Goce Delčev (Гоце Делчев, also transliterated Gotze Delchev and Gotse Delchev; 1872-1903) was a Macedonian revolutionary, leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation (IMRO).
Born on January 23, 1872 in Kukush (now Kilkis, nothern Greece), Delcev finished the local junior high school and the high school "St Cyril and Methodius" in Thessaloniki. He entered the Military academy in Sofia in 1891 but was expelled because he was a member of a socialist circle. Delchev became a teacher in Stip in 1894, where he met Dame Gruev, the leader of the local committee of IMRO. As a result of the close friendship between the two, Delchev joined the organization in 1895 becoming before long its leader.
He fought for Macedonian autonomy. As most of the other leaders of IMRO at the time, Delcev had a vision of a multiethnic and self-governing Macedonia.
Delcev died on May 4, 1903 in a skirmish with the Turkish police near the village of Banitza, Serres region while preparing the Ilinden uprising in Macedonia. It is believed he was betrayed by Bulgarians.
Delchev's ideals are incorporated in the history of the Macedonian collective conscience perpetuated through the new generations of today. St. Elijah holidays of 1903 and 1944, as well as the 1991 break away of Macedonia from the Yugoslav federation, represent only a partial fulfillment of Goce's long awaited dream for a free and independent state of Macedonia.
The international, cosmopolitan views of Delchev that elevated him far ahead of his time, could be summarized in his proverbial sentence: "I understand the world solely as a field for cultural competition among nations".
