IMRO

IMRO by Ivan Mihajlov, republished in Brussels in 1978 from an earlier wartime text, presents Mihajlov’s interpretation of the history, structure, and purpose of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization. The work describes the organization as a disciplined and centralized movement founded to achieve autonomy for Macedonia, while simultaneously asserting that the population of the region historically belonged to the Bulgarian national body. Mihajlov frames IMRO as a response to Ottoman rule and later to Serbian and Yugoslav state policies, portraying it as the primary defender of the Macedonian cause.

A central argument of the booklet is that the revolutionary movement was composed of what the author repeatedly calls Macedonian Bulgarians, and that its founders sought political autonomy as a strategic step rather than as an expression of a separate national identity. The text emphasizes the organizational structure, clandestine networks, armed resistance, and popular support of IMRO, presenting it as a mass movement deeply rooted in village and urban society. The narrative places strong emphasis on continuity between nineteenth-century Bulgarian national revival and the revolutionary struggle in Macedonia.

Today, the publication is treated as a source representing a Bulgarian nationalist reading of the Macedonian question and émigré political thought during the Cold War period. Rather than a neutral historical study, it reflects Mihajlov’s ideological position and his rejection of the socialist recognition of a distinct Macedonian nation. As such, the text remains significant for examining competing interpretations of the revolutionary tradition, the concept of autonomy, and the broader question of national identity in Macedonia.