Atanas Ivanov Razdolov (Macedonian and ; 1872–1931) was a socialist and anarchist revolutionary and writer from the region of Macedonia.
Life Born in Berovo, Ottoman Empire (present-day North Macedonia), as a young man, he left his hometown and settled in Kyustendil, Bulgaria. There he graduated from the Pedagogical School in 1895. He joined the Macedonian-Adrianople Social Democratic Group during this time. He later became a member of the Kyustendil Macedonian Society which was involved in the activity of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee.Николов, Борис Й. ВМОРО : псевдоними и шифри 1893–1934. София, Издателство „Звезди", 1999, с. 5, 33. In 1900, He moved to Bulgarian capital Sofia. In 1901, Atanas Razdolov, in an open letter to the chairman of the Supreme Committee, Boris Sarafov, criticized Prince Ferdinand I, and the committee's dependence on Bulgarian authorities. Razdolov believed that the Supreme Committee should work not for unification of Bulgaria and Macedonia but for Macedonian independence. As a result he was arrested. Disappointed with the activities of the Committee, he became radicalized and enrolled in the leftist Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party.Добрин Мичев, Изследвания по македонския въпрос Книга 1, (1993) Македонски научен институт, София, стр. 118. After General Ivan Tsonchev took control over the Supreme Committee, he joined the extreme left faction of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization. He worked alongside Gotse Delchev, who considered Razdolov's writings as part of the organization's propaganda. Atanas Razdolov participated in the Balkan Wars in the Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps of the Bulgarian Army. He was enrolled in the 2nd Brigade of the Seventh Kumanovo Regiment. Razdolov is the author of books and brochures in Bulgarian language.
Destitute and addicted to alcohol, he died by suicide in Sofia in 1931.
Views
Razdolov's writings supported Macedonian separatism and liberation, being among the first in Bulgaria to publish such opinions publicly. He expressed positions that were pro-Socialist and pro-Macedonian independence. Razdolov authored 97 poems, which were published in twelve books and six short stories. He published his first book, Poems of the Apostles, in 1895 and in it, encouraged Macedonians to fight for Macedonia's freedom. In one of his poems dedicated to Ilyo Maleshevski, he named him as a great Macedonian hero. In 1896, he published another book titled "Unhappy Macedonia" and one of the more notable songs was called "To the Macedonians". Razdolov had anarchist views. He supported an armed struggle to achieve liberation of Macedonia from the Ottoman Empire and fending off any encroachments from neighboring countries. In 1914 after the Balkan Wars, Razdolov published his book "The future of the Balkan Peninsula" which emphasized that all roads led to the autonomy of Macedonia, to the triumph of the motto "Macedonia for the Macedonians", for everyone to have equal rights as a citizen and live a free life, the way he was born, and not the Serb to forcefully make him Serb, the Greek to make him Greek, the Bulgarian to make him Bulgarian, and the Vlach to make him Vlach.
According to some of his contemporaries in Bulgaria, Razdolov was a controversial person.Петър Величков (2000) Страсти и скандали в царска България-37 автентични истории от 1900 до 1944 г. Хермес, , стр. 154. Mihail Dumbalakov claimed he was a famous person, but insane cynic.Думбалаковъ, Михаилъ. Презъ пламъцитѣ на живота и революцията, том I. София, Печатница „Художникъ", 1933. с. 67. Per Evtim Sprostranov, Razdolov was a half-mad and drunkard who was engaged in financial blackmail.Спространов, Евтим. Дневник. т. I (1901–1907). София, Македонски научен институт, 1994. , с. 60–61. Petar Karchev wrote about Razdolov that a poetry could not be sought in his poems, however there was hidden the deep bitterness of an honest but failed revolutionary.Карчев, Петър. През прозореца на едно полустолетие (1900–1950). София, Изток-Запад, 2004. . с. 1011. The patriarch of Bulgarian literature, Ivan Vazov, met him during a scandal in public transport in Sofia. Razdolov travelled without a ticket and Vazov paid for it for him, while Razdolov curiously offered to sell him the copyright of his unpublished book.Росен Тахов, Вазов плаща билета на гратисчия. Измамниците в градския транспорт са откакто го има. Труд 05.12.2021 г. Per Dimo Kazasov, he was an undistinguished and poorly dressed man who made a living by writing illiterate and thoughtless patriotic poems.Димо Казасов (1968) Улици, хора, събития. София преди половин век. София, Наука и изкуство, стр. 320. According to assessments of his personality from Bulgarian historians, he was a Bulgarian revolutionaryIt was an honor and pride for the Bulgarian population in the Maleshevo-Pianec region that during the period 1893–1912, some Maleshevo residents, devoted revolutionaries, worked as prominent members of the (Bulgarian) Military Intelligence Service outside the Maleshevo area. We will point out only the most remarkable of them, which have left lasting traces in the history and struggles of the Bulgarian population in this region. These are Nikola Maleshevski, Nikola Rusinski, Atanas Razdolov and Petar Ivanov. For more: Гоцев, Славе. Национално-революционни борби в Малешево и Пиянец 1860–1912. София, Издателство на Отечествения фронт, 1988, стр. 172. who later switched to far left-wing political positions and accepted the ideas of Macedonism after the Balkan Wars.Among the early Macedonists were persons from Macedonia who, at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, began to support the idea of the independence of the Macedonian people and language. This group included Georgi Pulevski, Teodosi Skopski, Stefan Dedov, K. Grupchev, N. Evrov, Krste Misirkov, Petar Draganov, Atanas Razdolov, Dimitar Blagoev and Dimitar Chupovski...Razdolov, who in his work from the end of the 20th century perceived the designation Macedonians as an umbrella term, after the Balkan Wars already began to see them in his poetry as a separate national unit. For more: Григор Велев (2017) История на българите от Македония. Том III, БАНИ, стр. 46–57.
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Further reading