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Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization

The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; Bulgarian: Вътрешна македонска революционна организация (ВМРО), romanizedVatrešna Makedonska Revoljucionna Organizacija (VMRO); Macedonian: Внатрешна македонска револуционерна организација (ВМРО), romanizedVnatrešna Makedonska Revolucionerna Organizacija (VMRO)), was a secret revolutionary society founded in the Ottoman territories in Europe, that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[2]

"IMRO" redirects here. For other uses, see IMRO (disambiguation).

Founded in 1893 in Salonica,[3] it initially aimed to gain autonomy for Macedonia and Adrianople regions in the Ottoman Empire, however, it later became an agent serving Bulgarian interests in Balkan politics.[4] IMRO modeled itself after the earlier Bulgarian Internal Revolutionary Organization of Vasil Levski and accepted its motto "Freedom or Death" (Свобода или смърть).[5] According to the memoirs of some founding and ordinary members, in the Organization's earliest statute from 1894, the membership was reserved exclusively for Bulgarians.[6][7][8][9] It used the Bulgarian language in all its documents and in its correspondence.[10] Starting in 1896, it fought the Ottomans using guerrilla tactics, and in this, they were successful, even establishing a state within a state in some regions, including their tax collectors. This effort escalated in 1903 into the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising. The fighting involved about 15,000 IMRO irregulars and 40,000 Ottoman soldiers. After the uprising failed, and the Ottomans destroyed some 100 villages, the IMRO resorted to more systematic forms of terrorism targeting civilians.[3] During the Balkan Wars and the First World War, the organization supported the Bulgarian army and joined Bulgarian war-time authorities when they temporarily took control over parts of Thrace and Macedonia. In this period, autonomism as a political tactic was abandoned, and annexationist positions were supported, aiming eventual incorporation of occupied areas into Bulgaria.[11]


After the First World War the combined Macedonian-Thracian revolutionary movement separated into two detached organizations, IMRO and ITRO.[12] After this moment the IMRO earned a reputation as an ultimate terror network, seeking to change state frontiers in the Macedonian regions of Greece and Serbia (later Yugoslavia).[13] They contested the partitioning of Macedonia and launched raids from their Petrich stronghold into Greek and Yugoslav territory. Their base of operation in Bulgaria was jeopardized by the Treaty of Niš, and the IMRO reacted by assassinating Bulgarian prime minister Aleksandar Stamboliyski in 1923, with the cooperation of other Bulgarian elements opposed to him.[14] In 1925 the Greek army launched a cross-border operation to reduce the IMRO base area, but it was ultimately stopped by the League of Nations, and IMRO attacks resumed.[15] In the interwar period the IMRO also cooperated with the Croatian Ustaše, and their ultimate victim was Alexander I of Yugoslavia, assassinated in France in 1934.[16][17] After the Bulgarian coup d'état of 1934, their Petrich stronghold was subjected to a military crackdown by the Bulgarian army,[14] and the IMRO was reduced to a marginal phenomenon.[18]


The organization changed its name on several occasions. After the fall of communism in the region, numerous parties claimed the IMRO name and lineage to legitimize themselves.[19] Among them, in Bulgaria a right-wing party carrying the prefix "VMRO" was established in the 1990s, while in then Republic of Macedonia a right-wing party was established under the name "VMRO-DPMNE".

Interpretations during the communist period

Initially Lazar Koliševski, the leader of the new Yugoslav Republic—SR Macedonia, proclaimed that the Ilinden Uprising and the IMRO were Bulgarian conspiracies.[72] Afterwards the historical studies in the country were expanded under direct political instructions from Belgrade.[73] It was advanced as a key principle of the Macedonian historiography, that its primary goal was to create a separate national consciousness, and to sever any historical ties to Bulgaria.[74] During the Cold War, particularly after the Tito–Stalin split, the heroes of 19th century left-wing IMRO, especially Delchev and Sandanski, were claimed by both Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, both internally and in a tactical game of international diplomacy. One thing that two countries had in common though was that the vague populism and anarchism of these historical figures was interpreted as a definite socialist program.[75] Both regimes recognized the policies of the interwar leaders of the organization Todor Aleksandrov and Ivan Mihailov as "fascist".


In this race, the Socialist Republic of Macedonia was the first to incorporate the IMRO figures in its national pantheon, although some careful exceptions were made. The 1903 Ilinden Uprising was presented as a direct precursor of the 1944 events, which were termed a "Second Ilinden", in an effort to prove the continuity of the struggle for independence of the Macedonian nation. Consequently, it became necessary for the socialist authorities to show that 19th century IMRO figures, particularly Delchev and Sandanski, had been consciously Macedonian in identity. Delchev and Sandanski were adopted as symbols of the republic, had numerous monuments built in their honor, and they were often the topic of articles in the academic journal Macedonian Review, as was the Ilinden Uprising. In contrast, Todor Aleksandrov was labeled a Bulgarian bourgeois chauvinist. The claim to a Macedonian identity of Sandanski was used to bolster Skopje's claim to the Pirin region.[75] According to historians John Lampe and Mark Mazower, IMRO heroes have been important in the creation of a Macedonian national ideology, in both Bulgaria and North Macedonia the historiographies thrive on proving that their version of history is wrong in turn making historical objectivity not important.[76]


In the People's Republic of Bulgaria the situation was more complex, because the IMRO was associated with the 1923–34 anti-communist regime. Before 1960, although the subject was not taboo, few articles on the topic appeared in Bulgarian academic venues, and the IMRO figures were given mostly regional recognition in the Pirin region. After 1960, orders from the highest level were to reincorporate the Macedonian revolutionary movement in the Bulgarian history, and to prove the Bulgarian credentials of their historical leaders. This trend reached its peak in 1981 (the 1300 year anniversary of Bulgarian state), when Delchev and Sandanski were openly made historical symbols of the Bulgarian state in a proclamation of Lyudmila Zhivkova. There were also attempts to rehabilitate Todor Aleksandrov because of his Bulgarian nationalism, but these remained controversial due to his role in suppressing the left wing, a role for which he had been declared a fascist.[75]

Velin Alaykov

Ivan Anastasov

Dimitar Andonov

Aleksandar Andreev

Ivan Angov

Bulgarian People's Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization

Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (United)

Internal Revolutionary Organisation

Internal Thracian Revolutionary Organisation

Macedonia (region)

Macedonian Bulgarians

Macedonian Question

Ohrana

Thrace

Thracian Bulgarians

United Macedonia

March of the Macedonian Revolutionaries

Flags of Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization

"Illustration Ilinden", Sofia, 1936, b. I, p. 4–5

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"The first central committee of IMRO. Memoirs of d-r Hristo Tatarchev", Materials for the Macedonian liberation movement, book IX (series of the Macedonian scientific institute of IMRO, led by Bulgarian academician prof. Lyubomir Miletich), Sofia, 1928, p. 102, поредица "Материяли за историята на македонското освободително движение" на Македонския научен институт на ВМРО, воден от българския академик проф. Любомир Милетич, книга IX, София, 1928; contemporary Macedonian translation: Tatarchev).

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Materials about the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book V, Memoirs of Damjan Gruev, Boris Sarafov and Ivan Garvanov, Sofia 1927, pp. 8 – 11; the original in Bulgarian.

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Gjorche Petrov in his memoirs speaking about the Salonica congress of 1896 writes: "There was pointed out the need for a statute and official rules. Until then we had a very short list of rules in force, drafted by Dame (with the oath). That little list was unsystematic, lytographed. It was decided to come up with a full list of rules, a statute. When I came to Sofia, I compiled it there (with Delchev).".

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Пейо Яворов, "Събрани съчинения", Том втори, "Гоце Делчев", Издателство "Български писател", София, 1977, стр. 27: "Тоя събор утвърждава един устав на революционната организация, почти копие на стария български, твърде оригинален с положението, че само еkзархисти българи се приемат за членове на комитетите." (in Bulgarian) In English: Peyo Yavorov, "Complete Works", Volume 2, biography "Gotse Delchev", Publishing house "Bulgarian writer", Sofia, 1977, p. 27: "This meeting sanctioned a statute of the revolutionary organisation, almost a copy of the old Bulgarian, rather original because of the condition that only Bulgarians Exarchists would be admitted to membership in the committees."

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Пандев, К. "Устави и правилници на ВМОРО преди Илинденско-Преображенското въстание", Исторически преглед, 1969, кн. I, стр. 68–80. (in Bulgarian)

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Пандев, К. "Устави и правилници на ВМОРО преди Илинденско-Преображенското въстание", Извeстия на Института за история, т. 21, 1970, стр. 250–257. (in Bulgarian)

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Константин Пандев, Национално-освободителното движение в Македония и Одринско, София, 1979, с. 129–130. (Konstantin Pandev, The National Liberation Movement in Macedonia and the Odrin Region, Sofia 1979, pp. 129–130.)

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Duncan Perry The Politics of Terror: The Macedonian Liberation Movements, 1893–1903 , Durham, Duke University Press, 1988. pp. 40–41, 210 n. 10.

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Fikret Adanir, Die Makedonische Frage: ihre entestehung und etwicklung bis 1908., Wiessbaden 1979, p. 112.

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Академик Иван Катарџиев, "Верувам во националниот имунитет на македонецот", интервју, "Форум". (Academician Ivan Katardžiev, "I believe in Macedonian national immunity", interview, "Forum" magazine.)

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Битоски, Крсте, сп. "Македонско Време", Скопје – март 1997

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Public Record Office – Foreign Office 78/4951 Turkey (Bulgaria). From Elliot. 1898; УСТАВ НА ТМОРО. S. 1. published in Документи за борбата на македонскиот народ за самостојност и за национална држава, Скопје, Универзитет "Кирил и Методиј":Факултет за филозофско-историски науки, 1981, page 331 – 333.

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Prior to the publication of Pandev's article Bulgarian historiography seemed to agree that the name SMARO dates back to 1896/7 (e.g. Silyanov 1933, vol. 1, p. 46). Contemporary Macedonian historians accuse Pandev of a nationalist bias.

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Ivo Banac, The Macedoine (pp. 307–328 in of "The National Question in Yugoslavia. Origins, History, Politics", Cornell University Press, 1984)

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Ivo Banac, The Macedoine (pp. 307–328 in of "The National Question in Yugoslavia. Origins, History, Politics", Cornell University Press, 1984)

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H. N. Brailsford, Macedonia: Its races and their future, Methuen & Co., London, 1906.

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Хр. Силянов, "Освободителнитe борби на Македония, том I", изд. на Илинденската Орг., София, 1933; (Hristo Silyanov, The Liberational Struggles of Macedonia, vol. 1, The Ilinden Organisation, Sofia, 1933.)

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Albert Sonnichsen: Confessions of a Macedonian Bandit: A Californian in the Balkan Wars, Narrative Press, ISBN 1-58976-237-1.

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A letter from the headquarters of the Second Macedonian-Adrianople revolutionary district, centered around Monastir (present-day Bitola), represented by Dame Gruev and Boris Sarafov, to Bulgarian government from 9. IX. 1903. Macedonian translation.

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Krste Misirkov, On Macedonian Matters, Sofia, 1933 misirkov.org

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Krste Misirkov, On Macedonian Matters, Sofia, 1933 misirkov.org

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Георги Баждаров, "Моите спомени", издание на Институт "България – Македония", София, 2001, стр. 78–81. (In Bulgarian, In English: Georgi Bazhdarov, "My memoirs", published by the Institute "Bulgaria-Macedonia", Sofia, 2001, pp. 78–81.)

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"ДВИЖЕНИЕТО ОТСАМЪ ВАРДАРА И БОРБАТА СЪ ВЪРХОВИСТИТE по спомени на Яне Сандански, Черньо Пeевъ, Сава Михайловъ, Хр. Куслевъ, Ив. Анастасовъ Гърчето, Петъръ Хр. Юруковъ и Никола Пушкаровъ", съобщава Л. Милетичъ (София, Печатница П. Глушковъ, 1927); Материяли за историята на македонското освободително движение. Издава "Македонскиятъ Наученъ Институтъ". Книга VII. (L. Miletich, ed. Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Macedonian Scientific Institute, Sofia, 1927 – "The Movement on this Side of the Vardar and the Struggle with the Supremists according to the memories of Jane Sandanski, Chernjo Peev, Sava Mihajlov, Hr. Kuslev, Iv. Anastasov – Grcheto, Petar Hr. Jurukov and Nikola Pushkarov")

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Хр. Силянов, "Освободителнитe борби на Македония, том II", изд. на Илинденската Орг., София, 1933; Silyanov (Hristo Silyanov, The Liberational Struggles of Macedonia, vol. 2, The Ilinden Organisation, Sofia, 1933.)

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Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Report of the International Commission to Inquire into the causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars, Published by the Endowment Washington, D.C. 1914.

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Хр. Силянов От Витоша до Грамос, Походът на една чета през Освободителната война – 1912 г., Издание на Костурското благотворително братство, София, 1920. From Vitosha to Gramos (Hr. Silyanov, From Vitosha to Gramos, published by the Kostur charitable society, Sofia, 1920)

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Любомиръ Милетичъ, "Разорението на тракийските българи презъ 1913 година", Българска Академия на Науките, София, Държавна Печатница 1918 г. Miletich] (L. Miletich, The Destruction of Thracian Bulgarians in 1913, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, 1918)

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Circular letter No9 issued by a secret meeting of former IMARO activists and members of its Central committee, held on 20 December 1919, cited in a collective research of the Macedonian Scientific Institute, "Освободителните борби на Македония", part 4, Sofia, 2002, retrieved on 26 October 2007: "Поради изменилите се условия в Македония и Тракия от Балканските войни насам, организацията се преименува от ВМОРО на ВМРО, като нейната цел си остава извоюване на автономия и обединение на разпокъсаните части на Македония." (in Bulgarian)

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"Македония. История и политическа съдба", колектив на МНИ под редакцията на проф. Петър Петров, том II, Издателство "Знание", София, 1998, pp. 140–141. (In Bulgarian. In English: P. Petrov, ed. Macedonia. History and Political Fate, vol. 2, Macedonian Scientific Institute, Sofia, 1998, pp. 140–141.)

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"Македония. История и политическа съдба", колектив на МНИ под редакцията на проф. Петър Петров, том II, Издателство "Знание", София, 1998, p. 206. (In Bulgarian. In English: P. Petrov, ed. Macedonia. History and Political Fate, vol. 2, Macedonian Scientific Institute, Sofia, 1998, p. 206.)

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Р.П. Гришина, "ФОРМИРОВАНИЕ ВЗГЛЯДА НА МАКЕДОНСКИЙ ВОПРОС В БОЛЬШЕВИСТСКОЙ МОСКВЕ 1922–1924 гг." in МАКЕДОНИЯ – ПРОБЛЕМЫ ИСТОРИИ И КУЛЬТУРЫ, Институт славяноведения, Российская Академия Наук, Москва, 1999. (R. P. Grishina "Formation of a View on the Macedonian Question in Bolshevik Moscow 1922–1924" in Macedonia. Problems of History and Culture, Institute of Slavistics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 1999.)

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Р.П. Гришина, "ФОРМИРОВАНИЕ ВЗГЛЯДА НА МАКЕДОНСКИЙ ВОПРОС В БОЛЬШЕВИСТСКОЙ МОСКВЕ 1922–1924 гг." in МАКЕДОНИЯ – ПРОБЛЕМЫ ИСТОРИИ И КУЛЬТУРЫ, Институт славяноведения, Российская Академия Наук, Москва, 1999. (R. P. Grishina "Formation of a View on the Macedonian Question in Bolshevik Moscow 1922–1924" in Macedonia. Problems of History and Culture, Institute of Slavistics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 1999.)

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Р.П. Гришина, "ФОРМИРОВАНИЕ ВЗГЛЯДА НА МАКЕДОНСКИЙ ВОПРОС В БОЛЬШЕВИСТСКОЙ МОСКВЕ 1922–1924 гг." in МАКЕДОНИЯ – ПРОБЛЕМЫ ИСТОРИИ И КУЛЬТУРЫ, Институт славяноведения, Российская Академия Наук, Москва, 1999. (R. P. Grishina "Formation of a View on the Macedonian Question in Bolshevik Moscow 1922–1924" in Macedonia. Problems of History and Culture, Institute of Slavistics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 1999.)

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Ivo Banac, The Macedoine (pp. 307–328 in of "The National Question in Yugoslavia. Origins, History, Politics", Cornell University Press, 1984)

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"Македония. История и политическа съдба", колектив на МНИ под редакцията на проф. Петър Петров, том II, Издателство "Знание", София, 1998, pp. 205–206. (In Bulgarian. In English: P. Petrov, ed. Macedonia. History and Political Fate, vol. 2, Macedonian Scientific Institute, Sofia, 1998, pp. 205–206.)

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Palmer, S. and R. King Yugoslav Communism and the Macedonian Question, Archon Books (June 1971), pp. 65–67.

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Добрин Мичев. БЪЛГАРСКОТО НАЦИОНАЛНО ДЕЛО В ЮГОЗАПАДНА МАКЕДОНИЯ (1941–1944 г.), Македонски Преглед, 1, 1998.(Dobrin Michev, "Bulgarian National Activity in Southwest Macedonia 1941–1944", Macedonian Review, 1, 1998.)

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Palmer, S. and R. King Yugoslav Communism and the Macedonian Question, Archon Books (June 1971), pp. 112–113.

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Palmer, S. and R. King Yugoslav Communism and the Macedonian Question, Archon Books (June 1971), p. 137.

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Katardjiev's foreword to Васил Ивановски. Зошто ние, Македонците, сме одделна нација?, Скопје, 1995, pp. 49–56. (Vasil Ivanovski, Why We Macedonians Are a Separate Nation?, Skopje, 1995)

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Palmer, S. and R. King Yugoslav Communism and the Macedonian Question, Archon Books (June 1971), p. 137.

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Димитър Гоцев. НОВАТА НАЦИОНАЛНО-ОСВОБОДИТЕЛНА БОРБА ВЪВ ВАРДАРСКА МАКЕДОНИЯ. Македонски научен институт, София, 1998.

Keith Brown. The Past in Question: Modern Macedonia and the Uncertainties of Nation, Princeton University Press (2003)

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Пандев, К. "Устави и правилници на ВМОРО преди Илинденско-Преображенското въстание", Исторически преглед, 1969, кн. I, стр. 68–80. (in Bulgarian)

Пандев, К. "Устави и правилници на ВМОРО преди Илинденско-Преображенското въстание", Извeстия на Института за история, т. 21, 1970, стр. 249–257. (in Bulgarian)

Битоски, Крсте, сп. "Македонско Време", Скопје – март 1997, quoting: Quoting: Public Record Office – Foreign Office 78/4951 Turkey (Bulgaria), From Elliot, 1898, Устав на ТМОРО. S. 1. published in Документи за борбата на македонскиот народ за самостојност и за национална држава, Скопје, Универзитет "Кирил и Методиј": Факултет за филозофско-историски науки, 1981, pp 331 – 333. (in Macedonian)

Hugh Pouton Who Are the Macedonians?, C. Hurst & Co, 2000. p. 53.  1-85065-534-0

ISBN

Fikret Adanir, Die Makedonische Frage: ihre entestehung und etwicklung bis 1908., Wiessbaden 1979, p. 112.

Duncan Perry The Politics of Terror: The Macedonian Liberation Movements, 1893–1903 , Durham, Duke University Press, 1988. pp. 40–41, 210 n. 10.

Христо Татарчев, "Вътрешната македоно-одринска революционна организация като митологична и реална същност", София, 1995. (in Bulgarian)

Dimitar Vlahov, Memoirs, 2nd edition, Slovo publishing, Skopje, 2003,  9989-103-22-4. (in Macedonian)

ISBN

Series of memoirs, published by in Sofia during the interwar period in several volumes: Slaveiko Arsov, Pando Klyashev, Ivan Popov, Smile Voidanov, Deyan Dimitrov, Nikola Mitrev, Luka Dzherov, Georgi Pop Hristov, Angel Andreev, Georgi Papanchev, Lazar Dimitrov, Damyan Gruev, Boris Sarafov, Ivan Garvanov, Yane Sandanski, Chernyo Peev, Sava Mihailov, Hristo Kuslev, Ivan Anastasov Gyrcheto, Petyr Hr. Yurukov, Nikola Pushkarov], Macedonian translations, published by Kultura, Skopje, in 2 volumes, ISBN 9989-32-022-5 and ISBN 9989-32-077-2

Macedonian Scientific Institute

Георги Баждаров, "Моите спомени", издание на Институт "България – Македония", София, 2001. In English: Georgi Bazhdarov, My memoirs, published by Institute Bulgaria-Macedonia, Sofia, 2001.

Nikola Kirov Majski, Pages from my life, Kultura, Skopje. (in Macedonian)

Albert Londres, Les Comitadjis (Le terrorisme dans les Balkans), Kultura, Skopje,  9989-32-067-5 (original edition: Arlea, Paris, 1992).

ISBN

Albert Sonnichsen, Confessions of a Macedonian Bandit: A Californian in the Balkan Wars, The Narrative Press,  1-58976-237-1. Also here Confessions, Ch. XXIV (in English), and Macedonian translation.

ISBN

Fikret Adanir, Die Makedonische Frage, Wiesbaden, 1979.

Константин Пандев, "Национално-освободителното движение в Македония и Одринско", София, 1979.

Ivo Banac, "The Macedoine", pp. 307–328 in of The National Question in Yugoslavia. Origins, History, Politics, Cornell University Press, 1984.

H. N. Brailsford, Macedonia: its races and their future, Methuen & Co., London, 1906 ()

Brailsford's photos

Христо Силянов, "Освободителнитe борби на Македония", том I и II, изд. на Илинденската Организация, София, 1933 и 1943, also volume I

Любомиръ Милетичъ, "Разорението на тракийските българи презъ 1913 година", Българска Академия на Науките, София, Държавна Печатница, 1918 г.,

"Македония. История и политическа съдба", колектив на МНИ под редакцията на проф. Петър Петров, том I, II и III, издателство "Знание", София, 1998.

"Македония – проблемы истории и культуры", Институт славяноведения, Российская Академия Наук, Москва, 1999 (includes Р. П. Гришина, "Формирование взгляда на македонский вопрос в большевистской Москве 1922–1924 гг."), the complete symposium

Никола Петров, "Кои беа партизаните во Македонија", Скопje, 1998. (in Macedonian)

Palmer, S. and R. King, Yugoslav Communism and the Macedonian Question, Archon Books, 1971.

Добрин Мичев, "Българското нацинално дело в югозападна Македония (1941–1944 г.)", "Македонски Преглед", 1, 1998. (in Bulgarian)

Keith Brown, The Past in Question: Modern Macedonia and the Uncertainties of Nation, Princeton University Press, 2003.

Pisarri (2011). . Vojnoistorijski Glasnik (in Serbian) (2). Institut za strategijska istraživanja: 28–49.

"Suppressing Toplica Uprising: VMRO as Leading Force of Repression"

(in Macedonian and English)

Website of Macedonian VMRO-DPMNE

The statute of BMARC from a Macedonian language website

The complete statute of BMARC

History of the Greek-Macedonian Fighters (Μακεδονομάχοι – Makedonomachi), adversaries of the IMRO

Website of Bulgarian VMRO-BND

Macedonian site about history of IMRO – includes Dr. Tatarchev's complete memoirs