Lazar Koliševski
Encyclopedia
Lazar Koliševski (12 February 1914 – 6 July 2000) was a Communist political leader in Socialist Republic of Macedonia
and briefly the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
closely allied with Tito
.
in 1914. His family were poor farmers. At a young age Lazar began to follow politics and learn the ways of Communism
. He supported a Macedonia as a part of a Balkan Confederacy but not under the Serbia
n kingdom.
forces entered Belgrade
in April 1941, Bulgaria
, the German ally in the war, took control of a part of Vardar Macedonia
, with the western towns of Tetovo
, Gostivar
and Debar
going to Italian zone in Albania
. Lazar, now 27, joined up with the Yugoslav Partisans in the struggle against Bulgaria and its local adherents. 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
and seriously weakened the Partisans. Vardar Macedonia soon became a field of competition between different small Yugoslav Partisan detachments. Later in fall of 1941 Koliševski became the Secretary of the local Committee of the Yugoslav Communist Party. In late 1941 he was arrested and sentenced to death by a Bulgarian military court. He wrote an appeal for clemency where he claimed to be "[...]a son of Bulgarian parents who [has always] felt and feels himself Bulgarian, and despite the dreadful slavery has preserved his Bulgarian lifestyle, language and mors " and had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment.
In late 1944, Koliševski was freed by the new Bulgarian government, and soon became the Chairman of the Communist Party of Macedonia
(an 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.
, Koliševski became the most powerful person in PR Macedonia and among the most powerful people in all of Yugoslavia. He began massive economic and social reforms. Koliševski finally brought the industrial revolution
to Macedonia. By 1955, the capital city of 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 was the poorest area of Yugoslavia now had 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 traveling to other nations as a Yugoslav Diplomat. He made many major trips in the late 1950s and early 1960s to nations like Egypt, India, Indonesia and other nations that would later help form the Non-Aligned Nations. These diplomatic travels showed that Koliševski was very trusted by the Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito
. Even after Tito had fall outs with some of his most trusted allies, Koliševski still remained.
After the Yugoslav Constitution of 1974 was passed, Koliševski grew much more influential in the Yugoslav political world. The new constitution called for a rotating Yugoslav Vice-Presidency. Koliševski was picked from 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 Years Day 1980 President 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, before the office passed on to Cvijetin Mijatović
.
Socialist Republic of Macedonia
The Socialist Republic of Macedonia was a socialist state that was a constituent country of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
and briefly the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
closely allied with 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...
.
Early years
Lazar was born in Sveti NikoleSveti Nikole
Sveti Nikole is a town in the Republic of Macedonia. It is the seat of Sveti Nikole Municipality and a center of a plain called Ovče Pole , famous for sheep farming, lamb meat, and dairy products of all kinds. According to legend, the town was named after the church of Sveti Nikola, built in the...
in 1914. His family were poor farmers. At a young age Lazar began to follow politics and learn the ways of Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. He supported a Macedonia as a part of a Balkan Confederacy but not under the Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n kingdom.
World War II
As NaziNazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
forces entered Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
in April 1941, 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...
, the German ally in the war, took control of a part of Vardar Macedonia
Vardar Macedonia
Vardar Macedonia is an area in the north of the Macedonia . The borders of the area are those of the Republic of Macedonia. It covers an area of...
, with the western towns of Tetovo
Tetovo
Tetovo is a city in the northwestern part of Macedonia, built on the foothills of Šar Mountain and divided by the Pena River.The city covers an area of at above sea level, with a population of 86,580 citizens in the municipality. Tetovo is home to the State University of Tetovo and South East...
, Gostivar
Gostivar
Gostivar , is a city in the Republic of Macedonia, located in the upper Polog valley region. It is one of the largest municipalities in the country with a population of 81,042, and the town also covers . Gostivar has good road and railway connections with the other cities in the region, such as...
and Debar
Debar
Debar is a city in the western part of the Republic of Macedonia, near the border with Albania, on the road from Struga to Gostivar. It is the seat of Debar Municipality.-Geography:...
going to Italian zone in Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
. Lazar, now 27, joined up with the Yugoslav Partisans in the struggle against Bulgaria and its local adherents. 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
Metodi Shatorov
Metodi Tasev Shatorov - Sharlo was a prominent Bulgarian political leader during the first half of 20th century and also temporary leader of the Macedonian communists in 1940-1941...
had defected to 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...
and seriously weakened the Partisans. Vardar Macedonia soon became a field of competition between different small Yugoslav Partisan detachments. Later in fall of 1941 Koliševski became the Secretary of the local Committee of the Yugoslav Communist Party. In late 1941 he was arrested and sentenced to death by a Bulgarian military court. He wrote an appeal for clemency where he claimed to be "[...]a son of Bulgarian parents who [has always] felt and feels himself Bulgarian, and despite the dreadful slavery has preserved his Bulgarian lifestyle, language and mors " and had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment.
In late 1944, Koliševski was freed by the new Bulgarian government, and soon became the Chairman of the Communist Party of Macedonia
League of Communists of Macedonia
League of Communists of Macedonia was the Macedonian branch of the ruling League of Communists of Yugoslavia during the period 1943 – 1990. It was formed under the name Communist Party of Macedonia during the antifascist National Liberation War of Macedonia in the Second World War...
(an 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
Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia is the head of government of the Republic of Macedonia. He or she is the leader of a political coalition in the Macedonian parliament and the leader of the cabinet...
, a federal unit of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (DFY). It was essentially the highest office in the Federal State of Macedonia
Socialist Republic of Macedonia
The Socialist Republic of Macedonia was a socialist state that was a constituent country of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
.
For his efforts in the war, Koliševski was one of the many Macedonians who were awarded with the People's Hero of Yugoslavia medal.
Macedonia & Yugoslavia
After World War IIWorld 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...
, Koliševski became the most powerful person in PR Macedonia and among the most powerful people in all of Yugoslavia. He began massive economic and social reforms. Koliševski finally brought the industrial revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
to Macedonia. By 1955, the capital city of 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 was the poorest area of Yugoslavia now had 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
President of the Republic of Macedonia
The President of the Republic of Macedonia is the head of state of the Republic of Macedonia. The institution of the Presidency of the modern Republic of Macedonia began after the Macedonian declaration of independence on 8 September 1991. Its first president was Kiro Gligorov, the oldest president...
. 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
League of Communists of Macedonia
League of Communists of Macedonia was the Macedonian branch of the ruling League of Communists of Yugoslavia during the period 1943 – 1990. It was formed under the name Communist Party of Macedonia during the antifascist National Liberation War of Macedonia in the Second World War...
, the Macedonian division of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia
League of Communists of Yugoslavia
League of Communists of Yugoslavia , before 1952 the Communist Party of Yugoslavia League of Communists of Yugoslavia (Serbo-Croatian: Savez komunista Jugoslavije/Савез комуниста Југославије, Slovene: Zveza komunistov Jugoslavije, Macedonian: Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na...
, 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 traveling to other nations as a Yugoslav Diplomat. He made many major trips in the late 1950s and early 1960s to nations like Egypt, India, Indonesia and other nations that would later help form the Non-Aligned Nations. These diplomatic travels showed that Koliševski was very trusted by the Yugoslav leader 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...
. Even after Tito had fall outs with some of his most trusted allies, Koliševski still remained.
After the Yugoslav Constitution of 1974 was passed, Koliševski grew much more influential in the Yugoslav political world. The new constitution called for a rotating Yugoslav Vice-Presidency. Koliševski was picked from 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 Years Day 1980 President 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, before the office passed on to Cvijetin Mijatović
Cvijetin Mijatovic
Cvijetin Mijatović was a Yugoslav communist politician who served as Chairman of the Collective Presidency of Yugoslavia from 1980 until 1981.In 1933, he became a member of KPJ...
.
See also
- TitoismTitoismTitoism is a variant of Marxism–Leninism named after Josip Broz Tito, leader of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, primarily used to describe the specific socialist system built in Yugoslavia after its refusal of the 1948 Resolution of the Cominform, when the Communist Party of...
- Socialist Federal Republic of YugoslaviaSocialist Federal Republic of YugoslaviaThe Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
- MacedoniaRepublic of MacedoniaMacedonia , 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...
External links
- Аспекти на македонското прашање, Лазар Колишевски.
- Picture – From left to right, Lazar Koliševski (in Glasses), Josip Broz Tito, Milka Planinc, Azem Vllasi and General Kosta Nadj
- Letter by Koliševski on the Macedonian Partisan forces in Pirin Macedonia
