Introduction - Part 06

The first of these uprisings began in 1875 in Bosnia but soon spread to Montenegro and Serbia. About a year later the village peasants in Bulgaria showed their discontentment and staged a massive liberation struggle. To a lesser extent, the liberation struggle extended to Macedonia where an armed insurrection took place in Razlovtsi in 1876. In the spring of 1878 Macedonia reached the crossroads of its destiny. It was one step away from overthrowing six hundred years of Ottoman tyranny when Western Powers stepped in to prevent it. The real reason for throwing Macedonia back to the Ottomans had little to do with religion, nationalism, or human rights and a lot to do with economics, profit and access to the Mediterranean Sea. Russia desperately wanted to access the Mediterranean but the Western Powers desperately wanted to prevent it. Here is what Trevelyan has to say about that. “Throughout the 19th century Russia was striving to advance towards Constantinople over the ruins of the Turkish [Ottoman] Empire. It drawn forward by imperialist ambition, in the oppressed Christians of its own communion,…, and by the instinct to seek a warm water port-a window whence the imprisoned giantess could look out upon the world. The world however, had no great wish to see it there.” “Canning (a British politician, 1812-1862) had planned to head off Russia’s advance, not by direct opposition, but by associating her with England and France in a policy of emancipation, aimed at erecting national States out of the component parts of the Ottoman Empire. Such States could be relied upon to withstand Russian encroachment on their independence, if once they were set free from the Ottoman. The creation of the Kingdom of Greece was the immediate outcome of Canning’s policy” (Page 372, Trevelyan, British History in the 19th Century) Russia had no economic stake in the Ottoman Empire so it wanted the Ottomans out of the Balkans. The Western Powers invested heavily in the Ottoman economy and infrastructure and were anxious to keep the Ottoman Empire alive and well in the Balkans. The success of the Crimean war (the Ottomans won), convinced the British to slow down their policy of creating new Balkan States in favour of exploiting the lucrative Ottoman markets and collecting returns on loans made to the Ottomans. At the stroke of a pen Bulgaria was freed (autonomous) while Macedonia was sentenced to suffer further indignity and humiliation. Back in the hands of the Greek clergy and the Ottoman authorities, Macedonia

now entered a new era of suffering and cruelty, destined to pay for the sins of all the other nations that rose up against the Ottomans. Between the spring and summer of 1878, Macedonia’s fate was decided not by Russia or the Western Powers, but by Britain alone. Britain who created Greece and introduced the curse of Hellenism into the Balkans, was now prepared to fight Russia, by military means if necessary, to keep it out of the Mediterranean Sea. To avoid war a compromise was reached. “The essentials of this compromise were agreed upon between England and Russia before the meeting of the European Congress, which took place at Berlin under the chairmanship of Bismarck, and formally substituted the Treaty of Berlin for the terms of San Stefano” (Page 377, Trevelyan, British History in the 19th Century) “To our (British) eyes the real objection to the San Stefano lies not in its alleged increase in Russian power, but in the sacrifice of the fair claims of Greeks and Serbians, who would not have remained long quiet under the arrangements which ignored their racial rights and gave all the points to Bulgaria. Lord Salisbury felt this strongly, especially on behalf of Greece.” “Beaconsfield’s success, as he himself saw it, consisted in restoring the European power of Turkey. It was done by handing back Macedonia to the Port (Ottomans), without guarantees for better government. This was the essence of the Treaty of Berlin as distinct from the Treaty of San Stefano. ‘There is again a Turkey in Europe’ Bismarck said. He congratulated the British Prime Minister – ‘You have made a present to the Sultan of the richest province in the world; 4,000 square miles of the richest soil.’ Unfortunately for themselves, the inhabitants went with the soil. Since Beaconsfield decided, perhaps rightly, that Macedonia should not be Bulgarian, some arrangements ought to have been made for its proper administration under a Christian governor. Apart of all questions of massacres, the deadening character of the Ottoman rule is well known. Lord Salisbury seems to have wished for a Christian governor, but nothing was done in that direction. A golden opportunity was thus let slip.” (Page 378, Trevelyan, British History in the 19th Century) After gaining status as protector of the Suez Canal and the waterways to India, Britain was awarded Cyprus. Content with its gains, Britain became lax and agreed that Russia and Austria-Hungary should oversee Ottoman affairs in Macedonia. “The British people, when left to themselves, neither knew or cared who massacred whom between the Danube and the Aegean. Byron’s Greece had appealed to their imagination

and historical sense, but the Balkans were a battlefield of kites and crows” (Page 373, Treveleyan, British History in the 19th Century) The Macedonian people were not at all happy about what went on in the Berlin Congress and showed their discontentment by demonstrating first in Razlovtsi in 1876 then in Kresna in 1878 but as usual their pleas were ignored. The Ottoman army was dispatched and the demonstrations were violently put down. Facing the possibility of becoming extinct in Europe, the Ottoman Empire began to re-organize and take demonstrations and rebellions seriously. After the Greek uprising the Sultan became distrustful of the Phanariots and expelled most of them from his services. He came close to ousting the Patriarch and his tyrannical Bishops but Russia stepped in and prevented it. Many of the Macedonian people were not happy with being ruled by a Greek Patriarch and after Russia’s show of solidarity to the Greeks and the Patriarch, they threatened to convert to Catholicism. This created a real concern for Russia. “In the days when Panslavism was a force in Russia and General Ignatieff ruled Constantinople. Russia naturally feared that if the [Macedonians]…became Catholics it would lose its ascendancy over them.” (Page 73, Brailsford, Macedonia) In 1870 Russia convinced the Sultan to allow a new millet to be formed, thus creating the schismatic Bulgarian Exarchate Church which was immediately excommunicated by the Patriarch. Fracturing the Rum (Romeos) Millet into two opposing factions suited the Ottomans perfectly because now Christians, instead of rebelling against the Ottomans, would fight one another. Now, in addition to the Ottoman and Greek, a third government was created that would rule the same people in three conflicting ways. From a religious standpoint, minor differences distinguished the Greek from the Bulgarian Church. Both were Christian Orthodox, except that the Greeks acknowledged the authority of the Greek Patriarch while the Bulgarians obeyed the Bulgarian Exarch. The language of liturgy was about the only distinct difference between the churches. The Bulgarians used the Old Church Macedonian, familiar to Macedonians, while the Greeks used an ancient language no Macedonian could understand. The creation of the Exarchist Church stepped up nationalistic activities inside Macedonia and increased the stakes for territorial claims. From the day they were liberated, both Serbia and Greece were strengthening their economies and poisoning their people with nationalist propaganda. Serbia introduced education for the masses and was teaching its youth about its ancient exploits and past empires that ruled Kosovo,

Albania and Macedonia and that the Macedonians (except for the Bulgarians who were Serbia’s enemies) were truly Serbs. The modern Greeks on the other hand, infatuated with the discovery of the Ancient City States, were going overboard promoting “Hellenism” and making territorial claims on Macedonia based on ancient rites. At the same time, the Greeks were making wild claims that all Orthodox Christians were Greeks. Their argument was that if a person belonged to the Greek Orthodox Church they were Greek. Here is what Brailsford has to say about that. “Hellenism claims these peoples because they were civilized by the Greek Orthodox Church. That is a conception which the Western mind grasps with difficulty. It is much as though the Roman Catholic Church should claim the greater part of Europe as the inheritance of Italy. To make the parallel complete we should have to imagine not only an Italian Pope and a College of Cardinals which Italians predominate, but a complete Italian hierarchy. If every Bishop in France and Germany were an Italian, if the official language of the church were not Latin but Italian and if every priest were a political agent working for the annexation of France and Germany to Italy, we should have some analogy to the state of things which actually exist in Turkey.” (Page 195, Brailsford, Macedonia) Here is what Brailsford has to say about how the Greeks received title to the Orthodox Church. “The [Macedonian]… Churches had disappeared from Macedonia, and everywhere the Greek Bishops, as intolerant as they were corrupt-‘Blind mouths that scarce themselves know how to hold a sheephook’-crushed out the national consciousness, the language, and the intellectual life of their [Macedonian]…flocks. It is as a result of this process that the Eastern Church is a Greek Church. The sanctions of ‘Hellenism’ so far as they rest on the Church, are the wealth of the Phanariots and the venality of the Turks....the [Macedonian]…libraries in the old monasteries were burned by the Greek Bishops.” (Page 196, Brailsford, Macedonia) After 1878, for a Macedonian to be Hellenized meant that he had to give up his name, his own language, his own culture, his history, his folklore and his heritage. Here is what Karakasidou has to say. “...The ideological content of notions of the Hellenic nation, which far from being ecumenical has shown itself to be intolerant of cultural or ethnic pluralism, has lead many inhabitants of Greek Macedonia to deny or hide those aspects of their own personal or family pasts...” (Page 125, Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood)

Hellenization was made by choice or by brute force. One was made to “feel Greek” when it suited the Greeks. The moment one wanted something from the Greeks or one crossed one of the Greeks, they were reminded of their “true identity” and quickly “put in their place”. To be Hellenized meant to lose dignity and to suffer constant and unwarranted humiliation because no matter how hard one tried to be a Hellene, one could never measure up. A Hellenized person was neither Greek nor Macedonian but a soul in limbo. To quote David Holden “To me, philhellenism is a love affair with a dream which envisions ‘Greece’ and the ‘Greeks’ not as an actual place or as real people but as symbols of some imagined perfection.” (Page 12, Greece without Columns) What is Hellenism then? Before I answer that question, I will once again quote David Holden. “Further back still beyond the War of Independence, when the modern nation-state of Greece came into being for the first time, the whole concept of Greece as a geographical entity that begins to blur before our eyes, so many and various were its shapes and meanings. But if geography can offer us no stable idea of Greece, what can? Not race, certainly; for whatever the Greeks may once have been,..., they can hardly have had much blood-relationship with the Greeks of the peninsula of today, Serbs and Bulgars, Romans, Franks and Venetians, Ottomans, Albanians,...,in one invasion after another have made the modern Greeks a decidedly mongrel race. Not politics either; for in spite of that tenacious western legend about Greece as the birthplace and natural home of democracy, the political record of the Greeks is one of a singular instability and confusion in which, throughout history, the poles of anarchy modulated freedom has very rarely appeared. Not religion; for while Byzantium was Christian, ancient Hellas was pagan.” (Page 23, Greece without Columns) Unlike Macedonia and other Balkan nations who have natural and vibrant languages, Greece artificially created and used (up until the 1970’s) an imposed adaptation of the classical language called the Katharevoussa. “Hellenizing” under these conditions not only rendered the Hellenized races mute but also imposed a meaningless and emotionless language on those doing the Hellenization. When Greece was created for the first time in 1832 it was unclear what its national character was? To quote David Holden, “the Greek nation-state was a product of western political intervention-‘the fatal idea’ as Arnold Toynbee once called it, of exclusive western nationalism impinging upon the multi-national traditions of the eastern world. By extension, therefore,

at any rate in theory, it was a child of the Renaissance and of western rationalism. (Page 28, Greece without Columns) Officially, Greeks call their modern state Hellas, and are officially known as Hellenes, but at the same time they called themselves Romios (from the Ottoman Rum millet) implying that they are descendents of the Romans. Greece, however, is a derivation of the Latin “Graecea” (Page 29, Holden, Greece without Columns) the province of the Western Roman Empire which extended from Mount Olympus to the Peloponnesus. Again, to quote David Holden, “its international use to describe the sovereign state that currently occupies that territory is merely a reflection of the fact that ‘Greece’ in this modern sense is literally a western invention. (Page 29, Greece without Columns) If philhellenism is a love affair with a dream, then Hellenism is a dream of a few “evil geniuses” (Phanariots) who sought to destroy what was real in favour of creating something artificial, like a Frankenstein’s Monster. Hellenism may be a dream for a few but it has been a nightmare for Macedonia. Here is what Karakasidou has to say. “Greek natural identity was not a ‘natural development’ or the extension of a ‘high culture’ over the region of Macedonia, although now it is frequently portrayed as so. The ideology of Hellenism imposed a homogeneity on the Macedonian region and its inhabitants." (Page 94, Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood) If modern Hellenism is a western invention propagated by the Phanariots, then who are modern Greeks? According to historical records, a large majority of the Greeks of Morea that fought during the Greek War of independence were Slavs and Tosk Albanians that later Hellenized after the 1830’s. The Slavs of Peloponnesus (what happened to them?), the Vlachs of Larissa, and the Albanian Tosks of Epirus (what happened to them?) were also Hellenized. In other words, the Greeks of today are a “forcibly Hellenized diverse collection of people”. Even the Greek national dress, the fustanella, is not Greek. The fustanella is the national costume of the Albanian Tosks. (Page 230, Brailsford, Macedonia) In addition to desperately trying to define an identity and a language for itself, after 1878 Greece stepped up Hellenization activities inside Macedonia through the Orthodox Church and by employing (bribing) the services of the Ottoman authorities. Willing young Macedonian men were enrolled in Greek schools in Athens, with promises of education, only to be poisoned with Hellenization and Greek nationalist propaganda. Many of

these young men came back (home) to Macedonia only to be used as agents of Hellenism. After the creation of the Bulgarian Church, Bulgaria was not far behind in its attempts to instill Bulgarian nationalism in the Macedonian youth. This was most evident when young Macedonian men, like Gotse Delchev, were expelled from the Bulgarian schools for wanting to use the Macedonian language and to learn Macedonian history. Here is what Radin has to say about that. “In the 1870’s, six Macedonian districts seceded from the Exarchate. Bulgarian schools were destroyed, with the Macedonian teaching intelligentsia organizing students against the Exarchate. Macedonian literary associations were discovered, to study Macedonian history and culture. The periodical ‘Vine’ (Loza) was published to mobilize Macedonians against the vehement propaganda. In 1891, an attempt was made to re-establish the Macedonian Church. This national renaissance significantly produced a Macedonian intelligentsia that was to later prove instrumental in founding IMRO (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization). (Page 45, A. Michael Radin, IMRO and the Macedonian Question) Russia’s rash attempt to gain access to the Mediterranean, by creating a “Greater Bulgaria” (San Stefano Treaty), gave the Bulgarians rationale to make territorial claims on Macedonian territory. On top of the Greeks forcibly trying to Hellenize Macedonia, the Macedonian people now faced a new enemy, Bulgarian chauvinism. At the hands of the Ottomans, Greeks, Bulgarians, Albanians and Serbians, Macedonian misery seemed to flourish as if all the evil in the world was unleashed at once and struck Macedonia with all its fury. What makes Macedonia’s misery even more tragic is that the entire world stood by and watched the horrors unfold and did nothing. While the Greeks employed brutality, the Bulgarians adopted intrigue to sway Macedonians to their side. The Bulgarians were publicly calling for Macedonian autonomy while they were promoting a Bulgarian nationalist agenda. In the next decade after 1878, nationalist fever gripped the Balkans. The new nations (Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria) were making exclusive claims not only on Macedonian territory, but also on the Macedonian people, each claiming that Macedonians were Serbs, Greeks, or Bulgarians. Each new nation desperately tried to prove its claim by propaganda campaigns, coercion and forcible assimilation. Here is what Brailsford has to say on the subject. “Are the Macedonians Serbs or Bulgars? The question is constantly asked and dogmatically answered in

Belgrade and Sofia. But the lesson of history is obviously that there is no answer at all. They are not Serbs, ... On the other hand they could hardly be Bulgarians... They are probably what they were before a Bulgarian or Serbian Empire existed...” (Page 101, Macedonia Its Races and their Future) As for the Macedonian’s being Greek, this is what Brailsford has to say. “The Greek colonies were never much more than trading centers along the coast, and what was Greek in ancient times is Greek today. There is no evidence that the interior was ever settled by a rural Greek population.” (Page 91, Brailsford, Macedonia) “The period immediately following the Berlin Congress demonstrated therefore, that Balkan chauvinist intent was not merely to occupy, govern and exploit Macedonia, but to eradicate the Macedonian culture, and superimpose its own culture upon a people alien to it. By guile, gun, religion and quasi-legal manipulation, the Balkan States attempted to divest the native Macedonians of their language, religion, folklore, literature, traditions and consciousness. The ultimate goal therefore, was to anaesthetize the Macedonian people, and then remold them into Bulgarians, Greeks and Serbians.” (Page 45, A. Michael Radin, IMRO and the Macedonian Question) The 1878 Treaty of Berlin set events in motion in the Balkans for the next forty years. The re-appearance of Ottoman soldiers, the worsening economy and the reign of terror imposed by the Greek clergy was crushing the spirits of the Macedonian people. In the meantime, the economic situation of the Great Powers and the new Balkan States was improving daily. In 1881 the Muhareem Decree gave Europeans complete control of Ottoman finances and trade markets. During the same year the Constantinople Conference of Great Powers agreed to the Greek annexation of Thessaly and Epirus. Later that same year Austria-Hungary agreed to allow Serbia to annex parts of Macedonia in some future time. Four years later Bulgaria, with some Russian help, annexed eastern Rumelia. While the Western Powers were contemplating the "Eastern Question" and collecting returns from Ottoman loans, the new Balkan States were plotting Macedonia's demise. Here is what each of them had to say: Bulgaria: "Bulgaria's whole future depends on Macedonia, without her our State will be without importance or authority. Solun must be the main port of this State, the grand window to illuminate the entire building. If Macedonia does not belong to us, Bulgaria will never be firmly based".

Greece: "Macedonia is the lung of Greece, without it the rest of Greece would be condemned to death. For Greece to become a greater power she must expand into Macedonia." Serbia: "We are ready to enter into any combination if necessary in order to prevent the Macedonian Question being settled in any way that harms our vital interests, without which Serbia cannot survive". In addition to being handed back to the Ottomans, the 1878 Treaty of Berlin now subjected Macedonia to three new tyrants. In time, Macedonia would be subjected to all kinds of evil but the most cunning would turn out to be Bulgarian chauvinism. The Macedonian people knew very well where they stood with the Greeks. Greek policies were straightforward, Hellenize everyone by any means possible, force and brutality included. The Bulgarian approach was very different. The Bulgarians were interested in educating the Macedonian masses into believing that they were Bulgarians. Anyone who showed any opposition didn't live to tell about it. And so became the legacy of so many educated Macedonian young men and women. It was the charismatic humanitarian William Gladstone, a three time British Prime Minister, who uttered the words "Macedonia for the Macedonians" which rang out like loud church bells throughout Macedonia. "Macedonia for the Macedonians" was the signal that rallied the Macedonians into action and gave them hope that finally the West would support their cause. In spite of his great sympathy for the Macedonian people, unfortunately, Gladstone was not in a position to help. The best the Great Powers could offer were "reforms". A great number of reforms were drafted and agreed upon but never implemented. The Ottoman Pashas continued to humour the westerners with reams of fictional statistics and accomplishments, while the Begs (feudal lords) continued to dominate the "Chiflik" (estates) and squeeze the village peasants out of their existence. The only visible reforms were rail and road improvements sponsored by western companies who were able to divert Ottoman finances from the state budgets. Peasants who owned land were taxed so excessively that they had to work on Sunday at road and bridge building to catch up on back taxes. To get such a job they had to resort to bribery. As if that was not enough, in 1889, re-imposing a personal tax of seven shillings per year for each newborn son further increased the tax burden. This was only reduced when the boy was able to work, at age fifteen. Some of these taxes were raised to assist small-scale manufacturing, which was largely owned by foreign investors. Village

peasants were forced to sell their most valued possessions, hand-made crafts, old coins and heirlooms, for next to nothing, to pay these taxes. To further aggravate the situation, lawless acts by the Ottoman authorities, without any avenue for appeal, contributed to the oppressive climate in the villages. In addition to pillaging, Ottoman soldiers now plundered the farms and villages for their daily sustenance. The Ottoman administration was in such disarray that suppliers of the military were not paid for long periods of time and in turn they were refusing to feed the army. To counter the plundering, peasant militias began to form but were soon outlawed by the Ottoman authorities. By late 1890, those Macedonians who had land couldn't afford to work it because of high taxes and frequent raids. Those who worked for the Begs were at the mercy of their landlord without rights or legal recourse. The courts were clearly working against the Macedonians and beyond "external intervention" there was no way to challenge their tyrannical authority. Though the land was fertile there was no incentive to work. Agrarian life became a burden, filling village life with hopelessness and crushing the spirit of the Macedonian peasant. Many Macedonian men left their families and turned to migrant work, traveling to various foreign countries in search of work but often returning home poorer due to high travel and lodging expenses. It was during these times that large emigrant Macedonian communities began to form in cities like Sofia, Paris, London, etc. Besides migrant workers, young Macedonian men also traveled abroad to pursue a higher education. They too became involved in the growing Macedonian worker communities. By the late 1890's over 100,000 Macedonian men were working or studying outside of Macedonia. Cafe conversations dominated by discussions of "what to do to improve the situation at home" became commonplace. It was clear to many that the discontentment they were experiencing was not a local or village issue, but a matter that enveloped all of Macedonia. It was also clear that Ottomans would not allow Macedonia to protect itself or Ottoman courts to rule in Macedonia's favour. It became clear to all that the only option open to a Macedonian was outright rebellion, a rebellion that would have common purpose, tactical mobilization and central direction. There were many lessons to be learned from the great deeds and disasters of the American war of Independence, the French Revolution and others. By the late 1890's Ottoman tyranny was not the only ill in Macedonia. There was also the process of Hellenization, Greek propaganda and the Greek clergy to

contend with. Beyond that there was Bulgarian propaganda that was becoming more venomous by the day. On another front, escalated Bulgarian activities in Macedonia prompted Greece and Serbia to reconsider an old alliance (1866-67) of restoring ecclesiastical unity under the Patriarch in order to take away from the Exarchate. This alliance, due to Greek greed, for the time did not work out. This, however, would be a prelude to a future and deadlier alliance that would last to this day. By 1890 the rebellion started to organize and gain momentum. The students were the first to take action. Student revolutionary organizations were formed in Switzerland and Bulgaria. Both used various tactics to combat anti-Macedonian chauvinist Balkan propaganda. Organized in 1891, the group in Bulgaria allied itself with the organization of Macedonian emigrant workers (Pechalbari) in Sofia and had much success. In time more organizations sprang up in Russia, Britain and Greece but none could match the achievements of the Sofia based "Young Macedonian Literary Society" under the tutelage of Petar Pop Arsov. This Society of young Macedonians formulated its own constitution and managed the revolutionary publication "Loza" (Vine). The first issue of Loza came out in January 1892 followed by six more publications before the Society was denounced by the Greek and Serbian press, and claimed as "its own" by the Bulgarian press. According to official Bulgarian State policy, "Macedonians were Bulgarians" and any worthwhile Macedonian creation belonged to Bulgaria. While émigré Macedonian students were fighting Greek and Bulgarian propaganda and shoring up western support, an historic moment inside Macedonia was about to unfold. It was October 23rd, 1893 in Solun when two high school teachers, Damjan Gruev and Anton Dimitrov, together with Petar Pop Arsov, a former editor of Loza and Hristo Tatarchev, a doctor, got together in bookshop owner Ivan Nikolov's house for an informal meeting. The main point of discussion was the plight of the Macedonian people and what to do about it. As word got around a committee was formed, more Macedonians got involved and a second (formal) meeting was held on February 9th, 1894. The topic of discussion included the drafting of a constitution to guide the committee. By the end of the meeting the committee made the following resolutions: 1. The committee will be revolutionary in nature and will remain secret. 2. Its revolutionary activities will be confined to inside Macedonia's borders.

3. Irrespective of nationality or religion, any Macedonian can become a member of the committee. The committee also set the following objectives for itself, which were later ratified at the first Revolutionary Congress held in Resen in August 1894: 1. Destroy the Ottoman social system. 2. Remain an "independent" organization. 3. Seek Macedonian autonomy. The organization later became known as Vnatrezhna (Internal) Makedonska (Macedonian) Revolutsionerna (Revolutionary) Organizatsia (Organization), VMRO (IMRO). According to historian Aleksandar Donski, the original name of the organization was TMORO. It was later named VMRO/IMRO, years after Gotse’s death. Being clandestine in nature, IMRO had some difficulty recruiting new members, but within a year or so its influence extended beyond Solun and into the rest of Macedonia. Initially the organization was more ideological and less practical, with the majority of its recruits being teachers, most of whom taught at the Exarchate schools inside Macedonia. To rally the masses the organization needed to educate them and bring them in line with IMRO's objectives. For that it needed a charismatic leader who was able to talk to people at their own level and who was free to travel without too much interference from the authorities. The man who answered that call was Gotse Delchev, a man of vision matched by only a few, the father of the Macedonian Revolution and the soul of the movement. (If you want to learn more about the IMRO leadership, you must read Michael Radin's book, IMRO and the Macedonian Question). Gotse was a realist and at the same time an idealist who loved people, hated tyranny and saw the world as a place of many cultures living together in peace. As a realist, Gotse knew that in order for a revolution to be successful it had to be a "moral revolution" of the mind, heart and soul of an enslaved people. People needed to feel like people with rights and freedoms and not like slaves. With that in mind Gotse set out to build up a revolutionary conscience in the Macedonian population and thus set the revolutionary wheels in motion. Gotse's installment as undisputed leader of IMRO was consolidated during the Solun Congress of 1896, after which IMRO began to massively organize. Gotse's abilities to "listen and learn" brought him close to the problems of ordinary people who wanted freedom but also wanted to preserve their religion, culture and way of life. With Gotse's field research in mind, IMRO’s strategy was to "give the people

what they want" and win them over. Initially the strategy worked well and won IMRO the support it needed. By 1896 it was able to exert influence to a point where it acted like a state within a state, taking over administrative positions from the Ottomans, leading boycotts against Ottoman institutions and offering isolated villages protection from Greek and Bulgarian sponsored brigands. In time IMRO operatives were able to penetrate Ottoman economic, educational and even judicial functions. The downside of "giving the people what they want" was that it opened the doors for Bulgarian infiltration. By "attitude" and use of the Greek language it was easy to recognize Greek influence. However, Bulgarian influence was not as easily recognized. While the Greeks cared nothing about Macedonian affairs and loathed the Macedonian language, the Bulgarians were a part of Macedonian affairs and spoke the Macedonian language eloquently. By far the largest Bulgarian infiltration into Macedonian affairs took place in Sofia among the migrant workers. As mentioned earlier, the cosmopolitan lifestyle in Sofia, a far cry from life in the village, seduced some Macedonians to succumb to Bulgarian propaganda, which resulted in the formation of the "External Macedonian Revolutionary Organization"; better known as the "Supreme Macedonian Committee". This organization was formed in Sofia in March of 1895; called the "Trojan Horse" of IMRO, by Gotse Delchev. The initial membership consisted of emigrant Macedonian nationalists but in time its leadership was infiltrated by officers from the Bulgarian State Army. The objective, on the surface of this "two faced" organization termed "Vrhovist" (Supremacist) by IMRO, was to fight for Macedonia's independence, by armed intervention in an aggressive revolutionary manner. It’s true nature, however, (concealed from the people) was to undermine IMRO by subordinating its central committee to its own "Supremacist directives". This, and the fact that Vrhovism masqueraded itself as "Macedonian patriotism" in the eyes of the Macedonian people, very much disturbed Gotse Delchev. True to his nature of keeping an open mind, Delchev, along with Gruev, took a trip to Sofia in hopes of reconciling their differences with the Vrhovists but came back more disillusioned. Instead of receiving a handshake on March 20th, 1896 Gotse was informed that Bulgaria would no longer support IMRO and all finances and arms would be cut off. From here on forward the Vrhovists would decide what actions IMRO would take inside Macedonia. This was indeed an attempt by the Vrhovists to usurp control of IMRO.

Disappointed but not disillusioned IMRO turned to "Mother Russia" for assistance, but there too he found no welcome reception. Russia had no interest in helping IMRO because there were no advantages to gain from liberating Macedonia (given Russia's current relationship with the Western Powers). Due to IMRO's popularity, strength and ability to recognize a "Trojan Horse", the Bulgarian led organization failed to achieve its true objectives. After that it resorted to violent attacks and assassination attempts with the aim of eliminating the entire IMRO structure and its leadership. It used armed interventions in order to provoke Ottoman reprisals against innocent village peasants and put the blame on IMRO. By selective propaganda and vilifying the Ottomans in the eyes of the world, the Bulgarian led organization was hoping for a Great Power intervention to weaken the Ottomans and at the same time create a climate for a Bulgarian invasion (disguised as a "liberation" of the oppressed Macedonians). In the meantime both Delchev and Gruev were promoted to the rank of "District Inspector of Schools" in their employment, enabling them to travel unabated and without suspicion. Using inspection tours as cover, they were able to find ways to purchase and smuggle arms into Macedonia. They also took time to address Macedonian villages and made personal contacts with the village chiefs. Many people flocked to hear what these legendary figures of men, patriots and saviors had to say. Unfortunately, lecturing out in the open placed IMRO leaders at risk from spies. As a result, on one occasion Gotse was arrested by the Ottoman authorities in May of 1896 and spent 26 days in jail. When the Ottomans couldn't find anything to charge him with, Gotse was released. Bulgarian influence was not limited to Vrhovist actions alone. Bulgarian undercover agents were dispatched to Solun to spy on IMRO activities and report back to the Bulgarian State. The Exarchate also had policies of its own and continued to rally the Macedonian youth for its own cause. When it seemed like IMRO was unbreakable, the Vrhovists resorted to infiltrating the IMRO leadership itself, which in time brought them some success. Bulgarian interference in IMRO policies caused hardships and internal squabbling between executive committee members and eventually caused the organization to split into hostile factions. This undermined IMRO's credibility with the outside world. The Vrhovists badly wanted to provoke the Ottomans so that they could "liberate" Macedonia, but the Great Powers, especially Russia and Britain, "didn't buy it" and saw their

actions as provocative and dangerous. While the Vrhovist leadership agreed to curb its provocative actions, its armed wing of insurgents, however, had already penetrated and captured parts of eastern Macedonia. Even though the invasion lasted about two days, it became clear as to "who was who" and the true Vrhovist agenda was exposed. After that IMRO gave the Vrhovists a stern warning to "stay out of Macedonia". To use Delchev's words, "Whoever works for the unification with Greece or Bulgaria is a good Greek or Good Bulgarian but NOT a good Macedonian." After that, while IMRO worked for a "Macedonia for the Macedonians" the Bulgarian Supreme Committee openly worked for a "Macedonia for the Bulgarians". IMRO leadership strove to purify IMRO from the Vrhovist infiltration. In essence, the IMRO constitution was bolstered to exclude Vrhovist demands but was still able to give the Macedonian people what they wanted. The IMRO leadership, without much success, made attempts to infiltrate and sabotage the Vrhovist Supreme Committee by making frequent trips to Sofia and attempting to rally dissident emigrant forces inside Bulgaria. While the Vrhovists were plotting against IMRO and the Macedonian people from the north, a new menace was brewing from the south. On April 9th, 1897 armed Greek bands began to aggressively cross into Macedonia. The Ottomans protested this action to the Great Powers but the Greeks denied responsibility, insisting that it was not Greek soldiers but the Macedonian Cheti. It wasn't long before the Ottomans took the offensive, drove the Greeks out and pursued them inside Greece. When the Ottomans were about to overtake the entire country the Great Powers intervened on Greece's behalf to once again save it. The Greek Government, in charge of the invasion, fell out of grace and, when a new Government was elected, agreed to pay a hefty fine, which consisted of four million Ottoman pounds, as well as giving up Thessaly to the Ottomans. In addition to losing grace, Greece had to relinquish control of its own finances (to the Great Powers) to ensure prompt payment of the fine. The Great Powers, without German support, forced the Sultan to accept the offer and sign a peace deal. The Germans never forgave the Greeks for lying to them about their aggressive actions against the Ottomans. The Germans at that time were responsible for the Ottoman Empire. Outside of Greek brigand actions, for the moment at least, Greece was not a direct threat to IMRO.

IMRO demonstrated great leadership by its ability to organize Macedonia into seven revolutionary districts (Solun, Serres, Strumitsa, Shtip, Skopje, Bitola and Edrene (Dardanelles). (Because of the inclusion of the Dardanelles (Odrin) the Revolutionary organization was initially called TMORO as in Taina (Secret) Makedonska (Macedonian) Odrin (Dardanelles) Revolutsionerna (Revolutionary) Organizatsija (Organization)). It also demonstrated its weaknesses. Having allied itself with the poor village peasants and striving to refrain from obligations and debts, IMRO found itself strapped for finances. The IMRO committee was unable to raise all the necessary funds to finance its campaigns. While the leadership turned a blind eye, the local commanders resorted to kidnapping rich landowners, merchants and foreign dignitaries for ransom. Kidnappings did not exclude foreign missionaries, like Miss Stone, who fell into the hands of Sandanski's Cheta (armed band). Taken by the plight of her captors, Miss Stone voluntarily made sure the ransom was paid in full. Short of finances, mostly due to unfriendly terms with the Vrhovist Supreme Command in Sofia, IMRO found itself lacking the necessary arsenal to wage war. Subordination to Bulgarian demands was out of the question so Gotse had to look elsewhere to get his weapons. Efforts were made to purchase weapons from Greece, Albania and even from the Ottomans themselves, but without too much success. By 1897 the situation was getting desperate so the IMRO leadership resorted to purchasing from the black market, even stealing weapons. One such purchase was made from the Bulgarian Military. The military allowed the sale of outdated guns but later refused to sell cartridges, fearing the weapons might be turned against them. In October 1900 Chakalarov, a local chief in the Lerin/Kostur regions who spoke Greek dressed up as an Albanian pretending to be from Ianitsa, was successful in purchasing some arms from Athens. Later attempts by others, however, were not so successful. On one occasion a translator betrayed the purchasers to the Ottoman consul on the advice of a Greek priest. After that the Ottomans trusted this translator and made him a sergeant in their gendarme. He served the Ottomans well and brought them much success in their “search and destroy” missions, until he discovered he could make even more money by taking bribes before turning people in. As a result of this man's actions many band members, from many villages, were killed. The lack of sufficient arms brought home the realization that this "uprising" was going to be a long one. Here again, Gotse and the IMRO (TMORO at the time) leadership proved their worth by adopting a policy