Macedonian Federative Organization

The Macedonian Federative Organization (MFO) was established in Sofia in 1921 by former Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) left wing's activists.

Reestablished in 1920 IMRO became a formidable organization, with Pirin Macedonia as its stronghold. From its secure bases in Bulgaria it launched armed attacks and propaganda campaigns into Northern Greece and Vardar Banovina. Although it appeared as well organized group, it had its own left wing. In the early 1920s, the IMRO split over the ultimate goal of its activity. The right faction led by Alexandar Protogerov sought incorporation of all Macedonian territory into Bulgaria, while the left faction sought an autonomous Macedonia that could join Balkan Federative Republic. In December 1921, left-leaning deserters formed the official Macedonian Emigre's Federalist Organization (MEFO). In 1922 another group of former Aleksandrov's supporters formed the clandestine Macedonian Federative Revolutionary Organization (MFRO).

Violence between the two groups reinforced a political crisis growing public impression that Bulgarian governments were unstable. Both wings of the MFO supported the creation of a federal Macedonian state within a future Balkan Federation, which concept was similar to the ideas proclaimed by the Balkan Communist Federation at that time. The federalists' programme contained a bizarre formulation of a future Macedonian state using Esperanto as official language. The initial leaders of that movement were Filip Atanasov, Todor Panitsa and Hristo Tatarchev. Its adherents were commonly known as "federalists" by way of distinction from the IMRO-members known as "autonomists". As for the relations of the Organization with the Bulgarian government of Aleksandar Stamboliyski, it supported the federalist's movement and was openly hostile to the aspirations of the autonomists. MFO organized a number of armed forays into Pirin Macedonia (Nevrokop and Kyustendil), where it attacked the local IMRO detachments. In March 1923, Stamboliyski, in consequence of the Yugoslav-Bulgarian agreement reached in Nish, began cooperating with Yugoslavia against IMRO. Aided by the government, the federalists set out to destroy the military network of the enemy, but the autonomists scattered the federalist's chetas and launched an attack on the Stamboliyski's government.

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