Revolutionary Mihail Gerdzhikov

Mihail (Michel) Ivanov Gerdzhikov, known by the pseudonyms Lyasov, Michel and Todor Lukanov, was born in 1877 in Plovdiv. He was the firstborn son of Ivan Pavlov Gerdzhikov, who came from Koprivshtitsa and had graduated from Bolhrad Secondary School, and of Magdalena Ilich. His father participated in establishing the new administration in Plovdiv after the Russo-Turkish War.

Gerdzhikov spent his childhood in Plovdiv, where he developed an interest in anarchist ideas. Influenced by Dr Russel Sudzilovsky, a personal friend of Hristo Botev, Gerdzhikov established an anarchist group at Plovdiv Secondary School in 1895, leading to his expulsion. That same year he participated in establishing a Central Revolutionary Macedonian Committee with an anarchist orientation, following the example of revolutionaries from before the Liberation.

Gerdzhikov then studied law in Lausanne and Geneva, where he became part of the Geneva Group. In 1899 he returned to the Bulgarian lands and became a teacher at the Bulgarian secondary school in Bitola, later joining IMARO.

In 1900, Gerdzhikov represented the Zlatitsa society at the Seventh Macedonian Congress. That same year he was sent to Thessaloniki, where he supported IMARO's Central Committee in building a network of committees in the Adrianople region. When the Ottoman authorities discovered him, he joined Hristo Chernopeev's detachment. Soon afterwards he formed his own detachment in the Gevgelija region.

Gerdzhikov was elected a delegate to the Eighth Macedonian-Adrianople Congress in April 1901. In April 1902 he chaired the Adrianople Revolutionary District's congress in Plovdiv, and from that summer he took charge of the organisation in the Adrianople region, broadening its membership.

In February 1903, Gerdzhikov led an unsuccessful attack on the Constantinople–Adrianople railway. He actively participated in the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising that year, leading a group of 80 men to Vasiliko and liberating it. He established the Strandzha Commune, removed Turkish authority throughout the Strandzha region, destroyed Turkish posts along the border and liberated the territory.

After the uprising, Gerdzhikov continued his revolutionary activities and became close to Gotse Delchev. He continued to play an important role in organising and directing revolutionary work in the region.