Part 17 - Preparations for a National Uprising

Part 17 - Preparations for a National Uprising

Even though a date had been set for the Macedonian National Uprising, many members of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (MRO), including Gotse Delchev the Commander in Chief of the Macedonian forces, felt the timing was not right. Besides financial and armament shortfalls there was another growing menace that hampered MRO’s progress, foreign interference. The ideological and political preparation for the “final conflict” was hampered by centuries of oppression which had left the Macedonian people naïve and ignorant of their own historical tradition thus making them easy prey to flashy foreign propaganda. The situation was not helped by the number of ethnic and religious groups that lived in Macedonia each vying for someone else’s favour. Even though many Muslims were ethnic Macedonians, because of their religion they were loyal to the Ottomans. Similarly Albanians of the Muslim religion living in Macedonia were also loyal to the Ottomans. Having to work with many diverse ethnic and religious groups inside Macedonia was enough of a challenge for the MRO but the real difficulty lay with outsiders. The MRO had no choice but to fight a determined battle against political and military interference by the neighbouring Balkan countries and also against direct and indirect intervention of the European Powers through their proxies, the Balkan countries. For those who say the MRO did not want outside help, the stark fact is that it was not that the MRO did not want to ally itself with anyone; it is that the MRO had no trustworthy supporters with whom to ally itself. In addition to external problems, awareness of yet another looming uprising intensified Ottoman activities prompting them to make more frequent weapons searches in the villages in hopes of discovering how these weapons were being distributed. Another late 19th, early 20th century problem for the MRO was the increased activity of the Vrhovists (supremacists), a pro-Bulgarian organization calling itself the Supreme Macedonian Committee operating from Sofia. The aim of the Vrhovists was to usurp control of the MRO through propaganda and infiltration and direct its activities in Bulgaria’s favour. In the beginning it did not appear that the Vrhovists were of great concern to the MRO but when the time came to choose a direction for the Uprising, the Vrhovists became a real problem. There were always two trains of thought; one supported by Gotse Delchev, Gjorche Petrov, Pere Toshev, Yane Sandanski and others was for an independent Macedonia to be liberated from the inside by the Macedonian people through slow but systematic attacks against the Ottoman authorities until the system crumbled. The other, supported by Hristo Matov, was to strike at the enemy from the inside in an all out war and let the outside powers come to the rescue. This plan was unfortunately also supported by the Vrhovists which made the MRO leadership feel uneasy. If this path was to be chosen it would invite Bulgaria to intervene and annex Macedonia for itself. That is precisely why most of the MRO leadership opposed this idea that is until Ivan Garvanov became involved. To strengthen their position inside Macedonia the Vrhovists took aim at eliminating the MRO’s Central Committee. They did this by releasing the names of the top Macedonian revolutionaries to the Ottoman authorities in order to have them arrested and removed from the people. This was done in early spring 1901 and subsequent to that the Vrhovists infiltrated the Organization with their own people, one of them being Ivan Garvanov. Ivan Garvanov’s entry into the MRO and his takeover of the top leadership position in the Organization’s executive had a fatal effect not only on the development of the Organization but also in the Macedonian National Freedom Movement. Supporting the Vrhovist attitude that liberation could not be achieved by one's own forces alone and that a certain amount of interference from the outside was necessary not only suited the pro-Bulgarian circles perfectly, but made sense to the unwary.

This naturally created a division between those who wanted to liberate Macedonia from the inside in a slow but systematic fashion and between those who wanted to liberate Macedonia with help from the outside. What most Macedonians unfortunately did not know or refused to believe is that the Vrhovists did not want to liberate Macedonia for the Macedonians but rather liberate it so that it could be annexed by Bulgaria. The Vrhovist idea was to start a massive rebellion inside Macedonia in order to exhaust both the Ottomans and the Macedonians, leaving the region weak so that Bulgaria could invade with little opposition. Garvanov joined the Organization in the fall of 1902 with aims of starting an uprising in Macedonia in the spring or summer of 1903. Garvanov knew he would be opposed by the top MRO leadership so he broke protocol and only met and had discussions with those who would most likely agree with him. In effect Garvanov was planning the Uprising without the knowledge or consent of the MRO founding leadership. His effort was further supported by staged clashes between Vrhovist and Ottoman forces creating terror and insecurity in the population as well as weariness in the MRO leadership. All this was done to create an urgency to justify the start of the Uprising. Although the constitutional principles of the Organization were already being openly or secretly violated, and although no regard was given to the ideas of the founders of the Organization, it was still necessary for purely formal reasons for the Organization to call a general congress. By a vote taken on December 24th, 1902 it was decided that a Congress would be

held in Solun on January 1st, 1903. This not only did not provide enough notice for the elected delegates to make it to the congress on time but also breached the Organization’s constitution by allowing non-elected delegates to attend and participate in the vote. In other words, Garvanov took it upon himself to rush the congress to avoid being opposed by the MRO founding leaders and only invited those who he was certain would support his initiative to start a massive Uprising as soon as possible before the MRO was ready. This would have guaranteed its failure and in the process would have exhausted both the Macedonians and the Ottomans, leaving Macedonia open for a Bulgarian invasion. The Congress began on January 2nd, 1903 and ended on the 4th without a single delegate from the founding MRO leaders attending. In fact none of the MRO delegates who would have opposed the early Uprising were they invited or attended. In other words the holding of this Congress was not only illegal, according to the MRO’s constitution, but also was not representative of the entire revolutionary territory because many district delegates were either not invited or did not attend. Even Lazar Dimitrov, who took part in the Congress, voiced his concern in his memoirs calling the Congress “unlawfully constituted”. The Congress was opened by Garvanov, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Organization, who requested from each delegate to individually report on the situation in their districts. Most delegates however, including Anastas Lozanchev, district representative of Bitola, admitted that they were unable to provide reliable information on the status and readiness of the districts they represented. Almost all delegates admitted that their revolutionary districts were materially and morally not prepared for an uprising. The situation however changed when Lozanchev and Garvanov assured the Congress that a large delivery of arms would soon be arriving from Bulgaria and each detachment would be receiving its fair share of guns, supplies and other materials necessary to carry out the Uprising. Garvanov made a strong impression on the delegates by his speech in which he assured them that leaflets calling on the Macedonian population to prepare for an uprising in 1903 were being spread throughout Macedonia. He said the fact that the Ottoman authorities had managed to capture some of these leaflets, proves that the job is being done as we speak. He went on to say that the 1903 Uprising would be even more glorious than the 1902 Gornodzhumajski Uprising. Garvanov told the Congress that he did not believe a mass uprising would be successful without external intervention. In spite of Garvanov’s reassurances there was still some opposition to his plan. Most of that opposition came from Lazar Dimitrov who declared to the Congress that far too many districts were unprepared for such an uprising and it would be a mistake. He also added that Lamzdorf, Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, was against such an uprising and the Macedonians could not count on Russian support. He went further to say that he had spoken to other revolutionaries including Yane Sandanski and Gotse Delchev just before the Solun Congress and they were all against a premature uprising. Unfortunately, despite his opposition, Dimitrov too signed Garvanov’s declaration endorsing an early uprising. Even Dimitar Ganchev, the delegate from Skopje who was sent there by the District Committee with explicit instructions to press for a postponement of the Uprising for at least a year, seeing that the other delegates agreed, also added his consent. On January 3rd, 1902 at 11:20 AM, after all the delegates had had their say it was decided that an Uprising would begin in the spring of 1903. It was decided that this would not be a mass uprising but rather a strategic one to start things moving. All District Committees were ordered to assemble and discuss the Congress’s decisions and start preparations to ensure the Uprising was carried out.

Overall Garvanov and Lozanchev portrayed the Uprising as a vital act which would attract world attention and an eventual foreign intervention which would liberate Macedonia. This decision for the uprising to not be widespread and massive but rather of a partisan nature completely contradicted the basic norms and principles of the Organization and those of its founders who had always strongly felt that the uprising should be a mass uprising with a direct and single-minded aim: to overthrow the tyrannical Ottoman regime and to liberate Macedonia from the inside without outside interference. Once the decision to start the Uprising was made it was irreversible but not without objections from the MRO founders, particularly from Gotse Delchev and Gjorche Petrov, the pillars of the Organization who were not against an uprising in principle, but were against a premature uprising which they believed would achieve nothing positive except open the door for Macedonia’s occupation by its neighbours. It is most unfortunate that those delegates who attended the Solun Congress without a hidden agenda did not question Garvanov’s motives as to why he went against the wishes of the MRO founders or why he ignored the fact that the Great European powers were not open to making changes in the Balkans at that time and were not prepared to go to war against the Ottomans. Someone among those delegates must have known that Tsarist Russia’s interests in 1903 were facing east towards Japan and that Russia was in support of peace in the Balkan Peninsula, which surely was in direct opposition to an uprising in Macedonia. Owing to the dictates of her own economic interests, Germany too was in favour of keeping the Ottoman Empire intact. So were France and England who had their own particular reasons for wanting to keep the Ottoman Empire together. So

when Garvanov preached “Great Power Intervention” in Macedonia of which Great Power was he thinking? The only powers, if we can call them that, which were directly concerned with events in Macedonia, were the three neighbouring Balkan states Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria. Since they all were aspiring to gain control over Macedonia they all opposed a properly planned uprising which would have lead to an autonomous and independent Macedonia. Bulgaria in particular had special interest in the Macedonian revolution’s failure as mentioned earlier. Bulgaria was counting on weakening both the Ottomans and the Macedonians before it could intervene in Macedonia and “liberate it”, if I can use those words. But what Bulgaria did not count on was Russian interference. When Russia found out Bulgaria was involved in Macedonia it put pressure on it to stop what it was doing. Without Bulgarian intervention the Uprising was condemned to fail, thus teaching the Macedonian people yet another hard lesson; a lesson well learned which must never be forgotten. Too bad all of this could not have been foreseen at the Solun Congress. After a decision was made to start the uprising in the spring of 1903, Ivan Garvanov and Velko Dumev, both members of the Central Committee, took a trip to Sofia to meet with the top revolutionaries there. Among those present at the Sofia meeting were Gotse Delchev, Gjorche Petrov, Pere Toshev, Hristo Matov, Dr. Hristo Tatarchev, Ivan Hadzhi Nikolov, Sava Mihailov, Dimitar Stefanov and Mihail Gerdzhikov. Besides being furious with the decisions made at the Solun Congress, most of the attendees adamantly opposed the plan for an early Uprising. Gjorche Petrov, knowing full well that no district was prepared to go to war, proposed that all detachments and terrorist groups switch from defensive to offensive tactics and begin their campaigns immediately. Petrov emphasized that an immediate, gradual and sporadic campaign in the long term would wear down the Ottomans without the need for starting a permanent uprising. Gotse Delchev too was categorically against starting the Uprising in 1903 because, of all the people present at the meeting, he alone knew how inadequately the various districts were prepared. Delchev again emphasized the importance of the Macedonians liberating themselves by their own actions by fire and by sword, He insisted that the campaign begin with attacks on Ottoman military installations, railroads and government buildings; pushing the Ottomans into a state of anarchy until the Sultan’s Empire broke up completely. Yane Sandanski too was disappointed with the decision of the Solun Congress and added his voice to the chorus of opposition. News of the decision shattered the morale in Seres District. “Our idea of what should have taken place was totally different of what was being proposed. We campaigned for different things and everything turned quite

differently…we were very disappointed to a point of tears” wrote Sandanski in his memoirs. When Hristo Chernopeev, leader of the Strumica revolutionary district, heard of the Solun decision he was quite beside himself. Nikola Pushkarov, leader of the Skopje revolutionary district, immediately informed Garvanov that his district was shocked by his decision both because it was a surprise and because it was unthinkable to start an uprising under these conditions. The fact that the Macedonian people were not prepared for an early uprising was confirmed by all subsequent conferences held following the Solun Congress. Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, despite all the protests that decision could not be overturned so the Organization had no choice but to start immediate preparations. The Organization’s representative body stationed in Sofia, headed by Hristo Matov and Hristo Tatarchev, accepted the idea and gradually took over the role of making preparations. This included equipping and dispatching Macedonian detachments from Bulgaria made up from the migrant Macedonian workers, collecting donations, purchasing equipment and persuading workers to return to Macedonia and fight. Similar measures were also undertaken in Constantinople, Smyrna, Alexandria and other cities where Macedonians worked. The message was passed on by word of mouth which simply said, “The day of the uprising is upon us return to your homeland immediately.” Despite the circumstances the news of the imminent uprising was received with delight by all Macedonians, even by those working in Athens who quickly packed up and left for Macedonia. The first signs of the Uprising, later dubbed as the “Solun Assassinations”, began at the end of April 1903 when a group of Macedonian intellectuals, mostly from Veles, called the Gemidzhii (boatsmen), strongly influenced by anarchist ideas attacked Ottoman and foreign institutions in order to gain world attention. The Gemidzhii concentrated their action on destroying Western state institutions and companies which held European investments in Macedonia. On April 29th, 1903 the Gemidzhii blew up the French boat Guadalquivir, an Ottoman Bank, a brewery, the German Club and other buildings. Panic seized the population, particularly the Ottoman population, and many lives were lost including those of the Gemidzhii several of whom were killed in action while others committed suicide. Those captured were handed down long prison sentences. The disturbance caused uproar inside and outside of Solun resulting in thousands of people being arrested, tortured and jailed. The Gemidzhii actions however did achieve their aim in creating a powerful impact not only inside Macedonia but all over Europe. As a result, the situation inside Macedonia became even tenser, especially after the Ottomans began to crack down. This created a new urgency to accelerate preparations and helped to spread more awareness on all sides that an Uprising was imminent. The downside to the Gemidzhii action was the negative European reaction which called on Ottoman authorities to hunt down and deal with these criminals. This prompted the Ottoman authorities to apprehend and jail even more people including many of the revolutionaries and Ivan Garvanov. This naturally put a damper on the Organization’s ability to be fully engaged in the preparations of the Uprising. Another unfortunate and devastating event for the Macedonian people that also put a damper on the Macedonian Liberation Movement was Gotse Delchev’s untimely death. Gotse was murdered when he was needed the most when the Organization was gearing up for the most important confrontation in Macedonia’s recent history. Angry and disappointed with the way things turned out at the Sofia meeting, Gotse decided to return to Macedonia through Nevrokop and Razlog, accompanied by one of his detachments. Gotse felt that quick and effective measures needed to be immediately implemented so he called a meeting with Yane Sandanski and the leaders of the Seres revolutionary district.

The meeting was scheduled for early February 1903 to be held at the village Karacha near the border between Nevrokop, Seres and Demirhisar. Expecting his arrival several detachments from the Seres Revolutionary district, including those from Seres, Demirhisar, Melnik and Nevrokop, were dispatched to Karacha where Gotse Delchev and Yane Sandanski met. After they met and discussed the situation both Gotse and Yane agreed that the date for the Uprising had been prematurely set and that decision needed to be overturned. One of the ways to change this situation was for the Organization to isolate itself from the Vrhovists and avoid being entangled in their affairs, including the various campaigns they had initiated. Towards the end of March Gotse Delchev stepped up his own campaign against the Ottomans and his detachments destroyed the railway bridge over the Angista River and the railway tunnel near Drama. Following that he set out for Solun to meet with Dame Gruev. Delchev arrived in Solun in late April and for three days met and discussed the situation with Gruev who for the last two years had been imprisoned in the dungeons of Kale Prison together with Hristo Matov and Dr. Hristo Tatarchev, two well known Vrhovists. It seems Matov and Tatarchev had some influence over Gruev because Gruev was not himself and had lost faith in men and leaders. Although he had been keeping in contact secretly with the MRO, Gruev still did not have a clear picture of the situation in Macedonia. It was under these circumstances that, after his return to Solun, Gruev agreed to Garvanov’s plan for an early uprising.

Gruev worked hard on Delchev to persuade him to go along with the Solun Congress decision but Delchev refused. After his meeting with Gruev, Delchev left Solun and headed for Mount Ali Botush where he was expected to meet with representatives from the Seres District Detachments. Unfortunately he never made it. On his way on March 4th, 1903 he was killed in battle by the Ottoman army in the village Banitsa. There are reports that he was betrayed by having his whereabouts revealed to the Ottomans, but the question is by whom? Given the situation he did have lot of enemies but this is a subject for future investigative historians. Delchev’s death was an irreplaceable loss to both the Organization and the Macedonian people as a whole. His death, coupled with the Solun assassinations and the Bitola massacre of May 6th and 7th, 1903 had serious repercussions not only for the Organization but also for the Bitola Revolutionary district where the Uprising was expected to begin. One of the agreements made during the Solun Congress was that each revolutionary district would have the authority to decide on its own how and when to enter the Uprising. The Bitola Revolutionary District, however, having carried out all necessary preparations felt it was ready for the Uprising and during a secret meeting in January 1903 it was decided that Anastas Lozanchev would commence the Uprising in Bitola. Anastas Lozanchev, as mentioned earlier, was an ardent supporter of an early uprising at the Solun Congress and felt that his district was best prepared in comparison to other districts in Macedonia. Besides, Bitola District, both from a geographical position and from a strategic point of view, was best suited for an uprising. Moreover Bitola at that time was also the seat of numerous European diplomatic missions and this undoubtedly was of no small importance. In order to finalize all activities, the leadership of the Bitola District requested that a Congress take place on May 1st, 1903 in the village Smilevo. Dame Gruev, representing the Central Committee of MRO, was elected chairman of the Congress. Among other things the meeting agenda included discussions on (1) the distribution of military forces, (2) preparations for the Uprising, (3) duties and responsibilities of leaders both before and during the uprising, (4) what to do with unarmed people, disabled people, old people, and women and children during the uprising, (5) distribution of arms, (6) determining the exact time of the uprising, (7) establishment of regional administrative bodies before and during the uprising, and (8) method by which the uprising would be conducted. From the discussions that took place it was determined that the best-prepared regions to enter the Uprising were Resen, Kostur, Demirhisar and several surrounding villages in the Bitola Region. Among the less prepared regions was Ohrid with only one thousand four hundred guns.

The speakers and debaters at the Smilevo Congress were very critical of Anastas Lozanchev, chairman of the District Committee, for his arbitrary representation of his District at the Solun Congress and for undertaking obligations in the name of his district without first consulting the various regions. Among the delegates who opposed Garvanov’s plan for an early Uprising were Gjorgji Sugare, Petre Atsev, Tale Hristov, Nikola Karev and Nikola Petrov. They were all bitter about how the Solun Congress was conducted and their anger was reflected during the debates in the Smilevo Congress. Overall a tense situation was created prompting Dame Gruev’s intervention. Gruev used his authority as chairman to break off the discussions, insisting that the uprising would still have to take place regardless of the protests because that question had already been settled. A General Staff made up of Dame Gruev, Boris Sarafov and Anastas Lozanchev was elected and delegated with the responsibility of selecting the exact date the Uprising was to commence. Military measures passed by the Smilevo Congress included drafting of a disciplinary constitution for the uprising, which would establish the rights and duties of those actively involved in the uprising, and of the regional mountain based headquarters and General Staff. It was decided that the Bitola Revolutionary District was to be divided into twelve regions with a mountain based headquarters assigned to each entrusting each region with planning and coordinating its own activities. Each region was responsible for training its fighters in the use of weapons and battle tactics. The question of who should be involved in the Uprising kept coming up so it was decided that all actions would be conducted by the detachments only, the civilian population would not be mobilized. Each detachment was to consist of thirty to forty fighters who would attack traffic routes, telegraph and postal lines, disarm armed Ottoman civilians and attack Ottoman military instillations and institutions. Under no circumstances were the Detachments allowed to attack or detain ordinary Ottoman civilians, women, or children. The Smilevo Congress ended on May 7th, 1903 and all delegates returned to their respective districts feverishly working to prepare for the Uprising. The General Staff and commanding forces of the Bitola Revolutionary District set about to increase their arms supply, training and acquiring food, first-aid and other materials. The regional mountain headquarters gradually took over the Organization’s administrative duties and sent members of its detachments to acquire arms, train local fighters to handle weapons and acquire food supplies. The distribution of food was worked out so that each person carrying a gun would take thirty-five pounds of grain with them into the mountains. The grain had to be ground, put into sacks and hidden in caves. Each household was advised to prepare food reserves for a month and a half. In Bitola special persons were directed to keep the consulates informed about the uprising. The railway authorities too were made aware that the railroads would be attacked at various points along the line between Bitola and Solun. All armed men were told to prepare for long stays in the field. Armed men in the villages were divided into groups of seven or eight, each led by a corporal. One commander was appointed for every twenty-five or fifty armed men. Village squads were combined into central detachments each led by a central commander. Army drills were carried out under the central commander’s directives and dispatched on hit and run attacks against the Ottomans to gain combat experience. General Staff were also making their final preparations by visiting the various regions in their Districts and working out their plans of action and strategies. After all these preparations were made the entire Bitola Revolutionary District was inspired with a fierce revolutionary spirit which the Organization had been kindling for the last ten years.

All that was needed now was a sign from the General Staff and the glorious Ilinden Uprising would begin.