Alekso Martulkov

Aleksandar Martulkov (Macedonian: Александар „Алексо“ Мартулков, Bulgarian: Александър „Алексо“ Мартулков) also sometimes known as Aleksandar Ončev Martulkov[2][3] (Macedonian: Александар Ончев Мартулков, Bulgarian: Александър Ончев Мартулков; 23 October 1878 — 19 December 1962) was one of the first socialist revolutionaries and publicist from the region of Macedonia.[4] He was a member of the Macedonian-Adrianople Social Democratic Group, part of Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party,[5] and later of IMRO (United).[6] He advocated for the independence of Macedonia.[7][8] Martulkov was also a member of the Bulgarian Parliament, as well as the Presidium of ASNOM and the Assembly of SR Macedonia.[9] He is considered a Macedonian in North Macedonia and a Bulgarian in Bulgaria.

Alekso Martulkov
Алексо Мартулков
Pronunciation(aɫɛkˈsandar̩ mar̩ˈtulkɔv) and (aʎɛkˈsandɤr marˈtulkɔv)
Born23 October 1878
Veles, Kosovo Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died19 December 1962 (aged 84)
Sofia, People's Republic of Bulgaria
Other names"Bismarck"[1]
Organization(s)IMRO , IMRO (United)
Notable workMy Participation in the Revolutionary Struggles of Macedonia
MovementThe Macedonian Struggle
Parents
  • Jovan Martulkov (father)
  • Sava Martulkova (mother)
RelativesPetar Martulkov (Brother), Boge Martulkov (Grandfather)
HonoursBulgarian "Medal of Merit" (Bronze)

Yugoslavian "Medal of Merit for the People"

Macedonian "Ilinden Memoirs"

Early life

Martulkov was born on 23 October 1878 in Veles, then in the Ottoman Empire.[10] He was born to a poor family with one older brother and two parents, his father which was Jovan Martulkov who worked as a baker in a local factory in Veles.[11] His mother worked as a gardaner to a wealthy family in Veles.[11] His older brother would eventually become a teacher in a local school in Bitola.

He studied in his hometown and according to contemporary sources he was undisciplined and would often get into arguments with other students which would eventually lead him to be expelled.[12] and later in the Bulgarian Pedagogical School in Skopje. He lost his parents at the age of eight due to the poor conditions of his family under Ottoman rule.[13]

he would develop a revolutionary and anti-monarchist ideology, because of this in 1898 he and a group of other socialist students would form a secret socialist group within the school.[14] Due to the fact that the group was discovered by the authorities inside the school he would be expelled from the Pedagogical School due to his involvement with the group.

During this time he stayed at his grandparents house.[15] Subsequently Martulkov left for Sofia, where he began to develop socialist ideas as a member of the Macedonian-Adrianople Social Democratic Group.[10] Later he moved to Geneva, Switzerland, where he studied chemistry but due to the lack of money he returned to Sofia after one year.[16]

Afterwards Martulkov returned to Ottoman Macedonia where he joined the IMARO. He worked in Veles and Kumanovo and helped wounded revolutionaries during the llinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising.[17][18] Afterwards, he was a teacher in the Bulgarian school in his hometown.[19][20] During this period he and other socialist revolutionaries joined the People's Federative Party (Bulgarian Section)[21]

In the autumn of 1907 he along with other IMRO revolutionaries held a meeting in Sofia where they would discuss about the Macedonian question.[22]

During The Balkan Wars and World War I

During the Balkan Wars, he and other former IMARO revolutionaries, such as Petar Poparsov and Rizo Rizov, met with Dimitrija Čupovski, they would make an appel from the local residents from Veles to sign which would be sent to the London Conference, which would demand autonomy for Macedonia.[23] According to Martulkov out of the 400 signers around 300 of them were either Turkish or from Turkish origins.[24] On the eve of the Second Balkan War in 1913, he was sent by Todor Aleksandrov on a reconnaissance mission in the area of Macedonia controlled by Serbia.[25]

In 1914, he fled to Sofia to avoid being drafted by the Serbian authorities.[26][27] He participated in IMARO's committee of deserters, which was organized by recruitment buildings in Veles and Skopje,[28] its main task was to help people from Macedonia leave the Serbian Army and join the Bulgarian Army instead.[29] According to Martulkov he and other locals working with IMARO had no control over which the locals joined the Serbian army or Bulgarian army.[30]

Its been documented that he helped around 1.500 deserts.[28] While mobilizing around 2.500 from the Veles regiment[28] and the Kocani regiment with 2.400.[28] Later during the First World War, he was awarded with a Bulgarian bronze medal. Around this time he also participated in the Veles Brotherhood in Sofia.[31]

After World War I

During the mid 1920s, he became a member of IMRO (United).[32][33] In 1931, together with Hristo Traikov, he was threatened with physical violence by Ivan Mihailov's IMRO faction, because he spread communist ideas among the Macedonian emigration in Bulgaria. Hristo Traikov was killed by activists of Ivan Mihailov's wing, and Martulkov escaped with injuries.[34][35][36][37]

In June 14 1932 in Sofia Martulkov published the first article of the newspaper "Makedonsko Zname" which was an organ of the immigrants from Macedonia in Bulgaria,[38] In his newspapers he actively critizied the current state of IMRO (Autonomous) stating that the only reason it fought for autonomous Macedonia was to just unite it with Bulgaria.[39] but still did not accept the Comintern's position on the existence of a separate Macedonian nation.[40][41] At that time, he was one of the 32 people's representatives of the Bulgarian Communist Party in the Bulgarian Parliament. In the summer of 1935, he was arrested in Sofia, while being a deputy in the Bulgarian parliament. and tried along with other members of the IMRO (United). He was sentenced to 5 years in prison and was ordered to pay a fine because of his pro-Macedonian national views.[42]

During and after World War II
The Appeal to the Macedonians in Bulgaria, recognizing a separate Macedonian people and asking for Pirin Macedonia to be united into a Macedonian state within Yugoslavia.[43][44] One of the signatories is Aleksandar Martulkov.[45]

After the Bulgarian coup d'état in September 1944, he signed the Appeal to the Macedonians in Bulgaria along with other prominent revolutionaries, such as Pavel Shatev, Tushe Deliivanov, Petar Shandanov, Mihail Gerdzhikov and others, which agitated for a Macedonian state within Yugoslavia and accepted the Comintern's position on the Macedonian nation.[46] After the Second World War, he moved to the PR Macedonia, where he participated in ASNOM.[47] He would be elected as a honorary member in The Association of Macedonian Journalists.[48] He retired in Skopje.

Due to his contributions to Yugoslavia, he was awarded the Yugoslav Medal of Merit for the People.[49] As an Ilinden Uprising veteran, he was awarded the Macedonian medal of Ilinden Memoirs in 1951.[49]

Alekso Martulkov sitting with other former IMRO (United) revolutionaries in the newly formed Socialist Republic of Macedonia

In 1945, Martulkov met with Georgi Dimitrov in Sofia and mentioned his concerns on some of the pro-Serbian and anti-Bulgarian policies of the Communist Party of Macedonia, which he believed was an attempt of Serbianisation of the local population in Macedonia.[50][51]

According to some Macedonian historians Alekso Martulkov played a huge role in the making of the first constituion for the new Socialist Republic of Macedonia around 1946, while some have suggested that he only played a small role and the only reason he gained influence over the constituion was because he was member of ASNOM.[52]

Many of the older left-wing IMRO government officials including Martulkov, would begin losing their ranks in ASNOM and influence over the Communist party of Macedonia and then isolated from the authorities in Belgrade[53] At the end of his life he would be disappointed with the policy of the new authorities in Yugoslavia which he considered to be pro-Serbian and anti-Bulgarian oriented,[54] Martulkov returned to Sofia, where he would live out the rest of his live in a small apartmeant in Sofia which is where he died on 19 December 1962.[55][56][57]

Memoirs

In 1954 Martulkovs' Memoirs would be published in Macedonian by the Institute of National History. The preface is written by Gjorgi Abadžiev. In the book Martulkov gives a detailed biography of his life and early childhood and his troubling experience with the Turkish authorities in Istanbul. In his memoirs he also mentions stories with his parents and grandparents and his experience with them, as well as writting about the Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation and its struggle and its divides and tensions, about the fight against the Ottoman Empire and the various national propagandas spread by neighboring states during the Macedonian Struggle.

He also talks about his role and influence over IMRO (United) and his experience meeting other revolutionaries. In his book he tells stories about his time migrating from Veles to Bulgaria and his time spend in Bulgaria.[58] He also writes about how he met Pavel Shatev and other boatmen of Thessaloniki, how he helped organizing the Ilinden Uprising in the Veles and Kumanovo regions under the Skopje revolutionary district

See also

References
  1. Nikolov, Boris (1999). VMORO: pseudonyms and ciphers 1893-1934. Sofia. p. 16.
  2. Pačemska Petreska, Darinka (1985). VMRO ; vnatresnata makedonska revolucionerna organizacija. p. 159.
  3. Bunteski, Riste (1996). Metodija S̆atorov--S̆arlo: politic̆ki stavovi. Drus̆tvo za nauka i umetnost. p. 71. ISBN 9989767033.
  4. Pavlovski, Jovan (2006). Ми-Анова енциклопедија. Skopje. p. 1043.
  5. Oružane borbe makedonskog naroda od VI do XX veka. Belgrad: Vojnoistorijski institut. 1975. p. 207.
  6. Vmro (Obedineta): dokumentacija i materijali (2nd ed.). 1992. p. 356.
  7. Nadoveza, Branko (1997). Balkanski socliajalisti i balkanska federacija. p. 154.
  8. Rabotnicheskata partii︠a︡ v Bŭlgarii︠a︡, 1927-1938 g. Sofia. 1966. p. 580.
  9. Dokumenti. Vol. 1st. 1984. p. 131.
  10. Gerdzhikov, Mikhail (1984). Memories, Documents, Materials, Science and Art. Sofia. p. 407.
  11. Martulkov, Alekso (1954). My Participation in the Revolutionary Struggles of Macedonia. Skopje. p. 9.
  12. Prilozi: Contributions, Volumes 23-28. Makedonska akademija na naukite i umetnostite. Oddelenie za opštestveni nauki. 1992. p. 69. The Macedonian national revolutionary and socialist Alekso Martulkov was a student and the son of a brat, the cause of quarrels and "Gjurultii" and undisciplined, which was the reason for the teacher's council, i.e. the teachers, to exclude him.
  13. Martulkov, Alekso (1954). My Participation in the Revolutionary Struggles of Macedonia. Skopje. p. 10. on a brochure to be able to become a socialist. But I was in a family and an orphaned child at the age of eight. The difficult living conditions in the then political and social situation in our country contributed to these tension
  14. Петър Манджуков, Предвестници на бурята, Федерация на анархистите в България, София, 2013, стр. 67.
  15. Martulkov, Alekso (1954). My Participation in the Revolutionary Struggle in Macedonia. Skopje. pp. 318–319.
  16. Martulkov, Alekso (1954). My Participation in the Revolutionary Struggles of Macedonia. Skopje. p. 36.
  17. Stojcev, Vance (2004). Military History of Macedonia. Vol. 1. Skopje. p. 490. ISBN 9789989134050.
  18. Martulkov, Alekso (1953). My participation in the Macedonian revolutionary battle. Skopje. p. 79.
  19. Петрова, Е. Документи за Д.Груев, М.Герджиков, В.Пасков и П.Мартулков като учители в Македония.- Военноисторически сборник, 1990, No 6, стр. 85-99.
  20. My Participation in the Revolutionary Struggles of Macedonia. Skopje. 1954. p. 311.
  21. iz Preteklosti Makedonskega Ljudstva (in Slovenian). Radio-televizija. 1969. p. 174.
  22. Горгиев, Ванчо (1997). Петар Поп Арсов : прилог кон проучувањето на македонското националноослободително движење. Матица македонска. p. 118. ISBN 9789989481031.
  23. Енциклопедија Македоника. Skopje. 2009. p. 924.
  24. Pandevski, Manol (1987). Makedonskoto osloboditelno delo vo XIX i XX vek: Projavi, relacii, likovi. Misla. p. 355.
  25. Симеон Радев, Това, което видях от Балканската война. Народна култура, София, 1993, Съставителство, предговор и приложения от Траян Радев, Бележки към предговора.
  26. Katarchiev, Ivan (2000). Историја на македонскиот народ. Skopje. p. 88.
  27. Godishnik na Sofiĭskii͡a universitet Istoricheski fakultet. Sofia. 1981. p. 155.
  28. Stojcev, Vance (2004). Military History of Macedonia. p. 490. ISBN 9989134057.
  29. Гоцев, Димитър. Национално-освободителната борба в Македония 1912 - 1915, Издателство на БАН, София, 1981, стр. 136 - 137, 151 - 153.
  30. Abadžiev, Ǵorǵi (1972). Izbor: Balkanskite vojni i Makedonija. Naša kniga. p. 378.
  31. Macedonian Review. Kulturen Zhivot. 1989. p. 33.
  32. Vmro (Obedineta): dokumentacija i materijali (2nd ed.). 1992. p. 356.
  33. Garvanski, Net︠s︡o (1974). Ne vsichko mozhe da se zabravi. Sofia. p. 142.
  34. Delev, Ivan (1974). Svetli pŭtishta. Bulgaria. p. 67.
  35. Todorova, Liljana (2002). Влогот на книжевната комуникација. Skopje. p. 235.
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  38. "Special Events in Bulgarian History (June 14)". Фокус Информационна Агенция (in Bulgarian). Archived from the original on 2022-06-15.
  39. Jovan Kočankovski, Ǵorǵi Tankovski, Ǵorǵi Dimovski-Colev (1979). Ilinden i ilindenskite tradicii. Razvitok. p. 158.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  40. Коминтернът и България (март 1919 - септември 1944), том ІІ Документи, Главно управление на архивите при Министерския съвет, Архивите говорят №37, София, 2005, стр. 1197.
  41. Добринов, Дечо. ВМРО (обединена), Университетско издателство „Св. Климент Охридски“, София, 1993, стр. 234 – 236.
  42. Добринов, Дечо. ВМРО (обединена), Университетско издателство „Св. Климент Охридски“, София, 1993, стр. 234 – 236.
  43. "Апел до Македонците во Бугарија - 1944 — Wikibooks". mk.wikibooks.org (in Macedonian). Retrieved 2023-02-02.
  44. V., Andreev (1999). Chronicle of a National Betrayal. Blagoevgrad. pp. 13–15.
  45. БКП, Коминтернът и македонския въпрос (1917-1946). Sofia. 1999. p. 1122. ISBN 9789549800043.
  46. Dinev, Angel (1983). Odbrani dela vo tri knigi. Skopje. pp. 333–337.
  47. Dokumenti od prvoto i vtoroto zasedanie na ASNOM. Skopje. 1984. p. 485.
  48. Avramović, Miodrag (1971). Srebrni jubilej SNJ 1945-1970: Glavni i odgovorni urednik (in Serbo-Croatian). Savez novinara Jugoslavije. p. 99.
  49. "Aleksandar (Alekso) Martulkov". Macedonian Nation.
  50. Добрин Мичев, Македонският въпрос и българо-югославските отношения: 9 септември 1944-1949; Унив. изд-во "Св. Климент Охридски", 1994; ISBN 9540701821, стр. 85.
  51. Дневник на Георги Димитров: (9 март 1933-6 февруари 1949), ред. Димитър Сирков; Университетско издателство "Св. Климент Охридски", 1997; ISBN 954071172X, стр. 513.
  52. АПАСИЕВ: Нашите принципи не ги земаме на вересија и на вересија не ги даваме!
  53. According to Vasil Ivanovski, the disdainful attitude towards the personnel who was inconvenient for the Macedonian Communist Party included also Martulkov, who was retired and put into the State archive, and thus was removed from the Presidium of ASNOM. For the contemporary elections, the authorities included him in the list, but only on not electable place, but not as the leader of the list. At the same time, according to Pavel Shatev, he was persecuted and isolated, and Martulkov was in the same situation. For more see: Веселин Ангелов, Македонската кървава Коледа: Създаване и утвърждаване на Вардарска Македония като република в Югославската федерация (1943 - 1946); Галик, 2003, ISBN 9548008777, pp. 180, 183, 233.
  54. Коминтернът и България (март 1919 - септември 1944), том ІІ Документи, Главно управление на архивите при Министерския съвет, Архивите говорят №37, София, 2005, стр. 1197.
  55. Луиза Ревякина, Коминтернът и България: (март 1919 - септември 1944 г.) Архивите говорят. Том 2: март 1919 - септември 1944 г, Главно управление на архивите при министерския съвет на Република България, 2005, ISBN 9549800474, стр. 1197.
  56. Пелтеков, Александър Г. Революционни дейци от Македония и Одринско. Второ допълнено издание. София, Орбел, 2014. ISBN 9789544961022 с. 283.
  57. Македонска енциклопедија, том II. Скопје, Македонска академија на науките и уметностите, 2009. ISBN 978-608-203-024-1 с. 924.
  58. Martulkov, Alekso (1953). My Participation in the Revolutionary Struggles of Macedonia (in Macedonian). Skopje. pp. 106–107. After these consultations, I parted with my friends and with Flower of Christ we left for Veles and from there to Bulgaria. Along the way to Bulgaria, we stopped longer time in Kratovsko. We had a meeting with Athanasius The grandmother in the village Stubol, and then in the village. Muddy with Jorda of Spasov
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