Goce Delchev

The organized Macedonian national liberation

movement emerged by the end of the 19th and
the beginning of the 20th century, as a
consequence of the political, national, economic
and cultural oppression of the Macedonian
nation, imposed by the social, economic,
administrative and legislative crisis of the
Turkish empire, and by other foreign states
propaganda interfering in Macedonia.

The Macedonian Revolutionary Organization

The Central Committee seal (MRO), became the newly established leader of
of the MRO from 1896, the Macedonian national liberation and social
containing the symbols
and the slogan revolution movement, struggling for national
"Freedom or Death" independence and social justice.
written on the flag
Those were the turbulent times that created Goce
Delchev, the extraordinary visionary and the
ideological leader who organized and mobilized
the movement.

His brief but brilliant career had been entirely

dedicated to the cause of his nation.

Goce Delchev, the son of the Macedonian patriots

Nikola and Sultana Delchevi, was bom on
February 4th, 1872, in Kukush, a town 35 km north
of Salonika.

The intellectual development of Goce Delchev was

influenced by several formative stages. He
completed his elementary education in Kukush,
expanded his knowledge through the high school
in Salonika, with emphasis on science, literature
and social studies, further developing his interest
in several scientific disciplines at the Salonika
Military Academy. He acquired an impressive
amount of information on the Macedonian national
affairs within the period. His active role in the
political clubs of Salonika and Sofia, and his close
contacts with the other ones, especially with the
socialist and the "Lozari" clubs from Sofia, greatly
contributed to the formation of his revolutionary
profile.
Goce Delchev's involvement in the MRO
determined the most significant course in the
history of the Macedonian national liberation
movement. The years between 1894 and 1903
represent the final and most efficient
revolutionary sequence of his short life. They
comprise of Delchev's public education career
as a scholar in Novo Selo (near Shtip) and
Bansko (1894-1896), and of his ultimate
engagement with the revolutionary cause,
pursuing the preparations for the armed
uprising of the Macedonian people.

A student's report card signed by Goce

Delchev

Novo Selo, where Goce Delchev served as a public school teacher.

A decisive meeting of historic
importance took place in Shtip, in
early November 1894, between
Goce Delchev and Dame Gruev,
the founder of MRO. By that time,
Dame had already witnessed the
major impact of Goce upon the
mobilized expansion of the
movement, its organized network
throughout Macedonia, and its
animation of the remote rural areas
of the entire Macedonian land. The
ideal concept of Delchev saw the
liberation of Macedonia as an
Taking the oath of the Macedonian Revolutionary exclusively domestic affair relying
Organization. on an internally organized uprising,
to which any other adverse opinion
would be either a self-deceptive or
a deceiving one.
The initial significant mission of Goce Delchev
into the interior of the Macedonian land was
recorded in April of 1895. He accomplished the
establishment of local branches of the
organization that spread the spirit of freedom
widely among the population of the country.
Goce's conviction was that the liberation
objectives required a further awakening of the
national sentiments for patriotic sacrifice,
energized by a powerful motivation.

A coded letter written by Goce Delchev

The coverpage of the
Constitution of the TMORO
(Secret Macedonian Odrin
Revolutionary Organization)
Goce was able to recognize and interpret the fatal
danger descending upon Macedonia and coming
from the Balkan monarchies and their
unscrupulous aspirations for the Macedonian
partition, openly promoted by their subversive
propaganda. The most aggressive Bulgarian
propaganda and its crucial instrument, the
destructive fraction called "Vrhovism", became the
target of Goce's severe opposition. Continuing his
enormous influence, Delchev exercised an
updated revision of the revolutionary districts in
Macedonia in 1895, by strengthening the
borderline ones, by providing adequate contacts
for a reliable network, and by appointing branch
leadership of the organization. Meanwhile, Goce
continued maintaining his conviction that the
revolutionary war was to be fought solely by
Macedonian forces, that the purity of the liberation
movement and of the Organization in particular,
was the precondition for the proper outcome, and
that Macedonia was to be protected from falling
under any foreign domination of, or division
between, the neighboring Balkan states. At the
First Congress of MRO, in April of 1896, an
updated organizational redistricting was
introduced, MRO was renamed TMORO (Secret
Macedonian Odrin Revolutionary Organization), its
new Constitution and Charter adopted (drawn up
by Goce Delchev and Gjorche Petrov), and an
expatriate branch of TMORO established in Sofia.
Goce and Gjorche became the first
 representatives of its expatriate branch, and
assumed all the responsibilities regarding material
supplies for the organization, including weapons,
ammunition, revolutionary literature, and other
publications.

Delchev's correspondence with the TMORO

members covers extensive data on supplies,
transport and storage of weapons and
ammunition in Macedonia. Delchev initiated
the idea for an independent production of
weapons, which resulted in the bomb
manufacturing in the Osogovo Mountains. The
plant played a significant role in furthering the
self-confidence and self-reliance within the
revolutionary movement.

A sample of periodicals dispersed

in Macedonia by Goce Delchev

A Macedonian Workshop for weapons at the beginning of the 20th century.

Goce Delchev with his unit after a sabotage action near Angista

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 Goce Delchev as its military advisor
(inspector). Delchev's work-style defied the discrepancy between words and
deeds. It was the nature of this attitude that defined him as the majestic
revolutionary organizer and ideologist of the national liberation movement.
 Goce Delchev accompanied by friends

The justifiable conspiracy period of TMORO was ended by the Vinica Affair of
November 1897, when domestic and world opinion was exposed to the facts
of TMORO's existence and extent.

That was the time of Delchev's campaign trips across Macedonia, inducing
optimism, bright visions and firm confidence in the successful goals of the
Macedonian national idea.

Gjorche Petrov, Nikola Maleshevski and Goce Delchev

The unity of the organization was increasingly challenged by the adverse

infiltration of the Vrhovism fraction into the revolutionary districts of TMORO,
followed by frequent subversions. These developments led to the
subsequently reorganized structure of some revolutionary districts,
implemented by Delchev during 1900-1902.

The primary question regarding the timing of the uprising in Macedonia

implicated an apparent discordance among the representatives, at the Sofia
Conference in 1903.

Goce Delchev and his followers kept warning that a premature uprising could
be the ultimate crime a leader can inflict upon a nation and its history. The
prevention of such a misleading initiative was the main objective of Goce's
permanent mobility on the Macedonian territory.
 On his way to the Congress of the revolutionary
district of Ser (nowadays under Greece), that was
to be held at Lovchan Grove of Ali Botush,
Delchev stopped by the village of Banica. There,
on the 4th of May 1903 Goce Delchev
encountered his lethal opposition - betrayed and
surrounded, he was killed in heroic defense. His
tragic death cancelled many far-reaching visions
this revolutionary giant identified with, during that
period of the Macedonian history.

The death of this apostle of the Macedonian

national liberation struggle was a powerful
newsmaker for the Turkish government telegram
networks, for the diplomatic corps reports in
Turkey, and for the European press agencies.
Delchev was only 31 when he left the Macedonian
A sample of the press coverage historic scene as the most dynamic personality of
of Goce Delchev's death. the Macedonian revolutionary and national
liberation movement.

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".

Krushevo in 1903
Although Goce Delchev strongly
resisted the premature uprising, its
date was nevertheless determined at
the Smilevo Congress. The uprising
was to begin on August 2, 1903, the
orthodox Christian holiday of St.
Elijah. The entire Macedonian
territory got involved in the armed
uprising, within which the most
intense confrontations took place in
the liberation of Neveska, of Klisura
and of Krushevo, where the
Krushevo Republic was proclaimed
by its president, Nikola Karev.

Nikola Karev (1877-1905),

head of the Krushevo branch of the MRO
and president of the Krushevo Republic.

The Ilinden traditions found their

expression during the National
Liberation War (NOV) in Macedonia.
Their climax occurred at the Second
Ilinden, when the First Assembly of
ASNOM took place on August 2,
1944.
The Goce Delchev national liberation
detachment of partisan fighters in 1943.
After a mutual agreement between
the government of the former federal
republic of Macedonia and the
Association of the Macedonian
Fraternities in Bulgaria, the remains
of Goce Delchev were transferred to
the People's Republic of Macedonia,
on October 10, 1946. The following
day, they were solemnly embedded
into a marble sarcophagus,
displayed in the front yard of the "Sv.
Spas" ("Holy Savior") church in
Skopje.

Goce Delchev's life epitomizes the virtuous heroism of the proud Macedonian
nation. The Macedonian people have been paying an extraordinary tribute
and respect to Goce Delchev, expressing them by annual meetings and
anniversaries, numerous scientific, folk and popular culture events, and other
manifestations of admiration for his history-making personality, for his
outstanding efforts.

Delchev's ideals are incorporated in the history of the Macedonian collective

conscience perpetuated through the new generations of today. St. Elijah
holidays of 1903 and 1944, as well as the 1991 break away of Macedonia
from the Yugoslav federation, represent only a partial fulfillment of Goce's
long awaited dream for a free and independent state of Macedonia.

Copyright © 1996-1999 RMacedonia.org, All Rights Reserved.

Terms of Service | Feedback: mac-faq@RMacedonia.org.