Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization

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## Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization

Badge from IMRO with a shotgun and sword with a skull at the bottom

### Name

Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization

### Goals

--- 1893 - 1901 :Autonomy and better rights for Macedonians in Macedonia and Adrionople

--- 1902 - 1908 :Independece for Macedonians in Macedonia and Adrionople

### Motto

"Liberty or Death"

**Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization** (*Macedonian: Внатрешна Македонска Револуционерна Организација;* acronym: **IMRO/VMRO**) was a **Macedonian** revolutionary organization founded in 1893 in Thessaloniki. The main ideals of the organization was to arouse interested to foreign nations on the Macedonian question and at first it wanted Macedonia to gain autonomy and gain more improved rights in the Ottoman Empire,

eventually they would change their ideals to include independence aswell. In 1903 they would launch the infamous Ilinden Uprising which would have a huge impact over the organization. The organization would dissolve in 1908 after lack of funds and lack of structure.

## Concept of IMRO

Before IMRO came into existence there were several liberation/indepence movement before that, one of them being the Kresna Uprising in the 1880s and other events go back even further such as the Karposh Uprising/Rebelllion. During the Macedonian revival several poets and authors challenged the concept of a Macedonian organization, one of the more infamous writers was **Krste P. Misirkov** in his book *"On The Macedonian Matters"* he would write :

***"The thought of national unification of the Macedonians, although under the Bulgarian guise, took hold in 1890. At the end of 1889 30-40 Macedonian pupils and students moved to Bulgaria from Belgrade to Sofia. Those students are the soul of all events in Macedonia since then. They were familiar with Serbia and Bulgaria, with their cultures and goals in Macedonia. They also realized the danger of the division of Macedonia between those two states - if the Macedonians do not arm themselves to win their own freedom, with all their own forces and means, and thereby warn of the division of Macedonia."***

A organization similar to IMRO existed during the 1860s, known as IRO (Internal Revolutionary Organization) which was founded by Vasil Levski a revolutionary from Bulgaria

## Establisment of IMRO (1893 - 1894)

There are two main reasons for the emergence of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization. After the Berlin Congress, the Macedonian people remained nationally, politically, culturally, educationally and spiritually dis-advantaged. In addition to that, the Macedonian national individuality was in danger from foreign propaganda, which intensified the antagonism in Macedonia that already existed.

The organization was founded on October 23, 1893 in Thessaloniki, by Hristo Tatarchev, Damjan Gruev, Ivan Hadji Nikolov, Hristo Batandjiev, Petar Pop Arsov and Andon Dimitrov. The founding meeting was held in Hristo Batandjiev's apartment, but it should be noted that the group was constituted as a group without electing a leadership and without a written protocol. In particular, the organization was formed during the January meeting, when it was decided to name the organization: Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (MRO),

Due to some controversy some believe that the first name of the organization was Bulgarian Macedonian - Adrionople Revolutionary Committees, and others believe that first it was called MRO, and then BMARC. However, there is no general agreement in the Macedonian historical science that this organization was once called BMARC. This however isnt true as the document has been prooved several times that its considered a forgery, one historian noted that :

***"..if Katarzhiev had been more attentive to Article 8 of the Constitution of BMARC, where the seal of the Central Committee is determined, he would have noticed that the inscription Macedonian-Adrionople Central Revolutionary Committee is provided for the seal. If we follow the official documents, we will notice that the first known document in the name of the Organization is stamped with the text Macedonian Central Revolutionary Committee, while Adrionople is not mentioned, and at the beginning of the document in the left corner is the abbreviation CMRC. It is this press that indisputably confirms the writing of the first president of the Organization, Dr. Hristo Tatarchev, who says that the name was the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, headed by the Central Macedonian Revolutionary Committee."***

This and other details (Like the fact how this constituion was found in Sofia despite the organization being founded in Thessaloniki) exposes another failed attempt of Bulgarian altering.

## MRO to IMARO

At first Adrionople wasnt featured in their list due to the populations anti-Macedonian views, in 1894 Tatarchev made a statement in the parlament stating :

***Adrionople was not included in our program from the beginning. All our attention was then focused around Macedonia; but later the idea started to solidify in us, so that our organization would also include Adrionople, where the fate of the Christian population, especially the Macedonian one, did not differ in any way from that of the Macedonian people and where the political, social and economic conditions were almost identical to those in Macedonia. At the same time, Art. 23 of the Berlin Congress encouraged us quite a bit in that respect and we started to consider that question more extensively - whether it would be useful if Adrionople was included in our program. Finally, we came to the conclusion that that area should also form part of our revolutionary activity, so, in that way, we thought that a satisfactory solution to the Balkan question was being given.***

## Structure

The organization was based on strict hierarchical centralist principles. It was divided into village, neighborhood and district committees. Above them was the Central Committee. The members of the Central Committee were elected by majority vote by the heads of districts or their representatives. The electoral principle applied only to the Central Committee, and in other cases the strict top-down centralist principle was applied.

The election principle was not applied in practice, things took place on friendly principles and by negotiation. Central Committee and other local committees consisted of a president, secretary, treasurer and several advisors.

The local revolutionary committees were divided into groups (Desetki) headed by a chief (Desetnik). The chief is the lowest administrative authority and only he had the right to contact the chairman of the committee, while the workers knew and contacted only the members of their group. In every revolutionary district there was a secret post office, a secret police and a terrorist group.

After the Thessaloniki Congress of 1896, a new body was formed, namely the Foreign Representation in Sofia, which was supposed to represent the organization to the world, but also to stand up to external encroachments. The foreign representative office had the right to correspond directly with the Central Committee of the organization. With the Constitution of IMARO and the district from October 1898, the terrorist groups were abolished and replaced by local companies, which laid the foundation of the Chetnik Institute of IMARO.

## Membership

The organization was created in the exarchate environment, that is, among the Macedonians who were under the jurisdiction of the Bulgarian exarchate. Hence, the first members of the Organization were only Macedonian christians

But over the years, as the Central Committee strengthened and the organizational network was established, no distinction was made between the earchists and the patriarchists, what with the new constitution of 1897, the organization was open to everyone regardless of religion and nationality. According to Dimitar Vlakhov:

***Originally a revolver. organization began to work among the Macedonian population in Macedonia and not among the entire Macedonian population, but only among it a part of it, which belonged to the Bulgarian Exarchy. She mistrusted Bulgarians not exarchists... As for the revolution. work among other Macedonian peoples - Turks, Albanians, Kutsovlasi and Greeks, for the founders of the Organization such a question did not exist... Later, when the same leaders saw that the idea of liberating Macedonia could find sympathy among non-exarchist Macedonians, as well as among other nationalities in Macedonia and under the influence of members of the organization with left-wing understandings, they replaced the statute of the organization in the sense that any Macedonian can be a member of the organization, regardless of his nationality and whatever his political understandings were, just to accept its principles and fight for the political autonomy of Macedonia***

## Clashes with the Exarch

The anti-exarchate movement that appeared in the nineties of the 19th century in Macedonia, with the appearance of an organization, this movement gained intensity and climax. The clash between the MRO and the Exarchate was inevitable because the organization advocated for independent work, preparation of the population, raising an internal uprising and the creation of an independent Macedonian state

The exarchate, which cultivated the country with its church-educational propaganda and created conditions for the accession of Macedonia to Bulgaria. What attitude the Organization took towards the Exarchate and its representatives can be seen from its first act created by Petar Pop Arsov at the request of the Central Committee, and it is about the brochure Stambolovshtina in Macedonia and its representatives.

Since the brochure was created at the request of the Central Committee and by one of the founders of the organization, the brochure reveals the position of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization towards the Exarchate and its supporters in Macedonia. The organization started a struggle for the control of the Church-school municipalities and through this struggle it wanted to attract the population to its side and at the same time it stood in the protection of the Macedonian national individuality which was in danger from the exarchic propaganda

## Conflict with Foreign Propaganda

After the uprising in Macedonia, the situation is desperate, hunger, disappointment, destruction from military actions and the cold have led to despair among the population. After such a situation, a large number of the rural population sought shelter in the city centers, while others in search of bread went to emigration or to work in Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania, and a good part settled in North America.

In such a difficult situation, the Revolutionary Organization was the first to come to the aid of the population, which at the same time started to unite its ranks and raise the morale of the population. The difficult position after the uprising was even more complicated by the increase in the intensity of armed propaganda from the neighboring countries - (Bulgarian, Greek and Serbian, and in one period also Romanian, whose aim was to prepare the ground for division with funds from the state budgets of Macedonia.

The basic goal of the supremacist action remained the same, to take control of the organization and make it submit to the needs of the Bulgarian state. The main obstacle to achieving these goals was the Sandanists led by Jane Sandanski. Towards the end of 1903, the Greek Macedonian Committee was created in Athens, and in 1904, the Serbian Chetnik Movement was created in Vranje.

The Greeks managed to make strong bases in Thessaloniki, Kozani and Drama, while the Serbs were strongest in Skopje, Poreče and Veleshko. The entire period 1903-1908. is characterized by the continuous struggle between the propaganda forces, and especially all of them with the TMORO forces. Numerous battles were fought between the warring groups along the line of Skopje - Veles - Bitola - Kostur - Lerin - Voden - Ser.

The position of the TMORO forces was particularly difficult, as they had to fight with the regular Turkish army. The Turkish army behaved tolerantly towards the propaganda groups and allowed them to move freely through Macedonia until the Young Turk Revolution of 1908.

## Collapse

After the failure of the Ilinden Uprising, there were conflicting opinions in the Organization, which was transferred to the field in the district and lower organizational structures. After 1904, the organization openly split into two wings: the right consisted of: Hristo Matov, Ivan Garvanov, Boris Sarafov and others; and the left consisted of: Jane Sandanski, Hristo Chernopeev and Dimo Hadji Dimov.

The following year (1905) a joint congress of the Organization was held, which was held in the Rila Monastery. According to the new constitution - statutory acts, the organization became decentralized, and a new Central Committee was elected, which included: Damjan Gruev, Pere Toshev and Todor Pop Antov. Expectations that the congress would end the partition did not materialize.

Damjan Gruev, until his death in 1906, managed to maintain initial unity, but then there was a final split in the Organization. On October 10, 1907, Jane Sandanski ordered the murder of the Duke of Drama, Mihail Daev, close to the right wing; on November 28, Todor Panica, by order of Jane Sandanski, killed Boris Sarafov and Ivan Garvanov, and Hristo Matov escaped the assassination.

At the Kyustendil Congress in March 1908, the Sandanists were not invited and, under the leadership of Hristo Matov, the leaders of the left wing were sentenced to death in absentia. In May of the same year, in Bansko, the May Congress of the left wing of the Organization was held, at which a decision was made to establish a new organization, under the name Macedonian-Odrina Revolutionary Organization.

## Sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bulgaria by Jonathan Bousfield (2002) p.450 (ISBN : 1858288827)
2. ↑ Terrorism: A History by Randall D. Law (2013) (ISBN - 0745658210)
3. ↑ Eastern Europe: An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Culture by Richard C. Frucht (2005) p.816 (ISBN - 1576078000)
4. ↑ Konceptot na makedonskata država vo idejnata platforma na VMRO i Makedonskata kolonija vo Rusija by Vesela Mukoska-Čingo (1998) p.103 (ISBN - 9989481520)
5. ↑ The Past in Question: Modern Macedonia and the Uncertainties of Nation by Keith Brown (2003) p.3 (ISBN - 0691099952)
6. ↑ Stefan Stambolov and the Emergence of Modern Bulgaria, 1870-1895 by Duncan M. Perry (1993) p.14 (ISBN - 0822313138)
7. ↑ Гласник на Институтот за национална историја by Institute (2009) p.124
8. ↑ On The Macedonian Matters by Krste Petkov Misirkov (1903)
9. ↑ *Bones of Contention: The Living Archive of Vasil Levski and the Making of Bulgaria's National Hero by* Maria N. Todorova (2008) (ISBN - 963-9776-24-6) p. 276-278.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 *Слобода или Смрт, Македонското националноослободително дело во Солунскиот вилает 1893 - 1903 година* by Ванчо Ѓорѓиев
11. ↑ МРО 1893-1903. Поглед низ документи by Ванчо Ѓорѓиев (2013)
12. ↑ Д-р, Христо Татарчев, Вътрешна македоно-одринска революционна организация като мит или реалност by Цочо Биљарски (1985)
13. ↑ Борбите на македонския народ за освобождение by Димитър Влахов (1925) p.10-11
14. ↑ Право, II/31 (39) by Hristo Tatarchev (1902)
15. ↑ Стамболовштината во Македонија и нејзините претставници by Petre Pop Arsov (1921)
16. ↑ Стамболовштината во Македонија и нејзините претставници by Petre Pop Arsov, (Translated by Ванчо Ѓорѓиев) (2006)
17. ↑ *World Terrorism. An Encyclopedia of Political Violence from Ancient Times to the Post-9/11 Era* by **James Ciment** (2015) p.102 (ISBN - 9781317451525)
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 *Историја на македонскиот народ* p.180 (1988)