Background During World War II, in 1941 and throughout 1942, the resistance against the Axis powers in
occupied Yugoslav Macedonia lagged behind than in other parts of Yugoslavia. After the
Bulgarian takeover of most of then Vardar Banovina in April 1941, the local communists fell into the sphere of influence of the
Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP). The BCP supported the idea of a
independent and
unified Macedonia, contrary to the stance of the Yugoslav communists. At that time most Macedonian communists were not yet lured to Yugoslav communists' agenda as they feared a reestablishment of the
previous oppressive rule and the regional committee was
de facto under control of the BCP. As a result, the factionalist struggle between the pro-Bulgarian and the pro-Yugoslav Macedonians exacerbated.
Foundation The situation began to change by the end of 1942 and after February 1943, when
Tito's envoy
Svetozar Vukmanović arrived in Macedonia as a representative of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia's central committee and
Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ). The Supreme Headquarters of AVNOJ realized that securing mass participation would require to "
Macedonianize" the struggle's form and content. The Communist Party of Yugoslavia's plan was to have the party operate only in
Vardar Macedonia and include only activists loyal to the
Yugoslav agenda. The Communist Party of Macedonia (CPM) was created on 19 March 1943 by the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia in
Tetovo in the
Italian-occupation zone of Yugoslavia (in then
Kingdom of Albania), on the basis of the previous
Regional Committee of Communists in Macedonia. The first Central Committee consisted of
Kuzman Josifovski Pitu,
Bane Andreev, Cvetko Uzunovski, Strahil Gigov,
Mara Naceva and
Lazar Koliševski. Naceva and Koliševski were absent, as they were imprisoned in Bulgaria at the time. The CPM would lead the struggle, not for the restoration of old Yugoslavia but for above all liberation and unification of Macedonia within a new federal union of Yugoslav peoples
with an extension of its prewar territory.
Yugoslav era After 1944, the CPM became the main ruling party of the
People's Republic of Macedonia. The party initiated
pro-Bulgarian purges in January 1945. The party's first congress was held in 1948. The CPM was renamed to League of Communists of Macedonia (LCM) in April 1952. The party was under the control of
Macedonians, who dominated the membership. Under the direction of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY), it regulated the new republic's relations with ethnic minorities and inter-ethnic relations. In 1965, LCLM proceeded to increase minority representation in the highest bodies of the party. In mid-1989, during the
revolutions, LCM committed itself to introducing a multi-party system in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. The party held its Tenth Congress in Skopje from 26 to 28 November 1989, when Petar Gošev became its leader. The old dogmatic party leadership, which had been pro-Serbian, was replaced. It renamed itself to League of Communists of Macedonia – Party for Democratic Transformation. On 7 April 1990, the party decided to leave the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. The party took part in the
first multi-party elections in December, when it was defeated by the nationalist
VMRO-DPMNE but it gained 31 seats. In 1991, the party was succeeded by the
Social Democratic Union of Macedonia on 20 April 1991. ==Gallery==