Veles, 25 November 2024 (MIA) -- On this day in 1939, the Dragutin Špuler printing house in Samobor, Croatia, printed the Macedonian revolutionary, partisan, communist and poet Kocho Racin's "White Dawns." The seminal collection of socialist poems dedicated to the plight of the exploited and oppressed workers led to the Veles-born writer being considered one of the founders of contemporary Macedonian literature, MIA's Veles correspondent writes.

Kosta Apostolov Solev (1908-1943) started writing poetry in 1928, dedicating his first poems to his unrequited love, Rahilka Firfova-Raca. He continued writing under the pen name Kocho Racin -- Racin meaning Raca's.

In his writings on the development of contemporary Macedonian literature, he argued that Macedonian writers should be inspired by Macedonian folk literature and progressive social views. He was also a women's rights supporter, urging Macedonian women to start a feminist movement and gain the right to vote in a paper he wrote on the international women’s movement and presented publicly on March 8, 1936.

The original "White Dawns" manuscript is kept in the Samobor museum, which has also raised a monument to the poet. Every year, a Macedonian delegation, including members of the Macedonian community in Croatia, pays tribute to Racin on the anniversary of the book's publication by visiting the Špuler printing house and laying flowers at the Racin memorial bust.

This year, a delegation from the Veles Municipality also attended a concert at the Macedonian Cultural and Information Center in Zagreb, MIA's correspondent writes. mr/