ПРОТОГЕРОВИСТИ ВМРО У ЈУГОСЛОВЕНСКОЈ СЛУЖБИ 1930–1935. ГОДИНЕ
PROTOGERSTS OF IMRO IN THE YUGOSLAV SERVICE 1930 ­ 1935

Summary/Abstract: The main purpose of cooperation between Yugoslav state authorities and certain IMRO’s factions was the protection of civilian population, clerks and officers from guerrilla and terrorist actions. During the period of guerrilla warfare led by the IMRO the federalists primarily collaborated within the ranks of the Association against Bulgarian Bandits (AABB). After the organisation has shifted its action to assassinations, henchmen of Protogerov were receiving revolvers and money. Yugoslav services thus contested the work of the IMRO using the same means as did the organization. Yugoslav state institutions have encouraging mutual conflicts among divers IMRO’s factions which have affected the weakening of their actions in Vardar Macedonia and consequently assisted the maintenance of order and a peaceful life among the local population. The second purpose of the cooperation was affiliated to the international propaganda. Unlike the conflicts between the AABB and the IMRO which took place in both the Yugoslav and Bulgarian territories, the struggles between henchmen of Protogerov and Michailov were restricted to the Bulgarian soil. Therefore, the Yugoslav authorities could straightforwardly prove to the European public their thesis that the IMRO was based on the Bulgarian territory, and not in Vardar Macedonia as the Macedonian nationalists wanted to convince international factors. At the same time, the Bulgarian government was contested as incapable of maintaining peace in its own backyard, with no negative effects for the international reputation of Yugoslavia.

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