FORMING AND SHAPING THE GEMIDZHII CIRCLE

FORMING AND SHAPING THE GEMIDZHII CIRCLE

In the last decade of the 19th century, exactly at the time when an economic and social setback was taking place in Macedonia, a new generation of Macedonians was born and raised ready to carry out their historically defined mission: open a new revolutionary page in the development of the Macedonian people. Also born and raised in Veles at this time, were the young people who would form the Gemidzhii circle and in 1903 carry out the so-called Solun assassinations. The revolutionary determination in these youths, there is no doubt, was very much influenced by the economic and social conditions in which they found themselves in Veles and in Macedonia at the end of 19th century.

The Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (MRO) was created in the year 1893-1894 and was tasked with struggling for Macedonia’s liberation from the Ottoman government. After its formation the MRO gradually spread around Macedonian towns and villages, and helped the people recover from almost all economic exploitation and political oppression. Some of the future Gemidzhii began their revolutionary activities in the MRO.

The future Solun assassins followed MRO’s development in their own surroundings. The Organization left a strong impression on them especially after the Vinitsa attack in November 1897, which in fact was the first time the MRO was discovered by the Ottoman Empire and by Europe. As the story goes, an armed band arrived from Bulgaria and, with the help of its accomplices inside Vinitsa, killed Kiazimaga, a rich Turk, and took 800 gold lira from his house. After their investigation of this murder, the authorities discovered a cache of weapons and uncovered the local MRO organization. After that, through means known from inquisition times, the authorities also uncovered the MRO’s plots in Shtip, Kratovo, Palanets, Radovish, Kumanovo and Maleshevo. Furious from these discoveries the authorities terrorized the Macedonian population in this part of Macedonia for almost two months, committing horrific atrocities against them. About 220 people were brutally tortured, of whom a dozen died from the beatings, about 500 were jailed and about 300 fled to Bulgaria. This kind of terror was unprecedented in Macedonia and resonated throughout the entire country and among

the diplomatic circles in Europe. The people became increasingly angry and disgusted with the Ottoman government. Writing about the Vinitsa fiasco and the damage it caused, one of the future Gemidzhii said: “This act brought the Revolutionary Organization into existence and exposed the monstrous Ottoman despotic rule. With its mass arrests and severe tortures, the Ottoman government has caused much indignation among all of us. The Vinitsa act has shown us that there is something for us to fight against – and that is Ottoman domination.” (Todor Orgadzhiev “Za Solunskoto s’zaklitie” - 50 years since the Ilinden Uprising, Sofia 1953 116; Also see Pavel Shatev, Macedonia under slavery, Sofia 1968, 49-50.)

The founders and leaders of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization also had a lot of influence on the future Gemidzhii. Included among them were Damian Gruev, Pere Toshev, Petar Pop Arsov and Gorche Petrov.

The Gemidzhii circle was made up of a relatively small group of Macedonian youths. Included among the better known Gemidzhii were Iordan Popiordanov, Kosta Ivanov Kirkov, (Dime) Mechev-Mecheto, Ilia Trchkov, Vladimir (Vlado) Pingov, Georgi Petrov Bogdanov, Milan Arsov, Todor Organdzhiev, Todor Bogdanov, Ilia Popiordanov - all from Veles, as well as Pavel Shatev, Marko Boshnakov and Tsvetko Traikov.

The Gemidzhii were also influenced by some of the revolutionary literature floating around which helped them acquire and shape their circle. While attending school in the 1896/97 school year in the Exarchate Gymnasium in Solun, as well as at home in Veles, Iordan Popiordanov, Kosta Kirkov, Georgi Bogdanov, Todor Organdzhev and some of the others came into contact with socialist and other kinds of literature which piqued their interest. Among other things, when Vasil Glavinov came to Veles he brought with him the books “For brotherhood and socialism” by Vasa Pelarich, and “Is fate at fault” by Liuben Karavelov. While studying in Solun the future Gemidzhii read books by Pushkin, Shakespeare, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Balzac, Chernipevski , Pisarev, Hristo Botev, some of Plehanov’s translations, A. Hertsev, Bebel Kautsky and so on... Other books they were exposed to included “God and

Science” by L. Biuhner, “The woman and Socialism” by Bebel, “Siberia and the exiled in Russia”, “Underground Russia” and others by Chernishevski, “Speeches and proclamations” by Hugo and others, which some students read with more attention than the books about ordinary objects (T. Organdziev, c. d. 16; Pavel Shatev, C. D., 42 - 43).

The future Gemidzhii accepted the idea of becoming revolutionaries and the idea of liberating Macedonia but would not accept the idea that this had to be a mass armed struggle that would involve the entire Macedonian population. They preferred individual revolutionary actions, which they thought would produce greater results much faster with fewer casualties. The following circumstances led the future Gemidzhii from Veles to go in that direction:

Iordan Shurkov, originally from Veles who lived in Plovdiv where he accepted socialist views, came to Solun in 1879 to make contact with the students from Veles and teach them Marx and Engels’s concepts. As a result of this they acquired notions of scientific socialism and class struggle.

T. Organdzhiev wrote: “... we gradually accepted the idea of starting a revolutionary struggle but we did not know which way to go. Then the books “Battlefield of Nihilism” and “Underground Russia” fell into our hands and influenced us to have a negative attitude towards everything that was old. We were completely under the influence of those ideas and we negated everything. We decided to carry out something against the tyrants of our nation and burn for it. Our slogan was ‘Kie se archime’ (We will die in the name of freedom for the people)”. (T. Organdzhiev, 116-117.) This is how they also accepted to live their daily lives and to participate in their education. They finished their courses but skipped their graduation because they felt they needed to self-sacrifice themselves for Macedonia’s freedom. Otherwise they were all good students, but the idea of “self-sacrifice” had taken over their thoughts and shifted them to the realm of the revolutionaries; but to what kind of revolutionaries?

Several students from the Plovdiv Gymnasium in 1896 formed a secret group to fight for Macedonia’s liberation through

revolutionary means. The organizers and leaders of the group were Mihail Gerdzhikov and Petar Mandzhukov. Petar was the grandson of Natanail, former Bishop of Ohrid. They were all strongly influenced by events in Russia, nihilism, as well as by individual acts and heroes from the French anti-bourgeois Revolution. Figuring that lack of money was going to be their major obstacle to the realization of their liberation plans, Gerdzhikov and Mandzhukov decided to do something in order to raise the necessary money. They stole a decoration from Bishop Natanail and a ring from Gerdzhikov’s mother and gave them to their friend Iordan Boshkov, an immigrant from Veles, to sell. The “theft”, unfortunately, was discovered and their actions taken on behalf of the Macedonian liberation failed. Both students were expelled from the Gymnasium and the group broke up.

In 1897 several students from the Gymnasium were sent on a trip to visit Geneva. Included among them were Petar Mandzhukov and Mihail Gerdzhikov. There they found an abundance of revolutionary literature and made contact with the Russian revolutionaries, which shaped their outlook but also divided them. One group fell under the influence of Plehanov and became social democrats and the other fell under the influence of the far left. But, in spite of their influences, they remained part of the Macedonian Secret Revolutionary Committee (MSRC), its constitution and program which they created.

Through an appeal the MSRC condemned slavery and demanded from the freedom-loving people, and particularly from the youth, to stand up and fight against injustice. In part the appeal read: “…What could justify that ugly fact - the bondage of the Macedonian people? Macedonia has been an unhappy place for centuries without any kind of justice where kindness cannot even be imagined...” (Appeal by the Macedonian Secret Revolutionary Committee - INI f. k. 357.)

The MSRC’s main objectives, as stated in their program attached to the appeal (Appeal by the Macedonian Secret Revolutionary Committee - INI f. k. 357) were: “To break the tyrannical government, to remove the shackles from the legs of the enslaved, to free the tormented Macedonian people from centuries of oppression… This is why the MSRC is organizing and this is what

the people in the Macedonian Secret Revolutionary Committee are fighting for.”

Demands made in the Program:

1. Full independence and wide freedom for the Macedonian people to create the kind of government they want;

2. The Committee will not favour any particular nationality, but will try to organize all of them into a whole for the struggle against Ottoman rule in Macedonia;

3. The Committee will not tolerate foreign interference in settling Macedonia’s future or the Macedonian Question...

4. The Committee considers the Ottoman authorities and all those interfering in its affairs, that directly and indirectly harm the Macedonian people and their liberation, as its enemy;

5. The peaceful Ottoman population is not the enemy, but on the contrary...

To achieve its goals, the Committee will employ a single remedy: Revolution!

At the end of the Program the Committee saw to it to inform the chauvinists in Macedonia, be they Bulgarian, Greek, Serbian or any other type that “the Committee workers are obliged to fight against them, and that all bearers of chauvinistic activities will be persecuted to the same degree as the worst enemy.” This was also highlighted in Article 81 of the MSRC Constitution.

The MSRC Constitution contained 100 Articles detailing and regulating the duties and rights of its members. Each Article called for members to be prepared when the anticipated moment arrives. Its main message was to “grab your arms and fight and die, if necessary, for Macedonia’s freedom…” (For more information on the MSRC Constitution and its printed editions, see: Dancho Zografski, “Macedonian Secret Revolutionary Committee and ‘Revenge’,” Skopje, 1954.)

The MSRC conclusively had a negative opinion about the role of the Macedonian immigrants in the Macedonian revolutionary movement. The Committee claimed that: “The Macedonian movement cannot be of benefit from afar from the immigrants that fill Bulgaria. They may be good for guerrilla fighting but for the revolution, as it is now, they are just an obstacle. The Macedonian slave should not be placing much hope on them; he must rely on his own two arms...”

Unfortunately, the negative comments made by the MSRC about the role of the Macedonian immigrants in Bulgaria, became a “weapon in the hands of the Bulgarian charlatans... a weapon which allowed them to climb up and down the ladder of power and manipulate their chauvinistic servants”. This was true for Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Romania. Under such circumstances, awakening the immigrant people’s consciousness was not possible... “They screamed to God for freedom but were not ashamed of profiting and filling their wallets with money from the rebellions as was the case in 1895. Activities conducted outside of the people were just that, activities… a waste of time. The Macedonian immigrants dealt with exactly such things...” (Ibid, 11, 59-60, 68.) When the Committee was talking about the immigrants it was talking about the immigrant leaders who overwhelmingly acted exactly the way they were characterized.

The question was “who was responsible for breathing liberation awareness into the enslaved population?” The schools could not assist in this regard because the schools were nothing more than “propagators of chauvinism, of enslavement and of subordination, where the younger generation was poisoned and split into rabid chauvinist-hostile camps... where respect was sowed into the breeding ground of depravation, without character and delusion – in other words to the Exarchates and to the Patriarchates and to the historical and philological ‘rights’ of the Bulgarians, Greeks, Serbians and Romanians; where they preached love for governments that suffocate us and for filial devotion to the Sultan, ‘our father-king’…”. (Ibid, 67 (“Revenge”).)

The Churches played the same role as the schools and they were of no help to the liberation efforts of the Macedonian people. (Ibid, 69 (“Revenge”).)

The MSRC looked at the situation in Macedonia carefully and decided that the Macedonian people should not rely on anyone but themselves in their liberation struggles, and least of all rely on the neighbouring countries. “History of the Macedonian struggles has revealed that every Bulgarian ruler would have been glad to take a bite out of Macedonia and drink its blood; that Macedonia for them (Bulgarian rulers) is nothing more than a means to rule…” (Ibid, 60-61 (v. “Voice”).)

The question was “should the Macedonian people place hope on European diplomacy, outside of Russia, for help?” Here too the answer was “no”. The Macedonian people could not expect help from Europe. Europe was not under Ottoman slavery, the Macedonian people were. They also felt that the Macedonian people could not rely on gaining their freedom with Russian help either because the Russian Tsar and freedom were mutually exclusive. Adulterated Christian motives forced Russia (Tsar separated from people, where the Russian people suffered the same as the Macedonian) to free Bulgaria and to support the liberation of Romania, Serbia and Greece, for purely personal interests, “Russia will ask for our liberty not for us, but to make it easier for itself to reach Constantinople... European diplomacy would do the same… help us if it was in their personal interest or if we were part of some grand scheme. But, it would appear, that there are no benefits to liberating Macedonia...” (Ibid, 65-66 (“Revenge”).)

“Let it be known to all that Macedonia’s liberation will be possible only when the entire population comes together, stands up, opens its eyes, rolls up its sleeves and cleans out its country of the large and small tyrants and the slave masters. Macedonia will be liberated when the Macedonian people push the Sultan’s decaying carcass out of Macedonia. (Ibid, 59-60 (“Revenge”).)

Even though the MSRC made its position very clear on the role of Europe and on the masses being involved in liberation struggles,

there was nothing to prevent the MSRC and the Gemidzhii from expecting Macedonia to be freed through European intervention.

* * *

Based on what was said in the MSRC Constitution and Program we could not say that the MSRC took the position of “classical” anarchism. The MSRC, among other things, was directing the revolution of the oppressed masses as a means of liberating Macedonia. The MSRC felt strongly that socialism would have a greater impact than anarchism. The differences manifest between members of the group in Geneva came to full expression when they returned home. Back in Geneva a group of “Macedonian revolutionaries and terrorists” sprang up and published a newspaper called “Otm’shtenie” with the motto “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”, which advocated terror as a means of a liberation struggle. (To overcome all obstacles in our propaganda and to propagate the work – this is the task of terror that we will sow - the aim of our effort is revolution. Our ideal is to develop humanity and universal happiness. This was the means by which the goals and objectives in the v. “Revenge” were determined. We believe there is no need to point out inconsistencies in the MSRC materials and c. “Revenge”. It is not necessary for our purpose.) It appears that this group was composed of members or part of the members that made up the MSRC, among whom included were Slave Merdzhanov, Petar Mandzhukov and some of their friends from Geneva who chose to act individually in the Ottoman Empire. There they “grasped the idea of starting the liberation through pure terrorism primarily against the European capital invested in the Ottoman state.” (P. Shatev, 73.)

Mandzhukov and Merdzhanov returned home in 1899 in order to realize their intended plans. Mandzhukov went to Skopje where, after some time, he was arrested by the authorities and thrown in prison. Merdzhanov went to Solun where he met Iordan Shurkov, whom he knew from Plovdiv and through him he met the Veles group. The Veles group, as it turned out, was ripe for becoming involved in the revolution. They were ready to engage themselves in the struggle but didn’t know how. They were more or less predisposed to an individual type of struggle. But after hearing them

out, they accepted Mandzhukov and Merdzhanov’s ideas. Mandzhukov by then was released from prison and had also gone to Solun. Mandzhukov and Merdzhanov preached to the Veles group that it was their duty not to “sleep” but to work and that it was an absolute must that they do something “grand”. They suggested killing the sultan, the grand vizier, the valia in Solun, or some other nobles. They advised the Veles group to also think in those terms. Having just come back from abroad and having made connections with the Russian anarchists and nihilists, Mandzhukov and Merdzhanov’s ideas and plans sounded very impressive to the young individuals from Veles. (T. Organdzhiev, 117.)

Another event that influenced the Veles group that it was going in the right direction was the Boxer Uprising in China. This was an uprising against the plundering and exploitation of foreigners perpetrated against the Chinese population. It was an uprising against the European countries which oppressed the Chinese people and committed atrocities against them. (It was an uprising against the foreign colonizers in China. The uprising known as the “Boxer Uprising” took place in 1900 and was incited and led by the secret society known as the “Fist in the name of justice and harmony”. The bloody uprising was violently crushed in 1901.

“We began to understand.” wrote T. Organdzhiev, “that Europe was to blame for our enslavement, which supported the rotting Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was maintained not because it could survive on its own but because the European powers supported it. The Ottoman Empire was surviving because of the injections it was receiving from them... This was why, if we wanted to fight against Ottoman domination, against the Sultan’s tyranny, we needed to strike against those who supported that tyranny, namely the European powers... Then the idea to attack them and their enterprises was born in us… to attack the European capital…” (T. Organdzhiev, 117.)

And gradually this is how the Veles circle of students in Solun began to form its ideals and started calling itself and its members “Gemidzhii”. Other revolutionary circles also emerged from the Gymnasium but they became associated with the Macedonian

Revolutionary Organization where they served. The Veles circle did not go in that direction.

The Gemidzhii believed that Macedonia could be liberated through acts of terror by attacking the European enterprises where a lot of Western capital was invested, such as in banks, railways and so on. They preferred self-sacrifice, especially by the Macedonian intelligentsia, over conventional methods of struggling and did not believe the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization had the ability to prepare a general uprising. According to their understanding, carrying out a general uprising in Macedonia was wrong because it was nearly impossible to organize and arm such a large number of dissatisfied people. Even if the masses were organized and a mass uprising was raised, according to them, it would only crush the tortured people and would not free them. The Gemidzhii did not believe freedom in Macedonia could be achieved through a National Revolution. They learned this and acquired their idealistic physiognomy from the revolutionary, anarchist and nihilistic literature they read and from their contacts with the anarchists in Switzerland. However, in their theoretical approach they neither could nor wanted to identify with their teachers. The Gemidzhii did not try to penetrate the essence of anarchism as a philosophical concept; they were mostly interested and were attracted by the practical side of its teaching. The Veles circle, filled with an incredible amount of hatred for injustice, was preoccupied with the question of how “quick and easy” Macedonia could be freed. This liberation, according to documents obtained from the Geneva group, depended on the great powers intervening in Macedonia. This means that the main objective of the Gemidzhii was to cause the great powers to intervene in favour of Macedonia’s liberation.

The Gemidzhii were not anarchists like those in Russia and the West. Their goal was the same as that of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization. But while the MRO thought that Macedonia could be liberated through good planning and preparing the oppressed and exploited masses for a general uprising, until then the Gemidzhii wanted nothing to do with the masses and with a mass struggle and opposed individual revolutionary actions.

How this revolutionary group viewed the Macedonian revolution and the role of the great powers in it can be examined from a letter dated June 18, 1898, sent from Geneva by Petar Mandzhukov to K. Kirkov in Veles:

“Our unfortunate Macedonian nation has been put through much humiliation by the Turks. It is not a wonder when their degree of culture is well known. But of far greater concern is Europe’s behaviour, which on account of its dubious interests has forgotten its debt to a small nation in the heart of the world. It seems to me that our duty at this point in time is to turn our fight against Europe, which decided the fate of our people. Fighting against the Turks is pointless. I think that we need to turn our attention to hurt Europe’s pocket to remind it of the reality that enslaved people too have the right to life and liberty.

Our slavery might not have been so difficult if this propaganda ‘on behalf of our brothers’ and ‘well-wishers’ did not intend to divide brother from brother and cause the Turks to commit greater crimes against us. Unfortunately, our so-called ‘brothers’ will do everything in their power to impede the unity of our freedom-loving forces...

We know, dear Kosta that the population in our country (Macedonia) is different from the population in Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia which are homogenous countries... Therefore we must take this fact into account and reconcile our struggle in the interests with all these nationalities. We can achieve this only when all nations understand that freedom is not in the name of the country, but in who holds power in it. Then even our Muslims will understand that they are not free in the Turkish state, just like the Macedonians are not free...

I think that the Macedonian people in their current situation cannot be freed through an uprising. They will be facing not only the Ottoman Empire but also Europe, not to mention the Balkan States. I, like our friends in the MSRC are not against an uprising the way the Internal (IMRO) people see it. We are all for such an uprising when we are confident that it will succeed, and not to only expose our entire nation to a slaughterhouse. We want to sacrifice our own lives over sacrificing those of our people for creating the right

conditions for a broad uprising and the liberation of our people. We want to provoke occasional clashes with the Ottomans and through our blood gain the attention and sympathy of the freedom-loving people of Europe and win them over to help us with the uprising. And if not to help us, then at least not be against us…

This way the Macedonian Question could be dealt with quickly and in our interest. This could only happen if we become the leading Macedonians and constantly provoke riots. After all, our salvation is in the revolution. So, I leave it to you to familiarize our comrades with the attitude of our MSRC and spread around its ideas...” (Two letters from members of the Macedonian Secret Revolutionary Committee – “Razgledi”, X, 7, Skopje, 1968, 849.)