Conclusion

The Bulgarian campaign committees were highly a patriotic deed of the Bulgarians in Macedonia in 1941, determined by the invasion of the German army in Yugoslavia and the ruining or at least the shaking of the suppressing rule in the region. It was also determined by the friendly relations between Germany and Bulgaria, by the hope that after the German army the Bulgarian one would come.

The time when those events took place was a time of lack of authority. The Yugoslav rule was changed with German, after that with Bulgarian. The Serbs in the most places had run away not be­ing afraid not as much of the Germans, but of the revenge of the local Bulgarian population. Only the Serbian authorities in Skopje and Bitola did not escape. It was logical the Bulgarians to make an attempt to lake control and to avoid anarchy. The establishment of that rule continued long after the arrival of the Bulgarian army because the organization of the administrative authorities in the re­gion and its transformation in inseparable unity with Bulgaria was long-lasting process. Actually just on May 18, 1941 the German mili­tary command in Skopje officially handed over the administrative power to the Bulgarian state. But when after a few months every­thing was organized, the campaign committees became somewhat useless. More precisely, they were historically doomed to adjourn.

The Central Committee, perceiving the importance of the cam­paign committees in Vardar Macedonia, tried to make everything to retain them. “Let the committees remain”, said Stephanov and Hadzhikimov, “and proceed with their work. Let them be under the control of the government, receive directives and instructions from it but not be adjourned, because this could be very offending for the people that have proved with their deeds their devotion to the “Tsar, people and country^”. These people created the Bulgarian authorities in Vardar Macedonia in the time when the ministries in Sofia had no idea what was happening in the first day of the liberation of Mace­donia at the arrival of the German army”.* The authors of that letter were right to some extent. The followers of IMRO, (Protogerovists), the followers of IMRO (united) and all other organizations and groups were forestall by two not very popular activists - Stephanov and Hadzhikimov. The campaign committees were a manifestation of the whole community not only of separate groups that was disliked by the political activists who eventually could have the possibility and the power to pay attention to this phenomenon. Nobody liked to be left behind.

So the explanation that the historians gave for the closing of the committees seemed unlikely, “Not proper appreciation of the cam­paign committees by the central Bulgarian government”**. What an authority was that, that could not estimate the importance of the com­mittees for more than 100 days? That spoke no good, to it. No, the government had estimated very well their importance.-The campaign committees were a manifestation of the free thinking, of the demo­cratic spirit and national authority. But it would be too much to be asked Tsar's Bulgaria in 1941 to tolerate free thinking.

The Central Committee even made a proposition before the gov­ernment to self-adjourn but the committees at site to continue their activities. That spoke of understanding those people had of the need of such committees not as organs of an authority, but as an essential means for revival of the Bulgarian spirit.

One of the most important reasons for the termination of the ac­tivity of the campaign committees was the suspicion of the authori­ties towards IMRO. That organization, strong in the past, and its fol­lowers were watched by the security authorities. That suspicion was reinforced in the end of June and the beginning of July 1941. Great number of followers of IMRO participated in the campaign commit­tees and that increased government's suspicion. Actually, Mihaylovists did not remain active, but proceeded to restoration of their struc­tures. On July 5 in the house of Ivan Piperkov in Skopje held a conference of the followers of Ivan Mihaylov. Present were Kiril Drangov, Vlado Kourtev, Dimitur Tsilev, Ivan Piperkov, Dimitur Giuzelev, Dimitur Chkatrov and Atanas Albanski. A topic of discus­sion was the appointment of regional superiors of IMRO in the major towns in Macedonia - Skopje, Bitola, Prilep, Veles, etc. A decision was made only for the superiors of two towns: in Skopje as most suitable - Dr. Assen Albanski and for Bitola - Peter Grebenarov. The task of those regional superiors was to work for ameliorating of the disagreement between the separate tendencies and preparation for the arrival of Ivan Mihaylov, who was in Zagreb. ***

Only two days after the meeting, on July 7, 1941 the Regional Director of Skopje A. Kozarov issued an order No. 248 with which the activity of the BCCC and the local committees were terminated. Of course, the power did not act brutally in that case.

The absence of interference by organized political powers when the committees were formed outlined a wide white field on which the Bulgarians in Macedonia wrote with capital letters their desire for accession with Bulgaria. It was their dream - the country for which since 1878 river of blood were shed. The campaign commit­tees were organizations open to everybody as a member neverthe­less of its beliefs. The most important conclusion that could be made for the campaign committees was that history allowed the Mace­donian Bulgarians to make their self-determination without any pres­sure, without the presence of any coercion. The Bulgarians from Macedonia, representatives of all ranks and statuses - peasants, work­ers, intellectuals, craftsmen, traders - as well as of all parties and trends had used that historical chance. In that peculiar referendum they gave their vote for Bulgaria.

The formation of the Bulgarian campaign committees in Mace­donia - an original form of self-determination for the Macedonian Bulgarians - was a significant link in the whole chain of the struggle for national liberation that followed after the Berlin Congress.

* CSA, fund 1591, list 3, file 28, page 1.

** Daskalov, G. “The Bulgarian campaign committees...”, p. 66.

*** CSA, fund 1932, list 4, file 32, page 19-21.