The first name of the IMRO
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (often shorten to IMRO) was a political organization that worked in the interest of the Macedonians with its main goal being the liberation of Macedonia and the Adrianople region from Ottoman rule. It was founded in 1893 in Thessaloniki by a group of Macedonian teachers.[1]
The first name of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization has been in dispute between Bulgarian and Macedonian historians for a long time. Before the 1960s the first name of the IMRO had been labeled as “Macedonian Revolutionary Organization” (MRO). But in 1961 during a visit to the Sofia states archives by the Macedonian historian Ivan Katardzhiev he was given a Statute[a] from Bulgarian historians which named the IMRO as “Bulgarian Macedonian Adrianople Revolutionary Committee” (BMARC)
Ivan Katardzhiev after gaining the statute would publish it in local Macedonian magazines in Skopje and it instantly began a controversy. Katardzhiev himself at first was a firm believer in the legitimacy of statute but eventually in his future publishings he claims that:
the data from the memoir literature are not in accordance with the content of that “Statute”[2]
The legitimacy of the statute has also been questioned by both international and Macedonian historians due to the fact that Hristo Tatarchev, the founder of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization had stated in his memoirs that the first name was the MRO, and the Committee was called “Central Macedonian Revolutionary Committee” (CMRC).
We tasked Pop Arsov[b] to prepare a draft for our statute based on Zahari’s statute. At the same meeting, the name of the revolutionary organization and the committee was discussed for a long time. This question bothered us for a long time and finally, we decided to call ourselves: “Macedonian Revolutionary Organization”, and the committee, “Central Macedonian Revolutionary Committee”[3]
Both Macedonian and Bulgarian historians cannot conclude to a final answer due to nationalistic views, the Bulgarians have claimed that the IMRO had Bulgarian influence and was Bulgarian, while the Macedonians believe that it was a pro-Macedonian liberating organization that fought for their independence
When it comes to international researchs the views are also split, some historians such as Keith Brown, Perry M. Duncan, James Horncastle and Andrew Rossos are convinced that the first name of the organization was infact MRO.[4][5][6][7] but some historians such as Raymond Detrez and Mercia Macdermott believe in the fringe theory that the first name of the organization was BMARC.[8][9]
Some international and even Bulgarian historians have proposed a third theory, that the first name was the MRO between 1894–1896 and then it changed it into BMARC and roughly around 1905 the name was changed into SMARO (Secret Macedonian Adrianople Revolutionary Organization)[10][11][12]
In this article we will take a look at historical archives from former revolutionaries from IMRO and decide if the name MRO or BMARC had been used and for how long.
The first case comes from the Macedonian revolutionary Mihail Gerdzhinov who was a veteran of the IMRO and the IMRO (United), in his memoirs published in Sofia in 1945 they leak letters from him to the goverment of Bulgaria, in one of them he stated:
Goce and I met for the first time in Sofia in 1898. This was at a meeting where we had to agree on a common activity in Macedonia. I was a representative of the so-called “Geneva group”, which, together with others in Plovdiv and Stara Zagora, formed the “Macedonian Revolutionary Organization”, composed mainly of students and young people. Goce led the talks as an overseas representative of the “Internal Macedonian-Odrina Revolutionary Organization”. Both organizations were conspiratorial, so one did not suspect the existence of the other. When they found out, negotiations for joint work began. The meeting gave good results and the ranks of the Internal Organization entered the ranks of young and enlightened people, brought up in the principles and ideology of the revolutionaries of 1789, 1848 and 1871 and belonged to the generation that grew up under the influence of Russian revolutionary literature.[13]
Another case is of Dimitar Vlahov, another former IMRO revolutionary who was also a member of the IMRO (United), in his book titled “Borbite na makedonskiya narod za osvobozhdenie”[c] Vlahov outlined the following:
The Macedonian Revolutionary Organization was founded in 1893 by Goce Delchev, Pere Toshev, Damian Gruev, Dr. Hristo Tatarchev, Petar P. Arsov and Gjorche Petrov. The goals that the founders of the revolutionary organization set for themselves were the conquest of political freedom, autonomous government of Macedonia, under the patronage of the Great Powers. They began their work by seeking to attract into the ranks of the organization, above all, the intelligentsia, the teachers and priests, and the guilds in the cities. Since they were the latter and the more awakened among the population, they could more easily be won over to the cause of the organization. They formed local groups and organizations. The people welcomed their initiative with enthusiasm.[14]
A weird case is with the book titled “Dnevnitsi i spomeni za ilindensko preobrazhenskoto vastanie”[d] published in 1984 from the Bulgarian historical archives, where they translated the diaries of revolutionaries during the Ilinden Uprising, the diaries leave an interesting image as the name of the organization seems inconsisted, in some diaries the organization was described as “Macedonian Adrianople Revolutionary Organization” while some used the name “Internal Macedonian Adrianople Revolutionary Organization”. According to most sources the name “Macedonian Adrianople Revolutionary Organization” had never been used as an official name.
In 1902, already married with three children, I worked again as a bricklayer in the village of Alankayryak. In the spring of the same year
said that agitators had come to this village to collect
aid for the Macedonian Adrianople revolutionary organization.
One day, it was in the month of May, the mayor of the village, Stamo Grudov, called me to the municipality and brought me into a separate room. There sat a large man, unknown to me. Stamo asked me: “Peter, do you know this man?” After I told him that I did not know him, because it was the first time I saw him, then he introduced him to me: “This is Todor Shishmanov from the village of Peneka in Turkey — a revolutionary.”[15]
In the memoirs of Kosta Kondov published in Sofia by Bulgarian historians he names the organization several times as the MRO and went into detail on his role in the organization.
The Romanian press had attacked the Bulgarian state, the Bulgarian people and the Macedonian revolutionary organization with an unheard of fury, shouting: — Down with the murderers! Down with the rioters in the Balkans! The Romanian insults and slanders before the European civilized world and before the European diplomacy against us were reckless and of poor quality.[16]
Even memoirs from high ranking IMRO leaders suggest that the name was infact the MRO, the memoirs of Gjorche Petrov, another founder of the organization state:
unsystematic, lithographed. It was decided to draw up a complete rulebook, the statute. When they came to Sofia, I made it here in Sofia (with Delchev), printed it and sent it. They invited Rizova and Ljapcheva to help me. Ljapchev had written me only one article, the first, which read more or less: “A revolutionary organization is founded in Macedonia as a branch of the Macedonian revolutionary organization.” That was in his head, let us be the branch. After that I drew up the statute myself.[17]
Another example is from the book titled “Istinata po polozhenieto va Makedoniya”[e] published in 1908 by the author Anton Strashimirov with the help of funding by Georgi Bogdanov, he states the following about IMRO:
In the leadership circles of the Macedonian revolutionary organization, the course of events can be discerned. And these circles are splitting more and more. Some put the dilemma clearly and categorically: Turkey, Greece and Serbia are fighting against us in Macedonia; they see in us the pioneers of Bulgaria, and they make us such under the fear of total extermination; otherwise, there is no time for thinking: Bulgaria must stand up for us and we for Bulgaria. War — or we perish.[18]
And for our final example we will look at a memoir for Dame Gruev, another founder and the president of the Macedonian committee after Tatarchev, the book was published in Sofia in 1943 by Bulgarian historian Yordan Badev, titled “Dame Grueva, zhivota i dyela”[f] in it he talks about the known Macedonian revolutionary Dame Gruev and his role in IMRO, he also states:
Seeing this natural and unstoppable process of self-admonition and unshakable stability of the national consciousness of its followers, knowing on the other hand the contradictions and intrigues of international politics in relation to the empire of the Sultans, the Macedonian revolutionary organization announced the beginning of autonomy with the express purpose of instilling in the small Balkans European powers that the task of the secret political struggle in Macedonia is only one: to win human and national rights and freedom for all peoples inhabiting European Turkey.[19]
Conclusion
The theory of the first name of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization being called “BMARC” is nothing but a myth, many former revolutionaries and memoirs of the founders have all stated that the name was infact MRO or MARO but not BMARC, the statute itself has been called into question as many inconsistencies were found within it, one example is the opening title which reads out as “български“ despite the fact that back then it was actually spelled “бѫлгарски” .
another thing to note is the origins are also odd, according to Katardzhiev, the person who published it, he stated that he got it from Sofia states archive in 1961 and then he published it in Skopje. The problem with this story is the fact that if it was already in the possesion of Bulgarian states archive, why wasnt it published before hand? why did they wait for Katardzhiev to publish it? many questions like these continue to poke holes into the theory that the first name was BMARC.
Sources
[1] — Bulgaria by Jonathan Bousfield (2002) page 450 (ISBN — 9781858288826)
[2] — Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Historical Dictionaries of Europe by Dimitar Bechev (2009) page 99 (ISBN — 0810862956)
[3] — Първиятъ Централенъ Комитетъ на ВМРО, спомени на д-ръ Христо Татарчевъ by Ljubomir Miletić (1928) page 103
[4] — Loyal Unto Death Trust and Terror in Revolutionary Macedonia by Keith Brown (2013) page 191 (ISBN — 9780253008473)
[5] — The Politics of Terror and The Macedonian Liberation Movements, 1893–1903 by Perry M. Duncan (1988) page 203 (ISBN — 9780822308133)
[6] — The Macedonian Slavs in the Greek Civil War, 1944–1949 by James Horncastle (2019) page 43
[7] — Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History by Andrew Rossos (2013) page 108 (ISBN — 9780817948832)
[8] — The A to Z of Bulgaria by Raymond Detrez (2010) page 90 (ISBN — 9780810872028)
[9] — Freedom or death, the life of Gotsé Delchev by Mercia MacDermott (1978) page 144 (ISBN — 9780904526325)
[10] — The Cinematographic Activities of Charles Rider Noble and John Mackenzie in the Balkans (Volume One) by Petar Kardjilov (2020) page 3 (ISBN — 9781527550735)
[11] — Prelude to the First World War, The Balkan Wars 1912–1913 by E. R. Hooton (2017)
[12] — Националноосвободителното движение в Македония и Одринско (1893–1903 г.) by Konstantin Pandev (1972)
[13] — № 3 Спомен на М. Герджиков за първата му среща с Г. Делчев (1945)
[14] — Борбите на македонския народ за освобождение by Dimitar Vlahov (1925) page 9–10
[15] — Dnevnitsi i spomeni za ilindensko preobrazhenskoto vastanie (Petar Gorov Nikov section) page 256
[16] — Spomeni (1874–1929) by Konstantin “Kosta” Kondov page 55
[17] — Memoirs of Gjorche Petrov by Gjorche Petrov (1927) page 51
[18] — Истината по положението въ Македония by Anton Strashimirov (1908) page 32
[19] — Даме Груевъ. Животъ и дѣло by Yordan Badev (1943) page 141
Footnotes
[a] — Statute (not to be confused with statues) is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent.
[b] — the text is talking about Petar Poparsov another founder of the organization
[c] — translation : the battle of the Macedonian people for freedom
[d] — translation : Diaries and memoirs of the Ilinden Uprising
[e] — translation : The truth about the situation in Macedonia
[f] — translation : Dame Gruev, life and works
