Dame Gruev
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Damyan Yovanov Gruev (Macedonian: Дамјан Јованов Груев; Bulgarian: Дамян Йованов Груев) - (January 19, 1871, Smilevo, present day Republic of Macedonia - December 10, 1906, near Petlec peak, present day Republic of Macedonia) was a 19th-20th century Bulgarian revolutionary. He was among the founders of the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees (BMARC)[1] in October 1893. BMARC (IMARO since 1906) was a rebel group active in Ottoman Macedonia and Thrace at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.
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[edit] Biography
Damyan "Dame" Gruev (also transliterated as Grueff) was born in 1871 in the village of Smilevo, district of Bitola, (present day Republic of Macedonia). He received his elementary education in Smilevo, and later studied in Resen, Bitola, Thessaloniki in the Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki, and the University of Sofia, Bulgaria. While still in the Bulgarian Gymnasium of Thessaloniki, Gruev felt the unbearable Turkish oppression and mistreatment of his fellow countrymen.
[edit] Early years
Soon after he graduated from the Gymnasium he went to Sofia and there, in 1889-1890, enrolled in the University of Sofia to study history.
Next, he left the University and returned to Macedonia to apply himself to the revolutionary organization. In order to carry out his plans more successfully and possibly to avert the suspicion of the Turkish authorities, he decided to become a Bulgarian school teacher. The first two years after his return to Macedonia he taught school, first in his native village of Smilevo, and later in the town of Prilep.
Later, Gruev established himself in Thessaloniki and here laid the foundation of the BMARC (Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committee) (renamed in 1906 to IMARO Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization). With the cooperation of Hristo Tatarchev, Petar Pop Arsov and others, he formulated the Constitution and By-laws of the BMARC. It was to be a secret organization under the direction of a Central Committee, with local branches of revolutionary committees throughout Macedonia and the Vilayet of Adrianople. These regions were to be divided into revolutionary districts or rayons. In accordance with the provision of the Constitution, the first Central Revolutionary Committee was organized in the summer of 1894, under the chairmanship of Hristo Tatarchev.
[edit] 1894 to 1900
From 1894 to 1900, Gruev remained very active in his revolutionary activities. In the summer of 1894 in Negotino, he organized the first local revolutionary committee, and soon after with the cooperation of Pere Toshev, the first district committee in the city of Štip. Gruev also visited the cities of Resen, Ohrid, and Struga, and found the local population to be accepting of his organization's revolutionary ideas. He remained as a teacher in Štip during the academic year 1894-1895.
In the fall of 1895 Gotse Delchev arrived in Štip with the idea of laying the foundations of a revolutionary movement seeking autonomy for Macedonia and Adrianople Thrace. There Gruev and Delchev met for the first time and shared their ideas. Gruev introduced Delchev to the plan of the work which had been outlined already by the Central Committee of Thessaloniki. After this, both Gruev and Delchev worked together in Štip and its environs.
The expansion of the IMRO at the time was phenomenal, particularly after Gruev settled in Thessaloniki during the years 1895-1897, in the quality of an Bulgarian school inspector. Gruev had become the soul and body of the Central revolutionary committee. Under his direction, secret revolutionary papers were issued, ciphers were introduced, pseudonyms or a nom de plume were used, and channels for secret communication between various other local and Bulgarian committees were maintained. A representative of the Central Revolutionary Committee was to sent in Sofia to take charge of purchasing and dispatching of the necessary war provisions for BMARC.
Gruev’s tirelessly travelled throughout Macedonia and the Vilayet of Adrianople and systematically established and organized committees in villages and cities. Unfortunately, for purely political reasons, and in order to avoid suspicion from the Ottoman authorities, BMARC decided to dismiss Gruev in 1898. Soon after his dismissal Gruev moved to Bitola and there with the cooperation of Arsov, Paskov and others, he began to issue a revolutionary paper.
He organized a system in which money was collected from Sunday schools through a special "revolutionary tax", and a quantity of war materials was purchased. Gruev was again appointed to the teaching staff now in the city of Bitola, and as such, he also assumed the management of the revolutionary movement in the Vilayet of Monastir (Bitola), while the active persons at the Committee in Thessaloniki were Hristo Tatarchev, Pere Toshev, and Hristo Matov.
Gruev’s activities in the Bitola district were not left unnoticed by the Turkish authorities. Numerous chetas (bands) throughout the surrounding mountains began to terrorize the local authorities. Gruev, being suspected as a major factor in fostering this movement, was arrested on August 6, 1900. He was being held in the Bitola jail until May 1902. However, by using secret writings and ciphers, he was able to remain in contact with the local revolutionary committees, and direct the affairs of the revolutionary district of Bitola.
[edit] Uprising
- See also: Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising
In the latter part of May, 1902, Gruev was condemned to banishment in the prison of Podroum Kale in Asia Minor. There he found Hristo Matov and Hristo Tatarchev, both sentenced to exile in January 1901. Gruev and his comrades were kept in Podroum Kale for ten months. Although he was away from |Macedonia and Thrace itself, Gruev managed to keep himself informed as to the development and affairs of the IMARO. He kept up a steady stream of encrypted correspondence with Thessaloniki, Bitola, and Sofia. On Easter of 1903, at the instance of a general amnesty, he was released. Gruev hastened to Thessaloniki and there he found that the Central Committee, which was in charge of the IMARO, had already resolved to declare a general insurrection which was to take place during 1903. Although Gruev was not in accord with the Central Committee’s decision, primarily because of the SMARO’s lack of preparedness, he gave in to the decision of the central Committee.
He left Thessaloniki and went to Smilevo where the insurrectionary Congress was to be held. The purpose of this Congress was to set the date for the declaration of the general insurrection and to outline the methods and tactics in its prosecution. Here Gruev met Boris Sarafov, who had just arrived from Bulgaria. Gruev was elected as chairman of this Congress, and the latter decided that the day of the declaration of the insurrection was to be August 2, 1903. Gruev, Sarafov, and Aleksandar Lozanchev were elected by the Congress as the three members of the General Staff, and empowered to direct the insurrectionary forces in the Vilayet of Monastir.
[edit] Demise
Gruev lived to see the frightful flight of the Turkish asker (troops) from his native village of Smilevo. He was engaged, during the course of the insurrection, in numerous skirmishes with the Ottoman army and gallantly defended the temporarily freed Smilevo. But with the arrival in |Macedonia of over 300,000 troops, any progress of the insurrection was made impossible and in a period of six weeks it was completely crushed. Gruev put himself to task of touring various revolutionary districts, disarming the insurgents, and storing up the war materials for future use. But Gruev and his followers kept up the spirit of the local population and continued the work of organization and preparation for another uprising. "For great affairs ..." said Gruev, " ... are necessary great forces. Liberty is a great thing - it requires great sacrifices."
Tragically, on December 23, 1906 while on his way through the village of Rusinovo (Maleševo district), Gruev and his cheta (band) were confronted by Ottoman forces, where he met his death.
[edit] Ethnicity of Dame Gruev
As most of the events and developments in late 19th century Macedonia, the national and ethnic affiliations of Dame Gruev are a contentious issue. He is regarded as an ethnic Bulgarian by the majority of historians and as an ethnic Macedonian by Μacedonian historians. 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". Bulgarian historians argue that the Macedonian autonomy was never meant to have an "ethnic Macedonian" nature and note that no distinction between a "Macedonian" and "Bulgarian" existed at that time pointing to the use of "Adrianopolitan" alongside "Macedonian" in the documents of the IMARO. The article on Macedonians provides insight into the some of the ethno-historic complexities of the region.
[edit] Notes
- ^ BMARC was the predecessor to the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO). BMARC, IMARO and IMRO changed names on several occasions. To avoid confusion, this article uses only the name and acronym "IMARO". For a detailed discussion of the organization and its history, please consult the dedicated article.
