Racin, Koco

(pen name of Kosta Apostolov Solev). Born Dec. 22, 1908, in Veles; died June 13, 1943. Macedonian writer. Member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia from 1928.

Racin was a member of the workers’ and antifascist movement. He edited the newspaper Iskra (1933), helped found progressive literature in Vardar Macedonia, and initiated the revolutionary and proletarian school of Macedonian literature and criticism. Racin wrote the first book of verse in Macedonian, the collection White Dawns (1939). Extending the boundaries of folk poetics and rhythmics, he created a new poetic language. His prose dealt chiefly with the destruction of the old way of life and the impoverishment of the craftsmen. Racin’s articles of literary criticism include “Art and the Working Class.” He died while serving in a partisan detachment in the mountains of Lopušnik.