First statute of the IMRO

[11] Certain contradictions and even mutually exclusive statements, along with inconsistencies exist in the testimonies of the founding and other early members of the Organization, which further complicates the solution of the problem.

[19] They were native to the region of Macedonia, and some of them were influenced from anarcho-socialist ideas, which gave to organisation's basic documents slightly leftist leaning.

The occasion for convening this meeting was the celebration on the consecration of the newly built Bulgarian Exarchate church in the town in August 1894.

Schoolteachers were en masse involved in the committee's activity, and the Ottoman authorities considered the Bulgarian schools then "nests of bandits".

[26] In the earliest dated samples of statutes and regulations of the Organization discovered so far, it is called Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Committees (BMARC).

[note 1][27][28][29] These documents refer to the then Bulgarian population in the Ottoman Empire, which was to be prepared for a general uprising in Macedonia and Adrianople regions, aiming to achieve political autonomy for them.

[34] This ethnic restriction matches with the memoirs of some founding and ordinary members, where is mentioned such a requirement, set only in the Organization's first statute.

[35][note 2] The name of BMARC, as well as information about its statute, was mentioned in the foreign press of that time, in Bulgarian diplomatic correspondence, and exists in the memories of some revolutionaries and contemporaries.

[36] Contradictions, inconsistencies and even mutually exclusive statements exist in the testimonies of the founding and other early members of the Organization on the issue.

[note 3] On the other hand, according to the founding member Gyorche Petrov, initially the IMRO was not called an "Organization", and this term was introduced after 1895.

[41][42] However, per Hristo Kotsev [bg] (1869-1933) Dame Gruev commissioned him to start the construction of the committee network in Adrianople region in 1895.

According to Gyurov's claims, he had hidden one copy each of the statutes and regulations, but he did not manage to keep them because they fell apart due to poor storage conditions.

It is known that the first statute was prepared by Petar Poparsov and was adopted at the beginning of 1894, and according to some reports, the first regulations were developed by Ivan Hadzhinikolov either in the same year or in 1895.

Per Iliya Doktorov [bg] (1876-1947) initially the organization had a nationalist character and only Bulgarians had the right to be members of it, but this ethnic restriction lasted until 1896.

According to Nikola Zografov in 1895 Gotse Delchev was supplied with a power of attorney from the name of the BMARC and sent to Sofia to propagate the struggle for autonomy that was open to every Bulgarian.

[62][63] In 1961, Macedonian historian Ivan Katardžiev published undated statute and regulations discovered by him, naming the organization BMARC, which he dated from 1894.

[72] Per Gane Todorovski from its very name could be concluded this was initially an organization primarily of the Bulgarian population in Macedonia and Adrianople areas.

Later that conclusion was confirmed, while corrected statute and rules of the BMARC were discovered in Bulgaria, which are practically drafts of the basic documents of the SMARO.

[85] However in 2021, he has rejected all this, claiming that allegedly not a single document written from any activist of the Organization has been found so far, containing the name of BMARC.

[107] Other Bulgarian historians do not accept the view of Pandev and continue to adhere to that of Katardziev, i.e., the first statutory name of the organization from 1894 was BMARC.

[122] On October 10, 1900, the newspaper "Pester Lloyd", published in retelling form excerpts from the captured by the Ottoman authorities statutes of the Bulgarian Macedonian Revolutionary Committee, i.e. BMARC.

[36] On the other hand, the Austro-Hungarian consul in Skopje Gottlieb Para [bg] (1861-1915), in his report of 14.11.1902, attached a document in translation, which he designated as the new statute of the revolutionary organization.

[123] At the same time the Serbian Consul General in Bitola Mihajlo Ristic wrote on January 25, 1903 that until the beginning of 1902, the work of the Committee had a purely Bulgarian character, while the local Serbs and Greeks were feared from its activity.

[124] Also, even in 1895, Gotse Delchev was supplied with a power of attorney and sent to Sofia, as a representative of the "Bulgarian Central Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Committee".

According to the memoires of Dimitar Voynikov (1896-1990), when Delchev visited Strandzha Mountain in 1900, the changes in the statute of SMARO were already fact and were discussed at a meetings with the local IMRO-activists, where his father was present.

[131] Per Article 3 of the statute of BMARC: "Membership is open to any Bulgarian, irrespective of sex, who has not compromised himself in the eyes of the community by dishonest and immoral actions, and who promises to be of service in some way to the revolutionary cause of liberation.

While this leftist idea was taken aboard by some Vlachs, as well as by some Patriarchist Slavic-speakers,[note 4] it failed to attract other groups for whom the IMRO remained the Bulgarian Committee.

[135][136][137] According to Hristo Tatarchev, founders' demand for autonomy was motivated by concerns that a direct unification with Bulgaria would provoke the rest of the Balkan states and the Great Powers to military actions.

Among its founders were scientists, historians, journalists and descendants of Bulgarian historical figures from the regions of Macedonia and Southern Thrace.

In North Macedonia, the acknowledgement of any Bulgarian influence on its history and politics is very undesirable, because it contradicts the post-WWII Yugoslav Macedonian nation-building and historical narratives, based on a deeply anti-Bulgarian attitudes, which still continue today.

Excerpt from the statute of BMARC, (1894 or 1896; in Bulgarian language ) [ 1 ]
Statute of the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees
Chapter I. – Goal
Art. 1. The goal of BMARC is to secure full political autonomy for the Macedonia and Adrianople regions .
Art. 2. To achieve this goal they [the committees] shall raise the awareness of self-defense in the Bulgarian population in the regions mentioned in Art. 1., disseminate revolutionary ideas – printed or verbal, and prepare and carry on a general uprising.
Chapter II. – Structure and Organization
Art. 3. A member of BMARC can be any Bulgarian, independent of gender, ...
Excerpt from the draft of the statute of the SMARO made by hand on the statute of the BMARC by Gotse Delchev or Petar Poparsov discovered in Bulgaria. [ 2 ] The Organization changed its name and dropped 'Bulgarian' from it, appealing to all dissatisfied elements, regardless of their nationality, to win through a revolution, political autonomy for Macedonia and Adrianople regions. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] According to Katardžiev, there is an overlapping of the text of the statutes of BMARC and that of SMARO, i.e. 8 from the 15 articles in the statute of the BMARC are identical to those in the statute of SMARO. Thus it is clear that when drafting one, the other was used. [ 5 ]
Excerpt from p. 5 of the article "The Wars and the Macedonian Question", published in 1922 in the magazine "Macedonia" by the IMRO revolutionary Georgi Bazhdarov [ bg ] (1875-1924). Here, the author insists that the first statute of the Organization, was that of BMARC. Verbatim are quoted Art. 1 and Art. 2 of the statute. The content of Art. 3 is partially quoted too. It is explained also that only after 1900 the Organization was opened to other nationalities besides Bulgarians. [ 6 ]
Excerpt from Art. 15 of the RegulatIons of the BMARC containing the oath of the Organization: "I swear by God, my faith and honor that I will fight to the death for the freedom of the Bulgarians in Macedonia and the Adrianople region, that I will submit unconditionally to the leadership and will unprotestingly carry out its orders; that I will betray to no one, neither by word nor by deed the secret to which I wed myself today and all that I shall see, hear and understand concerning the Cause from today on. If I break my oath, let me be killed by one of the comrades with the revolver or the dagger which here I kiss." [ 7 ]
Excerpt from page 6 of Spiro Gulabchev 's manuscript from 1904 "The causes that gave rise to the revolutionary organization remain unexplored; (Part II "The Organization"). The text discusses the statute and regulations of BMARC. In the excerpt, Art. 19, Art. 14 and Art. 15 of the Regulations are quoted verbatim. Art. 15 describes the oath of the Organization. [ 8 ]
Excerpt from page 58 of the book "The Construction of Life" (1927), authored by the IMRO-revolutionary Nikola Zografov [ bg ] (1869 - 1931). Per Zografov as early as 1895, Gotse Delchev was supplied with a power of attorney and sent to Sofia, from the name of the "Bulgarian Central Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Committee". [ 9 ] This suggests that at that time the organization already bore the name BMARC and the Adrianopolitan area was in its scope.
Excerpt from p. 103 of the memoirs of Hristo Tatarchev from 1928, where he described the adoption of the organization's first statute. He claims, it was modelled after the statute of the earlier BRCC. He also states, its first name was MRO, but leaving the remark: "as far, as I can remember".
A page from the memoirs of Hristo Tatarchev from 1936, where he described the adoption of the organization's first statute, claiming initially, it was allowed that every Bulgarian, from any region, to be its member. However, per him, the designation "Bulgarian" was dropped from it subsequently, to avoid any nationalist bias among other peoples in the region.
Excerpt from p. 14 of Autonomous Macedonia (1919) where Vladislav Kovachev maintains that the first statute of the IMRO allowed the membership only for Bulgarians within a special article. Later this status was changed but only a few Vlachs joined the Organization.
Excerpt from page 69 of the unpublished book "Notes and Reflections on the Macedonian Nation" from 1959. The author is the activist of the left wing of IMRO Dimitar Popevtimov. He insists that the first name of IMRO according to the first statute of the organization from 1894 was BMARC, and only Bulgarians could participate in it.
Excerpt from page 66 of the book "My Participation in the Revolutionary Struggles" from 1954. The author Alekso Martulkov , an activist of the left wing of IMRO claims the first statute which was adopted in Resen (1894) was strictly nationalist and contained a special Article, which permitted the membership only to Bulgarians. A new statute adopted in Salonica (1896) cancelled this restriction. [ 10 ]