Discovery of the statute of BMARC The basic documents of the Оrganization under its earliest names, i.e. Bulgarian Macedonian Adrianople Revolutionary Committees (BMARC) and Secret Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Orgazation (SMARO) were nearly unknown until the 1960s to the historical researchers. In 1955, the historian Ivan Ormandzhiev published in Sofia the undated statute of the SMARO, which he dated from 1896. The fact that only 15 copies of this statute were printed in Sofia in 1897, reveals how sparse such documents were. In 1961, Macedonian historian
Ivan Katardžiev published undated statute and regulations discovered by him, naming the organization BMARC, which he dated from 1894. The discovered documents are kept since then at the Institute of National History in Skopje. Originals of the statute and the regulations of BMARC were found in 1967 also in Bulgaria. According to the statute of the BMARC, membership of the Organization was allowed only for
Bulgarians. Per Katardžiev the statute of the BMARC was the first statute and that was the first official name of the IMRO. According to him, the organization never bore as an official name the designation "Macedonian Revolutionary Organization" (MRO). Some international, Bulgarian and Macedonian researchers have adopted his view that this was the first statute, i.e. the first official name of the organization.
Macedonian views BMARC Katardžiev claimed that this was the first statute of the organization and under this name, it existed from 1894 until 1896 when it was changed to Secret Macedono-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Organization (SMARO). In 1969, the name BMARC as the first one, was officially promoted as position of the Macedonian historical community in the second volume of the first ever three-volume History of the Macedonian people, as well as in its one-volume edition, in 1970. 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. Thus, per historian Krste Bitovski this was not only the first preserved statute but the original statute of IMRO. According to Manol Pandevski the basic program document of the Organization was published in 1894 under the name "Statute of the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Committees", and so it even was not called an organization. Katardžiev, confirmed there was an overlapping of the texts of the statutes and regulations of BMARC and these of SMARO, and it was clear that when drafting these of SMARO, those of BMARC were used. 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.
Revisionist turn In 1981, the Macedonian historiography for the first time publicly dissociated itself from the thesis advocated by Katardziev for the name BMARC in the first volume of the two-volume publication Documents for the struggle of the Macedonian people for independence and for a national state. In 1999 this view has been finally revised by
Blaže Ristovski in his "History of the Macedonian nation". He practically adopted the position of some from his Bulgarian colleagues, the first name of the Organization was MRO. Today many historians in North Macedonia question the authenticity of the statute of BMARC or reject its relation to the IMRO. They claim that IMRO-activists had allegedly an
ethnic Macedonian identity, while the
designation Bulgarian is thought to had rather a religious connotation then. Those who accept the existence of the statute claim the term Bulgarian was used ostensibly for tactical reasons because the organization's activity was concentrated primarily on the
Bulgarian Exarchist population. Others insist that the founders of the organization were then under the influence of some kind of
Bulgarian nationalist propaganda. Or, as the historian Dimitar Dimeski claimed, even without to mention the name "BMARC", per its first statute, the organization had a nationalist character. It was the result of intolerance, external influence and lack of experience. On the other hand, the existence of the
Adrianoplolitan part in the name of the Organization, which is undoubtedly Bulgarian, points per Macedonian scholars, to the existence of some kind of
supra-ethnic organizational system. An example for this revisionist turn is the historian Vančo Gjorgiev. In 1997 Gjorgiev himself confirmed the authenticity and the dating from 1894 of the statute of BMARC. Gjorgiev also published the Statutes and the Regulations of BMARC translated from Bulgarian into
Macedonian language in 2013. 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.
Bulgarian views IMRO as Bulgarian organization Bulgarian historians see the statute and the regulations of BMARC as a confirmation of the Bulgarian ethnic character of the organization. The definition
Macedonian then had a regional meaning, while the ideas of separate Macedonian nation were supported only by a handful of intellectuals. They insist also, except the national designation "Bulgarian" in the name, another part of it is related to the then
vilayet of Adrianopole, whose
Bulgarian population has not being contested in North Macedonia today. Also, apart from the fact the statute allowed the membership only to Bulgarians, the regulations contain an oath which also confirms its Bulgarian character. Such an interpretation stems not only from the fact all documents of the Organization were written in the Bulgarian language, but also from the wide acceptance of Bulgarians, as from the Bulgarian principality (including
Eastern Rumelia), as well as from Ottoman Thrace (Vilayet of Adrianople) into the leadership of the Organization. Such an example was the case with the affiliation of the
Bulgarian Secret Revolutionary Brotherhood to IMRO in 1899. Its leader
Ivan Garvanov, who was from
Bulgaria proper, became the head of the IMRO in 1902, and architect of the
Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising. This corroborates the fact that the Macedonian revolutionaries then did not insist on any own ethnic difference with regard to the rest of the Bulgarians.
MRO In 1969 the Bulgarian historian Konstantin Pandev promoted the view that the designation BMARC lasted from 1896 until 1902, when it was changed to SMARO, a view adopted by some international and Bulgarian historians. Until then, Bulgarian historians shared Katardžiiev's opinion that the designation BMARC was used between 1894 and 1896. Today some Bulgarian researchers assume the first unofficial name of the organization during 1894-1896 was Macedonian Revolutionary Organization or Macedonian Revolutionary Committee. However, despite the name MRO is present in some contemporary sources, neither statutes nor regulations, or other basic documents with such names have not yet been found. Other Bulgarian researchers suppose that the founding statute of the IMRO still hasn't been discovered or it hasn't survived. 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. Bulgarian researchers also maintain that Katardžiev himself had some manifestations when he publicly claimed the IMRO revolutionaries had Bulgarian self-awareness.
Authorship dispute According to some Bulgarian and Macedonian researchers, the author of BMARC's statute was Petar Poparsov. Other Bulgarian historians assume that the authors of the statute were
Gotse Delchev and
Gyorche Petrov. Per
Peyo Yavorov, Gotse Delchev participated in a congress of the Organization, which adopted a statute, almost a copy of the old Bulgarian revolutionary statute. It contained a special article according to which only Bulgarians were accepted as its members. According to Yavorov, Delchev voted in support of this article in question, which he believed was chauvinistic. Later, when the circumstances changed, Gotse was the first to insist that this article be amended, and this is what happened. In Ivan Hadzhinikolov's memoirs, is written that Petar Poparsov was assigned to draw up the first statute. In his memoirs, Dame Gruev recounts the founders grouped together and jointly drew up a statute modeled after the statute of the revolutionary organization in Bulgaria before the
Liberation.
Gyorche Petrov also tells about the writing of the statutes in his memoirs. According to him, initially a short statute drafted by Dame Gruev was in force. It was decided to draw up a new complete statute and regulations. Petrov do it in Sofia, together with Delchev.
Periodization dispute The periodization of the Internal Organization's names is a matter of debate while both the BMARC and SMARO statutes were not dated. As mentioned above, it is believed by some Bulgarian historians that in 1896 the first and probably unofficial name MRO was changed to "BMARC", and the organization existed under this name until 1902. It is believed by them too, the first statute's swatch burned down in a fire in Bucharest, and was irrevocably lost. However, when Pandev promoted this view in 1969, the memoirs of
Lazar Gyurov, where he confirmed the publication of the first statute after 1894 in Thessaloniki, were still unknown. There are still Macedonian historians who acknowledge the existence of the name "ВMARC" in the very early period of the Organization (1894–1896), but generally today in North Macedonia it is assumed that between 1894 and 1896 it was called MRO, while in 1896–1905 period the name of the organization was "SMARO". 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. On October 13, the Greek newspaper "Imera" published the same material. 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. At the end of 1902, however the Committee-members began to turn to all Christians for cooperation, regardless of their nationality. 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". Based on the early 2000s discovery, that the cover of the BMARC rules were dated 1896, the problem when the BMARC regulations were printed, is claimed to be solved by the Bulgarian historian Tsocho Bilyarski. However, Hadzhinikolov points out that he prepared it in 1895. According to Tatarchev, in 1894 arose the need to develop an internal rulebook and this was done by Hadzhinikolov at the end of the same year. In this way, the question of the time of creation and adoption of the rules remains open. 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. Also, Macedonian historians point to the fact that a copy of the "SMARO" statute was kept in London since 1898. In 1905 the organization changed its name to Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO), which is indisputable.
Membership and ideology 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." The next statute of SMARO opened membership in the Organization to every Macedonian or Adrianopolitan, regardless of their ethnic origin. The subsequent statute of 1905 declared that anyone living in European Turkey could be a member of IMARO, regardless of sex, faith, nationality, or belief. The IMRO members saw then the future of Macedonia as a multinational community, and did not aim at a separate Macedonian ethnicity, but understood "Macedonian" as an
umbrella term, encompassing the different nationalities in the area. The common political agenda declared in the BMARC, SMARO and IMARO statutes was the same: to achieve
political autonomy of both regions. While this
leftist idea was taken aboard by some
Vlachs, as well as by some
Patriarchist Slavic-speakers, the new statutes, which Delchev and Petrov had prepared early in 1897, and which Delchev revised in 1902, failed to attract other groups. For them the IMRO remained the Bulgarian Committee. 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. In their discussion the
Macedonian autonomism was seen as a step for an eventual
unification with Bulgaria. According to the revolutionary
Dimo Hadzhidimov this idea remained a Bulgarian, until it disappeared even among the Bulgarians, while any other nationality didn't accept it. In 1911, it passed a new decision according to which again only members of Bulgarian nationality would be admitted to the organization. Although this change was not included in the next basic documents of the Organization, it became an informal principle. According to Ivan Katardžiev, practically, neither the left nor the right wing of the IMRO questioned their Bulgarian provenance and Dimitar Vlahov would do so only in 1948 at a
Politburo's session of the
Macedonian Communist Party. == Legacy ==