Jelesko Grancharoff (Bulgarian: Желязко Грънчаров; 5 July 1925 – 15 May 2016), better known by his nickname Jack the Anarchist, was a Bulgarian and Australian resistance fighter and anarchist. He is best known for the central role he played within the anarchist movement in Australia, from the 1950s until his death.
Born into a family of agricultural workers in the Bulgarian town of Malko Tarnovo, Grancharoff joined the resistance before reaching his twenties and fought against Nazi forces. He also joined the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union, becoming one of their local officials. After the end of the war, he participated in the Popular Front alongside the communists but adopted increasingly critical positions toward them and began agitating against them. He was arrested and then deported to a concentration camp, where he met anarchists and became an anarchist himself through his contact with them.
Released from the camp and at immediate risk of being rearrested, he left his family and fled to Turkey, where he was arrested once again. In 1949, he managed to reach Italy and succeeded in being accepted into Australia, where he arrived the following year. Starting in 1955, Grancharoff animated a Bulgarian anarchist group and began establishing networks, a process that grew stronger after his arrival in Sydney, where he associated with the Sydney Push. Noted by Australian authorities as a particularly peaceful anarchist, he distributed propaganda within the Sydney Domain and the University of Sydney and subsequently founded a group there, which published their journal, Red and Black over the following decades. From 1977 he associated with Jura Books.
In parallel, he participated in numerous demonstrations and actions, holding a pivotal position within the Australian anarchist movement of that era. Considered a threat to national security by Australian authorities, he was repeatedly denied citizenship until the late 1990s.
Grancharoff died in 2016 at the age of 90 and was cremated at the Wolumla Clavering Park. Since then, his memory has been carried on and continues to influence other anarchists.
Early life and resistance during World War II
Jelesko Grancharoff was born on 5 July 1925, in Malko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, a village located 5 km from the Turkish border, into a family of agricultural workers.
He joined the Bulgarian Resistance during World War II and was noted as a young anti-fascist and resistance fighter in his region. According to Australian authorities, he was allegedly imprisoned by the Nazis in a concentration camp, though no precise details regarding this have been found. Initially, he was friends with many communists but later grew closer to the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union, whose ranks he joined.
In 1946, Grancharoff was a member of the Popular Front, which included anti-fascist parties such as the Bulgarian Agrarian and Communist parties. He was invited to the founding meeting of the communist youth by a former Nazi but refused to attend. Because of his anti-fascist background, he was granted the right to found a local branch of the Agrarian Party, becoming its secretary and treasurer.
Anti-communist activities and deportation (1946-1947)
Between 1946 and 1947, Grancharoff began engaging in anti-communist propaganda by publishing and distributing anti-authoritarian posters. He was highly critical of what he perceived as a takeover of the country by communist forces. Under pressure from the Communist Party, he was expelled from the Agrarian Party and accused of being in the pocket of Turkish conservatism.
In early 1947, he was arrested and deported by the communists to a re-education camp. This facility, simply named the 're-education camp', held a group of deported anarchists. Grancharoff spent seven months there working in the mine; through his regular contact with them, he became an anarchist himself. Given his past as a resistance fighter and his anti-fascist background, the camp authorities released him sooner than others. They required him to sign a declaration stating that he repented for his past actions and fully agreed with the proceedings against him. He agreed to sign in order to gain his freedom and, from that point on, began assessing the possibility of escaping to Turkey.
Three weeks after his release, he was arrested once again and then freed. Friends who were also serving as informants to the Bulgarian authorities warned him that he was going to be rearrested. He then decided to flee the country, crossing the border after lying to his parents by telling them he was going to work. This was the last time he ever saw his parents.
Exile in Turkey and Italy (1947-1949)
In Turkey, he became involved in the refugee and trade union movements; he demonstrated for the eight-hour workday and was held in pre-trial detention without trial for six months before being released. He decided to leave the country and head to Western Europe. Around 1949, he travelled to Italy to go to the Lesi refugee camp.
In this camp, Grancharoff crossed paths with old friends from the Agrarian Party, with whom he fell out because, having become an anarchist in the meantime, he no longer accepted their political stances. At the time, members of the Agrarian Party held vetting power over Bulgarian immigration to France; consequently, this destination was barred to him. Because he spoke a little Italian, he was interrogated first and was ultimately granted the right to move to Australia. The other members of his group, whose hearings had been postponed by the Australian emigration officer, were denounced as belonging to a leftist group, and none of them was allowed to follow Grancharoff.
Arrival and life in Australia (1950-1955)
He arrived in Australia on 18 December 1950. He moved from Newcastle to the Greta camp, and then began working as a forestry worker in the town of Imbil. The other workers called him the 'Jew' because he was accused of being lazy and insolent toward the bosses. He left this job because he disliked the insults and mockeries launched at him and went to Mareeba (North Queensland), where he began working as a stonemason, placing stones in front of dams under construction to prevent erosion.