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Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
On 23nd October 1893, six Bulgarian intellectuals, striving to obtain civil rights for the Bulgarian population in Macedonia and Thrace - regions cut off from Bulgaria and left underthe domination of the Ottoman sultans, founded in Salonika the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO, VMRO in Bulgarian).
They planed the revolutionary organization, essentially based on Levsky's past model, which might eventually free the Macedonian people. Dr Tatarchev was elected as the first President, and Dame Gruev secretary/treasurer of the group which initially referred to itself as "Macedonian Revolutionary Organization" (Makedonska revoliutsionna organizatsiia). According to Gruev their aims were to fight against the turkish autorithies, and to combat the Serbian propaganda, which they foresaw as attempting to prevent the unity of all the Bulgarian people
to secure implementation of Article 23 of the Treaty of Berlin 1878, which they envisaged would eventually lead to Macedonian autonomy within the Ottoman empire.
After numerous unsuccessful attempts to make the international community solve the problem and in response to the persecutions by the Turkish Ottoman administration, the I.M.R.O. took the course of armed resistance in order to obtain human rights and liberties for the enslaved nationalities within the empire.
In 1903, the I.M.R.O. raised a revolt in Macedonia and Thrace (Ilinden uprising) which was crushed with cruelty by the Turkish authorities. The free thinking people in America followed with the interest the uprising. Many outstanding personalities, such as the journalists Albert Sonixen, John Smith and the Protestant missionaries John Henry House, Dr. Clark, Helen "Miss" Stone, supported the Organization in its fight to get elementary rights for the oppressed.
After the Balkan Wars and the WW I, only 10% of Macedonia were included in Bulgaria. The remaining 90% were occupied and divided between Kingdom of Greece and Kingdom of Serbia (Yugoslavia - since 1929).
In Greek (Aegean) Macedonia, the Greek authorities set up an inflexible tyrannical regime, so the Organization immediately undertook armed activities; whereas in the Serbian part different ways for legal political activities were sought at first. The ruthless persecution of members and supporters of the Organization as well as the terror imposed on those who declared themselves Bulgarians, forced the I.M.R.O. to use the methods of armed resistance.
At the same time, the I.M.R.O. initiated in Western Europe, USA and Canada emigrants' organizations of the Macedonian Bulgarians, which appealed to the freedom-loving Western societies to support the struggle for human rights of the Bulgarian population in the parts of Macedonia occupied by Greece and Yugoslavia.
The central of The I.M.R.O. was in Sofia (Bulgaria), but it was banned in 1934 by the Bulgarian goverment.
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The creators of the I.M.R.O
The IMORO was created on 23 October 1893 in Solun (Salonica) by Dr. Hristo Tatarchev, Dame Gruev, Andon Dimitrov, Ivan Hadjinikolov, Petar pop Arsov and Hristo Batandjiev. |
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From the statute of the IMRO
1.(1) The IMRO is an all-Bulgarian national organization.
(2) The IMRO is the successor of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, the
Macedonian National Committee and the IMRO - Union of the Macedonian Societies, whose legacy and
ideals it struggles to fulfil within the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria.
2. The IMRO as an all-Bulgarian national movement has as its aim the complete solution of the
Macedonian question, the spiritual unity of the Bulgarian nation and the building of a strong and
constitutional state.
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The ideal
"The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
directs its eyes neither to the West, nor to the East, nor
to anywhere else; it relies primarily on its own powers,
does not turn into anybody's weapon, and will not allow
anybody to use its name and prestige for personal and
other purposes. It has demonstrated till now and will
prove in the future that it establishes its activities on the
interests and works for the ideals of struggling
Macedonia and the Bulgarian race."
TODOR ALEXANDROV
The Leader of the IMRO from 1911 to 1924
Todor Alexandrov
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