Gotse Delchev

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For the town in Bulgaria, see Gotse Delchev (town).

Gotse Delchev

Gotse Delchev or Goce Delčev (Гоце Делчев; 1872-1903) was an important 19th century revolutionary figure in Ottoman Macedonia region and Thrace. He was one of the the leaders of what is nowadays commonly referred to as the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO).^[1] This organization was active in Ottoman Macedonia and Thrace at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Gotse Delchev is considered an ethnic Bulgarian in Bulgaria and an ethnic Macedonian in the Republic of Macedonia which has given rise to numerous disputes regarding his ethnicity (see below for more information on the ethnicity issue).

[edit] Biography

Born on January 23, 1872 in Kilkis (Кукуш; Kukush), present day Greece, Delchev finished the local Bulgarian junior high school and the Bulgarian high school "St Cyril and Methodius" in Thessaloniki. He entered the Military academy in Sofia in 1891, but was expelled because he was a member of a socialist circle. Delchev became a Bulgarian language teacher in a Bulgarian school in Stip in 1894 ^[2], where he met Dame Gruev, the leader of the local committee of BMARC/SMARO. As a result of the close friendship between the two, Delchev joined the organization in 1895 becoming before long one of its main leaders. The next school year (1895/1896) he was a teacher in the town of Bansko and after that he moved to Bulgaria, where together with Gjorche Petrov he became the representative of the internal organisation in Bulgaria.^{[citation needed]}

Gotse Delchev's involvement in IMRO was an important moment for the history of the Macedonian liberation movement. The years between 1894 and 1903 represented the final and most effective revolutionary phase of his short life. Delchev fought for Macedonian autonomy. As most of the other leaders of IMRO at the time, Delchev had a vision of an independent multiethnic Macedonia. The international, cosmopolitan views of Delchev that elevated him far ahead of his time, could be summarized in his proverbial sentence: "I understand the world solely as a field for cultural competition among nations".^[3]

Monument of Goce Delchev in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria.

His correspondence with the other IMRO members covers extensive data on supplies, transport and storage of weapons and ammunition in Macedonia. Delchev envisioned independent production of weapons, which resulted in the establishment of a bomb manufacturing plant in the village of Sabler near Kyustendil in Bulgaria. The bombs were later smuggled across the Ottoman border into Macedonia.^{[citation needed]}

The inclusion of the rural areas into the organizational districts contributed to the expansion of the organization and the increase in its membership, while providing the essential prerequisites for the formation of the military power of the organization, at the same time having Gotse Delchev as its military advisor (inspector).^{[citation needed]}

The primary question regarding the timing of the uprising in Macedonia implicated an apparent discordance among the representatives, at the Sofia Conference in 1903 with Delchev opposing the uprising as premature.^{[citation needed]}

Delchev died on May 4, 1903 in a skirmish with the Turkish police near the village of Banitza, located in the Serres region, present day Greece, while preparing the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising in Macedonia.^{[citation needed]} Delchev's remains were transferred to Bulgaria in 1915 (or 1919) where they rested until after the Second World War. They were transferred to the People's Republic of Macedonia^[4] on October 10, 1946. The following day, they were enshrined in a marble sarcophagus which is until present displayed in the yard of the "Sv. Spas" ("Holy Savior") church in Skopje.

[edit] Delchev's Legacy

Gotse Delchev is important for ethnic Macedonians as his activities as a leader of IMRO provide an ideological basis for the latter development of Macedonian statehood. His revolutionary activities were primarily directed against Ottoman rule, towards which a general resistance was expressed by the majority of the Macedonian peoples. As a result, Delchev raised the collective awareness and spirit of all Macedonians and his cosmopolitan and wordly views have provided an invaluable example for the generations to come. Certain ideologues of Macedonian statehood seek direct inspiration from Delchev's life and work and assert a linkage to the Krushevo Republic and the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie uprising as a foundational events for the Macedonian state. In this sense, present-day Macedonian politics and the establishment of the state of the Republic of Macedonia may be better understood by taking note of Delchev's revolutionary activities and views.

In Bulgaria Delchev is regarded as the most important revolutionary from the second generation of freedom fighters who continued the struggle for political autonomy or independence in the Bulgarian-populated parts of Macedonia and the Adrianople vilayet after the establishment of the autonomous Bulgarian principaility in 1878. His memory is honoured especially among the descendants of Bulgarian refugees from Aegean Macedonia, as well as in Pirin Macedonia.

Gotse Delchev's name appears in the national anthem of the Republic of Macedonia "Denes nad Makedonija". There are two towns named in his honour: Gotse Delchev in Bulgaria and Delčevo in the Republic of Macedonia.

[edit] Ethnicity of Gotse Delchev

As most of the events and developments in late 19th century Macedonia, the national and ethnic affiliations of Gotse Delchev are a contentious issue. In some of his correspondence he described himself as a Bulgarian^[5], yet he also embraced the idea of a common Macedonian autonomous state uniting Macedonians and Adrianopolitans regardless of ethnicity or creed. The heterogeneous elements in his statements and work have resulted in his treatment as an ethnic Bulgarian by Bulgarian historians and as an ethnic Macedonian by historians from the Republic of Macedonia. The latter argue that the use of the word "Bulgarian" in the 19th century Macedonia does not refer to ethnicity, and that it was synonymous with "Christian" or "Slav".^[6] Bulgarian historians argue that the Macedonian autonomy was never meant to have an "ethnic Macedonian" nature and note that no contradiction between a "Macedonian" (as a regional and supranational term) and "Bulgarian" (as an ethnic term) existed at that time, pointing to the use of "Adrianopolitan" alongside "Macedonian" in the documents of the BMARC/SMARO.^[7] The article on Macedonians provides insight into the some of the ethno-historic complexities of the region. See also Macedonism.

Perhaps the best way to evaluate his national conscience is by investigating his work.^[8]

[edit] See also

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Gotse Delchev

• Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation
• Macedonian Question
• History of the Republic of Macedonia
• History of Bulgaria

[edit] Notes

1. ↑  One of the first names of the organisation was "Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees" (BMARC оr БМОРК), which was later changed to Secret Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (SMARO, ТМОРО). There is a dispute between Bulgarian historians (Pandev, 1969, 1970) and Yugoslav (later Macedonian) historians (Bitoski, 1997) regarding when the renaming took place: 1896/97 or 1902. Most Western scholars seem to have accepted Pаndev's view (Poulton, 2000; Adanir, 1979; Perry, 1988) although prior to the publication of his article Bulgarian historiography seemed to agree that the name SMARO dates back to 1896/7.^{[citation needed]} Hugh Poulton writes that "The organisation repeatedly and confusingly changed its name, often as a reflection of the balance between pro-Bulgarian and pro-Macedonian autonomists (see below). It appears to have originally been called the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Committee (BMORK -- the 'O' standing for Odrin or Adrianopole). In 1902 it changed its name to the Secret Macedonian Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Organisation (TMORO) while from 1905 it was first known as VMORO and then simply VMRO, where the 'V' stands for 'inner' in Bulgarian."
2. ↑  Source needed; the old link was broken.
3. ↑  Яворов, П. Гоце Делчев, София, 1904. Аlso here. (Bulgarian)
4. ↑  The People's Republic of Macedonia was one of several federal entities of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia until 1963 when constitutional and name changes were instituted. For more on the remains of Delchev, read this article by Delchev's friend Mihail Chakov.
5. ↑  Gotse Delchev is identifying itself as Bulgarian in his letter to Nikola Maleshevski.
6. ↑  In the late 19th century, Bulgarian could be used as a general identifying term based on religion for any Christian belonging to the Bulgarian Exarchate within the Ottoman Empire. It could also mean a person who spoke Bulgarian, or identified as Bulgarian. Identifying as Bulgarian did not exclude additional ethnic identification as ethnic Macedonian (assuming such an ethnic orientation existed at that time), Vlach or Greek. (Friedman 1997)
7. ↑ It is claimed (mostly by Bulgarian scholars) that at the time, Macedonian was used as a regional identifier for a person living in the region of Macedonia, and the modern ethnic sense of the word was nonexistent or at its beginnings. In this context, identifying as Macedonian in a regional sense did not exclude identification as ethnic Bulgarian.
8. ↑  Гоце Делчев. Спомени, документи и материали. София, 1978. (Bulgarian)

[edit] References

• Пандев, К. "Устави и правилници на ВМОРО преди Илинденско-Преображенското въстание", Исторически преглед, 1969, кн. I, стр. 68—80. (Bulgarian)
• Пандев, К. "Устави и правилници на ВМОРО преди Илинденско-Преображенското въстание", Извeстия на Института за история, т. 21, 1970, стр. 250-257. (Bulgarian)
• Битоски, Крсте, сп. "Македонско Време", Скопје - март 1997, quoting: Quoting: Public Record Office - Foreign Office 78/4951 Turkey (Bulgaria), From Elliot, 1898, Устав на ТМОРО. S. 1. published in Документи за борбата на македонскиот народ за самостојност и за национална држава, Скопје, Универзитет "Кирил и Методиј": Факултет за филозофско-историски науки, 1981, pp 331 - 333. (Macedonian)
• Hugh Pouton Who Are the Macedonians? , C. Hurst & Co, 2000. p. 53. ISBN 1-85065-534-0
• Fikret Adanir, Die Makedonische Frage: ihre entestehung und etwicklung bis 1908., Wiessbaden 1979, p. 112.
• Duncan Perry The Politics of Terror: The Macedonian Liberation Movements, 1893-1903 , Durham, Duke University Press, 1988. pp. 40-41, 210 n. 10.
• Friedman, V. (1997) "One Grammar, Three Lexicons: Ideological Overtones and Underpinnings of the Balkan Sprachbund" in CLS 33 Papers from the 33rd Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. (Chicago : Chicago Linguistic Society)
• Димитър П. Евтимов, Делото на Гоце Делчев, Варна, изд. на варненското Македонско културно-просветно дружество "Гоце Делчев", 1937. (Bulgarian)

[edit] External links

• A biography written by Delchev's close friend and fellow revolutionary Peju Javorov
• Original Ottoman documents about the murder of Gotse Delchev
• Excerpt from the memoirs of Enver Pasha referring to the struggle of the Ottoman government with IMARO
• An illustrated essay
• Speech about Gotse Delchev, from his niece, Katerina Trajkova Nurdzieva