1945 US Politician Testifies on Behalf of Macedonians

[vicsinad]

In 1945, Washington State Representative Hugh De Lacy testified before Congress on behalf of the Macedonians facing Greek terrorism in Greece. He cites information from the Macedonian-American People's League.

(This comes from the Appendix of the US Congressional Record, Volume 91, Part 12, June 11 - October 11, 1945. Pg. A 3352-A3353.)

Mr. Speaker, under permission granted me to extend my remarks, I desire to call attention of the House to the alarming situation in the Balkans. The reactionary Greek Government installed by British bayonets is condoning terrorism by private hands of armed Fascist vigilantes. Participants in the struggle of the Greek people for democratic government, men and women who heroically resisted the Nazis and drove them from large areas of Greece, are being hunted down. Newspaper stories have recounted a mass exodus of Macedonians and others across the border into Yugoslavia. In this connection, I would like to call the attention of the House to two articles, one from PM, Wednesday. July 18, 1945, being a statement by the Macedonian-American People’s League, and the other a feature article in the Philadelphia Inquirer,

The articles follow:
[From PM, New York, July 18, 1945]
MACEDONIANS HERE PROTEST carer‘: ACTIONS—
DELEGATION BEARING STATEMENT SNUBBED A'I'
GREEK EMBASSY
(By Alexander H. Uhl)

WASHINGTON, July 18.—The Greek Embassy
yesterday refused to receive a letter of pro
test against persecution of Macedonians in
Greece presented to it by the Macedonian
American People’s League.

A delegation of three—George Pirinsky,
secretary of the league, Alexander Rizov,
and Anatole Phillipoff, all of New York—
went to the Embassy with their letter and
were received by First Secretary Alexis S.
Liatis. The Ambassador is in New York.
Liatis listened until they had finished the
first paragraph and then declared that he
would not listen further nor would he ac-
cept the protest. He said that it was based
on Yugoslav information and was full of
calumnies. The delegation finally left the
letter on his desk and walked out.
The letter protested against activities of
the Greek Army against Macedonians who
have fled to Yugoslavia and asked that the
protest be forwarded to Athens.

“The Macedonian-American People’s
League," the letter continued, “has always
stood for friendship and close co-operation
among the Balkan peoples. Greeks and
Macedonians, fighting shoulder to shoulder
with Yugoslav, Albanian, and Bulgarian par-
tizans against Nazi oppressors and Bulgarian
occupationists, cemented Balkan democratic
unity.

“The policy and actions of the present
Greek Government, however, greatly compro-
mise the chances for harmonious collabora-
tion in the Balkans."

In a statement issued to the press, the
league also blames the reactionaries in Greece
for the present troubles.

"The tragic civil war in Greece last Decem-
ber," the statement reads, "ended in the com-
plete victory of reaction and fascism. The
very same elements which had collaborated
with the Germans, reinforced by discredited
foreign agents, are today subjecting the
whole Greek population to the most out-
rageous terror. According to neutral UNRRA
sources, some 33,000 democrats are languish-
ing in prison. General Ares, one of the out
standing heroes of the Greek liberation
struggle, and hundreds of his followers have
been brutally murdered. The Fascist regime
of Metaxes has reappeared under a new
name. Without foreign interference, these
tragic developments would never have oc-
curred."

The statement declares that in Macedonia
2 years ago Greeks, Yugoslavs, and Bulgars
were fighting together in the guerilla move
ment and that today Macedonia once again is
being filled with friction and discord. Then
it adds:

"Why? For one reason only: because out
side interests foreign to the welfare of the
Balkan peoples imposed on the Greeks by
armed force an unpopular regime which can
only keep in power through stirring up mu
tual hatreds and antagonism in the Balkan
Peninsula.”

[From the Philadelphia (Pa.) Inquirer]
MACEDONIA CALLED am To BALKAN rsson
(By Alexander Kendrick)

WASHINGTON, July 17,—The Balkan powder
keg, which has been exploding recently in the
form of clashes on the Greek border with Bul-
garia, Yugoslavia, and Albania has become a
top item for discussion between Premier Josef
Stalin and Prime Minister Winston Chruchill
at the Potsdam Conference, it was learned
today.

With President Truman playing the role of
intensely interested observer, because the
implementation of the Crimea agreement is
concerned, the two heads of state of Russia
and Great Britain are expected to reexamine
their Balkan agreement made when Mr.
Churchill visited Moscow last October.

The key to the Balkan question, as always,
lies in Macedonia, that small former Turkish
province which is about the size of West Vir-
ginia. Macedonia is important as a clue to
the possibilities of a Slav federation in the
Balkans.

Moscow is heartily in favor of such a fed-
eration, which would include Yugoslavia, Bul-
garia, Albania, and perhaps Greece, not be
cause of ethnic or geopolitical considerations,
but because the Russians see in a democratic
Balkans their own best means of security.
London, on the other hand, opposes such a
federation because it may have too much im
pact on the whole Mediterranean area, which
she considers vital to her interests.

The Macedonian question, which erupted
into the news recently when Marshal Tito‘s
forces skirmished with armed EDES troops
of the Greek Government, was made an offi-
cial issue today, on a small scale, when a
Macedonian-American delegation handed
Greek Ambassador Cimon Diamantopoulos a
protest to be sent to the Athens Government.
The Macedonian-Americans, representing
30,000 of their compatriots in this country,
charged that a state of terror exists in Greece
"aimed at the extermination of the Macedon-
ian Slavs in the Greek part of Macedonia."
On the level of international statesman
ship, however, as exemplified by the Potsdam
Conference, the situation is much more sig-
nificant than a mere border clash.

It involves the question whether the three
separate parts of Macedonia, one included in
Bulgaria, one in Yugoslavia, and one in
Greece, shall be permitted to come together
again, as they were under Turkish rule.
If they do reunite, the autonomous Mace-
donia resulting will inevitably become a
member of the Balkan federation envisioned
by Marshal Tito. Greece would lose the im-
portant port of Salonika, and a pro-Russian
influence would be sitting squarely on the
Mediterranean.

Russia favors such a result; Britain op-
poses it. What Mr. Churchill and Mr. Stalin
now face is the realization that hard-and
fast lines cannot be drawn between two
spheres of influence, as they attempted to
draw them in Moscow last fall.

Every year since 1941, an all-Slav congress
has been held in Moscow. These meetings,
participated in by democratic and trade
union leaders from all parts of the Balkans,
have served to emphasize the difference be
tween the old pan-Slav movement of the
Czarist empire, which was a mask for im-
perial expansion, and the present all-Slav
movement, which is based on democratic
principles and the equality of its members.
At the present time pro-Russian Govern-
ments are functioning in Belgrade and Sofia.
Albania also is predominantly pro-Russian,
and so are the Macedonians in Greece. But
this does not necessarily mean they all favor
a Communist form of government.
Ties of blood and history and similarities
of language and custom have convinced them
that their best future lies in the Russian
orbit rather than any other.

They remember that even the reactionary
czarist regime was the principal liberating
force in the Balkans, beginning with the
Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, which re-
sulted in the freeing of Bulgaria.
There is one possible way out of this Balkan
dilemma, and Mr. Churchill and Mr. Stalin
will undoubtedly talk about it. In 1930 Brit-
ain promised the eventual autonomy of the
strategic island of Cyprus. That promise has
since been forgotten. But there is reason to
believe that if the pledge is now implemented
and the almost wholly Greek island is per
mitted to go back to Greece, a quid pro quo
may be the granting of autonomy to Greek
Macedonia.

That section of Macedonia would then join
with the other two, form an independent
state, align itself with other Balkan states,
and help create the Balkan federation, which
would seem to be indispensable to the real-
ization of the Yalta agreement.

[Liberator of Makedonija]

Bit hypocritical when the Americans were also in there bombing us

[vicsinad]

Originally Posted by Liberator of Makedonija

Bit hypocritical when the Americans were also in there bombing us

What's hypocritical?

There is nothing hypocritical about a US politician defending the rights and interests of Macedonians even though the US government later supported the fascist Greek government. Maybe you should take some time to appreciate the fact that this individual took the time and effort to advocate for the Macedonian cause when much of the world was ignoring it, instead of brushing it aside because of the actions / allegiance of the country to which he belonged.

He served in office for 2 years, and by 1946 he was elected out of office. He wasn't around in Congress when the British and Americans got involved. Which is a shame, because perhaps he would have spoken out more on behalf of the Macedonian cause.

[VMRO]

Great find Vic, awesome stuff brother.

[Amphipolis]

Originally Posted by vicsinad

What's hypocritical?

There is nothing hypocritical about a US politician defending the rights and interests of Macedonians even though the US government later supported the fascist Greek government. Maybe you should take some time to appreciate the fact that this individual took the time and effort to advocate for the Macedonian cause when much of the world was ignoring it, instead of brushing it aside because of the actions / allegiance of the country to which he belonged.

He served in office for 2 years, and by 1946 he was elected out of office. He wasn't around in Congress when the British and Americans got involved. Which is a shame, because perhaps he would have spoken out more on behalf of the Macedonian cause.

Actually the man in question was a little hypocritical. Hugh De Lacy was an infiltrator, a secret member of the American Communist Party that was active with the Democrat Party. He was never charged with anything later in the McCarthy era, probably because his political career was very short and had already ended.

I didn’t know the Greek government was fascist. Actually I thought it was elected in free elections where the legal Communist Party decided (in what is now considered a historical mistake) to abstain. Had it participated it would probably had a power in the order of 15-30% though that is not easy to say. Nevertheless, they really believed they could siege power in a “revolutionary” manner.

I don’t know much about the governments of Albania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Soviet Union but they are called democratic 6 times in these two documents, while the correct term (communist) is avoided. Were they really democratic? Were they elected in some way?


=

[vicsinad]

Originally Posted by Amphipolis

I didn’t know the Greek government was fascist.

Now you do.