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Damjan Yovanov Gruev (Macedonian: Дамјан Јованов Груев; Bulgarian: Дамян Йованов Груев) - (January 19 1871, Smilevo - December 10 1906) was a 19th century Macedonian revolutionary. He was among the founders of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO) in October 1893. IMARO was a rebel group active in Ottoman Macedonia and Thrace at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.

Biography

Damyan "Dame" Gruev (also transliterated as Grueff) was born in 1871 in the village of Smilevo, district of Bitola, the southwestern part of Macedonia (modern day Republic of Macedonia). He received his elementary education in his native village, Smilevo, and later studied in Resen, Bitola, Solun (Thessaloniki), and the University of Sofia, Bulgaria. While still in the Bulgarian Gymnasium of Solun, Gruev felt the unbearable Turkish oppression and maltreatment of his fellow countrymen.

Early years

Soon after he graduated from the Gymnasium he went to Sofia and there, in 1889-1890, entered the University of Sofia to specialize in history.

He left the University and went to |Macedonia to apply himself to the revolutionary organization. In order to carry on his scheme of work more successfully and 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. The two years of teaching served him, also, as orientation for the work of the great conspiracy in Macedonia, against the corrupt and rapacious regime of Abdul Hamid II.

Later, Gruev established himself in Solun and here laid the foundation of the IMRO (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 IMRO. 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.

1894 to 1900

From 1894 to 1900, Gruev was an untiring apostle. A new “Levsky enlightening” and recruiting adherents to the revolutionary movement. In the summer of 1894, he organized in the town of Negotino the first local revolutionary organization, and soon after, with the cooperation of Pere Toshev, he organized the first district committee in the city of Štip. Gruev also visited the cities of Resen, Ohrid, and Struga, and found the field quite favorable for the acceptance of his revolutionary ideas. In the city of Štip, however, the conditions were even more favorable and here he remained as a teacher during the academic year 1894-1895.

In the fall of the same year Goce Delchev, who independently conceived the same desire as Gruev - that of organizing the people in |Macedonia and Thrace into a secret revolutionary organization, arrived in Štip in order to lay the foundation of a revolutionary movement for the express purpose of autonomy of Macedonia and Adrianople Thrace. Here Gruev and Delchev met for the first time. Soon after their acquaintance they found the similarity of their common mission, and as a result of this they became intimate friends. Delchev, with his gentle character, sincerity, and honesty, made an excellent impression upon Gruev. However, Delchev accepted the plan of the work which had been outlined already by the Central Committee of Solun. After this, both Gruev and Delchev worked together in Štip and environs.

The growth of the IMRO was phenomenal, particularly after Gruev settled in Solun during the years 1895-1897, in the quality of an Bulgarian school inspector. Gruev now became the soul and body of the Central revolutionary committee. Under the direction of the latter they began to issue a secret revolutionary paper, introduced ciphers (secret writing), used pseudonyms or a nom de plume, established channels for secret communication among the various local committees and also abroad, in Bulgaria. A representative of the Central Revolutionary Committee was to be sent to Sofia to take charge of purchasing and dispatching, through secret channels, the necessary war provisions for the IMRO.

Gruev’s roaming from village to village, and from one city to another, resulted in a systematic revolutionary organization throughout |Macedonia and the Vilayet of Adrianople. Unfortunately, for purely political reasons and in order to safeguard itself from complications, the Exarchy 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 another paper, secretly, of course. Sunday schools were begun, money was collected 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 Solun were Hristo Tatarchev, Pere Toshev, and Hristo Matov.

The result of Gruev’s activities in the Bitola district was felt by the Turkish authorities. The numerous chetas (bands) which infested the mountains began to terrorize the tyrannical Turkish malefactors. Gruev, being suspected as a major factor in fostering this movement, was, as a consequence, arrested on August 6, 1900. He was held in the Bitola jail until May 1902. However, this confinement did not check his revolutionary work. By means of secret writings, ciphers, etc., he was in constant touch with the various local revolutionary committees, and from the prison he was able to direct the affairs of the revolutionary district of Bitola.

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 correspondence, ciphers also, with Solun, Bitola, and Sofia. On Easter of 1903, at the instance of a general amnesty, he was released. Gruev hastened to Solun 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 IMARO’s lack of preparedness, since it was too late to oppose or to follow any other method, he gave in to the decision of the central Committee.

He left Solun 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.

A Heroic Death

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 now to tour the various revolutionary districts, disarm the insurgents, and store up the war materials for future use. The years 1903-1904 were the most disastrous for the Macedonia. But Gruev and his fellow-workers kept up the spirit of the peasants and continued the work of organization and preparation for another opportune time to strike once more. "For great affairs ..." said Gruev, " ... are necessary great forces. Liberty is a great thing - it requires great sacrifices." Gruev was an untiring worker. He rebuilt the temporarily wrecked organization, made it more systematic and far more powerful.

Unfortunately, on December 23, 1906. While on his way through the village of Rusinovo (Maleševo district), Gruev and his cheta (band) were confronted by the Turks. In a violent and heroic struggle with numerous Ottoman troops, he was killed.

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.

Notes

1. IMARO was the predecessor to the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO). 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.

See also

• IMRO
• History of the Republic of Macedonia
• History of Bulgaria
• Goce Delchev

Bibliography

• Dame Gruev - the Founder of IMRO

• 1871 births
• 1906 deaths
• Bulgarian freedom fighters
• Macedonian revolutionaries