National Liberation Front (Macedonia)

National Liberation Front (Narodno Osloboditelen Front)
Active	1945-1949
Country	Greece (Greek Macedonia)
Engagements	Greek Civil War

Slavic-Macedonian National Liberation Front
Active	1943-1944
Country	Greece (Greek Macedonia)
Allegiance	National People's Liberation Army
Engagements	Greek Resistance

The National Liberation Front (abbreviated NLF) (Macedonian: Народно Ослободителен Фронт (НОФ), transliterated National Liberation Front), also known as the People's Liberation Front, was a communist political and military organization created by the Macedonian minority in Greece. The organization operated from 1945–1949, most prominently in the Greek Civil War. As far as its ruling cadres were concerned its participation in the Greek Civil War was nationalist rather than communist, with the goal of secession from Greece.

The 'Macedonian Question' surfaced after the Balkan Wars in 1912 and 1913, following division of the region of Macedonia amongst the Kingdom of Greece, the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Serbia. During Ottoman rule, the Slavic-speaking population in Macedonia was under the influence of the Bulgarian Exarchate and the Greek Patriarchate and their education system, which resulted in the strengthening of Bulgarian, Greek, and Serb identities among the citizens.

After the Balkan Wars, a new consciousness arrived among the Slavic-speaking population - an ethnic Macedonian one. While the ethnic Macedonian nationalist movement started back in the 19th century, the idea of an ethnic Macedonian conscience and identity gained momentum between the two World Wars, and developed during World War II when ethnic Macedonian institutions were created in the three parts of Macedonia. The first revolutionary organization that promoted the existence of a separate ethnic Macedonian nation was IMRO (United), composed of former left-wing Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) members. This idea was backed by the Comintern, which issued a declaration in 1934 supporting the development of Macedonia as a separate entity and recognizing a Macedonian nationality.This action was attacked by the IMRO, but was supported by the Balkan communists, including the Greek Communist Party, which created a Macedonian section within the party headed by Andreas Tsipas and supported the national consolidation of the ethnic Macedonian minority within Greece.

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