Damyan Yovanov Gruev (Bulgarian: Дамян Йованов Груев; Macedonian: Дамјан Јованов Груев, romanized: Damjan Jovanov Gruev; January 19, 1871 – December 23, 1906) was а Macedonian Bulgarian teacher, revolutionary and leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization in the Ottoman regions of Macedonia and Thrace. He was one of the six founders of the Organization. Gruev is seen as a national hero in Bulgaria and North Macedonia, but his ethnicity is disputed between both countries.
Dame Gruev was born on January 19, 1871, in Smilevo, Ottoman Empire (present-day North Macedonia), near Bitola. He originated from a Mijak family and was raised in a patriarchal Mijak tone. Gruev had three other siblings, while his father was a builder. His mother died early on, so his older sister took over her responsibilities. Gruev began his primary education in 1878/1879 in his native village in a Bulgarian Exarchate school, completing it in 1881/1882. He enrolled into a gymnasium in Resen in 1882/1883, but was transferred to Bitola, completing his education at the Exarchate gymnasium in 1885/1886. Gruev started studying at the Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki in 1886/1887, where he met Petar Poparsov and formed a student's circle with him. He was part of a group excluded from the school following a student revolt. In early 1888, the group, consisting of 19 people, including other future Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) revolutionaries, was attracted by Serbian propaganda. As a result, they went to study in a Serbian gymnasium in Belgrade at the expense of the Saint Sava society. They were later frustrated when they realized that attempts were made to serbianize them. In 1890, he signed a letter addressed to the Serbian National Assembly, where he came out in opposition to Serbian propaganda and self-declared as a Bulgarian along with other students. With the other students, Gruev went to Sofia to continue his education. He enrolled into the Sofia University, as a student in the Faculty of History.
In 1891, Gruev participated in the Young Macedonian Literary Society. In March 1891, he was arrested in connection with the murder of Bulgarian finance minister Hristo Belchev due to a mistaken identity, for which he was imprisoned. The killer was Dimitar Tyufekchiev. When Gruev's roommate, Dimitar Mirchev, discovered the mistake and proposed revealing it to secure Gruev's release, Gruev told him to drop the matter, because Dimitar was the sole supporter of his family, who would be helpless without him. After two weeks, Gruev was released and found out that he was expelled from the university. He returned to Ottoman Macedonia to avoid being enlisted for military service in Bulgaria. Gruev had returned with the idea to organize his people to revolt, under Vasil Levski's model. He became a teacher in Bitola. In 1891/1892, he became a teacher in his native village, where he organized the village's first adult evening school. Afterwards, he was appointed as a teacher in Prilep in 1892/1893, but due to the conservative nature of most of his colleagues, he was unable to do anything about his idea. Gruev went to Thessaloniki, where he started working as a proofreader in the printing shop of Kone Samardzhiev. Upon visiting the gymnasium, he met the school doctor Hristo Tatarchev and realized that they have similar opinions. Tatarchev had treated Gruev for eczema. After discussing what they as Bulgarians should do in order to improve the condition of their people, they decided that it was necessary to find some other people with similar views.
In 1893, he founded a revolutionary central committee in Bitola, inspired by the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee, but it was disbanded. On October 23, 1893, Gruev co-founded IMRO in Thessaloniki. In his memoirs, Gruev referred to Serbian propaganda as one of the main factors for the creation of the Organization. In official documents as well as in personal correspondence, Gruev wrote in standard Bulgarian, sometimes with minor dialectal influences.
In January 1894, Gruev met with the other founders of IMRO again. They discussed the aims of the Organization and agreed on "Macedonian autonomy with the predominance of the Bulgarian element." The founders adopted the first statute of the IMRO. It was to be a secret organization under the guidance of a Central Committee, with local revolutionary committees throughout Macedonia and the region of Adrianople (Edirne). These regions were to be divided into revolutionary districts or rayons like in the April Uprising. In accordance with the statute, the first Central Revolutionary Committee was formed then, under the chairmanship of Hristo Tatarchev. Per its first statute, the membership was allowed only for Bulgarians. Gruev was elected as the secretary and treasurer. He initiated the first members of IMRO.
Gruev resigned from his job in the printing shop and went to Štip, where he was offered a job as a teacher. He left Štip and went on to Negotino and Kavadarci, where he managed to establish local committees in July 1894. Gruev returned to Štip for the beginning of the school year, becoming a teacher. Tushe Deliivanov and Dame Gruev went to see the bishop, since Deliivanov was appointed by the Exarchate, and it was necessary to decide who would be head teacher. It was decided mutually that Deliivanov should take the position. He met Gotse Delchev, who was also a teacher and who joined the Organization, after Gruev informed him about its existence. The two shared the view that liberation had to be accomplished internally by a Macedonian organization without any foreign intervention. It is unknown how many active members belonged to the Organization during this period, however despite the efforts of Gruev and Delchev, the number of members grew slowly. He and other teachers also organized an adult Sunday school in Štip, at which they gave lectures on revolutionary themes, such as the Unification of Italy, the biographies of Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, the American War of Independence and the idea of reunification of Bulgaria. Gruev's lectures attracted large crowds. During 1895, Gruev, Delchev and Deliivanov began to produce plays, in which they themselves acted. As the Organization was in need of money, Gruev and Deliivanov decided to visit some of the richer citizens of Štip and appeal for donations. However, they managed to acquire only one lira from the owner of a chiflik.
In August 1895, Gruev initiated Hristo Popkotsev into the Organization, a teacher from Štip at the Bulgarian school in Adrianople, and on behalf of the Central Committee, obligated him with the creation of a committee of the Organization in the Adrianople vilayet. In 1896, he was appointed as a school inspector in the Thessaloniki area by the Exarchate, using his position to actively recruit members for IMRO. In 1897, Gruev was also one of the founders of the Society against Serbs. In the same year, he organized the killing of Serbian renegade Peychinovich. Gruev had been unemployed since the beginning of 1897/1898, because of accusations of atheism made against him by the conservative president of the Bulgarian Commune in Thessaloniki. During this period the relations between IMRO and the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee (SMAC) were tense. Because of Gruev's attitude towards SMAC, on many occasions they tried to discredit him in an effort to remove him from the Central Committee. In 1898, Gruev had a meeting with the Bulgarian prime minister Konstantin Stoilov in which a potential cooperation with IMRO was discussed, after the meeting Gruev felt disappointed. At Stoilov's insistence that the forced collection of money from the population be stopped, Gruev requested that the Bulgarian government allocate additional funds for weapons, but it was refused. Later in a meeting with the Bulgarian diplomat Atanas Shopov, Gruev suggested that the government did not keep its promises and was not honest towards the Organization, and stated that "we cannot conform to their policies and wishes, but will work independently and fight it, just as we fight all our opponents". At Gruev's insistence, the forcible collection of money from the population in Bulgaria continued, and the firm position that the Bulgarian government against these actions led to serious disagreements.