INDEPENDENCE AND FOUNDING OF STATE
The Macedonian people suffered for their liberty and independence with centuries
of stoicism in difficult national and international conditions. There were
sacrifices, frequent drifting, irresolution and discouragement.
The history of the Macedonian liberation movement is permeated by the resolve
to secure independence, to found a Macedonian national state. That was one
of the basic platforms of the Macedonian national liberation movement, which
found organizational form in the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
(VMRO) of Goce Delcev.
"In our systematic struggle we shall also popularize the idea of
creating an independent republic...Macedonia must be the centre of democracy",
said the leading article in the first copy of the Macedonian socialist paper
"Revolucija" in 1895.
The May Day Proclamation of 1896, published by the Macedonian socialist
group headed by Vasil Glavinov stated, "We will make every possible
effort to imbue the people with the idea that they should free themselves
forever, not only from the Sultan..., but also from every prince and king
(of the neighbouring states). We shall fight for the victory of republican
government, in which the people will truly be their own masters".
In their stubborn struggle for national existence and for statehood, divided
as they were within, exposed to triple assimilation, which endeavoured to
turn them into Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, with tempting promises and "historical
rights", and with the persecution of their national name, the Macedonian
people stood on the brink of national extinction.
Yet the cause was always taken up by new generations and by new social
forces. The age old aspirations of the Macedonian revolutionaries were
realized with the creation of the People's Republic of Macedonia.
On August 2nd 1944, at the Anti Fascist Gathering (Sobranye) of the National
Liberation of Macedonia, the representatives of the Macedonian people proclaimed
that Macedonia would become a member of the Yugoslav federation.
August 2nd 1994, has associations with another glorious date in the liberation
struggle of the Macedonian People, August 2nd 1903 when the Ilinden Insurrection
flared up against Turkish feudalism.
Units of the partisan detachments of Macedonia bore the names of leaders
of the Ilinden movement against the Turkish invaders and against imperialistic
interference in Macedonia. Many pledges given by the great Macedonian ideologists
Goce Delcev, Jane Sandanski, Nikola Karev, were fulfiled in the fight against
the fascism, mobilizing people in all parts of Macedonia.
The achievements in various fields in the first years after the war speak
of a national resurgence.
In 1948 there were already 28 republican papers and reviews and dozens
of local papers with a total circulation running to over 9,000,000 copies.
After the short period of development of Macedonian literature in the nineteenth
century and the tenacious struggle for schools in the national tongue, the
Macedonian people succumbed to the influence of the Bulgarian exarchs (heads
of church) who had a monopoly on education in Macedonia.
The Macedonian people found themselves without a literary tongue, causing
a complete standstill in the development of national culture!
The first outstanding problem on the road to the future cultural development
was the unification of the literary tongue. This task was assigned to a
special commission appointed by the National Sobranye of Macedonia. The
basis of the literary tongue was solved in the way that was enjoined by
the literary development until then; namely, in favour of the central dialect.
The phonetic principal was adopted as regards orthography.
The commission first advanced a proposal regarding the Macedonian alphabet.
It was officially sanctioned by the Macedonian Government on May 3, 1945.
Somewhat later, on June 7, 1945, the Macedonian orthography (pravopis)
was adopted, definitively fixing the rules for the Macedonian tongue which
is now employed.
The Grammar of the Macedonian Literary Language, 1952-1954, showed
its structure. The Dictionary of the Macedonian Language, 1960-1965,
compiled a large vocabulary. This however is not the first dictionary of
the Macedonian language. Works of this kind appeared in the 19th century.
Right after the war, in a few years of free and creative life, parallel
with the publication of the Macedonian primer (bukvar), the Macedonian
university was founded and works by young Macedonian writers were published.
Macedonian speech, once reason enough for imprisonment,* soared into
the air from the Skopje radio station, it was spoken from the stage
of the first Macedonian theatre and opera.
The all-round transformation of Macedonia explains the enthusiasm of
its people for this country.
(This text is constructed of excerpts from
"The National Resurgence of the Macedonian People", Lazar Mojsov,
1952
"The Language of the Macedonian People", Blaze Koneski, 1952
Additional information and editing by Pavlinka Georgiev)
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