Orce Nikolov

Orce Nikolov by Dimče Najdevski is a biographical study dedicated to the life and revolutionary activity of Jordan Nikolov – Orce, a prominent communist and labor organizer in interwar Macedonia. The work opens with an account of his childhood in a poor working-class family and his early exposure to hardship, which shaped his social awareness and sensitivity to workers’ struggles. Najdevski presents Orce’s formative years as a gradual process of politicization rooted in everyday labor experience, urban poverty, and contact with the emerging workers’ movement.

A central part of the booklet examines Orce’s role as a labor activist and organizer in Skopje during the 1930s. The author emphasizes his involvement in trade unions, strikes, and clandestine political work, portraying him as a bridge between workers, students, and revolutionary youth. The narrative highlights his commitment to workers’ solidarity, anti-fascist resistance, and revolutionary discipline, as well as the repression he faced from the authorities, including arrest, imprisonment, and surveillance. The later chapters follow his imprisonment, escape, and eventual return to revolutionary activity during the war period.

The publication reconstructs Orce’s biography through memoir-based narrative and documentary elements, situating his life within broader social and political developments in Macedonia on the eve of the Second World War. As a biographical-historical study, the booklet contributes to understanding the formation of communist underground networks, labor mobilization, and the transition from pre-war activism to armed resistance. It serves as a source for examining individual revolutionary trajectories within the wider context of Macedonian anti-fascist struggle.