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Born in Kukush (now Kilkis in northern Greece) and inspired by Balkan revolutionaries Vasil Levski and Hristo Botev, Gotse Delchev dedicated himself to the cause of a free Macedonia, organizing a network of underground cells for the IMRO while publicly leading the life of a teacher. An enlightened and unusually liberal revolutionary, he was similar to his idol Levski in refusing to target local Turks, declaring that they too were victims of Ottoman oppression. Whilst undoubtedly in the Bulgarian revolutionary tradition, he stood for an autonomous Macedonia as part of some future Balkan federation, as opposed to the right-wing, Sofia-based Vârhovisti or Supremists, who sought its union with Bulgaria.

Killed in a skirmish with Turkish troops three months before the long awaited and abortive Ilinden uprising, Delchev neither witnessed nor was tarnished by the IMRO's decline into sectarian butchery, and is still honoured as a hero in both Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia, where his moustached portrait hangs in many a café. Initially buried in Rila Monastery, his bones were taken after World War II to the Macedonian capital Skopje, where his tomb lies in the courtyard of the Church of Sveti Spas.

The only biography of Delchev in the English language is Mercia Macdermott's Freedom or Death . Researched in Bulgaria during the Communist period, it tends to exaggerate his role as an ardent socialist and Bulgarian nationalist, but is an inspiring account nonetheless.