Metodi Shatorov
Encyclopedia
Prilep
Prilep is the fourth largest city in the Republic of Macedonia. It has a population of 66,246 citizens. Prilep is known as "the city under Marko's Towers" because of its proximity to the towers of Prince Marko.-Name:...
, Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
– September 12, 1944 near Velingrad
Velingrad
Velingrad is a town in Pazardzhik Province, Southern Bulgaria, located at the western end of Chepino Valley, part of the Rhodope Mountains. It is the administrative center of the homonymous Velingrad Municipality and one of the most popular Bulgarian balneological resorts...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
) was a prominent Bulgarian political leader during the first half of 20th century
and also temporary leader of the Macedonian
Macedonians (ethnic group)
The Macedonians also referred to as Macedonian Slavs: "... the term Slavomacedonian was introduced and was accepted by the community itself, which at the time had a much more widespread non-Greek Macedonian ethnic consciousness...
communists in 1940-1941. As the most left-wing politicians from Macedonia, during 1930s he has been forced to adopt the Balkan Communist Federation
Balkan Communist Federation
The Balkan Federation was a project about the creation of a Balkan federation or confederation, based mainly on left political ideas.The concept of a Balkan federation emerged at the late 19th century from among left political forces in the region...
's concept for an autonomous Macedonia separate from the motherland Bulgaria. However, Macedonian communist functionaries, originating from the Bulgarian Communist Party
Bulgarian Communist Party
The Bulgarian Communist Party was the communist and Marxist-Leninist ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria from 1946 until 1990 when the country ceased to be a communist state...
(BCP) and Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (United)
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (United)
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization , commonly known in English as IMRO...
(IMRO (United)) never lost their strong pro-Bulgarian (bulgarophile
Bulgarophiles
Bulgarophiles - , ; ; ; is a term used for people from region of Macedonia and region of Pomoravlje who regard themselves as Bulgarians. It is most often used pejoratively, as the term implies that these people are not really Bulgarian....
) sentiments.
Biography
Shatorov graduated from the local Bulgarian ExarchateBulgarian Exarchate
The Bulgarian Exarchate was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and the Bulgarian Patriarchate was restored in 1953....
's junior school in Prilep and afterwards from the men's high school in Bitola. He also attended a pedagogic school in Skopie in 1914-1915. In 1918 the Bulgarian Army withdrew from Vardar Macedonia and Serbia annexed the area. He immediately emigrated to Bulgaria, where he became a member of the BCP in 1920. Furthermore, Sharlo was arrested for his participation in the September Uprising
September Uprising
The September Uprising was an armed insurgency staged in September 1923 by the Bulgarian Communist Party under Comintern pressure, as an attempt to overthrow the Democratic Accord government of Bulgaria that had come to power with the coup d'état of June 9. Besides its communist base, the...
in 1923. In 1925 he became also a member of the IMRO (United) - de facto a BCP creation. As a significant party worker, he grew as a functionary of the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
and a member of the BCP Central Committee. He was imprisoned several times and emigrated to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
for political reasons. During the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
Sharlo went to Paris as a coordinator of BCP. During the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the Comintern sent him back to Vardar Macedonia (being then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
under the name 'Vardarska Banovina') to serve as a Secretary of the Macedonian Regional Committee of the Yugoslav Communist Party (YCP) since 1940. After the Bulgarian takeover of Vardarska Banovina in April 1941, the Macedonian communists fell in the sphere of influence of the BCP under Sharlo's leadership. The Macedonian Regional Committee refused to remain in contact with the YCP and linked up with BCP as soon as the invasion of Yugoslavia started. Sharlo refused to distribute the proclamation of the YCP which called for military action against the Bulgarians
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
. He also became prominent with his anti-Serbian political views. The local committee of the YCP realised that the Bulgarian army liberated the local population from the oppressive and despised Serbian bondage. Shatorov, a dedicated anti-fascist, was credited with the slogan "One people, one country, one party", by which he approved the Bulgarian invasion.
While the Bulgarian Communists avoided organising mass armed uprising against the Bulgarian authorities in Vardar Macedonia, the Yugoslav Communists insisted on an armed revolt. Upon the decision of the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
and Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
himself the Macedonian Communists were reattached to CPY. The Sharlo's leadership was terminated, but the vestiges of his policy among part of the communist activists were preserved. Despite his expulsion, the new executive bodies of the Macedonian Regional Committees continued to share Shatorov's ideas until 1943. This policy changed since 1943 with the arrival of the Tito's envoy Montenegrin Serb Svetozar Vukmanović-Tempo
Svetozar Vukmanovic-Tempo
Svetozar Vukmanović "Tempo" was a leading Montenegrin communist and member of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia...
. He began in earnest to organise armed resistance to the Bulgarian rule and sharply criticized the Sharlo's pro-Bulgarian policy.
Consequently, for his actions Sharlo was expelled from the YCP and in the late 1941 he moved again to Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, where Shatorov began working as one of the Bulgarian resistance movement
Bulgarian resistance movement during World War II
The Bulgarian resistance movement was part of the anti-Axis resistance during World War II. It consisted of armed and unarmed actions of resistance groups against the Wehrmacht forces in Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Bulgaria authorities. It was mainly communist and pro-Soviet Union...
leaders (under the nickname 'Panayot'). He was among the most active organizers of the Salvation of the Bulgarian Jews during the Second World War.
Sharlo was heavyly wounded and disappeared under unknown circumstances on September 5, 1944 in a battle between partisans and gendarmerie on Milevi skali in the Rhodopi
Rhodope Mountains
The Rhodopes are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, with over 83% of its area in southern Bulgaria and the remainder in Greece. Its highest peak, Golyam Perelik , is the seventh highest Bulgarian mountain...
mountain. As Shatorov was previously sentenced to death by a Tito's tribunal, there are serious indications that he was killed by Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
's agents (allegedly in agreement with the International Department of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union's Communist Party) as a politically inconvenient leader. This happened only several days before the Communist coup d'état
Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944
The Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944, also known as the 9 September coup d'état and called in pre-1989 Bulgaria the National Uprising of 9 September or the Socialist Revolution of 9 September was a change in the Kingdom of Bulgaria's administration and government carried out on the eve of 9 September...
of September, 9 (backed by the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
) installed a new government of the Fatherland Front
Fatherland Front (Bulgaria)
The Fatherland Front was originally a Bulgarian political resistance movement during World War II. The Zveno movement, the communist Bulgarian Workers Party, a wing of the Agrarian Union and the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers Party, were all part of the FF...
. As per the autopsy report, he died after September, 11, i.e. several days after the old regime's end, and until then he was not discovered neither by his comrades nor by the new authorities.
Shatorov's supporters in Vardar Macedonia, called Sharlisti, were systematically exterminated by the YCP since the autumn of 1944, and heavily repressed for their anti-Yugoslav and pro-Bulgarian political positions.
Significance
After 1944 Communist Bulgaria and Communist Yugoslavia began a policy for establishing a common Balkan Federative Republic and forced the creation of a distinct Slav Macedonian consciousness as a bridge between the two states. Hence, the Shatorov's policy was not in favour in both countries. Nevertheless, the Bulgarian Communist Party decided at a plenum in 1958 to change its course on the Macedonian Question. Afterwards, the concept for a Macedonian ethnicity and language was abandoned and Shatorov was fully rehabiltated Bulgaria. After the breakup of Yugoslavia and the fall of Communism he was partially rehabilitated in the Republic of MacedoniaRepublic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
only in 2005.
External links
- „За тебе говори приказната“
- Ефтим Гашев „Шарловизија“
- Стефан Алексовски „Која е вистината за Шарло“
- Кокан Стојчев „'Браварот' од Кумровец наредил, а Колишевски од 'Крагуевац' ја извршил задачата - смена на Шарло“
- Владимир Јовановски „Шарло 'акробатот' и Лазо младоженецот“
- „Од чии куршуми загина Шаторов?“
- „Убийството на Методи Шаторов“
- „Националното дело на Методи Шаторов - Шарло“
- „Влиянието на делото на Шаторов“
- "Metodi Shatorov"