Strandzha Commune
The Strandzha Commune (Bulgarian: Странджанска комуна, romanized: Strandzhanska komuna), also known as the Strandzha Republic (Bulgarian: Странджанска република, romanized: Strandzhanska republika), was a short-lived anarchist commune in East Thrace. It was proclaimed during the Preobrazhenie Uprising in 1903 by rebels of the Internal Macedonian Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO), in the Adrianople vilayet of the Ottoman Empire.
Strandzha Commune Странджанска комуна | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1903 | |||||||||
| Motto: Svoboda ili smart ("Freedom or Death") | |||||||||
| Status | Stateless society | ||||||||
| Capital | Vasiliko | ||||||||
| Common languages | Bulgarian | ||||||||
| Demonym(s) | Thracian | ||||||||
| Government | Anarchist communism | ||||||||
| Commander-in-chief (de facto) | |||||||||
• 1903 | Mihail Gerdzhikov | ||||||||
| Historical era | Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising | ||||||||
• Established | 19 August 1903 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 7 September 1903 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Bulgaria Turkey | ||||||||
| Part of a series on |
| Anarchism |
|---|
The independence of the Principality of Bulgaria and subsequent separation of Thrace and Macedonia from its territory had ignited a irredentist movement, organised around the IMARO. The organisation, which counted Bulgarian anarchists among its membership, planned for the liberation of Thrace and Macedonia from Ottoman rule and the establishment of a socialist order in the Balkans. In 1903, they began laying plans for an uprising against the Ottomans and the anarchist Mihail Gerdzhikov was selected to prepare an insurrection in Thrace.
In the mountains of Strandzha, IMARO insurgents began preparations for their uprising and the local Thracian peasantry began spontaneously establishing a libertarian communist system in the region. Once the uprising was initiated and insurgents captured much of the region, the Strandzha Commune was proclaimed, definitively establishing communism in the areas liberated from Ottoman control. The Commune would last about a month before its suppression by the Ottoman Empire, during which thousands were killed or became refugees.
Gerdzhikov and the IMARO attempted to elicit international support for the national liberation struggles in Macedonia and Thrace, but were ultimately unsuccessful. East Thrace remained under the control of the Ottoman Empire and is today still controlled by Turkey. The Strandzha Commune left a lasting legacy as the first attempt to establish libertarian communism, inspiring the consolidation of the Bulgarian anarchist movement and preceding the uprising of the Makhnovshchina in Ukraine.