The Socialist Republic of Macedonia (), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia, Yugoslav Macedonia or simply Macedonia, was one of the six constituent republics of the post-World War II Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. After the transition of the political system to parliamentary democracy in 1990, the Republic changed its official name to Republic of Macedonia in 1991 (now called North Macedonia),On This Day – Macedonian Information Agency – MIA , see: 1991 and with the beginning of the breakup of Yugoslavia, it declared itself an independent country and held a referendum on 8 September 1991 on which a sovereign and independent state of Macedonia, with a right to enter into any alliance with sovereign states of Yugoslavia was approved.
Geographically, SR Macedonia bordered Albania to the west, Greece to the south and Bulgaria to the east. Within Yugoslavia, it bordered SR Serbia (including SAP Kosovo) to the north. It was one of the two landlocked federal republics, along with SR Serbia.
History The first Macedonian state was formally proclaimed under the name Democratic Federal MacedoniaConstitutional History of the Republic of Macedonia by Dr. Cvetan Cvetkovski, Faculty of Law, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia () at the First Plenary Session of the Anti-Fascist Assembly for the People's Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) during World War II. It was set up clandestinely on 2 August 1944 in the Bulgarian occupation zone in Yugoslavia (in the Prohor Pčinjski Monastery, now in Serbia).Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Dimitar Bechev, Scarecrow Press, 2009, , p. 240.The Three Yugoslavias: State-Building And Legitimation, 1918–2005, Sabrina P. Ramet, Indiana University Press, 2006, , p. 139-140. This date is celebrated in North Macedonia as the Republic Day. It was chosen intentionally, as it was the date of the Ilinden Uprising against Ottoman rule in 1903. However, after the Bulgarian Army retreated from the region under Soviet pressure, on 8 September, right-wing Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization nationalists declared a pro-German Macedonian puppet-state.Das makedonische Jahrhundert: von den Anfängen der nationalrevolutionären Bewegung zum Abkommen von Ohrid 1893–2001, Stefan Troebst, Oldenbourg Verlag, 2007, , S. 234. In early October, under the leadership of the new Bulgarian pro-Soviet government, the Bulgarian Army re-entered Yugoslavia to block the German forces in their withdrawal from Greece.Axis Forces in Yugoslavia 1941–45, Nigel Thomas, K. Mikulan, Darko Pavlović, Osprey Publishing, 1995, , p. 33.World War II: The Mediterranean 1940–1945, World War II: Essential Histories, Paul Collier, Robert O'Neill, The Rosen Publishing Group, 2010, , p. 77. In Macedonia the Bulgarians fought side-by-side with the fighters of the People's Liberation Army of Macedonia.War and revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: occupation and collaboration, Jozo Tomasevich, Stanford University Press, 2001, , p. 168.
Vardar Banovina was de facto liberated from the Germans and their collaborationists in late November 1944, so the ASNOM became operational in December, shortly after the German retreat. Nevertheless, in December anti-communist Albanian nationalists in Western Macedonia tried to remain in control of the region after the Yugoslav Partisans announced victory. They aimed to resist incorporation of the area into communist Yugoslavia and it was only in early 1945 that the Yugoslav Partisans were able to establish their control over the mountainous area.
The nature of the new Yugoslav state remained unclear immediately after the war. Yugoslavia was envisioned by the Partisans as a "Democratic Federation", including six federal states.Ramet, Sabrina P.; The Three Yugoslavias: State-building and Legitimation, 1918–2005; Indiana University Press, 2006 When Tito's nomination as Prime Minister was accepted on 29 November 1945, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was declared, with its constitution coming into force in 1946. As a result, Macedonia changed its name to the People's Republic of Macedonia and was incorporated as a constituent republic in the Yugoslav Federation.
People with various degrees of allegedly being pro-Bulgarian orientation (in the most cases they were pro-Independence and anti-Yugoslav patriotic Macedonians) were purged from their positions, then isolated, arrested and imprisoned on fabricated charges. In many cases they were executed en masse, such as during the Bloody Christmas of 1945. The number of victims remains unclear, Bulgarian academic sources claim 1,200 people were allegedly killed. Revisionist historian Zoran Todorovski estimated the number of victims during the era as 50,000, including those killed, imprisoned, deported, subject to forced labor, torture, etc. However, these figures have been questioned by some Bulgarian researchers, also noting that the assertion that these individuals were persecuted and killed solely on account of their Bulgarian national consciousness is deceptive.
The national Macedonian language was codified in 1945 and the first publishing house "Prosvetno Delo" was established on 16 April 1945. The state was formed on the territory of Vardar Banovina, a part of the wider geographical region of Macedonia, which was divided between several countries. Some Macedonian politicians from the Republic advocated the idea of a United Macedonia, which would include Aegean Macedonia and Pirin Macedonia. The idea was somewhat supported by the federal Yugoslav authorities on some occasions, or repressed, depending on the regional and international political situation.
The establishment of the Macedonian republic inspired strong loyalty to the Yugoslav federation among the Macedonians. Some people were against the federation and demanded greater independence from the federal authorities, leading to their persecution. One of the notable victims of these purges was the first president, Metodija Andonov-Čento. To wipe out the remnants of Bulgarophile sentiments, the Yugoslavian communists started a process of Macedonization and nation-building.Nikolaos Zahariadis, Essence of political manipulation: emotion, institutions, & Greek foreign policy, Peter Lang (publisher), 2005; , p. 85.Yugoslav Communists recognized the existence of a Macedonian nationality during WWII to quiet fears of the Macedonian population that a communist Yugoslavia would continue to follow the former Yugoslav policy of forced Serbianization. Hence, for them to recognize the inhabitants of Macedonia as Bulgarians would be tantamount to admitting that they should be part of the Bulgarian state. For that the Yugoslav Communists were most anxious to mold Macedonian history to fit their conception of Macedonian consciousness. The treatment of Macedonian history in Communist Yugoslavia had the same primary goal as the creation of the Macedonian language: to de-Bulgarize the Macedonian Slavs, and to create an national consciousness that would inspire identification with Yugoslavia. For more see: Stephen E. Palmer, Robert R. King, Yugoslav communism and the Macedonian question, Archon Books, 1971, , Chapter 9: The encouragement of Macedonian culture.
Constitution Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, 1974 – Official Gazette
The Socialist Republic of Macedonia, which was defined as a national state of the Macedonians and also a state of its ethnic minorities, had some powers normally associated with an independent state. The Constitution also recognized the right of self-determination and secession. The borders of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia could only be changed by decision of the republic's parliament. Its inhabitants held both Yugoslav citizenship and an internal Macedonian citizenship for state business.
The Socialist Republic of Macedonia had its own constitution, presidency, government, parliament, official language, state symbols, Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Secretariat of Internal Affairs (Interior ministry), Bureau for Foreign Relations (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia Official Site and other state prerogatives. Also, the Socialist Republic of Macedonia had its own Territorial Defence armed forces (Macedonian: Територијална одбрана, Teritorijalna odbrana).Ministry of Defence of Republic of Macedonia
System The Socialist Republic of Macedonia was a one-party communist state, the ruling political party being the League of Communists of Macedonia (in Macedonian: Сојуз на Комунистите на Македонија, Sojuz na Komunistite na Makedonija, abbreviation: СКМ, SKM). Being a constituent state of Yugoslavia, a leading founder of the Non-Aligned Movement, SR Macedonia pursued a neutral foreign policy and maintained a more liberal communist system compared to other communist states. The ruling ideology was based on Titoism and Workers' self-management (Macedonian: самоуправување, samoupravuvanje).
Minorities While the Macedonians were the majority and were one of the constituent nations of SFR Yugoslavia (official term: narod) the rights of the ethnic minorities (official term: narodnosti) were guaranteed by the Constitution. The official language of SR Macedonia was Macedonian,РЕШЕНИЕ на Антифашиското собрание на народното ослободуене на Македонија за заведуене на македонскиот јазик како службен јазик во македонската држава (Rješenje Antifašističkog sobranja narodnog oslobođenja Makedonije o uvođenju makedonskoga jezika kao službenog jezika u državi Makedoniji), dokument br. 8, 2. kolovoza 1944., Prohor Pčinjski, Metodije Andonov Čento (predsjedatelj ASNOM) however Macedonian Albanians and Macedonian Turks had the right to use their own languages within the school system and the media.Spasov, Ljudmil; Arizankovska, Lidija. Hierarhizacija jezikov v Republiki Makedoniji in Republiki Sloveniji glede na jezikovno politiko Evropske unije, (161. – 169.) u: Vidovič-Muha, Ada. (ur.) Slovenski knjižni jezik – aktualna vprašanja in zgodovinske izkušnje : ob 450-letnici izida prve slovenske knjige, Zbirka »Obdobja – metode in zvrsti« (vol. 20, ), Center za slovenščino kot drugi/tuji jezik pri Oddelku za slovenistiko Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani, Ljubljana, 2003., , str. 163., 164. The constitution of the SR Macedonia defined the state as the national state of the ethnic Macedonians, but also as the state of Albanians and Turks. In 1989, the Yugoslav Macedonian authorities revised the constitution, defining SR Macedonia as a "nation-state of Macedonian people".
From the start of Yugoslav rule in Macedonia, accusations surfaced that the new authorities were involved in retribution against people who did not support the formation of the new Macedonian national identity.Djokić, Dejan (2003). Yugoslavism: Histories of a Failed Idea, 1918–1992, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers (pg. 122); . The number of victims due to organized killings of Bulgarians is unclear. Bulgarian sources claim that thousands of people were killed after 1944 and that more than 100,000 people were put in prison under the "Law for the Protection of Macedonian National Honor".Macedonia: Warlords and Rebels in the Balkans by John Phillips, I.B. Tauris (publisher), 2004; , p. 40. Per political scientist Mirjana Maleska, Bulgarophobia increased almost to the level of state ideology in SR Macedonia. Anastas Vangeli, Antiquity musing: reflections on the Greco-Macedonian symbolic contest over the narratives of the ancient past, MA thessis; Central European University, Budapest; 2009, p. 87.
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