MACEDONO-BULGARIAN
HEROES:
DAME GRUEV
(1871,
Smilevo, Vardar Macedonia-1906, Rusinovo-Vardar Macedonia)
Dame Gruev's Early Years
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Damian (Dame) Gruev was born in 1871 in the village of Smilevo,
district of Monastir (Bitola), the southwestern part of Macedonia.
He received his elementary education in his native village, Smilevo,
and later studied in Ressen, Monastir, Salonica, and the University
of Sofia, Bulgaria. While still in the Gymnazium of Salonica, Gruev
felt the unbearable Turkish oppression and maltreatment of his
fellow-countrymen-the Macedonians.
Soon after he graduated from the Gymnazium he went to Sofia and
there, in 1889-1890, entered the University of Sofia to specialize
in history. Here Gruev found the opportunity to study the history of
the Bulgarians and particularly the methods and deeds of the
Bulgarian revolutionists-Rakovsky, Karavelov, Levsky, Botev, and
others-who had been greatly responsible for the freedom of Bulgaria.
Gruev now anticipated the idea of following the examples of the
Bulgarian revolutionists and he soon endeavored to form a similar
organization in Macedonia for the deliverance of the Bulgarians that
were still held in bondage by the Sultan.
He left the University and went to Macedonia to apply himself to the
organization of the Macedonian people. 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 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 Sultan Abdul Hamid.
Later, Gruev established himself in Salonica and here laid the
foundation of the IMRO (The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary
Organization). With the cooperation of Dr.Christo Tatarchev, Peter
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 the Province of 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 Dr.Christo Tatatrchev.
Dame Gruev -the Apostle
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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 Negotin the first local
revolutionary organization, and soon after, with the cooperation of
Pere Toshev, he organized the first district committee in the city
of Shtip. Gruev also visited the cities of Ressen, Ochrid, and
Struga, and found the field quite favorable for the acceptance of
his revolutionary ideas. In the city of Shtip, 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 Gotze Delchev, who independently conceived the same desire as
Gruev-that of organizing the Macedonian people into a secret
revolutionary organization, arrived in Shtip in order to lay the
foundation of a revolutionary movement for the express purpose of
emancipation of Macedonia. 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 Salonica. After this, both Gruev and Delchev worked
together in Shtip and environs.
The growth of the IMRO was phenomenal, particularly after Gruev
settled in Salonica during the years 1895-1897, in the quality of an
Exarchist 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-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 the Province of 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 Monastir and
there, with the cooperation of Slaveico 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 Monastir,
and as such, he also assumed the management of the revolutionary
movement in the Vilayet of Monastir, while the active persons at the
Committee in Salonica were Dr.Christo Tatarchev, Pere Toshev, and
Christo Matov.
The result of Gruev’s activities in the Monastir 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 Monastir 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 Monastir.
Dame Gruev and the Ilinden Uprising
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In the latter part of May, 1902, Gruev was condemned to banishment
in the prison of Podroum-Kale in Asia Minor. There he found Christo
Matov and Dr.Christo 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 itself, Gruev managed to
keep himself informed as to the development and affairs of the IMRO.
He kept up a steady correspondence, ciphers also, with Salonica,
Monastir, and Sofia. On Easter of 1903, at the instance of a general
amnesty, he was released. Gruev hastened to Salonica and there he
found the that the Central Committee, which was in charge of the
IMRO, 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 IMRO’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 Salonica 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 Alexander Lozantchev 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.
Dame Gruev's Heroic Death
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Gruev lived to see the frightful flight of the Turkish asker
(troops) from his native village-Smilevo. He was engaged, during the
course of the insurrection, in numerous skirmishes with the Turkish
army and gallantly defended the temporarily freed Smilevo. But with
the arrival in Macedonia of over 300,000 Asatics, 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 Macedonian people. 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 affiars,"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. But unfortunately, on his way through the village of
Rousinovo (Maleshevsko district), Gruev and his cheta (band) were
betrayed to the Turks. In a violent and heroic struggle with
numerous Turkish troops he fell dead, on December 23, 1906.
When the Turkish Central authorities heard that among the killed was
Gruev himself, they immediately telegraphed to the local Turkish
governor to uncover the burried bodies and take a photograph of
Gruev. The augurs of the autocratic bureaucracy of Constantinople
wanted to convince themselves of the fact that the great giaur-the
disturber of the empire, Gruev-was really dead. Thus ended the epic
life of the great Macedonian apostle-Damian Gruev!
By:
http://members.tripod.com/~dimobetchev/dame.html
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