The present Republic of Macedonia was established as an autonomous state within the boundaries of Tito's Yugoslavia in 1944. Nevertheless a number of deviations even from the Macedonian left-wingers' party line were made. It was first formulated by the 19th century Serbian politician Stojan Novakovic. Unless we keep this fact in mind, the nature of the processes going on at the moment among the people in the Republic of Macedonia will remain obscure. The policy of spreading Macedonism did not change in any fundamental way after the proclamation of the Macedonian Republic as an independent State in 1991.
Some Orwellian practices continue to be implemented.
In the memorial service, however, the students were presented as 'Macedonians'. Why this was so remains unclear, and is not an object of our analysis.