IN SEARCH OF MONEY AND DYNAMITE – DIGGING A NEW TUNNEL

IN SEARCH OF MONEY AND DYNAMITE – DIGGING A NEW TUNNEL

In 1901 the Gemidzhii were scattered all over. Most had returned home to Veles. D. Kostanov went to his home town in Gorna Dzhumaja (where, according to some sources, he was interned), P. Shatev was sent to Kratovo and some remained in Solun. Ortse it was said went abroad. “It was bad for all the Gemidzhii,” wrote Shatev. “But we were able to maintain links with letters...” (P. Shatev, 188.)

Most of the young people in Veles remained in close contact and tried to organize their lives around useful revolutionary subjects. They gathered together in houses, read books and discussed matters of importance. But in spite of all this it was difficult for them, especially the uncertainty of the prospects they had initiated. T. Organdzhiev admitted that their idleness in Veles caused a certain breakdown in the group. T. Bogdanov, K. Kirkov and Pingov fell into depression. It was very unpleasant for them standing idle and having nothing to do.

After staying several months in Macedonia (probably in Veles), Ortse Popiordanov went abroad to seek help. Sarafov was no longer president of the Supreme Committee and was in Switzerland. Ortse met with the leaders of the new Supreme Committee - General Ivan Konchev and Ivan Mihailovski - and tried to convince them that there was a need to take action against the European investments in the Ottoman state. But, it seems, no one was interested in hearing what he had to say. And when he did receive an answer he was told “such an act would be against Bulgarian interests…” (P. Shatev, the Solun Assassins..., 27.)

Ortse Popiordanov left Sofia and went to Geneva to seek help from Boris Sarafov, and to get acquainted with the Russian socialists who regularly visited Switzerland. After meeting with the Russians they pledged their full moral support. They also gave Ortse all sorts of revolutionary literature, a gift for the Gemidzhii.

Popiordanov also met with Sarafov, who at that moment was in possession of a large sum of money. He gave Ortse 10,000 leva, a

significant amount. At the same time Sarafov promised Ortse that he would send him 1,000 kgs of dynamite.

While in Kratovo in February 1902, Shatev received a telegram from P. Mandzhukov, which stated that “Vasko’s bride had died”. That meant that the tunnel in Tsari Grad had been discovered by the authorities and that Shatev was in danger of being arrested. Having no time to think, Shatev told his brother Ivan about the Tsari Grad tunnel and asked him for his help to get him out of the city. As it happened, Ivan and V. Karanfilov, the Kratovo headmaster (from Prilep), were leaders in the MRO Regional Committee and had the means to secretly take Pavel out of Ottoman territory and transfer him to Bulgaria. While in Bulgaria, Pavel Shatev met with P. Mandzhukov in Sofia from whom he learned everything that had happened over the past year and a half of his internment. He was told that Merdzhanov and Sokolov were killed. (In 1901 Merdzhanov and Sokolov, together with the Armenian revolutionary Bedros Seremdzhian, formed an armed unit and went to Odrin to attack the Orient Express, seize the post office and rob it. However, the attempt failed. After that the unit captured a young Turkish boy from a wealthy family and tried to get a ransom. But a large Ottoman army and the local Ottoman police went after them and liquidated them. Sokolov was killed in battle. Merdzhanov was caught, convicted and hanged in Odrin along with the Armenians Bedros and Onik Torosian.) When the tunnel in Tsari Grad was discovered the tunnel in Solun was immediately abandoned and none of the Gemidzhii in Solun were arrested or interned, except for D. Kostanov who was a suspect.

There were two assumptions about the discovery of the tunnel in Tsari Grad. The first assumption was that it had been discovered in a random search. After watching Nancho and Kiprov going in and out of the warehouse, the police began to suspect something illegal was going on inside. Then when they went to check it out they discovered the tunnel. The second and most probable assumption was the discovery of Kiprov’s secret report on the location of the tunnel, mentioned earlier. (Kiprov was sent by Sofia to Tsari Grad to check out the warehouse. Kiprov then sent a coded report to the MRO Central Committee in Solun during which time Tatarchev,

Matov and others were arrested and the secret report discovered and decrypted, which led to the discovery of the tunnel).

With the elimination of Merdzhanov and Sokolov and with the discovery of the tunnel in Tsari Grad, the Gemidzhii group in Tsari Grad ceased to exist. The Gemidzhii later would do what their experienced thinkers failed to do.

Ortse returned to Sofia from Geneva in April 1902. He was well impressed with the Russian revolutionaries he had met in Geneva and worried that the Gemidzhii lagged far behind in theoretical knowledge. Shatev wrote: “Ortse came with the money here (in Sofia). Then we saw that we could not compare with the Russian revolutionaries and we felt like we were a small group without leadership ideas; we relied more on instinct. We decided to act boldly as a small group, on our own.” (P. Shatev, 28.)

We need to reiterate that the Solun assassins had basic knowledge of socialist and anarchist theory. They, within the limits of their limited possibilities offered by a theocratic and backward regime, were well-read, well-versed and self-made. But, as we pointed out at the outset, they were far more interested in understanding the practical side of those theories than to penetrate the theoretical essence of certain social movements. Liberating Macedonia was their highest priority and by sacrificing their own lives as individuals they believed they could achieve that and spare the people a lot of pain. Their understanding of the liberation struggle was different than that of those conducting it by conventional means. The Gemidzhii were not only ready to sacrifice themselves, they were happy to do it for the freedom and sake of their people.

In that respect Ortse was especially distinguished. He was quite indifferent to the various theorizations and discussions. “Enough talk like some kind of parrots,” Ortse said to Shatev and Mandzhukov, who were delighted with the books he brought from Geneva. “Socialism and anarchism are not just subjects we study but subjects we must understand and assimilate. Unfortunately we are not able to do all that, we don’t have the time… the several years it takes… we will not be alive for that long. This is why we need to

apply what we do know of socialism and anarchism on Macedonian soil.” (P. Shatev, Macedonia under slavery, 225-226.)

Mandzhukov and Shatev met with Ortse’s views coldly and with a certain irony.

After all the failures in Tsari Grad and Solun, now that Ortse had money in his pocket and promised dynamite, he sought deeds and nothing else. He had already made plans to act without consulting the other Gemidzhii who were not even given the opportunity to make adjustments to his plans.

Before assigning tasks and carrying them out, Ortse, Shatev and Mandzhukov reviewed the situation in the Ottoman state, the revolutionary movement and the immigrant organization. As a result Ortse formulated the following:

The acquired experience and other conditions enable the Gemidzhii to become involved in the Macedonian revolutionary movement without contesting the preparations for a general armed uprising. But in regards to the attitude towards the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization which, at the time was at odds with the Supreme Committee, they concluded that like before, the Gemidzhii had nothing in common with the supremacists, who in the “struggle for the liberation of Macedonia were inspired by the Bulgarian government, which pursued its own goals and would not allow any revolutionary movement in Macedonia to succeed unless it was in Bulgaria’s state and party interests.” (Ibid, 226-227.) But, at the same time, the Gemidzhii could not operate in parallel with the “centralists” (MRO) because, even though their cause was right, there were still things of which they did not approve. The MRO Central Committee and a lot of the MRO District Committees were managed by persons who, according to their perceptions, even their aims and methods of struggle, differed only slightly from those of the supremacists, even though they were separate organizations.

The Gemidzhii decided to act in two or three major cities. They decided to act on their own without engaging a larger circle of people and would themselves bear the responsibility for their actions. Let the organization (MRO) re-educate the people. Let them

organize, arm and prepare them for the uprising. If it succeeds it will be good for Macedonia but, if for various reasons, it fails and a partial uprising takes place because of supremacist agitation, both organizations will bear the responsibility.

To Mandzukov’s remarks that “the leaders of the Bulgarian political parties would take responsibility for all the mistakes and atrocities committed in the name of ‘Mother Bulgaria’ and in the name of ‘the dear people and fatherland’…”, Ortse replied: “I am not thinking of responsibility before the law, I am thinking of responsibility before history, which does not forgive anyone but gives them what they really deserve…”

The issue of printing propaganda was raised. Propaganda, it was suggested, would help explain part of the Gemidzhii role and perhaps engage others who would like to join the war against foreign capital. Ortse, however, was entirely against it. He did not want anything written, not even two or three brochures explaining the kind of war the Gemidzhii were involved in. “We haven’t even proven to ourselves that we are or can be revolutionaries, how can we convince others?!” he said. “What’s the use? If all this is about recruiting people in order to increase our circle, we have enough people... for the kind of work we are planning to do, we have many comrades who have been tested for years… they are in Veles, in Solun... and they are waiting for us to call on them…”

“As for history,” said Ortse, “it too will evaluate our work… If other Macedonians see that our action yields results, they will follow their own initiative and start other similar actions. If they find out that our work is harmful, let the future and impartial historians judge us and our work with black letters... But remember actions are more beautiful and more convincing than plain words...” (Ibid, 228-230.)

Before Ortse returned to Macedonia, the Gemidzhii decided to recruit Dimitar Mechev, who at that time was working at the Pernik mine. Ortse, who knew Mechev and was well aware of his distrust and skepticism, decided to go to Pernik and meet him personally. After some discussion he managed to convince him that the Gemidzhii were now in a good position to do something and that him joining them could greatly benefit their cause. This would also

satisfy Mechev’s personal ambitions - to act. Before Pernik, Mechev worked for the MRO. The MRO leadership in Veles had given him a mission to attack the Veles merchant Giorche Voinidzhaliev. Mechev, however, only wounded him with an ax, which was why he had to flee to avoid going to jail. As a result he left the MRO and went to Pernik. After that he left Pernik and joined the Gemidzhii.

Ortse put an end to discussions and convictions and put the Gemidzhii to work. It was agreed that Mechev and Shatev would temporary remain in Sofia, P. Mandzhukov would leave for Plovdiv and Ortse would leave for Macedonia. Mechev was given the task to persuade P. Boshnakov to join the circle. Whether he did or not is unknown, but it is known that Boshnakov did not participate in the Solun assassinations.

P. Shatev left for Kiustendil. His task was to travel over Osogovo Mountain and deliver to Macedonia the dynamite that was kept in the village Rila.

Mechev went to Odrin under a pseudonym and stayed there for several months. There he rented a large property located near the Austrian post office. He presented himself to the authorities as a businessman who bought and sold flour, corn, bran, etc. His real mission, however, was to organize the digging of a tunnel to the post office in order to blow it up. However, the dynamite promised by Sarafov had not arrived, and the Gemidzhii decided not to do anything before acquiring the dynamite. At Ortse’s request, Mechev returned to Sofia because it was unknown when the dynamite was going to arrive, and it was expensive keeping him in Odrin even though Mechev was the most frugal among the Gemidzhii.

Before leaving for Kiustendil Shatev met with Gotse Delchev, who recommended he see the head of the Kiustandil Organization. Shatev was told to connect with his people in Kochani and find a way to transfer about 80 kg of dynamite from Bulgaria to Macedonia. A pro-Russian government headed by Dr. Danev was in power in Bulgaria at this point in time. Dr. Danev undertook prudent measures to prevent the transfer of troops and weapons from Bulgaria to Macedonia. In the border regions and towns the police were strengthened. The villages were reinforced with extra security

of 5 to 6 people, with a special task to monitor the movement of suspicious persons and prevent them from crossing the border. Searches were carried out at the entrance of cities and villages and violators were arrested, tried and jailed with sentences up to three years in accordance with the law. These government measures created great difficulties for the people of the MRO who needed to go outside Macedonia to purchase arms and supplies. Some had to go to Greece to purchase arms. But because the number of Macedonians who immigrated to Bulgaria was large, their movement was especially restricted. The Bulgarian state, to serve its own interests, did not want these people helping Macedonia. It should be noted that all those government security measures taken by police, guards and soldiers, aimed at preventing the Macedonians from crossing the Turkish-Bulgarian border (to preserve good neighbourly relations between Bulgaria and the Ottomans) did not apply to the supremacists who crossed the border en masse in the fall of 1902 and started the famous “Gorno Dzhumaisko Uprising”.

Unfortunately, despite his stay in Kiustendil Region for several months, Shatev was unable to fulfill his task. In July 1902 a unit was sent from Bulgaria to Macedonia. In order to avoid the traps set by the authorities, the unit left Sofia and traveled on foot through Vitosha and came to the Radomir villages near the border. Shatev found out about the unit’s movements from E. Chuchkov and Marko Sekulichki. He asked for permission to accompany the unit across the border so that he could go to Kochani and arrange for the acquisition of the dynamite. He was escorted by a courier when he went in search of the unit. On his way he was caught by a government patrol and was arrested. Through connections, he was acquitted but he had to leave Kiustendil and return to Sofia. (Ibid, 234-248.)

P. Mandzhukov, who was tasked with coming back to Macedonia from Bulgaria in order to create a diversion on the Xanthi-Solun railway, also failed. He returned to Plovdiv and waited.

Gradually it became clear that, despite their great desires, the Gemidzhii were unable to fulfill their objectives with dynamite or to expand them to Bitola, Skopje, or Odrin. At first they limited

themselves to Solun and Odrin but, as we have shown, they soon withdrew from Odrin.

After assigning tasks to his people in Sofia, Ortse Popiordanov returned to Veles. His comrades there were impatiently expecting his return. Upon his arrival he acquainted his friends with the most recent news and informed them of the money he had received from Sarafov and Gotse Delchev (T. Organdzhiev claims that Ortse received 5,000 leva from Gotse Delchev). This opened up new opportunities for them including immediately resuming the work on blasting the branch office of the Ottoman Bank in Solun. Ortse, Kirkov and Pingov went to Solun while the others (Organdzhiev, Ilio Popiordanov, T. Bogdanov and Trchkov) temporarily remained in Veles. (T. Organdzhiev, 120). When they arrived in Solun, the Gemidzii were faced with an unpleasant fact. The old shop, the barber shop, was occupied by another person. The opportunity to use the already excavated tunnel was lost. Fortunately, given their past experiences with failure, this did not disappoint the Gemidzhii. Ortse rented another shop next to the old barber shop. Marko Boshnakov from Ohrid was registered as the owner and operator of the grocery store. No one in Solun knew Marko and he was the most suitable person for this delicate work. That is why he was sent to Solun.

The shop was supplied with the necessary inventory and commodities and resembled a real grocery store. The Gemidzhii made sure the place looked genuine and that no one would have reason to suspect anything. But, even though Marko was not known in Solun, there were people from Ohrid living in Solun who may have known him or people from Veles who knew some of the Gemidzhii. The Gemidzhii suspected that such people may pay a visit to the grocery store. They did not like the idea but there was nothing they could do.

They began digging the new tunnel in the basement and since the old tunnel was very close to the grocery store, the Gemidzhii decided to connect to it. This greatly facilitated their work and solved another serious problem, getting rid of the soil. The worst and most dangerous activity was taking the soil out of the store and disposing of it without being seen, a time-consuming and dangerous

task. Because all the excavated soil could not be kept in the basement some had to be taken elsewhere for disposal. Fortunately there was plenty of room in the free part of the old tunnel dug in 1900.

So, as it turned out, the old tunnel was not excavated in vain. Now, in 1902, it allowed the Gemidzhii to do their work quickly and safely and be masters of their destiny. We say masters because while they worked in the basement they acquired a certain amount of dynamite. Because of this they were no longer concerned about the grocery store being discovered. They now had the opportunity and the time to activate what little dynamite they had and leave without being caught. The Gemidzhii who were in the tunnel would have to die, of course, but it was completely in line with the spirit of their revolutionary philosophy. With some dynamite in hand, there was no chance now that the Gemidzhii would allow a repeat of the Tsari Grad tunnel to take place here. “The Bank in Solun would not be ruined,” wrote Shatev, “and our mission might not be completely successful but, for disclosure, at least here we would be doing something as opposed to doing nothing.” (P. Shatev, 257.)

After their missions were carried out, various assumptions were made about the ideological purpose of the Gemidzhii, their goals, relationships and the like, as well as the origin of the dynamite they used. It was said that the supply of dynamite was the most serious problem that the Gemidzhii had to solve. This problem they solved mostly on their own. The first batch of dynamite to arrive in Solun came via Tsari Grad. As hard as they tried, the Gemidzhii failed to send dynamite through Kochani and Veles, as Shatev had planned. The elaborate plan to bring the dynamite to Solun began with Ortse requesting to have Anna Shepetz moved from Sofia to Tsari Grad and placed under their disposal. The dynamite from Kiustendil was brought to Sofia and from there to Tsari Grad. It was transported through Milan Sazdov, a waiter working on the train traveling on the Belgrade-Tsari Grad line. The Gemidzhii divided the dynamite into small packages and initially carefully delivered them to Milan first hand. But because it was dangerous to be seen with Milan, the Gemidzhii then began to hide the packages in the toilet of a certain wagon when the train was resting in the station. The dynamite was then picked up by Milan at his convenience when the train was

moving. When he arrived in Tsari Grad Milan passed the dynamite to Anna Shepets. Milan, like Anna, consciously and voluntarily exposed himself to great danger by putting himself in the service of the Gemidzhii. He knew he was transporting dynamite but he never became interested in what the dynamite was going to be used for in Tsari Grad. He knew that he was serving the Macedonian Revolutionary Movement in aid of liberating Macedonia - and that made him happy.

Anna also exposed herself but to an even greater danger than Milan. In the event the dynamite was discovered on the train, Milan had the opportunity and chance to be saved by denying that he had any connection with such a shipment. However, the discovery of the dynamite at Anna’s home (as well as while Milan was transporting it from the train station to her home) meant a long prison sentence if not death.

The dynamite was then transported from Tsari Grad to Solun in two barrels labeled fish. With this dynamite in their possession, the Gemidzhii could have blown up the bank in Solun during the second half of 1902. However, they thought that the dynamite could be better used for “wider action” and decided to wait for more dynamite to arrive, the dynamite that was promised by Boris Sarafov.