Mihail Gerdjikov
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} Mihail Gerdzhikov (; 1877–1947) was a Bulgarian revolutionary and
anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
.


Biography

He was born in
Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...
, then in the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
, in 1877. He studied at the French College in Plovdiv, where he received the nickname ''Michel''. As a pupil in 1893 he started his revolutionary activities as the leader of a
Macedonian Secret Revolutionary Committee The Macedonian Secret Revolutionary Committee (MSRC; ; ) was founded in in Plovdiv. It was developed later in Geneva in a secret, anarchistic, brotherhood called "Geneva Group". History The Bulgarian anarchist movement grew in the 1890s, and the ...
(MSRC). As a student in
Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...
and
Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
he participated in the so-called ''Geneva Group''. In 1899 he moved to Ottoman Macedonia and became a teacher at Bulgarian Men's High School in
Bitola Bitola (; ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki border crossing ...
and joined Internal Macedonian Adrianople Revolutionary Organization, where Gerdzhikov approached
Gotse Delchev Georgi Nikolov Delchev (; ; 4 February 1872 – 4 May 1903), known as Gotse Delchev or Goce Delčev (''Гоце Делчев''),Originally spelled in older Bulgarian orthography as ''Гоце Дѣлчевъ''. - Гоце Дѣлчевъ. ...
. In 1900 he was a delegate to the Zlatitsa Society of the ''Seventh Congress'' of the
Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee The Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee (SMAC), (), also known as the Supreme Macedonian Committee (SMC), was a Bulgarian paramilitary and political organization, active in Bulgaria as well as in Macedonia and Adrianople regions of the Ottom ...
(SMAC). In April 1901 he was a delegate of the ''Eighth Congress'' of SMAC. After the defeat of the
Strandzha commune The Strandzha Commune (), also known as the Strandzha Republic (), was a short-lived List of anarchist communities, anarchist commune in East Thrace. It was proclaimed during the Preobrazhenie Uprising in 1903 by rebels of the Internal Macedonia ...
during the Preobrazhenie Uprising, he dealt with the accommodation of the rebels who withdrew from Ottoman Thrace to Bulgaria. He published articles in the Bulgarian and foreign press, appealing to the international community for intervention in the resolution of the Eastern question in the Balkans. Together with Varban Kilifarski he also published various newspapers of their own. At the outbreak of the
Balkan War The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defeated it, in the ...
in 1912, Gerdzhikov headed the Lozengrad guerrilla unit of the
Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps The Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps (, ; MAVC) was a volunteer corps of the Bulgarian Army during the Balkan Wars. It was formed on 23 September 1912 and consisted of Bulgarian volunteers from Macedonia and Thrace, regions still under ...
. He was mobilized into the Bulgarian Army and participated in World War I, serving in the Forty-third Infantry Regiment. After the
War War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
, he was a member of the Provisional representation of the former United Internal Revolutionary Organization and later joined the IMRO (United). Gerdzhikov participated in the ''Constantinople Conference of the IMRO (United)'' in 1930 and was a member of the Central Committee as a member of the Foreign Office.Pandev, Konstantin. Foreword to: Gerdzhikov, Michael. Memories, Documents, Materials, Science and Art Publishing House, Sofia, 1984, p. 14. But after the conference he did not leave for Berlin, to participate in the Central Committee, but returned to Bulgaria in 1931.Pandev, Konstantin. Foreword to: Gerdzhikov, Michael. Memories, Documents, Materials, Science and Art Publishing House, Sofia, 1984, p. 15. He became a journalist and translator. On the eve and during the Second World War, 1939–1945, due to his advanced age, he was mainly engaged in journalism. He has collaborated on a number of periodicals. Although some of his associates were involved in the resistance movement, Gerdzhikov remained aloof, although he maintained ties with them. Following the September 9 coup, he signed in Sofia " Appeal to the Macedonians in Bulgaria".Цочо Билярски, Ива Бурилкова, БКП, Коминтернът и македонския въпрос (1917-1946), Том 2, Главно управление на архивите, София, 1999, ISBN 9549800040, стр. 1122. Gerdzhikov died in 1947, disappointed with the new communist authorities.


Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerdzhikov, Mihail 1877 births 1947 deaths 20th-century anarchists Anarcho-communists Bulgarian anarchists Bulgarian educators Bulgarian military personnel of the Balkan Wars Bulgarian military personnel of World War I Bulgarian revolutionaries Burials at Central Sofia Cemetery Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (United) members Members of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization Politicians from Plovdiv Thracian Bulgarians