Address by the President of the Republic of Macedonia,
H.E. Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, on the occasion of October 23,
the Day of the Macedonian Revolutionary Struggle

Skopje, October 23, 2010


Respected attendees,
Distinguished Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

On this day, 117 years ago, in Thessaloniki, there were six, men, among the people known as teachers, doctors, or simply clever men. They, on this day, according to the calendar of that time, planted a tree which grew over the years and had many branches. Sometimes, some of the branches of that tree became dried, some of the branches were grafted by the neighbors, and other branches were severely cut. That tree, however, resisted many disasters, droughts, cold weather and ice. It was exposed to winds and grew at crossroads. Each ill-intentioned passenger left a mark or a scar on the tree. But it was strong, it persisted throughout the times, its tenacity came from its root.

Most probably, the librarian Ivan Hadzi Nikolov would have used these words to describe this event, and Dr. Hristo Tatarcev would have made the diagnosis, while Dame Gruev, Petar Pop Arsov, Anton Dimitrov and Hristo Batandzhiev would have narrated the lessons. Yes, on this day these six men have established the first All Macedonian Organization, the Organization that over the years changed its name, but in all of its names two adjectives remained: "Macedonian" and "revolutionary". Therefore, on this day, now a national holiday, we celebrate and worship the work of these six Prometheuses. We celebrate the Day of the Macedonian Revolutionary Struggle.
Guided by the deep love for Macedonia and the Macedonian people, they were aware of the vigor of the Macedonian liberation struggle, a struggle intertwined with numerous challenges and foreign propaganda. Strongly convinced that freedom can only be won by our own capacities, Ivan Hadzi Nikolov, said:
"The organization should be autonomous and independent, it should not be related and have engagements with the governments of the neighboring countries, so that they would not affect it and blame it to be the tool of any of those governments and thereby cause counteraction by other neighboring governments."

Their torch was accepted by dozens, hundreds, thousands of followers. Many of them were students of the famous teachers. One of the noblest is certainly Goce Delchev. The light that among the people was symbolized by St. Ilija, these followers have united Ilinden 1903 to shine up to this day.
The organized beginning of the Macedonian Revolutionary Struggle was an expression of the bravest and most educated people of that time, people with clear thought and pure heart. Heroes who wanted to connect and secure the future for all Macedonians, regardless of their religious or ethnic affiliation in a common struggle for statehood. Their mission was to unite the efforts of all freedom-loving Macedonians, Vlachs, Albanians, Turks, ready to stand under the Macedonia’s flag for liberation from slavery.

The organization, since the early days, has stood for brotherhood of all people in Macedonia. The first article of the rules read: "Anyone who lives in the European part of Turkey, regardless of the gender, nationality or personal beliefs, can become a member of the organization”. This idea is found in all documents of the Macedonian Revolutionary Struggle, in Krusevo Manifesto and all other Manifestos. Therefore, this idea persists and is nurtured by our generation in Macedonia, too.

After the Ilinden Uprising, the organization is increasingly becoming the initial program, a program on the Macedonian national freedom, independence and equality with other European nations and all free nations in the world.
Exactly one hundred years ago, in 1910, the All Macedonian organization received its final name: the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization or VMRO. But, it was the same year when the cleavage happened, cleavage that was one reason of paralyzing the Macedonian national and revolutionary movement and dissolution of Macedonia and the Macedonian people in the Balkan wars in 1912 and 1913. One part of the organization went to the "left", the other part to the "right". One went to "East", the other to the "West".
With the outbreak of the First World War, Macedonian intellectuals abroad raised their voice. Krste Misirkov on August 6, 1915 in his speech addressed to the All Slavic Assembly required "Unification of the entire Macedonia in one state." The Macedonian colony in St. Petersburg in the "Macedonian Voice" in October 1915 published the appeal of the Macedonian patriots to the national Representatives of Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece. The appeal reads "Macedonia should be sovereign, entire and independent."

Macedonian emigration in Switzerland, organized in numerous political emigrant political associations, sent various appeals and memoranda to the Conference of the Second International, to the International Conference of the League of Nations, to all the major forces and signatories of the Versailles peace. They required attention to be paid to the Macedonian issue and to establish the status of free Macedonia at political and ecclesiastical level.
Remarkable is the appeal of the "Geneva Association for independent Macedonia”, headed by Dr. Kocarev. The appeal urged that "all Macedonians, regardless of religion and nationality, should forget past hatreds and personal disputes and create a solid core of unity and independence of Macedonia, which does not belong to the Bulgarians nor Serbs, nor the Greeks, but only to the Macedonians."
All Macedonian associations in Switzerland, after 1918, were united and established the "General Council of the Macedonian Associations in Geneva. In their appeal from June 1919 it is stated: "We, the Macedonians, require the undeniable right (it refers to the ideas of President Wilson for the rights of peoples to self-determination) to be respected when Macedonia is concerned. The Macedonian people have the necessary and requisite skills for self-government, because it is not the amorphous mass or unconscious community ... Free and independent Macedonia, thanks to its excellent geographical position, will serve as a unifying link between the Balkan states, it will allow them to meet without weapons and will contribute to achieving the Balkan confederation.”

In 1924 an agreement for the establishment of VMRO (United) for all parts of Macedonia was reached. A Declaration and Manifesto were issued. In this program document, the Manifesto of VMRO, with a new political agenda for unity in action of the Macedonian revolutionary forces, known as "May Manifesto”, among other things was stated:" VMRO in the capacity of a real revolutionary force is fighting for liberation and unification of all parts of Macedonia in a completely autonomous (independent) political unit in its natural ethnographic and geographic boundaries. It was considered that the political existence of Macedonia can be guaranteed only by the alliance of the independently determined Balkan nations in the form of a Balkan Federation, which can only paralyze the annexation aspirations of the existing Balkan states, to ensure proper resolution of all national disputes, to guarantee the cultural development of all ethnographic minorities.”
The Manifesto states that it is possible: "the struggle for liberation of Macedonia and the formation of the Balkan Federation will count primarily on the United Revolutionary Forces of the entire Macedonian population, regardless of religion and ethnicity and when this fight will be initiated in close cooperation with other Balkan nations ... "
Because of these views expressed publicly, shortly after the publication, one of the authors of the “May Manifesto" and VMRO restaurateur, Todor Aleksandrov was killed.
Due to the different historical circumstances, the basic program ideas of VMRO were accepted by the labor movement, the liberal and people’s organizations of Macedonians, the Macedonian literary and cultural organizations and included them in their historical initiatives. Simply, they all completed the range of the Macedonian national movement.
In 1936, a greater group of Macedonians, most of them students, in Zagreb drafted the declaration which was signed by a number of Macedonian students from abroad. This Declaration was actually a national-political document that remained faithful to the Macedonian revolutionary struggle. Some of these students, intellectuals and prominent Macedonians, in August 1936 in Ohrid organized the MANAPO congress.
The Congress takes a democratic, anti-fascist and Macedonian-patriotic orientation. MANAPO managed to wide-spread its activity, contributing to the activation of the broader social strata over the idea of national emancipation of the Macedonians. Fierce pressure was imposed on the organization by the government of that time and in 1938 it ceased to exist. Many of its followers later joined the national liberation struggle and the Communist Party of Macedonia.
Therefore consistent interpreter and realizator of the ideas and program of the authentic Macedonian Revolutionary Organization was the partisan movement during the Second World War. This was most directly expressed in the paper of the national hero Kuzman Josifovski – Pitu at the Prespa consultation, held on August 2, 1943. In this paper, devoted to the 40th anniversary of the Ilinden Uprising, he says:
... "Today, when the Macedonian nation is faced with a decisive battle for its national freedom, the memory of Ilinden should more than ever be the light in the eyes of all Macedonian people, in the face of all honest and freedom-loving Macedonians, all those who love their country ..."
Metodija Andonov - Cento fought for the Ilinden ideals to become our reality. He severely fought for them during the ASNOM preparations, especially at the meeting of the Macedonian delegation in Vis. Accordingly, he was elected the first President of the ASNOM Presidium, among the people known as the first President of Macedonia.
The living witness of the two Ilindens, Panko Brasnarov, opening the first session of ASNOM, said: "the life-giving well of freedom is not withered. Macedonia was divided, the oppressions have changed, however, the struggle of the Macedonian people has not ceased yet.”

Cento, as an elected Member of the Assembly of PRM and as Member of the Parliament of Yugoslavia, submitted an amendment to the draft Constitution of FPRY. He remained faithful to the continuity of the Macedonian revolutionary struggle and it was his merit that a provision was introduced on the right of individuals to self-determination, including the right of secession. That provision is present in all subsequent constitutions of the former country.
Using exactly this provision, our Assembly, on January 25, 1991 adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Republic of Macedonia, seceding from the previous federation
Brasnarov was really a witness but, like many other ASNOM participants, he became the victim of Ilinden ideals in the new state. Cento, desiring that the ASNOM decisions become the new Macedonian reality, ended up in prison for a decade. For a certain period, his name and his merits were removed from the textbooks, form the books, from the history. It was also forbidden to mention his name.

Ladies and gentlemen,

On this solemn day I would like to inform you that as President of the Republic of Macedonia I have made a decision, a decision to award the “Order of the Republic of Macedonia'' to Metodija Andonov Cento posthumously, for his outstanding contribution for the achievement of the centuries-old aspiration of the Macedonian people for freedom and preservation of its identity and establishment of independent, sovereign and democratic state, as Macedonian activist, fighter, statesman and as the first President of the ASNOM Presidium.
With this act, finally, we paid publicly the deserved recognition to him for his work. This great son of Macedonia has dedicated his entire life to the fight for the rights of the Macedonian people, with whom he fought and suffered together, and as such was persecuted and imprisoned.
Cento was the honest patriot and honest man chosen to lead the people to the dawn of a free and independent Macedonia.
Bowing before his great work, we honor him today. I believe that our gratitude can best be expressed if we cherish the legacy Cento left – together and jointly we should protect Macedonia and leave Macedonia to our children.

Respected attendees,

No single state celebration is a celebration of only one political party, of only one religion or ethnic community. The 8th of September 1991, Day of the Independence of the Republic of Macedonia, is linked with the 2nd of August 1944; ASNOM would have been impossible without 11th of October 1941. The day of the Macedonian rebellion is inseparable from Ilinden 1903. Ilinden 1903 would have been impossible without 23rd of October 1893, a day on which we celebrate the Macedonian Revolutionary Struggle.
All these celebrations symbolize the continuity of the Macedonian strive for freedom. Each of these holydays is dedicated to one of the steps our ancestors climbed in order to achieve the centuries old ideal. Ideal sublimated by Jane Sandanski who stated: “...to live means to fight – the enslaved for freedom, and the free for perfection.“ Today, we and our children live that freedom.
Therefore, I want to underline that whoever divides the celebrations as ours and theirs, also divides the people as ours and theirs. They mean no good for Macedonia. We all belong to one another. The people is one and united, people consisted of all citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, regardless of religion, ethnicity or political affiliation. Macedonians, Albanians, Serbs, Roma, Vlachs, Bosnak. Christians, Muslims, Jewish, atheists. And, just as the people are one and united, so is the freedom, one, united and unseparable for all of us. If freedom is uniform, can its celebration be divided, partitioned?

Therefore, this bright celebration uniting the generations that fought for and won our freedom and the freedom of our children, must not be dimmed. Therefore, the celebrations should not be divided into ours and theirs, since it contradicts the very idea for which we celebrate them today. The celebrations unite because they are common and belong to all of us. Celebrations that remind us of the vows by our fighters for free, independent, sovereign, democratic and European Macedonia.

Dear all,

We are fulfilling the vow. With dignity, since 1991, the Republic of Macedonia, continues the ideals of the followers of the revolutionary struggle. Of the famous Krusevo Republic, of ASNOM. The Republic of Macedonia is a democratic and legal state based on the respect of human rights and liberties. A state whose greatness lies in its openness. Openness towards all those who live in her, but also towards the neighbors and the region.
This Macedonian openness, as I have stated many times before, naturally adds on to the noble idea of the European Union, idea for United Europe. Our openness is part of the vision for an European peace, which understands Europe as an united and open space, space in which there is tolerance and celebration of diversities. Where everyone’s rights and identity are protected. Space in which the relations among nations are based on cooperation, openness, democracy and the respect of human rights, and the respect of human dignity.
Macedonia and the Balkans today live with this idea for an united Europe. Therefore, Macedonia and the Balkans are dedicated to the efforts for bridging over, reconciling and integrating

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Again and again, I call on for the daily political divisions to stop. Only united can we endure on our road. Road that leads us to the goal that unites the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, regardless of their religious, ethnic or political affiliation. Only together we can fulfill our historical mission. Prosperous, happy, filled with togetherness, rich and European Macedonia.  


Descendants and followers of the six heroes, of Delcev, Gruev, Karev, Guli, descendants of the famous Brasnarov, Cuckov, Agoli, Cento, of all known and unknown heroes, ,

Long Live the Republic of Macedonia!