A short history of IMRO

   

   The Berlin congress in 1878 tears San-Stephano's Bulgaria in 5 pieces: princedom of Bulgaria, Eastern Roumelia, Moravic, Northern Dobrudja, Trace and Macedonia. As a result of the decisions of the Great Powers, the macedonian problem appears on the scene of history.Untill that moment the fate of the bulgarians in Macedonia was unseparable part of the bulgarian national question, as well as of all other internationally acknowledged regions of the Balkans. The struggle for liberation and national unification passes through several stages. 

 On October 23rd 1893 a group of bulgarian patriots, headed by Damian Gruev and Hristo Tatarchev found in Salonica an underground revolutionary organisition. The Bulgarian Macedono-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees, as the organisation was called, put as its aim to fight for the autonomy of the two regions as stage of the unification with the free bulgarian state.Had the unification been unsuccessful, no matter of the reason,it was expected the macedono-adrianople region to become the nucleus of the future balkan federation of free states. The established in 1895 in Sofia, Macedono-Adrianople Committee, headed by the macedonian born, great bulgarian patriot, Traiko Kitanchev,had the same aim. 

 The Inner Organisation layed the foundations of a strongly connected with the bulgarian population organisational network, created revolutionary military groups, carried out the preparation for the uprising.A peak of the national liberation struggle was the Illinden-Preobrazhenie uprising , which was precedented by several years of clashes between the turkish army and the revolutionary military groups, multiple "affairs" and the Gorna Djumaija uprising.The arguements between the activists of the Inner Organisation and the Supreme Committee on the tactics of reaching the final aim had unfavorable effect on the liberation movement. A serious crisis was created by the discussions after the defeat of the uprising, the losses of the IMARO, the forign propaganda's pressure, the ideological differences on the road to be followed by IMARO, as it is called after the Rila Congress /1905/.A fraticides followed, the beginning being put by the Yane Sandanski's group with the murder of Boris Sarafov and Ivan Garvanov in 1907. 

 To a certain extent, possibilities were created for legal activity of the Revolutionary organisation with the Young Turks' coup d'etat.The differences between the two ideological trends / known as the "left" and the " right"/, nevertheless continiued to deepen.On the other side, the hypocritical position of the Young Turks and their attempts for otomanisation of all nationalities forced IMARO to resume its underground activity in 1911. During the Balkan Wars, IMARO concedes all military and human resources to the allied forces and especially to the bulgarian army for the liberation of Macedonia and Thrace. The injust clauses of the Neuilly Peace Treaty and the second national catastrophe bring again to life the revolutionary organisation under the name IMRO. Using as base the free part of Macedonia, the part of Bulgaria known as Pirin Macedonia, IMRO takes course for sending of military groups in Vardar and Aegian Macedonia for the defence of the bulgarian population under Serbian and Greek rule. 

 During this period the internal fights, arguements and differences accompanied by physical destruction are characteristic of the activities of IMRO. The organisation is abolished after the coup d'etat of May 19th 1934, although it continiues to exist and work even during the Second World War. The activity of IMRO after 1944 is aimed at the organisation of the resistance against the forced macedonisation of the bulgarian population of Pirin Macedonia. At the lead of the organisation are K. Drangov, G. Nastev, and V. Kourtev. In Vardar Macedonia, as reaction to the systemic terror and violence against the bulgarian population, several secret resistance groups were created. In short time, however, the authorities in Macedonia and Bulgaria destroy the last organised groups of IMRO. 

 Many attempts were made during the next 40 years until the end of the 80-ies to reestablish IMRO, mainly in Vardar Macedonia.These attempts had one main result - keeping alive the ideas of the changes that started in 1989 and attracting attention to the macedonian problem. The fall down of the communist system and the breakdown of Federative Jugoslavia created suitable conditions for the resuming of the IMRO's activities. In the end of 1989 in Vardar Macedonia the Inner Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation - Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity / IMRO- DPMNU/ was created. A year later the Union of Macedonian Associations in Bulgaria added to its name the initials IMRO and declared that it is its heir. A new page of the history of IMRO started, an important factor in R.of Macedonia and R. of Bulgaria, in the beginning if its second century of existance.

From: 105 years since the creation of the Inner Macedonian Adrianople revolutionary organisation by Evg. Ekov