Boris Sarafov & the Sarafov movement.

Sarafov travelled to Vienna, Paris and London in order to lobby for the Macedonian cause, he always met with high ranking officials and members of parliament to explain the situation of the Macedonians in Macedonia.Sarafov was at odds with a few Vojvodi in VMRO, one prime example would be during the congress of Rila in 1905, Jane Sandanski accused Sarafov of accepting money from the Serbs and allowing the settlement of Serb cheti in Macedonia, Sandanski also accused Sarafov of organising his own armed cheti in order to weaken VMRO and seize the leadership of VMRO.The good qualities of Sarafov however was that he kept Europe informed on what was happening in Macedonia, as the Ottomans restricted Journalists in Macedonia and gave biased information to the press, during his travels he also tried to raise additional money for the struggle to free Macedonia.Many poltiicians from England and America had a negative opinion on Sarafov, Brailsford, Sonnichsen, Wyon and Smith all presented him as a spy on the payroll of Ferdinand (Prince of Bulgaria).It is wise to note that, after the Rila Congress of VMRO, Sandanski was prepared to kill Sarafov, however Gjorche Petrov intervened to appease and persuade Sandanski that there would be no benefit eliminating Sarafov as all the Leaders of VMRO need to be united in order to face all their enemies who were more numerous (Greeks, Serbs, Vrhovisti, Turci, Albanian gangs)

Many people don't realise that VMRO after 1903 was split in diffrent factions, the three factions were,

1) The moderate conservatves, who refused to modify the structures of VMRO (the statutes on 1902 which gave full control to the central committee, who had full powers.The main leaders of this group were Tatarchev, Dame Gruev (two of the six co-founders from 1893). After the Rila congress, they were isolated after the Rila congress and were forced to accept assistance from Sofia even though they were against this.

2) The Radicals - the group of the left, The group consisted of Jane Sandanski, Dimo Haji Dimov, Pere Toshev, Gjorche Petrov and Petar Pop Arsov (Petar Pop Arsov was one of the co-founders of VMRO in 1893). The Radicals rejected foreign aid from Bulgaria and refused to fall under the influence or dependence of any of the Balkan states.

3) The Sarafov circle - The third faction was based on Sarafov, he was a vital factor of the Macedonian movement. Sarafov presented two distinct aspects; acts of terrorism (assassination attempts, murders), and an influence on the international press, by using his charming side. Sarafov was also a negotiator "from the shadows" who, in the European capitals conducted meetings with the Great powers at the time trying to find a solution to the "Macedonian Question".

"Boris Sarafov continued to play a leading role. Always an ambiguous character, he continued to be a link between VMRO, of which he was a member, and the government of Sofia. In 1904, because of his extremist views and of the influence that he had in Bulgaria as well as in Macedonia, he was a supplementary factor of dissension and tension within VMRO".In March 1904 in Sofia, Boris Sarafov met with a confidential envoy of Prince Ferdinand named Gerov. This was interpreted by Muller, the author of the Austro-Hungarian report, that the monarch sought to approach an agent of VMRO.Boris Sarafov, a popular former officer of the Bulgarian army, was the best intermediary that he could find. According to Muller, Prince Ferdinand would look for an understanding with Sarafov because he knew that he was in opposition with Gruev as well as Petrov and Sandanski. Perhaps this was the moment that Sofia thought, to exercise an influence on the Macedonian movement. According to Austro-Hungarian sources, these meetings of April 1904 did not go beyond exchanges of views, but they anticipated a new period of contacts between Sarafov and Prince Ferdinand.

Sarafov met with representatives of the imperial government (Austro-Hungary), in order to convince them that VMRO claimed only autonomy for Macedonia vilayets and further that it could be in the interest of the dual monarchy to encourage this movement so at to prevent Russia from considering an intervention in the region.Sarafov suggested that if, in the favor of the Macedonian movement, their economic interest could be threatened by attacks.

There was also false promises that Bulgaria will rise and help Macedonia free itself, where was Bulgaria to help Macedonia with their empty promises?. After the Ilinden upspring, the Vrhovisti agents in VMRO took off to Bulgaria while the Macedonians and the true VMRO freedom fighters stayed and went through the hostility and hardships together with the Macedonian people.