21.07.2007, 15:55
Macedonism - the ideology's first emergence in the 19th century and the ground it gained up until 1945 - Overview
Emerging in the middle to later stages of the 1800s, without ethnic/ historic reality, this Macedonist phenomena was never prolific enough to eventuate on its own and never consituted a fully fledged ethnicity. All foreign examinations attest to this, never deeming such Macedonism neither significant to constitute being mentioned as an ethnicity in official maps, censuses etc. The 'codification' of this artificial ethnisism occured in post-war Yugoslavia with the creation of the 'Socialist Republic of Macedonia', the "Macedonian language" as well as the "Macedonian Orthodox Church" in 1968 by the Yugoslav communist party.
In the years before WWII, the "Macedonists", as the Bulgarians called them, were clearly a minority, especially amongst the uneducated peasant masses of Macedonia. Yet their views were gaining ground; if only a little. The Macedonists are recorded as having told the peasants they were descendants of the glorious ancient Macedonians, that they civilised all the Slavs through St Cyril and Methodius and they looked down on the rest of Bulgarians. With the advent of Yugoslav rule and the forceful policies of Serbinization and de-Bulgarianization which occured on them, the Macedonists did gain ground however with the idea of an autonomous Macedonia gaining favour.
During WW2 Tito enjoyed the support of the leftist Slav partisans in Vardar who favoured 'Macedonism' as an alternative to the forceful nature of the Bulgarian fascist occupation. Yet at the same time much of the population welcomed the Bulgarians as liberators, despite having been under Yugoslav/ Serb rule since 1913 and being subject to Serbinization policies since that time. In some ways however, a German invasion and subsequent fascist Bulgarian occupation again gained more ground in popularity for the Macedonists and seperatism from Bulgaria in terms of conscience.
Tito capitalised in the growing support for an independent/ autonomous Macedonia eminatting from the leftist spectrum of Vardar, espcially through leftist groups such as SNOF, a group made up of Slav partisans taking its orders through Belgrade as a sub-branch of the Yugoslav Partisan movement. More on the collusion of the various communist forces of the region, Greek, Bulgarian and Vardarskan with Belgrade and Moscow and their contribution to the Macedonian affair can be found later on in this article.
Artificial ethnogenosis - an ideology in the minority and its struggle to materialise
This quote from an observer in the 1950s after 5 years of Yugoslav Communist rule gives an idea of the ground still needed to be gained:
"In regard to their own national feelings, all that can safely be said is that during the last eighty years many more Slav Macedonians seem to have considered themselves Bulgarian, or closely linked to Bulgaria, than have considered themselves Serbian, or closely linked to Serbia (or Yugoslavia). Only the people of the Skoplje region, in the north west, have ever shown much tendency to regard themselves as Serbs. The feeling of being Macedonians, and nothig but Macedonians, seems to be a sentiment of fairly recent growth, and even today is not very deep-rooted."
Elisabeth Barker, "Macedonia, its place in Balkan power politics", (originally published in 1950 by the Royal Institute of International Affairs), p.10
"Since they were closely related to both Bulgars and Serbs and had, moreover, in the past been usually incorporated in either the Bulgar or Serb state, they inevitably became the object of both Bulgar and Serb aspirations and an apple of discord between these rival nationalities. As an oppressed people on an exceedingly primitive level, the Macedonian Slavs had as late as the congress of Berlin exhibited no perceptible national consciousness of their own. It was therefore impossible to foretell in what direction they would lean when their awakening came; in fact, so indeterminate was the situation that under favorable circumstances they might even develop ther own peculiar Macedonian consciousness."
[Ferdinand Schevill, "A History of the Balkans", p.432]
[Bild: http://www.macedoniaontheweb.com/wiki/im...sirkov.JPG]
Krste Misirkov is an example of the struggle of the Macedonist philosophy to materialise initially. He is also prime example of the often fluxuating ethnic conscience of some of the early Macedonists at the turn of the century. Many intellectuals were having to decide whether they favoured annexation by Bulgaria, or an autonomous Macedonia. While Misirkov is curiously heralded by Skopjians as one of the "founders of the Macedonian nation", he is also wrote that the Slavs of Macedonia "are more Bulgarian than those in Bulgaria!".
He was the first person to transform "Macedonian" as a literary language. While in Sofia in 1903, he published the book ''Za Makedonckite Raboti'' ('On Macedonian Matters') in which he laid down the principles of the 'Macedonian' language. According to this book, the language should be based on the central dialects of Vardar. He also used those dialects to write the book itself. Misirkov died in 1926. Decades after his death with the communist takeover of Yugoslavia, Misirkov's principles were used by the Yugoslav committees for the codification of the Macedonian language.
It appears that at one point in his life, under Russian sponsership, he favoured his own brand of Macedonism and this is when he published his book on the 'Macedonian language. Later he adopted a vehemently Bulgarian nationalist stance and abandoned his Macedonism, apparently beleiving it would never materialise as an ideology; though it ironically it did, long after his death after WW2.
In his book, ''The national identity of the Macedonians'', which he wrote in 1924, two years before he died, he uncompromisingly defends the Bulgarian character of the population of Macedonia saying "We [Macedonian Slavs] are more Bulgarian than those in Bulgaria!". He completley retracts everything he wrote in his book ''Za Makedonckite Raboti'' about the Macedonian language, with the explanation that "I wrote it as a politician". The book is considerably pro-Bulgarian, describing himself as a Bulgarian, nationalistically so.
Krste Misirkov
National Identity of the Macedonians. 1924 ã:
Krste Misirkov wrote:
Another thing on Misirkov
Misirkov, was changing nationalities like we change underpants. He flirted with the Serbs but rejected them in favour of the Bulgarians and later, under the support of Russia, he developed his "Macedonianism", which he ditched after he realized that it would never materialize - ironically it did by a Croat after his death. Yet his true nationality should be considered Bessarabian (Surprised?) since he was a member of the Bessarabian parliament, just before the Bessarabians voted themselves Romanians (Bessarabia, much like "Macedonia", was a Russian experiment, that was later re-established as "Moldova".
[/quote]
Emerging in the middle to later stages of the 1800s, without ethnic/ historic reality, this Macedonist phenomena was never prolific enough to eventuate on its own and never consituted a fully fledged ethnicity. All foreign examinations attest to this, never deeming such Macedonism neither significant to constitute being mentioned as an ethnicity in official maps, censuses etc. The 'codification' of this artificial ethnisism occured in post-war Yugoslavia with the creation of the 'Socialist Republic of Macedonia', the "Macedonian language" as well as the "Macedonian Orthodox Church" in 1968 by the Yugoslav communist party.
In the years before WWII, the "Macedonists", as the Bulgarians called them, were clearly a minority, especially amongst the uneducated peasant masses of Macedonia. Yet their views were gaining ground; if only a little. The Macedonists are recorded as having told the peasants they were descendants of the glorious ancient Macedonians, that they civilised all the Slavs through St Cyril and Methodius and they looked down on the rest of Bulgarians. With the advent of Yugoslav rule and the forceful policies of Serbinization and de-Bulgarianization which occured on them, the Macedonists did gain ground however with the idea of an autonomous Macedonia gaining favour.
During WW2 Tito enjoyed the support of the leftist Slav partisans in Vardar who favoured 'Macedonism' as an alternative to the forceful nature of the Bulgarian fascist occupation. Yet at the same time much of the population welcomed the Bulgarians as liberators, despite having been under Yugoslav/ Serb rule since 1913 and being subject to Serbinization policies since that time. In some ways however, a German invasion and subsequent fascist Bulgarian occupation again gained more ground in popularity for the Macedonists and seperatism from Bulgaria in terms of conscience.
Tito capitalised in the growing support for an independent/ autonomous Macedonia eminatting from the leftist spectrum of Vardar, espcially through leftist groups such as SNOF, a group made up of Slav partisans taking its orders through Belgrade as a sub-branch of the Yugoslav Partisan movement. More on the collusion of the various communist forces of the region, Greek, Bulgarian and Vardarskan with Belgrade and Moscow and their contribution to the Macedonian affair can be found later on in this article.
Artificial ethnogenosis - an ideology in the minority and its struggle to materialise
This quote from an observer in the 1950s after 5 years of Yugoslav Communist rule gives an idea of the ground still needed to be gained:
"In regard to their own national feelings, all that can safely be said is that during the last eighty years many more Slav Macedonians seem to have considered themselves Bulgarian, or closely linked to Bulgaria, than have considered themselves Serbian, or closely linked to Serbia (or Yugoslavia). Only the people of the Skoplje region, in the north west, have ever shown much tendency to regard themselves as Serbs. The feeling of being Macedonians, and nothig but Macedonians, seems to be a sentiment of fairly recent growth, and even today is not very deep-rooted."
Elisabeth Barker, "Macedonia, its place in Balkan power politics", (originally published in 1950 by the Royal Institute of International Affairs), p.10
"Since they were closely related to both Bulgars and Serbs and had, moreover, in the past been usually incorporated in either the Bulgar or Serb state, they inevitably became the object of both Bulgar and Serb aspirations and an apple of discord between these rival nationalities. As an oppressed people on an exceedingly primitive level, the Macedonian Slavs had as late as the congress of Berlin exhibited no perceptible national consciousness of their own. It was therefore impossible to foretell in what direction they would lean when their awakening came; in fact, so indeterminate was the situation that under favorable circumstances they might even develop ther own peculiar Macedonian consciousness."
[Ferdinand Schevill, "A History of the Balkans", p.432]
[Bild: http://www.macedoniaontheweb.com/wiki/im...sirkov.JPG]
Krste Misirkov is an example of the struggle of the Macedonist philosophy to materialise initially. He is also prime example of the often fluxuating ethnic conscience of some of the early Macedonists at the turn of the century. Many intellectuals were having to decide whether they favoured annexation by Bulgaria, or an autonomous Macedonia. While Misirkov is curiously heralded by Skopjians as one of the "founders of the Macedonian nation", he is also wrote that the Slavs of Macedonia "are more Bulgarian than those in Bulgaria!".
He was the first person to transform "Macedonian" as a literary language. While in Sofia in 1903, he published the book ''Za Makedonckite Raboti'' ('On Macedonian Matters') in which he laid down the principles of the 'Macedonian' language. According to this book, the language should be based on the central dialects of Vardar. He also used those dialects to write the book itself. Misirkov died in 1926. Decades after his death with the communist takeover of Yugoslavia, Misirkov's principles were used by the Yugoslav committees for the codification of the Macedonian language.
It appears that at one point in his life, under Russian sponsership, he favoured his own brand of Macedonism and this is when he published his book on the 'Macedonian language. Later he adopted a vehemently Bulgarian nationalist stance and abandoned his Macedonism, apparently beleiving it would never materialise as an ideology; though it ironically it did, long after his death after WW2.
In his book, ''The national identity of the Macedonians'', which he wrote in 1924, two years before he died, he uncompromisingly defends the Bulgarian character of the population of Macedonia saying "We [Macedonian Slavs] are more Bulgarian than those in Bulgaria!". He completley retracts everything he wrote in his book ''Za Makedonckite Raboti'' about the Macedonian language, with the explanation that "I wrote it as a politician". The book is considerably pro-Bulgarian, describing himself as a Bulgarian, nationalistically so.
Krste Misirkov
National Identity of the Macedonians. 1924 ã:
Krste Misirkov wrote:
Zitat:1. We speak Bulgarian language and we believed with Bulgarians is our strong power.
2. The Bulgarians in Macedonia. The future of Macedonia is spiritual union of the Bulgarians in Macedonia.
3. The Macedonian Slavs are called Bulgarians.
4. The biggest part of the population are called Bulgarians.
5. All spoke that Macedonians are Bulgarians. Until 1978 all including Russian Government spoke the Macedonians are Bulgarians. But after the Berlin Congress the Serbs came with pretension to have Macedonia. They try to change the European opinion that in Macedonia there are Serbian too.
6. If Ilinden uprising win we will be thankful to Bulgarians, but Serbians try to compete with Bulgarians and spend a lot of money and propaganda. If Macedonia is autonomic there will be no space for propaganda and the Serbs have to leave Bulgarian in peace.
7. The Ilinden Uprising Committee is Bulgarian.
8. Bulgarian Language and Bulgarian name. The Committee is ready to give guarantee to Europe that Macedonia will not unify with Bulgaria, but they can't take the Bulgarian name and language from Macedonia!
9. Unification between Turks and Bulgarians in Macedonia. Serbia and Greece do not want to give us autonomous and independent Macedonia, because they see this as a fist step to unification. In Macedonia have only pure Bulgarian population, which can't be unified with the Turks.
10. Serbia is against autonomous Macedonia. Serbia is afraid because Macedonia with the Bulgarian population will have tendency to united with Bulgaria and for this reason Serbia will not allow this.
11. They divided us and now they do not allow us to unify. We are living now 25 years divided from Bulgaria and they do not allow us to unify? We call ourselves Bulgarians or Macedonians and see us as separate and radically different from the Serbs with Bulgarian national consciousness.
12. Our Grandfathers call themselves Bulgarians. They never thing that we will be having such a problem to call ourselves so.
13. Bulgarian Literally Language. We the Macedonians voluntarily choose one and the same language with Bulgarians long before the liberation of Bulgaria from Turkey. The prohibition from the Serbs to use our literally language, which is the only one connection between us and Bulgarians is significant violation of our human rights. .. and further.. when they forbid us to call ourselves Bulgarians, to learn Bulgarian history and to be ashamed from everything which connect us with Bulgarians. It is enough to learn our Macedonian culture and history to understand that we are very different from Serbian nationality.
14. There no difference between Bulgarian and Macedonian Slav. The Greeks in 1804 long before Bulgarian exarchate do not make any difference between Bulgarian and West Macedonian dialect.
15. Bulgarian national name of Macedonians. In the IX century in the first Bulgarian kingdom we do not have anything against this Bulgarian national name for us and for the rest of Bulgarians in Bulgaria.
16. We Macedonian Bulgarians (Macedonians) like Bulgarian state as our own.
17. The Serbs are much inferior than we are. We demand freedom for all of us and not to be material for assimilation experiments of the Serbs, which stand much inferior from us in spiritual narrow-mindedness and chauvinism.
18. The Serbs come to the idea of the Macedonian nationality. The Serbs develop the concept for special Macedonian Nation, which they put in the south Macedonia. They declare north Macedonia as a pure Serbian land. Middle Macedonia as a transition between Serbian and Macedonian language.
19. The population of Skopje is pure Bulgarian. Bulgaria make a big error when recognize the territory for "neutral". It is pure Bulgarian and the population in Skopje and surrounding area is pure Bulgarian.
20. Why the Serbs want Macedonia? What Serbian you can find in this pure Bulgarian land, which is since 6 century till today Bulgarian, despite of all vicissitude of the historical destiny.
21. Serbian-Greek attempt on the Bulgarians in Macedonia. Because of the treaty between Serbia and Greece Bulgaria was robed and 2 Millions Bulgarians where conquered from Serbia and Greece. Yes! To many damage did the Serbs on Bulgaria, Macedonia and Dobrudja and with this they do not stop! They filled that their vicious work will be discovered and to be prosecuted by the Slavic consciousness because of the freedom of 1/3 of Bulgarians - the Bulgarians in Macedonia.
22. The lies about Bulgarian and Bulgaria. Restoration of the human rights of the Bulgarians in Macedonia and Dobrudja, despite of the lies spread for Bulgaria and Bulgarians! Who is against Great Bulgaria, he is against the Slavs!
23. Krali Marko songs in Macedonia are from Bulgarian origin. The songs of Krali Marko in Macedonia are from Bulgarian origin and speak for the Bulgarian influence over the Serbs and not the opposite.
24. The Serbs will coarse many wars, if the "Dushan empire" will not disappear. In the last quarter of the XIX century the Serbs start to dream to restore this abandon from Serbs it selves empire. With intrigues and and allies they conquer big part of Bulgarian Macedonia. But this Serbian advantages of 1912 coarse the war in 1913 and they coarse the war in 1915-1918 and will coarse many more wars, unless "Dushan empire" get liquidate in the same way as in XIV century on the principal of the self-determination of the nations.
25. Serbs falsify the history. In Bulgaria Macedonians have all personal rights, freedom of expression and self-determination in Bulgaria. The Serbs try to destroy the soul of the Macedonians and for that reason the falsify the hole history. In this Serbian logic and Serbian fillings there are something abnormal, which is prove of the failure of the Serbian state. They are afraid from the Macedonians in Macedonia and also this living outside.
26. The Macedonian population is against Serbs. You have to know that because your Serbian politics against Macedonians you have against you all past present and future Balkan governments and the Macedonian population.
27. The Bulgarians are our fellow citizens. The European recognize that only independent sate will put an end of the competition conquer and hegemony on the Balkan. An will end once forever violence of the new conquer. And everlasting peace on the Balkan and in Europe will rise. Greece and Serbia will loose territorially and les Bulgaria and will win all Macedonians.
28. The Serbs forbid us to celebrate all Bulgarian holidays. We are forced to celebrate St. Sava and forbid to celebrate St. Cyril and St. Methodius and Ilinden Uprising.
29. Our souls are in Bulgaria. Serbia conquer the land and the body of Macedonians, the souls are in Bulgaria and with Bulgaria.
30. Krste Petkov Misirkov defines himself as a Bulgarian. 1897 I was accepted in Petersburg University in Russia and five years I was Bulgarian student community as Bulgarian.
31. Self appreciation of the statement in the book "For Macedonian matters". The readers of this article will be very surprised of the big controversy opinion, which they will meet here in comparison with the article "For Macedonian matters". To understand this contradiction I will remember you, that I wrote as an improvised politicians
Another thing on Misirkov
Misirkov, was changing nationalities like we change underpants. He flirted with the Serbs but rejected them in favour of the Bulgarians and later, under the support of Russia, he developed his "Macedonianism", which he ditched after he realized that it would never materialize - ironically it did by a Croat after his death. Yet his true nationality should be considered Bessarabian (Surprised?) since he was a member of the Bessarabian parliament, just before the Bessarabians voted themselves Romanians (Bessarabia, much like "Macedonia", was a Russian experiment, that was later re-established as "Moldova".
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