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The Ilinden Uprising And The
Krushevo Republic
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The
dissatisfaction of the Macedonian people was expressed through the revolts
and rebellions of the first half of the 19th century; but by mid-century,
it found its release through the organization of a movement for national
liberation. This movement culminated in the formation of the Macedonian
Revolutionary Organization (VMRO) at the end of the century.
VMRO was preceded by a wide national unification movement led by a group
of young Macedonian intellectuals writing for the periodical Loza (Vine)
in 1892, later called Lozari. Distinguished members of this group included
Petar Pop Arsov, Dame Gruev, Krste P. Misirkov and Grigor Hadzhitashkovich;
Goce Delchev and Gjorche Petrov likely belonged to this movement as well.
Misirkov writes that the members of the movement"...recognized the
danger of Macedonia's partitioning between those two states [between Serbia
and Bulgaria] if the Macedonians did not arm and gain freedom by themselves,
with their own strength and means, counteracting thereby the division of
Macedonia..."
On October 23, 1893, in Thessaloniki, Ivan Hadzhi Nikolov, Dame Gruev, Petar
Pop Arsov, Hristo Tatarchev, Anton Dimitrov and Hristo Batandzhiev founded
the Secret Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (TMORO, later renamed the
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, or VMRO), to effect the
liberation of Macedonia within its geographic and historic borders. The
movement was to work within these borders, open to all faiths and nationalities,
in the quest for national autonomy. Following the decisions of the 1896
ThessaIoniki Congress, the Smilevo Congress of the Bitola Revolutionary
District held on May 2 to May 7, 1903, resulted in the decision to launch
an uprising.
In response to the Smilevo Congress, a meeting of VMRO's General Staff held
on July 13, 1903 O.S. (July 26, N.S.) planned a general uprising to begin
on July 20, 1903 O.S. (August 2, N.S.). The proclamation issued on July
15 O.S. (July 28, N.S.) reads that "the people of all Macedonia must
come out with gun in hand to meet the enemy... On that day, hasten, brothers--follow
your leaders and flock beneath the flag of freedom! Have courage, brothers,
in the fight! Only by persistent and lengthy struggle can we be saved!"
The Central Committee's representative office in Sofia informed the Great
Powers that an uprising had begun, explaining that the plight of the Christian
population in Macedonia had worsened and forced the population to rise up.
A request was made for the "appointment, with the consent of the Great
Powers, of a chief administrator for the Christians who was never a member
of the Ottoman administration and who would be independent from the Sublime
Porte in fulfilling his duties", as well as the "establishment
of continuous, collective international control with broad powers to sanction".
The uprising began on August 2, 1903, the Feast of St. Elias. The fiercest
fighting centered around the Bitola Revolutionary District, where the rebels
severed telegraph and telephone lines, blocked roads and attacked Turkish
garrisons and estates of the beys. But the Krushevo Revolutionary District
possessed the best strategy, laying out exactly-defined objectives and an
elaborate plan to capture Krushevo by eight rebel detachments. Communications
between the general headquarters of Nikola Karev and the individual detachments
and guerrilla bands were maintained despite the rigors of war.
On August 2, the Krushevo staff announced that "We are burning with
impatience, waiting for night to fall so that we may come and take Krushevo
and then, together with all the people of Macedonia, let out a thunderous
victory cheer! God and justice are on our side! Long live Macedonia!"
That night, the cutting of telephone wires signaled the attack. Rebels struck
strategic sites such as military barracks, the post office and the town
council building; by August 3, the town had been wrested from the Turks.
That afternoon an assembly was convened, attended by "about 60 representatives
of all nationalities, in order to elect an executive body for the liberated
territory. After short consultation, it was decided to establish a temporary
government consisting of 6 members--representatives of the three most numerous
nationalities in the town." These distinguished citizens constituted
the council of the Krushevo Republic, while the Krushevo General Staff of
TMORO represented the military authority of the new republic.
The
temporary government was "to impose taxes on citizens by temporary
order, to requisition food for insurgents and the population of the town
and surrounding villages, requisition clothing and footwear for insurgents
and militarized citizens, and materials for their armament; to take care
of wounded and sick insurgents,, citizens and peasants; to maintain order
and peace in the town and alike."
Concurrently to the establishment of the temporary government, several commissions
were formed to carry out the tasks assigned by the government. These included
an Internal Commission, to maintain public order; a Food Commission; a Civil
Commission responsible for construction and hygiene; a Clothing Commission;
a Financial Reform Commission; and a Financial Commission. In the establishment
of both the temporary government and the commissions, the principle of proportional
representation of all nationalities was applied. As Aleksandar Hristov notes,
"the temporary government in liberated Krushevo, although not provided
for in the insurgents' constitution, was a legitimate representative of
the insurgents. Its election and the revolutionary acts passed by it legitimized
it as a fully legitimate, supreme authority on the territory of the [Krushevo]
Republic."
The Krushevo Republic created by the insurgents represented a potential
projection of "the future autonomous state of Macedonia. It is characteristic
that all [governmental] bodies were constituted by the people of Krushevo,
from among all three nationalities in the town..."
One of the most important acts of the Krushevo Republic was the manifesto
issued by the Krushevo General Staff, "representing a declaration of
the aims and goals of the insurgents, outlining a basis for brotherly coexistence
among the nationalities during the struggle for freedom." The Krushevo
Manifesto was part of the civil orientation of the Krushevo General Staff;
addressing the Moslem population it states: "We have raised no gun
against you. That would be to our shame. We do not raise our guns against
the peaceful, hardworking and honest Turkish man who feeds himself, as we
do, by blood and sweat--he is our brother. We have together lived with him,
and want to so live again..." 
Continuing, the staff summoned all citizens of Macedonia to a struggle against
tyranny: "Come brothers, Moslems, come and fight against your and our
enemies! Come, under the flag of autonomous Macedonia! Macedonia is our
mother and she calls for our help. Come and help break the chains of slavery
and free ourselves from misery and suffering so that streams of blood and
tears are dried up!" The Krushevo Manifesto "represents the most
mature political document of the either the Krushevo revolutionary authorities
or the Ilinden Uprising in general." In this respect, Dimitar Mitrev
argues that "The Krushevo republicans declared, in their own vernacular,
in the Manifesto and in their political accomplishments, that there could
be only one Macedonia for them--a free, democratic one, with full equality
of all nationalities. A heavier blow could not have been delivered to Vrhovism
[Supremacism]: the Republic was built in order that they could fully be
masters of their own fate, not merely to be annexed to Bulgaria."
The Ottomans dispatched a sizable army to suppress the uprising. By the
middle of August, Ottoman military power in Macedonia had reached a total
of 239 battalions of infantry, 39 squadrons of cavalry and 74 batteries
of artillery--a grand total of some 167,300 infantry, 3,700 cavalry and
444 cannons. Capturing Krushevo was the greatest problem facing the Ottoman
commanders. Any counteroffensive against this center of this Macedonian
rebellion would not be easy: the revolutionaries were solidly organized
and the 1,200 insurgents fortified the town, preparing to repulse any Ottoman
attack.
Not until August 9 and 10 did Turkish troops begin to move against the town;
the main body of the Ottoman army, consisting of 10,000 troops with supporting
artillery under the command of Bahtiar Pasha, advanced over the Prilep plain
towards Krushevo. There, it emplaced around the village of Krivogashtani
and placed 7 or 8 cannons at Topolishte. The second part of the Ottoman
army, advancing from the north, was stationed by the villages of Vrbovec
and Trstenik. The third column was to occupy the Monastery of the Holy Salvation,
as a base for further operations. In addition, an Ottoman detachment of
4,000 soldiers arrived 
from
Bitola and divided into two columns near the village of Pribilci. One advanced
along the road from the village of Ostrilci to Krushevo, the other along
the Zhaba River towards Koyov Trn. A final detachment of 5,000 soldiers
approached from Kichevo, including several pieces of mountain artillery.
The overall strategy of this army, which may have numbered nearly 20,000
troops, was to encircle Krushevo and capture it through a series of coordinated
attacks. On August 12 the encirclement of the town was complete and Bahtiar
Pasha called on the rebels to surrender. The Krushevo General Staff debated
the merits of surrender, but settled on defending the town. Bahtiar Pasha
then unleashed an artillery bombardment of Krushevo, followed by simultaneous
infantry assaults.
The Ottoman troops encountered violent and heroic resistance. Although the
General Staff ordered a retreat west to Osoy, individual fighters remained
in the town to resist the Ottoman attack. The most notable was Pitu Gull
who, together with his detachment, fought to the last. He and his fighters
repulsed continual attacks; particularly fierce were the battles at Silva
and Mechkin Kamen, where most of the rebels died defending the town. The
fightingfor Krushevo itself lasted the entire day of August 12, with Ottoman
victory coming that
evening. Staff members led by Nikola Karev managed to break through the
Turkish cordon and escape. On August 12 and 13, the Ottoman army entered
the town and began reprisals, massacring and plundering the people of Krushevo.
While the Krushevo Republic was quickly brought to an end, "in spite
of its short existence, it represents one of the most significant phenomena
in [the Macedonian] national-liberation movement. Created in the flames
of the struggle against the feudal system of the Ottoman state, it was at
the same time an expression of the desire of [the Macedonians] for the creation
of a national state. Hence, the proclamation of the Krushevo Republic represents
the highest accomplishment and one of the most important state-legal acts
of the Macedonian insurgents."
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