organisation's opponents:

In fact, (the MLUM) demands the formation of a Macedonian socialist republic comprised of Pirin, Aegean and Vardar Macedonia, as an autonomous national state of the Macedonian people, closely tied through strong, fraternal relations to the People's Republic of Bulgaria ...

Turning its focus to Yugoslavia, the Statement develops a critique which in the contemporary Balkan climate, has found a considerable degree of favour:

the MLUM struggles against the Macedonian quislings in the Republic and applies strong pressure aimed at forcing them to defend the national interests of the Macedonian people ...

In its social outlook, the MLUM decisively opposes Tito's "self-managed socialism", with the anarchy in the state economy which has driven a quarter of a million Macedonians out of the .... Republic. Further, the under developed Macedonian Republic is held in neo-colonial bondage by the more developed Republics of Yugoslavia. The so called "self-management" enabled the richer Republics to become richer, and the poor to become poorer.

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On a Yugoslav wide-level, the living standards in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia are the lowest, and unemployment the highest. Over one hundred thousand Macedonians are unemployed (circa 1975-ed.), and the migrant exodus is the biggest from the Macedonian Republic. In this respect, the much publicised 'brotherhood and unity* amongst the peoples and nationalities of Yugoslavia is greatly deceptive.

The final word in the Statement is reserved for Greece, with an exhortation to Greeks and Macedonians alike to support the legitimacy of the struggle:

With respect to Greece and especially Aegean Macedonia, the MLUM believes the struggle to win national freedom for the Macedonians must be waged in concert with the Greek progressive and revolutionary forces. In this respect, our movement extends a helping hand to all Greeks and all Greek parties who struggle and fight for a Greece that will respect the rights of the Macedonian people to enjoy a free national life and self-determination.

In the historical period when the iron rings of imperialism and neo-colonialism are being broken up in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and when a great number of nations have triumphantly won their national freedom and independence, it is a shameful slur indeed for the entire democratic and communist movement to permit the national oppression of the Macedonian people in the occupied parts of Macedonia.

The organisational hierarchy of DOOM dissipated in the late 1970's, as previously discussed. The incarceration of Dragan Bogdanovski and several others consolidated the movement's totally emigre character. The inheritors of DOOM reorganised themselves loosely in small cells in Australia, Canada and western Europe. Initially, they drew their legitimacy from contacts maintained with Isakovski, who presided over Bogdanovski's unfinished work after his imprisonment and edited Makedonska Nacija although as explained previously, it took on an entirely new orientation. Whilst in other instances, they formulated new and similarly evocative names. In most cases however, DOOM adherents continued to practice their idolatry of Bogdanovski as an array of sporadic individuals who came together from time to time to celebrate their cause with vague pronouncements or in demonstrations against the Balkan states. In Australia, small organised cells have existed for over 10 years now in Sydney and Melbourne. The city of Wollongong has a Macedonian population which in general terms, has remained most receptive to the fundamental tenets of current DOOM policy, that is, as it has evolved in the post central committee phase, and the influence of the movement has remained very pervasive there. Small, less organised elements have continued to exist in Perth, Adelaide and Canberra, lacking the synthesis in ideological framework evident in Sydney and Melbourne. These elements have by and large continued to operate outside of the mainstream of Macedonian organisational life in Australia, with the notable exception again of WoIlongong, where proponents of the movement have consistently prevailed within the community structure.

Attempts have been made however by DOOM-type activists, peripherally active, to infiltrate mainstream community organisations in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide, though with little long term success.

The principal mouth-pieces of the movement's current adherents, the self-proclaimed inheritors of the DOOM tradition, are published on a regular basis, and have become rallying points for those committed to the cause. In Sydney, the Periodical Glas na Makedoncite (Voice of Macedonians) is published by the Macedonian Cultural and Educational Society "Brothers Miladinov,' (NSW), which is a front organisation for the DOOM "successor" NMRO (Macedonian People's Revolutionary Organisation). Activists have at times also used a second front organisation, the "Macedonian Ethnic Community of NSW" to give the impression of a broader community base. In Melbourne, the fortnightly newspaper Makedonija - Glasni (Macedonia Herald) caters for those aspiring to the cause. In recent times, a front organisation known as United-Macedonians has been established in a attempt to secure legitimacy and a wider membership in Victoria, and subsequently, in

All quotes used hereunder in this text have been culled from the publications of these organisations. The analysis presents a substantially different movement, illustrated most starkly in the distinct presentation of language, the ideology it embellishes, and the objectives and methodology for achieving the same that are enunciated. Notwithstanding this, the current movement's rhetoric continues to invoke the name of DOOM in justifying its raison d'etre, although, as the following evaluation will indicate, the respective phases (DOOM and the current pseudo-DOOM movement) bear little similarity.

The Characteristics of the Current Movement

The major point of departure between the respective phases is the current movement's insistence on uniqueness and ethno-centricity. As we have seen, the original DOOM presented a vigorous intellectual dissertation on the Macedonian national question which, consistent with conventional historiography, placed the genesis of the modern Macedonian nation in the epoch of early capitalism, and its penetration into the Balkan peninsula. Theories were advanced in the Statement which were consistent with commonly accepted explanations about the creation of modern nation states. The Statement further accepted that the development of the modem Macedonian nation, was the culmination of evolutionary social processes which began with the enormous slavic settlement in the Balkans some 15 hundred years earlier. DOOM's central plank of the "liberation and unification" of Macedonia was explained merely in terms of the creation of a vehicle within which the national question could be fairly, peacefully and equitably resolved. Given the inherent injustice of the partition, and the forced physical, socio-cultural and psychological separation of Macedonians, the Statement proffered that resolution of the national question within this milieu was impossible, particularly given the contradictory and competing social forces that were interacting around the Macedonian question in the Balkans. As we have said earlier, the original critique of DOOM has now been distinguished by the passage of time and the turn of political events, as the vision of a united European federation, with the erosion of borders in a practical sense, in the 1990's is a distinct possibility, offering the possibility of a defacto reunification, and the probability of a peaceful and just settlement of the Macedonian question, with the focus on universal human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Of necessity then, the strident insistence upon such an ideological position requires the promulgation of a rhetoric and methodology which centres around fanaticism, demagoguery and racism, once again equally characteristic of the aforementioned neo-fascist movements. In particular, the use of language is instructive here:

Brothers and sisters, Macedonians, the time is approaching, wake up, use your heads to see what is happening in Macedonia and amongst the Macedonian people. The time is right to raise our hands, like real brothers and to raise high the sun lit emblem, the flag of our flag of our future freedom, our, free, united and independent-Macedonian Macedonia! Death to injustice! Long live Macedonian freedom, the Ilinden cause and the entire Macedonian Macedonianism!

Over these 40 years, the Macedonian people have ignored their national existence. Teachers in the Republic and here (Australia) have closed the minds of the younger generation with slavism, and they do this to endear themselves to the Russian-Serbian-Yugoslav chauvinism

We cannot fault our older generation, such as for example Krste Misirkov, (the leading Macedonian intellectual of the Ilinden generation - ed.) because he was ignorant about the Macedonian people. In his time, it was permissible to collaborate with "slavism", today it is criminal when a Macedonian calls himself a "slav". Historically it is wrong, and politically, it is criminal

Diplomatic representatives of Yugoslavia who are from the Republic of Macedonia, have no idea of Macedonia, or Macedonian history, and the correct history or ideology doesn't interest them. They are not Macedonians, but the political devil whose father is unknown. They spend the blood money of their people back home, and everyday they are seen in the company of corrupt criminals in cafes ....

We firmly believe that the day for a third Ilinden is approaching, and it will be a glorious one. Every tyranny must die, and this one will die - by force if necessary.

A message to all Macedonian cultural and educational activists - priests, professors, teachers, editors and producers - REMOVE THE WORD "SLAV" FROM ALL YOUR ACTIVITIES!

Unfortunately, there is the case of the young Macedonian intellectuals, born and intellectually formed in Australia who naively have joined the dance of pro-Serbian supremacy, and unwittingly have become the weapon of UDBA (secret police) in Skopje. They do not yet know that with this "human rights delegation" .... they are on the road to the devil and that they are breaking their own legitimacy ... We for the first and final time, warn these youngsters (not to take this line) because the entire waters of the Pacific ocean will not be sufficient for them to cleanse themselves.

Our struggle must develop a completely revolutionary character. In the first place, the false borders must be removed, which divide our people (a united border- free Europe - ed?) After this, the objective must be to defeat all deceitful governments, which have for a hundred years harboured pretensions over Macedonian territories. We will all fight against all of these powers that have grabbed our territory, and energetically we shall overcome all of these mighty powers and their Balkan pawns, which have enslaved the Macedonian people, with the purpose of destroying us totally. As we have stated openly and categorically, our struggle has the purpose to destroy all the Balkan states and their governments; this does not mean however, that we wish to destroy the existing nationalities of the Balkan peninsula! No! Our purpose is to liberate all the nationalities who have suffered for centuries en- slaved.

Macedonianism is our essence, our past, present and future existence. Macedonianism is the internal and external liberation from all foreign ideas and propaganda. Macedonianism is our internal strength, our national spirit and our national unification. Macedonianism is the armed path that we Macedonians must take to first unify ourselves, and forever after we shall liberate our Macedonia. Macedonianism is the weapon with which we will

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cut off the hands of all falsifiers and negators. Slavism is a forced and false learning with which we destroy Macedonianism in an insidious manner. It is the weapon by with our occupiers enslave our minds and make us weak, impotent and people without honour and pride.

The liberation of Macedonia and of the Macedonian people must never be separated, because they are both inextricably intertwined with the very life of our enslaved and divided nation.

Macedonians were the first people to occupy the Mediterranean area.

Macedonians absorbed all the other tribes on the Thraco-Illyrian peninsula.

The Macedonian empire (of Phillip and Alexander) was the richest, strongest, largest and most cultured in the world. Thanks to the Thraco-Macedonian cultural wealth and material progress, the western peoples became civilised and embraced Christianity.

The most coherent analysis of the position comes in the following statement, which carries with it the fervour and intensity of the anti-slav rhetoric:

The Macedonian people have existed for thousands of years before the birth of our saviour, Jesus Christ. We are not descendants of any type of Skitic, Avar or Hun tribe which today is described as that monstrous evil "slavs". If we continue to support the ideas of the former Russian Queen Katherine the Great, then the whole world will support the Greek and Grkoman position. If a few "slavs" have the right to call themselves Macedonian, then the Albanians, Turks, Vlachs, Bulgarians and even the Greeks have a right to prove that Macedonia is theirs and within the borders

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of Macedonia live Greek-Macedonians, Bulgarian-Macedonians, and Yugoslav-Macedonians. We are the only Macedonians, and we must prove to the world, that Macedonia is ours and only ours - otherwise, how else can we seek our rights, and to free our enslaved people in an unique and independent People's Republic of Macedonia?

Greeks, Bulgarians and Serbs are anti-Macedonian so we must be anti-Greek anti-Bulgar and anti-Serb

The justification of owning Macedonia, as is the case with every ultra-nationalist movement, leads to exaggerated territorial claims. History is full of such paradoxes - "Greater Germany", "Greater Croatia" - and certainly Macedonians themselves have suffered as a result of the promulgation of "Greater Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria" theories. However the current DOOM ideologies do not disappoint us here, as evidenced by the following statement:

The revolutionary struggle to unite and liberate Macedonia - socially, nationally and culturally - must be applied universally across the five territorial and geographic parts of Macedonia - the Aegean part (Greece), the Pirin part (Bulgaria), the Vardar pan (Yugoslavia), the Thracian part (Turkey - ?), and the part that falls within Albania.

The movement also saves a great deal of energy for virulent tirades against Yugoslavia and the Republic of Macedonia. Interestingly, it spends far more time

In developing its critique of Yugoslavia, the current movement suggests, with a degree of paranoia, that the Yugoslav policy on the Macedonian question is dictated to by a "grand alliance" of communist powers, linking "Bolshevik" Russia, Bulgaria and Titoist Yugoslavia, in what would have been an unholy alliance, a suggestion placing it at severe odds with the great majority of contemporary political commentators. However, the purity of DOOM's crusade saw it grasp the opportunity to link Macedonianism with anti slavism and anti-communism.

The descriptions of Yugoslav political forces are disparaging, relying more on emotional factors rather than any reasoned critiques:

From the day of liberation and creation of the Republic of Macedonia to today, the pro-Tito cliques in the Macedonian Assembly have not taken any broad, international steps to help the Macedonians who are enslaved by the Greek, Bulgarian and Albanian occupiers. They do not allow any activity -political, revolutionary or humanitarian which would stop the terror directed against the Macedonian people in the other parts of Macedonia. The gaols are full of good Macedonians who work for a better future for Macedonia and the Macedonian people .... The leadership of the Republic obediently and blindly supports every political initiative of Belgrade.

A few words about the leadership of Macedonian societies who work in the interests of Belgrade, under the direction of UDBA. Almost the entire cultural and educational activity of these societies cannot be distinguished from the Grkomani and Bugaromani, except that they boast of being Macedonians, specifically Yugoslavs. These groups spread slavism and in their offices and centres they have pictures of that evil gangster, Tito.

Bishop Timothy recently came to Australia like a supreme commander of the Yugoslav secret police

... propagating Titoism and Communism, not Christianity. Slavism is glorified - Russian lies.

We revolutionaries openly and clearly state that we do not see any difference between the fascist Hitler-Nazi regime, the Marxist-Bolshevik Communism, and the Democratic regimes which manifest themselves in various forms - slavery is one and the same, and without regard to its different (political) forms or which nation oppresses the other.

Communism has produced a million victims, and this has also been the case in Serbo-Yugoslavia, which is a friend of the Macedonian occupiers, because it is an occupier itself and of course not forgetting Tartar-Bulgaria. And what shall we say about the often praised western democratic system, which is the same as the others, because in the Aegean part of Macedonia in Greece, and the Thracian part (?) in Turkey, Macedonians don't even have the tight to speak their mother tongue.

This is a theme that is explored by a well-known Macedonian writer, whose article, curiously enough, is featured in one of DOOM's publications of late, in an attempt to prove lineage from Alexander. The author discusses many interesting issues, but concludes also that the ancient tribes of Macedonians were subjected to a ruthless persecution, extermination and assimilation by the dominant Slavonic settlement in Macedonia in the 5th and 6th centuries AD The author abandons any argument in favour of the assertion of direct lineage, claiming that it is unscientific and historically meaningless, given that the emergence of modern nation-states only becomes relevant in the epoch of early capitalism, 1300 years after the Slavonic settlement of Macedonia, which saw the acquisition of distinct ethno-specific characteristics in this territory over this period. The author states that the assertion of lineage to justify ownership of Macedonia (and therefore the existence of a distinct Macedonian group) by both Greeks and Macedonians displays a profound ignorance of the social and evolutionary processes that led to the development of nations. The author declares the facade a dangerous one, emotive and extreme, and characteristic of movements that subordinate fundamental rights and freedoms and basic human dignity beneath largely illusory and radical concepts of national superiority, chauvinism and racism. The author says:

It is worth examining the work of Pulyanos, a Greek political emigrant in the Soviet Union, who wrote a dissertation in which he states that the modern Macedonians are descendants of the ancient Macedonians. (His) conclusions were welcomed by Greek academic circles and he was offered a Chair at the University of Athens. Greek (nationalists) supported his theory that the ancient Macedonians descended from ancient Greeks and therefore the modern Macedonians, as their descendants, are Greeks (that is, the Macedonian nation does not exist - ed.) ...... When the Macedonian-slav tribes settled Macedonia, they found another people in the region which may not have descended from the ancient Greeks because the Romans had ruled there during the intervening period, and from time to time other clans and tribes had entered the area. It is true that none of Macedonia was uninhabited, it was settled by tribes with a greater or lesser relationship to the ancient inhabitants. Slavs also established contacts with (them) The extent of Macedonian-slav colonisation in Macedonia is indicated by the Byzantine emperor Porphyrogenitus, who notes: "The whole country become slav; it became a barbarian country .. from what we have said above, surely it is wiser

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to abandon all efforts to prove descent from the glories of Alexander the Great. They are pretentious and without foundation because the glory only belongs to the ancient Macedonians. If people dislike the fact that the modern Macedonians bear the name of the ancient Macedonians, they can hardly blame the Macedonians, who were moved by historical reality, a reality which is superior to the wishes and prejudices of individuals. Alexander the Great himself gave the answer to the question: "What is he?" "I belong to the human nation", he once said, with a smile.

Conclusion

it is reasonable to suggest that the point of this essay has been established. The evidence shows quite clearly that the ideological foundations of the DOOM have been usurped. The contemporary pseudo-DOOM movement has been politically and intellectually dishonest in claiming lineage from the original leadership of the organisation. It has only been able to achieve this however because of the prevailing dearth of worthwhile and accurate information about the DOOM. As is often the case, political conditions are exploited or manipulated where the great majority of the "interested" public remain ignorant (through lack of information) about issues of fundamental importance. Indeed, one suspects that the conclusions of this analysis may come as much of a surprise to the current DOOM adherents as they did to the authors upon completing the research. Irrespective therefore of whether one supports the philosophy of the original organisation, and its platform for Macedonia, all persons who remain interested in this issue may derive some benefit from the fact that some of the myths have now been exposed. It confirms also the legitimacy of critical intellectual capacity and the need to develop the same amongst Macedonian emigre circles, in order to overcome the intrinsic disadvantage of being a people bereft of a intelligentsia, as has too often been the case this century. One can only surmise the extent to which things might have been radically different for Macedonians this century if we had achieved capable and sustained leadership in the manner of many other more advanced and equally legitimate political movements.

Analysis and elucidation of the contemporary relevance of Alexander the Great may be useful for intellectual repose. However, as has been shown to be the case, invocation of the symbolic value of Alexander to cement a modern political platform, is clearly dangerous and counter-productive, totally out of step with the

What are the proper connotations of Macedonia's long history? What authentic Macedonian history reveals is that the Macedonian nation matured late. In general, the Balkan lands had developed much later than the western European nations, due to the less advanced social conditions in the Ottoman Empire. When 19th century nationalism did emerge, it was greatly influenced by Ottoman feudalism. The church, as the most conscious and learned element there, inspired a type of nationalism that was closely linked with religious identification. In this way then, Bulgarian nationalism dated from the creation of the Exarch's jurisdiction in 1870, and not from independence, achieved in 1878. The same applied earlier to the Greeks, with the Constantinople Patriarchate. As the Macedonian church had been banned a century earlier, Macedonians were classified either as Greeks or Bulgarians, despite the tendency towards national separateness, manifested in a distinct culture, language, history and identity, all of which were considered of secondary importance by the Turks. This provided the more organised Balkan states with ammunition to later assail the Macedonian issue.

As a consequence, to almost all parties except the Macedonians themselves (and not even all Macedonians), the Macedonian nationality did not legally or officially exist, and the negation of over 1000 years of the distinct Macedonian personality began in earnest. What this patently overlooks is that, given the common racial origin of the southern slavs, all the branches could prove "uniqueness" and "derivation" if their nationalist theses were to be taken literally. What distinguishes them as distinct nationalities is a separate consciousness and identity which when embellished in peculiar cultural and historical features, manifest themselves in the creation of the right to national self-determination, and its implementation under capitalism.

That Macedonians ultimately acquired the right to national self-determination (1944) is important however. This became the ultimate, absolute affirmation of the Macedonian identity, forcefully reminding historical science that none of the other Balkan states' independence struggles had ever been fought on Macedonian soil, and that they had only acquired this territory by deceit and military conquest.

Nonetheless, in the face of this powerful affirmation, both Greek and Bulgarian historiography persist in upholding theories which are historically unsound and unscholarly, and which result in a glossing over of the specific historic impediments to nationhood that caused many generations of Macedonians to suffer torment and deprivation.

Therefore, to argue over what Macedonians "were" before the 1850's is superfluous. The national appellations attributed to them have long been rendered obsolete:

That is why, when on occasions it is necessary to look back into history in search of facts and information on the existence, life and struggle of Macedonians in Macedonia as a whole, or in anyone of its parts, all these names erroneously attributed to Macedonians for historical, social or political reasons, may indeed be swept aside. Whatever the name, the Macedonians were and will remain Macedonians. These were only a multitude of names for one and the same concept.