SUFFOCATING THE UPRISING

SUFFOCATING THE UPRISING

Despite the unprecedented heroism and self-sacrifice demonstrated by the insurgents and the people, the Uprising was violently and ferociously suppressed, especially in Bitola District where it was massive. The Ottoman army and bashibozuks killed people and destroyed properties uncontrollably. About 150 villages, or about 9,850 houses, were partially or completely burned down and over 58,000 people were left homeless. More than 2,000 innocent people were killed, many women were disgraced, about 10,000 people left Macedonia and the prisons were overcrowded. All this speaks of the extremely difficult situation in which the Macedonian people found themselves after the suppression of the Ilinden Uprising. The aid sent from neighbouring countries, or from Europe was just too little to meet the great need.

The uprising, wherever it took place, was massive and popular. The Internal Organization spent ten years preparing for and executing it. The Macedonian intelligentsia, which arose mainly from the ranks of Macedonian merchants and craftsmen, was primarily responsible for its preparation and execution. The driving forces behind it were the Macedonian peasant masses that fought in this bloody struggle with enthusiasm, hoping to gain their national and social freedom.

The Ilinden Uprising was the largest revolutionary event in the history of the Macedonian people until the Second World War. In the words of Dimo Hadzi Dimov, “the struggle was a magnificent expression of the nationwide Macedonian desire for freedom.” The Ilinden Uprising was a turning point in the historical process of the Macedonian nation’s development. Its influence and tradition will be especially strong on future generations and future Macedonian revolutionaries.

There are several reasons why the Ilinden Uprising failed. For starters the people were not sufficiently prepared and because of that not all of Macedonia rose up en masse. However, the main reason for the failure was that the Macedonian people were put in a situation where they had to fight alone against the entire Ottoman Empire without any outside help. Unlike the Serbian, Greek and Bulgarian peoples, who received military and diplomatic assistance

from some of the great powers, primarily from Tsarist Russia, the Macedonian people received none. When the Macedonians rose in revolt, Tsarist Russia and Austria-Hungary, who were most interested in this part of the Ottoman state, sided entirely with the Ottomans.

During the same tragic moments when the Macedonian people were experiencing defeat at the end of the Uprising, a major event took place which would have great significance for the development of the Macedonian nation and culture. Krste Misirkov published his book entitled “ABOUT MACEDONIAN MATTERS”. Fortunately, the supremacists failed to destroy the entire batch of books. A number of specimens were preserved and this work of immeasurable value was preserved for future generations.

MACEDONIA AFTER THE ILINDEN UPRISING 1903-1912 (By Dr. Gligor Todorovski)

THE ILINDEN UPRISING AND THE OUTSIDE WORLD

There were major consequences for the Macedonian people resulting from the failed Ilinden Uprising which were soon felt in all areas of Macedonia, in both socio-political and economic life. Reprisals and other crimes against the Macedonian people were brutal, seeming like the Ottomans wanted to blame all their ills on the Macedonian people and their Ilinden Uprising. On top of everything else weather conditions further aggravated the extremely difficult situation. The winter was especially severe and living conditions in the Bitola vilayet became difficult. People had no homes to go to. Most of the houses and villages were burned down and because the Uprising started at the beginning of the harvest season the fields weren’t harvested, resulting in massive shortages of food.

Fortunately the Macedonian people received some attention from the European public, especially from the south Slavic countries who raised their voices to help the Macedonian people. Even before the Ilinden Uprising was put down, an international rally was convened in Paris in October 1903, at which prominent French social figures such as Francis de Presance, Victor Berard, Jean Jaurès, English social figure Evans Noel Bagston, Italians Marcini and Bitargo and the Belgian Laurent spoke. A resolution was adopted condemning the atrocities and violence committed in Macedonia against the Macedonian people and expressed the difficult situation in Macedonia. Those present at the rally called on the Great Powers to put an end to the massacres and violence in Macedonia and Armenia.

In addition to holding rallies in various cities across Europe, practical steps were also taken in England to remedy the difficult situation in Macedonia. A Balkan Committee was formed, which held over 200 rallies in England to speak in favour of the Macedonian movement for liberation from Ottoman rule and to explain the true position of the Macedonian people. Canterbury, the English Archbishop, joined this action and also addressed the English government with a request to help the Macedonians. Apart from the actions taken in these more distant Western European countries, other European countries weren’t left behind in organizing actions to help the Macedonians. Rallies in support of the insurgent population in Macedonia were also held in Milan, Italy.

After the first rallies and actions to inform and encourage European public opinion and governments, to more effectively speak out against Ottoman absolutism in Macedonia, larger actions began to take shape to raise funds and other contributions to address the severe needs of the Macedonian population. In this sense, the English humanitarian organizations stood out the most. A special fund was set up in England, intended for the burned Macedonian villages. Henry Brailsford, secretary of the fund, was instrumental in running this support. In November 1903 Brailsford went to Macedonia, to Bitola and distributed the collected aid from England that included food, clothes, blankets, medicines and other needs for the villagers of Bitola vilayet. Brailsford was also instrumental in setting up three hospitals, one in Ohrid, one in Bitola and one in Kostur and equipped them with the essential needs. The English humanitarian organizations in Macedonia were of great help to the Macedonian people during these desperate times.

Voices calling to help the Macedonian people in these most difficult times were met with a wide response and reception in Russia. A Red Cross Society was created which appealed to the Russian people to donate in aid of the Macedonian people. Relief societies were also set up in Czechoslovakia and Switzerland.

Included among the various charities and humanitarian organizations, wanting to help the Macedonians, were relief committees in the USA and Canada. The biggest of these were organized and run by Macedonian immigrants and migrant workers.

Efforts to help had also surfaced in the south Slav countries. A Macedonian committee was set up in Ljubljana, calling on Slovenes to help the suffering Macedonians. In Serbia, the organization “Circle of Serbian Sisters” was formed and a Relief Committee and other associations were set up to help the Macedonian victims. Similar associations were formed in Croatia and Bulgaria. The

Serbian and Bulgarian governments set aside special budgets with funds for the victims in Macedonia. The Serbian government set aside 1,500,000 dinars and the Bulgarian government 1,500,000 leva. Even the Ottoman government, after allowing a number of villages in the Bitola vilayet to be burned down during the Ilinden Uprising, issued an order to help repair the burned houses. However, a large number of villagers, even though they were in dire need of any material assistance, refused to accept support from the Ottoman government.

The greatest help during this time came from interpersonal solidarity, especially in the rural population in the Bitola vilayet. People helped each other create temporary shelters which soon sprouted up in the burned villages. Once the people settled down the situation calmed. Some even resumed their revolutionary activities. As mentioned earlier it was under these circumstances that Henry Brailsford found himself in one of these burned Macedonian villages in the Bitola vilayet. Again, as mentioned earlier, he was the prominent English social worker and secretary of the committee for aid to the Macedonians. On this occasion, Brailsford wrote a book in English in which he described the events of the Ilinden Uprising, giving a realistic picture of the burned down villages, of the tortured, the wounded and the disgraced women and girls. But nowhere did he note any decline in the revolutionary spirit of the peasants, nor a critique of the revolutionary committees. On the contrary, he noted that villagers everywhere expressed a desire to again fight against Ottoman rule, anytime, the moment they were called upon.