Greece and Macedonia Unite against our common enemy
Core Argument¶
The central thesis is that the dispute between Greece and Macedonia over the latter's name and national identity is a manufactured distraction, serving the interests of both countries' ruling classes by dividing workers along nationalist lines. The article argues that the Macedonian nation and language are genuine historical products of the Balkan liberation struggles and the post-war Yugoslav federation, not artificial constructs as Greek nationalism claims. The real enemy is not the neighbouring nation but the shared capitalist system and the imperialist pressures of NATO and the EU, which both states serve. The only progressive way forward is internationalist class solidarity and socialist revolution across the Balkans.
Theoretical Grounding¶
The analysis is firmly rooted in the Marxist tradition on the national question, drawing on the classical positions of Lenin, Trotsky, and the early Communist International. It treats nations not as eternal or primordial entities but as products of specific historical material conditions — in this case, the disintegration of the Ottoman and Habsburg empires and the subsequent development of capitalist relations in the Balkans. The article applies the Marxist distinction between the progressive role of national liberation movements in the epoch of rising capitalism and their reactionary character under imperialism, where bourgeois nationalism becomes a tool for dividing the working class. It also reflects the Trotskyist critique of Stalinist nationalities policy, implicitly contrasting the genuine (if flawed) federalism of Tito's Yugoslavia with the chauvinism of the bourgeois successor states. The argument that only socialist revolution can finally overcome nationalist hatred is a direct application of the Marxist position that the national question can only be resolved through the international unity of the proletariat.
Conjunctural Relevance¶
The article was published in March 2018, at the height of the name dispute between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia (then still formally known as FYROM). This was a period of intense diplomatic pressure, with Greece blocking Macedonia's NATO and EU accession over the name issue. The article correctly identifies the key forces at play: the Greek ruling class using nationalist rhetoric to deflect from the consequences of the post-2008 austerity regime; the Macedonian government (then led by the Social Democrats and the Albanian DUI) willing to accept a humiliating compromise — eventually the Prespa Agreement of June 2018, which renamed the country North Macedonia — in exchange for NATO membership; and American imperialism pushing NATO enlargement as a geopolitical counterweight to Russian influence in the Balkans. The article also notes the domestic context in Macedonia: the legacy of the 2001 insurgency, the decay of workers' living standards after three decades of capitalist restoration, and the weakness of organised labour. The reference to toxic gold and silver mines points to specific environmental and class struggles, such as the opposition to the Bucim mine and the contested investments by Canadian and Turkish companies.
Where the Argument Continues¶
The article leaves several threads open. The most significant is the development of the Prespa Agreement itself, which was signed in June 2018 and ratified by both parliaments under intense international pressure. The argument about NATO's role as an imperialist instrument is continued in numerous IDOM articles on the Balkans, particularly those analysing the Ukraine war and the expansion of NATO into Eastern Europe. The reference to Crveni (the joint Marxist organisation in the former Yugoslav space) points to a broader project of rebuilding revolutionary organisation across the region, which is a recurring theme in IDOM's coverage of the Balkans. The article's brief mention of the Titoist period and the need to restore working-class memory connects to a wider Marxist literature on the degeneration of the Yugoslav state and the lessons of its collapse — a subject treated in depth in IDOM articles on the breakup of Yugoslavia and the nature of Stalinist regimes. The interview format means the article does not develop a detailed programme for the Macedonian left, but the strategic orientation — building Levica as a revolutionary party while rejecting both nationalist mythology and reformist illusions in the EU — is consistent with the RCI's broader perspective on the need for a transitional programme in the Balkans.
Connections¶
This article should be read alongside the classical Marxist texts on the national question: Lenin's The Right of Nations to Self-Determination and Trotsky's The Balkan Wars and The War and the International. Within the IDOM corpus, it connects to articles on the Greek debt crisis, the rise of Syriza and its betrayal, and the analysis of nationalist conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. The interview format also links to the broader IDOM practice of publishing first-person accounts from comrades in struggle, which serves both to document local conditions and to demonstrate the international character of the Marxist movement. The article's treatment of the Macedonian language and national identity is a concrete application of the Marxist method to a specific national question, and as such it can be usefully compared with IDOM's analyses of other national disputes, such as those in Ukraine, Catalonia, or Kurdistan.
Key Quotes¶
"The national question, therefore, took on a bloody character, and instead of bringing development and progress, it was a call for perpetual wars, military actions and propaganda, violent changes of demographics… So, it is not only the Greek ruling class that has claims against their neighbours."
"The existence of a Macedonian nation was confirmed after World War Two with the creation of the Macedonian state within the Federation of Yugoslavia. It is true that this nation is small, but can any sane person claim that the Slovaks or the Slovenes don't exist as nations?"
"NATO membership has been a national myth of 'progress and prosperity' for the past 25 years."
"Our duty, in both our countries, is essentially the same: to oppose this turning away from class struggle towards nationalism/racism and to help build the unity of working people."
"The memory of the working class has been smashed to pieces as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia was unable to stand firm. The need for a genuine mass Communist party is thus essential to restore the memory and activate the class struggle on a higher political level."
"We have the task of exposing the real motives of the ruling class in dividing the working class within national borders, but also internationally. We have to explain patiently and we shall overcome."