Lazar Koliševski

Lazar Koliševski (Macedonian: Лазар Колишевски [ˈlazar kɔˈliʃɛfski] (listen); 12 February 1914 – 6 July 2000) was a Yugoslav communist political leader in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia and briefly in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He was closely allied with Tito.

Lazar Koliševski
Лазар Колишевски
1st President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia
In office
4 May 1980 – 15 May 1980
Prime MinisterVeselin Đuranović
Preceded byJosip Broz Tito
Succeeded byCvijetin Mijatović
6th President of the People's Assembly of PR Macedonia
In office
19 December 1953 – 26 June 1962
Prime MinisterLjupco Arsov
Aleksandar Grlickov
Preceded byDimce Stojanov
Succeeded byLjupco Arsov
1st President of the Executive Council of PR Macedonia
In office
16 April 1945 – 19 December 1953
PresidentMetodija Andonov - Čento
Dimitar Vlahov
Preceded byPosition created
Succeeded byLjupčo Arsov
1st Chairman of the League of Communists of Macedonia
In office
1945 – July 1963
Preceded byPosition created
Succeeded byKrste Crvenkovski
Personal details
Born(1914-02-12)12 February 1914
Sveti Nikole, Kingdom of Serbia
Died6 July 2000(2000-07-06) (aged 86)
Skopje, then Republic of Macedonia
NationalityYugoslav/Macedonian
Political partyLeague of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ)
AwardsOrder of the National Hero of Yugoslavia
Military service
AllegianceSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Branch/serviceGround Forces (KoV)
Years of service1941–1980
RankMajor General
CommandsYugoslav Partisans
Yugoslav People's Army
Battles/warsWorld War II

Early years

Lazar was born in Sveti Nikole, Kingdom of Serbia in 1914. His family were poor farmers. Koliševski's mother was Aromanian and his father was Bulgarian. In 1915, during the First World War, the region was occupied by the Kingdom of Bulgaria. His father was mobilized in the army, and during the war both Koliševski's parents died. Once left an orphan, after the war, when Vardar Macedonia was ceded to Serbia again, he was taken by his maternal Aromanian aunts in Bitola. There he was raised up to school age and later was transferred to a state orphanage in the city, where completed his primary education. Later Koliševski was sent to a technical school in Kragujevac. Here, Lazar began to follow politics and learn about communism. Because of the political activities he was arrested and expelled from munition factory, where he worked. During the 1930s he became a prominent activist of the Yugoslav Communist Party.[1]

World War II

As Nazi forces entered Belgrade in April 1941, Bulgaria, a German ally, took control of a part of Vardar Macedonia, with the western towns of Tetovo, Gostivar and Debar going to Italian zone in Albania. After the Bulgarians had taken control of the eastern part of the former Vardar Banovina, the leader of the local faction of Communist Party of Yugoslavia, Metodi Shatorov had defected to the Bulgarian Communist Party. The Bulgarian Communists avoided organizing mass armed uprising against the authorities, but the Yugoslav communists insisted on an armed revolt. Meanwhile, the German invasion of the Soviet Union made the Comintern and Joseph Stalin decide that the Macedonian communists were to rejoin the Yugoslav communists.

In the fall of 1941, Koliševski thus became the Secretary of the Regional Committee of the Communists in Macedonia. On the ground, he began to pursue Shatorov's sympathisers and organised several small armed detachments against the Bulgarian authorities and their local adherents. In late 1941, he was arrested and sentenced to death by a Bulgarian military court. He wrote two appeals for clemency to the Bulgarian tsar and to the defence minister.[2] There he regrets the accomplishment, insisting on his Bulgarian origin.[3] Later, after an intercession of the Defense Minister to the tsar, his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and Koliševski was send to a prison in Pleven, Bulgaria.[4] It is claimed that in 1943, he was elected in absentia as secretary of the Central Committee of the new Communist Party of Macedonia and a delegate to the AVNOJ’s second session in 1943, and also to the ASNOM convened in August 1944, but those claims are disputed.[5]

In September 1944, Koliševski was freed by the new Bulgarian pro-communist government, and soon became the Chairman of the Communist Party of Macedonia, a local division of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. Near the end of the war Koliševski became the Prime Minister of the Federal State of Macedonia, a federal unit of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (DFY). It was essentially the highest office in the Federal State of Macedonia. For his efforts in the war, Koliševski was one of the many Macedonians who were awarded with the People's Hero of Yugoslavia medal.

Yugoslavia
Monument in Koliševski's hometown Sveti Nikole

After World War II, Koliševski became the most powerful person in PR Macedonia and among the most powerful people in all of Yugoslavia. Under his leadership,[6] hundreds of people of Macedonian Bulgarian descent were killed as collaborationists between 7–9 January 1945.[7] Thousands of others, who retained their pro-Bulgarian sympathies, suffered severe repression as a result.[8] Kolisevski strongly supported the promotion of a distinct ethnic Macedonian identity and language in SR Macedonia.[9] Some circles were then trying to minimise ties with Yugoslavia as far as possible and promoted the independence of Macedonia. Kolishevski, however, started a policy oc fully implementing the pro-Yugoslav line and took harsh measures against the opposition. He began also a massive economic and social reforms. Koliševski finally brought the Industrial Revolution to Macedonia. By 1955, the capital, Skopje, had become one of the fastest-growing cities in the region and became the third-largest city in Yugoslavia. Thanks to Koliševski's reforms, the small republic that in 1945 had been the poorest area of Yugoslavia became the fastest-growing economy. After the second Five-Year Economic Plan, PR Macedonia's economy advanced rapidly.

On 19 December 1953, Koliševski retired as the Prime Minister of PR Macedonia and assumed the office of President of the People's Assembly. He became the PR Macedonian head of state, but wielded less direct political power. However, he remained the Chairman of the League of Communists of Macedonia, the Macedonian division of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, which were the new names of the communist parties in Yugoslavia. He was still the most powerful person in the Republic because of his influence in the Yugoslav Communist Party. With his slow removal from politics in Macedonia, he began to travel to other nations as a Yugoslav diplomat. He made many major trips in the late 1950s and the early 1960s to Egypt, India, Indonesia and other nations that later formed the Non-Aligned Nations. The diplomatic travels showed that Koliševski was very trusted by the Yugoslav leader, Josip Broz Tito. Even after Tito had fallen out with some of his most trusted allies, Koliševski remained in his position.

After the Yugoslav Constitution of 1974 was passed, Koliševski became much more influential in the Yugoslav political world. The new constitution called for a rotating Yugoslav Vice-Presidency. Koliševski was chosen by the Macedonian leadership to be the Macedonian representative to the Presidency. On 15 May 1979, Koliševski was voted by the other presidency members to become President of the Presidency and Vice President of Yugoslavia. On New Year's Day in 1980, Tito fell ill, leaving Koliševski in the role of acting leader in his absence. Tito died five months later, on 4 May 1980. Koliševski held the office of acting head of the presidency of Yugoslavia for another ten days, when the office passed on to Cvijetin Mijatović.

Macedonia

After the breakup of Yugoslavia, he lived in Skopje, the capital of the newly-proclaimed Republic of Macedonia, and opposed the anti-Serbian and pro-Bulgarian policy of the ruling right-wing party, VMRO-DPMNE, in the late 1990s.[10] He died on July 6, 2000 and in 2002 a monument of Koliševski was erected in his birthplace by the left-wing local government.

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See also

References
  1. Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Historical Dictionaries of Europe, Dimitar Bechev, Scarecrow Press, 2009, ISBN 0810862956, p. 117.
  2. Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, 1900-1996, Author Chris Kostov, Publisher Peter Lang, 2010, ISBN 3034301960, p. 13.
  3. Молба за милостъ от Лазаръ Паневъ Колишевъ, затворникъ при Скопския областен сѫдъ, осѫденъ на СМЪРТЪ отъ Битолския военно-полеви сѫдъ по наказ. дѣло 133/941. по закона за защита на държавата
  4. УТРИНСКИ ВЕСНИК, Број 1475 понеделник, 16 октомври 2006. Archived 2007-08-10 at Archive.today
  5. Колендиќ, Белите дамки на македонската историја. Извор/првпат објавено: "Start magazin", Zagreb, No. 537, 19.8.1989, 50-55 str. Превод: Здравко Савески, Онлајн верзија: декември 2011.
  6. Michael Palairet, Macedonia: A Voyage through History, Volume 2, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016, ISBN 1443888494, p. 293.
  7. Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia by Dimitar Bechev, Scarecrow Press, 2009; ISBN 0810855658, p. 287.
  8. Who Are the Macedonians? by Hugh Poulton, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2000; ISBN 1850655340, p. 118.
  9. Bernard A. Cook, Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia, Taylor & Francis, 2001, ISBN 0815340575, p. 808.
  10. НИН, Београд, issue 2585, 13.07.2000, Krzavac, Savo. Bravar nije voleo zlato
Political offices
Preceded by
Josip Broz Tito
as President of SFR Yugoslavia		 President of the Presidency of SFR Yugoslavia
4 May 1980 - 15 May 1980		 Succeeded by
Cvijetin Mijatović
Preceded by
Dimce Stojanov		 President of the People's Assembly of PR Macedonia
4 May 1980 – 15 May 1980		 Succeeded by
Ljupčo Arsov
Preceded by
New title		 President of the Executive Council of PR Macedonia
16 April 1945 – 19 December 1953		 Succeeded by
Ljupčo Arsov
Party political offices
Preceded by
New title		 Chairman of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Macedonia
1945 - July 1963		 Succeeded by
Krste Crvenkovski
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