MPO(Macedonian Patriotic Organization) 1922 - 201290 Years Struggle for Freedom

MPO-PirinChicago,IL2012

Why did I make this booklet? After talking to many people regarding the Macedonian question, I realized, namely, that most Bulgarians had not even heard about the Macedonian Patriotic Organization - MPO. As the direct result from a forty-ve years communist dictatorship in Bulgaria dating from 1944 to 1989, the communists labeled the MPO an enemy organization serving the hostile immigration, thus, imposing a shroud of disinformation upon the Bulgarians. Borders closed, no more immigrants were allowed to leave the Motherland. Meanwhile, the communists in Skopje instigated a brutal, both mental and physical, intimidation over the Macedono-Bulgarian population in Yugoslav Macedonia as well as in America. In fact, I have been told horric stories by older members of the MPO as to the ways UDBA the secret police of Yugoslavia acted upon them. In Yugoslav Macedonia, relatives of the Macedonian Bulgarians in America were pressured by the police to inuence their relatives in leaving the Macedono-Bulgarian churches and joining the newly formed Yugoslav-Macedonian ones. The latter became headquarters of the Serbo-Macedonian propaganda in America. Members of the MPO were repeatedly denied a visa for Yugoslavia, or, in case they did receive such, they were monitored and held for questioning by the Yugoslav police. In his book A visit to Yugoslav Macedonia, the patriot and longtime member of the Central Committee of the MPO Chris Anastasoff accounts for all this. Another great MPO patriot and MPO President, George Lebamoff, in his An American MacedonianAutobiography describes how, under threat of imprisonment, his books in Bulgarian language were conscated at the Yugoslav-Macedonian border. Many Macedonian Bulgarians living in Yugoslav Macedonia were imprisoned just for owning Bulgarian books or those written by the IMRO leader Ivan Mihaylov. Unfortunately, this is also the time when the Yugoslav communists commenced sending secret agents in order to inltrate the MPO. In all of its papers and documents after 1944, MPO has been carefully warning its members to watch out for Titos agents and defy their propaganda. These were the manners with which the communists were inuencing over and oppressing our emigration. Only a small part of the MPO members was successfully deceived by this Macedonist propaganda. This was largely due to ignorance and lack of basic knowledge on the history of Macedonia. At present, there are MPO members who are still not familiar with the so called by-laws of the organization, although their membership has been going on for many years now. In these by-laws, it is clearly stated that Macedonian is NOT a nationality as well as that fact that Macedonian nationalities include Bulgarians, Vlachs, Albanians, Turks, Greeks, etc. Of the dozens of books issued by the MPO and from the hundreds of documents in the archives of the Macedonian Tribune that I have read, it appears that the MPO is the longest acting organization in defense of the Bulgarian ethnic character of Macedonia. Another mistake some MPO members tend to make is confusing the state of R. Makedonija with the geographical area of Macedonia. The State of R. Makedonija, with its capital Skopje, is a mere continuation of the Serb politics, rst, in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and, later, in Communist Yugoslavia. By terrorizing the Bulgarian population, the destruction of the Bulgarian heritage in this part of the geographical Macedonia (subject to another brochure) was aimed. Fortunately, the vast majority of MPO members did not succumb to this Makedonist propaganda and continues to remember its Bulgarian heritage. To my surprise, all of the old members of the MPO (even the Makedonists) know how to sing the Shumi Maritsa song, which was the national anthem of the Kingdom of Bulgaria until 1944. We, the members of MPO-Pirin, as Bulgarians from the Pirin part of Macedonia, will never accept the Makedonist propaganda and the lies about our history! All MPO and IMRO documents clearly demonstrate that the people who founded the revolutionary organization IMRO in Macedonia in 1893 as well as those who set up and organized MPO in 1922 were proud to be Bulgarians. I dedicate this short booklet to all the MPO members who have not lost their Bulgarian self-consciousness.

Many still wonder why the R.Makedonija (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) experiences difculties with its membership in NATO and the EU. Is it the name issue with Greece the only problem? In fact, most problems Macedonia has are related to the existing fundamental identity confusion. The Republic of Macedonia is trying to build its identity upon theft and falsications of the history of their neighbors. In spite of Greece being the current showstopper for Macedonia to join NATO and the EU, the real victims of this identity theft are the Macedonian Bulgarians. Makedonija would ofcially usurp any part of the Bulgarian character and history associated with the geographical region of Macedonia. Among these are the medieval Bulgarian tzar Samuil, Bulgarian national revival key gures born in Macedonia- the Miladinov brothers, Kuzman Shapkarev, Rajko Jinzifov, Grigor Parlichev, Nathaniel Ohridski, Jordan Hadzhikonstantinov- Djinot among others, our Bulgarian revolutionaries from IMRO and the Macedono-Bulgarian emigrant organizations in Bulgaria, Europe, America, and Canada. Makedonija is attempting to steal the authentic history of MPO. Let every reader judge for him/herself what kind of organization MPO is indeed.

Article above, and next page by Chris Anastasoff. Hristo Anastasoff was born in 1895 in Turia, a village in the Kostur region, Egey (Aegean) Macedonia, then in the Ottoman Empire. He took part in the ght against the Greek patriarchy propaganda and the Ottoman rule.Graduated from a Bulgarian gymnasium in Lerin. After the Balkan War, Christ Anastassoff participates in the preparation of the Ohrid uprising of IMRO against the Serbian occupation of Vardar Macedonia. With the help of some fellow revolutionaries, he organized the region of Debar. After immigrating to America and settling in St. Louis, he studied history and graduated in BA and MA from Washington University. Anastassoff was a longtime member of the Central Committee of the Macedonian Patriotic Organization and is the author of many books on Macedonian thematic. Together with Lazar Kiselincheff and Christo Nizamoff, he organized the Information Bureau of MPO, and became the ofcial spokesman of the organization. Further, he became a regular contributor of the MPO, serving for over 34 years as Vicepresident of the Central Committee. Anastassoff is the author of The Tragic Peninsula (1938), A century of Balkan Turmoil (1941), The case for an Autonomous Macedonia (1945) as well as A visit to Yugoslavia (1957). He translated Ivan Mihailovs book Stalin and the Macedonian Question (1948) as well as Macedonia: Switzerland of the Balkans (1950). He is also the founder, editor-in-chief, and publisher of the international quarterly Balkan (1967-1973). Christ Anastassoff is listed in Personalities of the West and Midwest.

Russian Map- Balkans after the San Stefano treaty.^