Modernism: Representations of National Culture

Krste Petkov Misirkov: On Macedonian matters

KRSTE PETKOV MISIRKOV: ON MACEDONIAN MATTERS Title: Зa мaкeдoнцкитe paбoти (On Macedonian matters) Originally published: Sofia, Печатница на „Либералний Клубъ,” 1903 Language: The language Misirkov used is a result of his own efforts to promote a Macedonian literary language. It is basically a combination of several Macedonian dialects. It is not quite identical, though, with the post-1944 Macedonian literary language, although the creators of the latter declared Misirkov’s linguistic principles to be their main guideline. The excerpts used are from Kpcтe Пeткoв Mиcиpкoв, Зa мaкeдoнцкитe paбoти (фoтoтипнo издaниe) (Skopje: Koчо рачин, 1953). About the author Krste Petkov Misirkov [1874, Postol (present-day Pella in north Greece) – 1926, Sofia]: politician and journalist. After finishing primary education in a Greek school in his own village, he continued his education in Belgrade, Šabac (Serbia) and Sofia. He graduated from the school for teachers in Belgrade and the Seminary in Poltava. While in Serbia, he was a member of the association of Macedonian students in Belgrade named Vardar (banned by the Serbian authorities in 1895). Between 1897 and 1902, he completed his studies at the Faculty of History and Philosophy at the University of Saint Petersburg in Russia. There, he was accepted as a member of the ‘Macedonian Association for Science and Literature’ (1902–1905). His first attempt to write in the Macedonian language with an adapted alphabet can be dated to in 1900, and his most famous book, ‘On Macedonian matters,’ was published in Sofia in 1903. In 1905, he became the editor and the only author of the magazine Vardar (printed in Odessa), in which he elaborated his views on the national particularity of Macedonians. In 1913 and 1914 he published articles in the magazine Makedonski golos (Macedonian voice), issued by the above-mentioned Macedonian association in Saint Petersburg. After the First World War he settled in Bulgaria. Between 1922 and 1925, Misirkov published articles dealing with national and cultural issues as well as with conflicts in the Balkans (especially concerning the triangle of Serbia–Bulgaria–Macedonia), albeit without an explicit separatist agenda. His articles appeared in the periodicals Ilinden (St Elijah’s day), Mir (Peace), 20 Juli (20 July) and Pirin. Main works: Зa мaкeдoнцкитe paбoти [On Macedonian matters] (1903); Paнитe paкoпиcи нa Кpcтe П. Миcиpкoв нa макeдoнcки jaзик [Early manuscripts of Krste P. Misirkov on the Macedonian language] (1998); Днeвник 5 VII – 3 VIII 1913 [Diary 5 July – 3 August 1913] (2008). 352 REGIONALISM, AUTONOMISM, AND THE MINORITIES Context Krste Misirkov belonged to the generation of young men who helped define and popularize the ‘Macedonian question’ through the revolutionary zeal of the organization they had created in 1893, the ‘Secret MacedonianAdrianople Revolutionary Organization,’ better known by its later name, the ‘Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization’ (IMRO). Within a single decade, the organization went a long way from conspiracy to armed resistance , terrorist acts and an (ill-prepared) uprising. The fanatical commitment of its members and the violence associated with its name brought a wider publicity to the whole set of problems connected to Macedonia. This became more accentuated after 1903, when the abortive Ilinden uprising provoked reactionary terrorist violence, in which all groups with national and political affiliations took part, turning Macedonia into a notorious domain of fear and despair. IMRO’s credo of strict political separatism, based on the idea of patriotic solidarity amongst various nations in Macedonia, became almost the only and dominating voice on Macedonia coming from the Slavic Macedonians themselves. The group’s ambiguous attitude towards problems of nationality , identity and religion, informed by socialist and anarchist ideals, did not change the dominant public discourse about Macedonia as a ‘mixed salad’ of various nations caught together in a vicious circle of tribal violence. Despite all the efforts of IMRO to preserve autonomy of action and authentic selfrepresentation , the dominant international perception of the Macedonian struggle was still that of mutually exterminating irredentisms. Apart from the titular common enemy, the Turks, the first impression that an outsider had of Macedonia was that of Bulgarians, Greeks and Serbs killing each other, fighting even against their own fractions. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the image of the murderous Turkish tyrant killing innocent Christians , prevalent amongst the European liberals only a generation earlier, was transformed into a discourse about aggressive nationalists that should better be separated instead of being liberated. Within this context, the program...