Svoboda ili smart

For the first time, the slogan appeared in Georgi Rakovski's poem "Горски пътник", written in 1854 and issued in 1857.

He most likely accepted and transliterated the slogan Eleftheria i thanatos from the Greek liberation struggles, which was a national motto of Greece.

The flag with the lion was provided in 1858, when he stipulated that the national flag will have on its front side a lion depicted and the inscription "Svoboda ili smart" and on its reverse side a Christian cross and the inscription "God with us, forward!".

[8] The Bulgarian Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization, established in 1893 in the Ottoman Empire, also accepted the same slogan.

The uniforms of the Ohranists were supplied by the Italians and were resplendent with shoulder patches bearing the inscription "Italo-Bulgarian Committee: Freedom or Death".

[14] Today in North Macedonia the motto has been sometimes described as written originally in Macedonian, which has caused protests from Bulgaria.

The book of Rakovski Gorski Patnik (Forest wanderer), where the motto appeared for the first time in 1857. [ 1 ]
Vasil Levski in a First Bulgarian Legion uniform in 1862. The legionnaires wore caps, on which metal lions marked with the motto were attached.
Bulgarian flag with the motto.
Banner presenting the motto written in post-1944 Macedonian language as the original slogan of the defunct in 1934 IMRO .