Misirkov the Bessarabian patriot.

[Petros Houhoulis]

Preface.

I wrote this one some years ago, when the original biography of Misirkov was signed by a certain "Aleksandar Nechakovski", and was present in a website that is now defunct: (or rather, "under construction", as is all of their history - check :: This Site is Under Construction ::)

Nowadays I found the same article a website dedicated to Misirkov alone, and this time the biography is signed by a certain Giorgio Nurigianni. Anyway it is here:

Biography of Krste Petkov Misirkov

This is my response to this biography:

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Original post from:

http://www.macedon.org/misirkov/misirkov.html

Author: Aleksandar Nechakovski: arakis@freemail.org.mk

Responding post from:

Petros Houhoulis (sikader@yahoo.com)

1

One of the most outstanding names in the recent history of Macedonian culture is undoubtedly that of Krste Petkov Misirkov, whose work was a valuable contribution to European culture and also to European science. But, owing to the perverse fortunes of the Macedonian people's history the most important work of the new history of Macedonian culture, Misirkov's Za makedonskite raboti ("About Macedonian Matters"), published in 1903, was not recognized at its proper worth until 20 years after his death. During his lifetime, this work was regarded as the greatest threat to the realization of the plans of those who aimed at keeping Macedonia under subjugation. For this very reason, he was forced to spend his life in exile, as he relates in his "Memories and Impressions," "a wanderer in other lands, from which I tried to be of use to my oppressed country." He died in poverty in Sofia on 26th July 1926.

Tracing the unhappy wanderings of Misirkov's eventful life means at the same time relating the thorny path followed by the Macedonian people from the last quarter of the last century up to the Balkan wars. Misirkov was the founder of the modern Macedonian literary language and orthography, and the editor and publisher of the first scientific, literary and political journal to appear in the Macedonian language. For the 30 years that are considered the stormiest period of Macedonian history because the national revolutionary struggles were going on then, Misirkov served his country with unflagging zeal and won for himself an immortal name in her annals.
Misirkov began life during the most troubled period in the Balkans. He was born in 1874 at Postol, the former capital of Alexander the Great, in the part of Macedonia under Greek rule. When he had completed the second grade of the Greek pre-grammar school, he began to feel a bitter resentment against the unscrupulous methods of Greek propaganda. Being without money to continue his studies, he worked in the fields with his father; but when Serbian propaganda began to preach its variant of "Macedonianism," and to recruit young people throughout Macedonia (which was then under Turkish rule) in order to "Serbianize" them, Misirkov left for Belgrade, full of joy and hope, where his odyssey began.

(1)

Funny thing! Greece’s northern borders at 1874 were in Thessaly, (Nechakovski acknowledges elsewhere that Macedonia was under Turkish - actually Ottoman - rule, after all, without to mention any exceptions) not to mention that the capital of Alexander the Great was Pella, as all the history books in the whole universe would point out. Of course, the writer of this article is obviously ignorant of history, modern and ancient alike, and one cannot possibly ignore that easily. The reason for the presence of a Greek school in Macedonia was the fact that the Greek schools were recognized by the Sultans’ authority, and also well funded by local Greek merchant tycoons. Do not look out for any kind of a school which would operate at a language which was founded by Misirkov (as Nechakovski points out) several years after he graduated from a Greek school…

2

When Bulgarian, Serbian and Greek nationalistic propaganda were coming into violent collision on Macedonian soil, and Macedonian students were going from one school to another and from one church to another, a new ferment began among the students in Belgrade who had fled from Bulgarian and Greek schools in Macedonia. They realized that they had been deceived because they were forced to declare themselves Serbs and their language was treated as Serbian. But the students, who had only just arrived in Belgrade, insisted on the recognition of their nationality. When this was refused, they left Belgrade en masse as a demonstration of protest and went to Sofia. Misirkov was one of these students. This was his second flight, and he found himself caught up in the toils of the third propaganda in Macedonia.

(2)

Third historical error: The Serbians did not have any serious aspirations in Macedonia at this time, since their prime target was Croatia and Bosnia-Herjegovina and also because their propaganda was not successful, and they did not use violence due to that, unlike despite some (weak really, and rather non-violent) attempts of propaganda. Serbia agreed to cede all of Macedonia to Bulgaria - nearly all from the point of view of Nechakovski - just before the first Balkan war. The key players were Greece, Bulgaria (which were the truly bitter and really violent enemies) and Romania, with the latter patronizing the Vlachs, who lived mostly in the neighboring to Macedonia Epirus- usually - preferred to rally the Greek banner instead. I still cannot figure out how any part of Macedonia or Epirus could fall into Romanian rule: Romania has no borders with Macedonia, and is ever more distant to Epirus…

3

This protest by the students was a real blow to Serbian propaganda and policy, and it caused a serious conflict between the Serbs and Bulgarians. But the triumph of the Bulgarian authorities was short-lived. Once across the Bulgarian frontier, the students realized they had been deceived again and were pawns in a new struggle for power at their expense. Accordingly, they had to extract themselves from a regrettable situation as best they could. Some of them wished to return to Belgrade, and those who remained in Sofia were subjected to a special regime. Most of them were sent to various colleges in the interior of Bulgaria.
In spite of all the precautions taken, most of the refugees returned to Serbia; among them was Misirkov, who was admitted as a student in the third grade of a grammar school in Belgrade. He did not stay there long, however since he was admitted as a student in the first grade of a theological college where young Macedonians were studying. In this semi-military college, future Serbian priests and teachers were trained for propaganda in Macedonia, as well as military cadres which were to serve as the basis for the forthcoming subjugation of this province of the Turkish Empire.
The circumstances which brought Misirkov from Salonica to Belgrade and Sofia and then back to Belgrade showed him clearly that Macedonians could no longer allow themselves to be pawns in their neighbours' struggles for power, and that it was no longer possible for them to be treated as Greeks in one place, Serbs in another place, and Bulgarians in a third place, while they regarded themselves only as Macedonians.

(3)

Back to the first mistake! “The circumstances which brought Misirkov from Salonica to Belgrade and Sofia and then back to Belgrade… … and that it was no longer possible for them to be treated as Greeks in one place, Serbs in another place, and Bulgarians in a third place”. Obviously, Nechakovski points out that these people were treated as Greeks in Salonika, as Serbs in Belgrade, and as Bulgarians in Sofia. It is understandable why they are treated as Serbs in the capital of Serbia (Belgrade) and as Bulgarians in the capital of Bulgaria (Sofia) but why should they be treated as Greeks in the… capital of Macedonia and the rest of the Balkan possessions of the Ottoman empire? They cannot possibly be under the spell of the Greek authorities in an Ottoman world, it is just that Salonika and Macedonia happen to be predominantly Greek, as far as culture is concerned, because the - predominant in numbers, some 44% of the population of Macedonia proper, (Macedonia proper is equal to the extend of the Macedonian kingdom at the death of Phillip II of Ancient Macedonia which lies almost all within Greece today) were Muslims - but mostly not Turks in cultural background: they were Islamized Greeks, Slavs, Illyrians and others. Nechakovski contradicts the view of another author of his quality: Reed, who insists that Salonica was predominantly Slavic during the Ottoman era. How was possible that Misirkov was treated as a Greek in a city full of Slavic culture (and obviously Slavs) Mr. Reed?

4

At the end of the academic year the students went on a tour of the Kingdom of Serbia. This gave Misirkov the opportunity to study on the spot the various Serbian dialects and compare them with the Serbian literary language, and, having done this, to compare them with the spoken language of the Macedonians and of the Bulgarians. All this later served as material for his scientific researches into the Macedonian language. When the time came for them to enroll in the second grade of the grammar school, a group of Macedonian students rebelled against the assimilating policy and military regime of the Serbs. Misirkov was one of the group. As a result of the uproar, the Serbian Foreign Minister closed the schools and the students were scattered among the various towns of Serbia. After this rebellion, Misirkov continued his studies at Shabats, a small town not far from Belgrade. Not long after he was back in the Serbian capital.
In 1892, some friends and fellow students of Misirkov's founded a literary society and began to bring out their own publication: Loza (Vineyard - one of the most difficult plants to uproot, as a symbol of the Macedonians). At that time a campaign was launched in the Bulgarian press against the national ideology of the Lozars (those who were associated with the publication Loza). Then everything possible was done to neutralize the action of Bishop Teodossie of Skopje, who aimed at separating the Macedonian Church from the Bulgarian Exarchate and even at entering into communion with the Holy See of Rome. The young Macedonian intellectuals Petar Pop Arsov, Dame Gruev, Gotse Delchev, Gjorche Petrov, Georgi Balashchev, and others took an active part in all those movements.

(4)

Roman-Catholic tricks seen as the beginning of a new nation. Ha! They did the same with the Bulgarians since the Middle ages, but the Bulgarians finally rebelled against both Rome and Constantinople (or Istanbul, or Czarigrad, or Byzantium, whatever you prefer to call the city) The same rebellion occurred at Skopje only when it was safe under Croatian Titos’ Yugoslavia, a few decades after the creation of Misirkovs’ beloved state took place.

5

All this had repercussions on the Macedonian students in Belgrade, who, in 1893, founded their own student society -- Vardar. Its charter included, among other things, the aim of studying and spreading a knowledge of their country as regards its geographical, ethnographic and historical aspects. The founder of this society was Misirkov. A cardinal principle of its program was that Macedonia should belong to the Macedonians. The Serbs were opposed to this thesis of the young Macedonians, so their society did not last very long: it was disbanded in 1895. The Serbs, not trusting the Macedonians, began to send real Serbian priests and teachers to Macedonia. In these circumstances it is not surprising that Misirkov, after completing his studies at the Belgrade teachers' training college, refused to go to Prishtina, where, having been the best student of his class, he was appointed as a Serbian teacher. Instead, he left secretly for Odessa in order to continue his studies for the benefit of his country.

(5)

As I said in the “third mistake”, the Serbs were still trying and kept failing, but they were NOT violent: They did not kill those rebel students, although they hosted them which means that any plot against their lives would not really require much thinking to implement, and little difficulty to execute. If these guys were at that time in Bulgaria or Greece, and especially in Macedonia where the Greeks were butchering the Bulgarians and vice versa, and both of them were butchering and being butchered by the Ottoman troops, things would be very much different…

6

His academic qualifications obtained in Belgrade were not recognized in Russia, so he had to study for a further two years in the Seminary at Poltava, and then in 1897 he was able to enter the Faculty of Philological and Historical Studies at the University of St. Petersburg. When he enrolled at this university, Misirkov did not state that he was Bulgarian, Greek or Serbian, as Macedonian intellectuals of that time usually did when declaring what studies they had completed. He stated that he was a Macedonian Slav. Thanks to the research on the ethnography and history of the Balkan Peninsula he had carried out during his stay in Serbia, Misirkov was able to give his first scholarly lecture before the members of the Russian Imperial Geographical Society. This first scholarly work shows with what keen interest the young student had addressed himself to the studies he would specialize in for the next thirty years. Still as a student, Misirkov gave lectures on various subjects including, among others: "Marko Krale as a national hero" and "The ethnic pattern of the population in Macedonia." In 1901, for reasons of health, he removed to the University of Odessa, where he worked on his degree thesis: "The problem of nationality and the reasons fm the popularity of the Macedonian Marko Krale."
Of great importance in the work done by Misirkov for his beloved country was the founding of the secret Macedonian Society at St. Petersburg. The aim of this was to give moral and material aid to the Macedonian cause, and to follow its development. Misirkov soon became president and an active member of this society. Since this society was a branch of the Macedonian Secret Organization, Misirkov corresponded with the other two committees of the Organization: the Supreme Committee at Sofia and the other at Salonica. He was thus kept informed about events in Macedonia and in the lives of Macedonian emigrants. As president of this society, Misirkov had fruitful contacts with eminent men in Russian political, cultural and scientific circles, and so was able to obtain adequate aid from the Slav Charitable Society for the Macedonian refugees.

(6)

Funny thing again: the committee has its central offices under the nose (or the protection?) of the Bulgarians in Sofia, and its branches in the capital of the - still Ottoman - Macedonia and the capital of Russia. No branches in Belgrade (That shows how much importance there was given to the “Serbian threat”, or otherwise the Serbs were not so hospitable to a Bulgarian organization - pick your choice of the events) or in Athens (Greece was truly not considered a possible candidate after the - disastrous for the Greek army - Greco-Turkish war of 1897, and was neither hospitable to a Bulgarian organization either, not to mention that any Slavic language or the Slavic accent of the Greek speech would betray any Slav agent within Athens immediately)

7

When the new Macedonian Society recently founded in Belgrade began publication of the journal Balkanski glasnik (The Voice of the Balkans), in which the fundamental principles of the Macedonian literary language and orthography were set forth, Misirkov was able to take part in the struggle for Macedonian national independence by getting in touch with Macedonians residing in Belgrade. But soon after, the Macedonian Society in Belgrade was closed, the journal was suppressed and the editors were disbanded. Then Stefan Jakimov Dedov and Diamandi Tirpkov Mishaikov, who were the chief founders of this Society, left for the Russian capital. There, together with Misirkov, Chupovski, Konstantinovich and others, on the 28th of October 1902 they founded the Society of Macedonian Students, afterwards called the "St. Clement's Macedonian Scientific and Literary Society," which became the most important Macedonian national institution abroad. In the same year this Society sent a Special Memorandum to the Great Powers, in which the Macedonian problem was examined at length from the national point of view, and the problem of the Macedonian language was solved by making it the Macedonian literary language. The question was also examined of establishing a Macedonian national Church under the Bishopric of Ohrid. The aim of this Memorandum was that the Macedonians should be recognized as a separate nation and that Macedonia should be granted full autonomy within the Turkish Empire.
In the expectation that freedom would be granted to Macedonia, Misirkov abandoned his university studies and left for Bitola, where he was appointed assistant master at the classical academy. There he became friendly with the Russian consul Rostkovski, who made him tutor to his children. This post gave him the opportunity to enter into friendly relations with various representatives of the diplomatic corps, which enabled him to follow closely Balkan and European politics regarding Macedonia. With some of his friends he began to pave the way for opening Macedonian schools also for publishing textbooks in the Macedonian language. But the Ilinden Uprising (1903) and the assassination of the Russian Consul in his presence changed everything for the worse for Misirkov. Life in Macedonia became so unbearable for him that he felt obliged to leave his native land and return to Russia. There he published a great many articles informing the general public of the causes of the Ilinden Uprising and the reasons why the Russian Consul was assassinated.

(7)

Ha! The newfound branch of the society in Belgrade was able to publish a document which claimed that Macedonia was not Serbian, but the headquarters in Sofia are soooo silent! No publication in Sofia to claim that Macedonia is not Bulgarian then? What does that mean? Well, that means that if you made the “wrong choice of events” before, you should revise it now…
Also, those who left Serbia and moved to St. Petersburg and found “St. Clements Society” managed to move the headquarters of the “Committee” from Sofia to St. Petersburg, broke ranks with the headquarters of the committee in Sofia, or Sofia was not considered to be “abroad” by the folk of “St. Clements Society”? Oh, poor reader, Nechakovski forgets to add some critical details again, so you have to make hard choices again!

8

Misirkov soon resumed his activity in the "St. Clement's Society," giving various lectures and writing his book "For the Macedonian Cause." This book, written in the Macedonian language, was published in Sofia, where he later founded a new society of Macedonian emigrant intellectuals. In 1905, because his life was in jeopardy, he left for Berdiansk in Southern Russia, where he was given a post as assistant master in a grammar school. There he resumed publication of the Macedonian journal Vardar. As a result of this activity, he received threats warning him to give up his struggle for Macedonia, but he ignored them and continued his patriotic work with undaunted zeal.

(8)

At last! A book declaring that Macedonia was not Bulgarian published in Bulgaria (…I hope that it is so…) by Misirkov. Obviously his life was under the threat of some irate Bulgarians in Sofia - where he obviously lived, since he published the book there, - right or wrong?

9

When the first Balkan war was declared, Macedonians flocked home from all parts of the world to take part in the struggle for liberation from the Turkish yoke. Misirkov was in Macedonia then as a Russian war correspondent so that he could follow the military operations on the spot. He suffered another disappointment in Macedonia when he found that the "liberators," the various Balkan monarchies, were each aiming to gain possession of a large part of Macedonian territory. Accordingly, he published a series of articles in the Russian press pointing out the cruel destiny of the Macedonian people as a result of the tripartition of Macedonia; he also wrote some violent articles demanding that the Turks should be driven out of Macedonian territory.

(9)

So Misirkov felt dissapointed when he found out that Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria wanted Macedonia for themselves? (Actually Serbia got there purely by accident, since it had agreed initially to cede Macedonia to Bulgaria just before the war, but then kept all the lands that the Serbian army captured) How the hell did he miss to realize what were the intentions of these states all these years? Why did the Greeks, the Bulgarians and the Serbians tried to assimilate him and his friends all the time? (I assume that the most of the text above made such claims. Am I wrong?) Couldn’t they find some more pleasant way to pass their time, or, perhaps, he simply disagreed with the tripartition of Macedonia and the Ottoman occupation, but he would not be disappointed if Macedonia (or at least the most of it) had fell to the hands of the occupier of his choice? That would explain why he got disappointed at that time, by the behavior of one or two Balkan states, but not much earlier, as he should.

10

In 1913, on the initiative of the Macedonian colony in Petersburg, of which Misirkov was a member, the journal Makedonski glas (The Voice of Macedonia) was founded, which was published in Russian and Macedonian. This journal dealt openly and courageously with the most important problems connected with the destiny of Macedonia. The Macedonian colony in the Russian capital sent a series of memoranda to the London Conference and the Balkan Governments; it also addressed appeals to the Russian and Macedonian peoples pointing out the troubled history of this small but heroic people, which, after five centuries of oppression, instead of gaining its freedom was now subject to a new domination; the tripartite domination of the Bulgarians, Serbs and Greeks, which made its situation even worse. In an article which appeared in 1914 in the journal Slavianskia izvestia, Misirkov cleared up the question of the participation of Macedonian regiments in the struggle against Turkey in 1912, stating that four armies, Serbian, Greek, Macedonian and Montenegrin, had fought, in Macedonia, and two, Bulgarian and Macedonian, had fought in Thrace. All these armies except the Macedonian were subsidized.

In this article Misirkov wrote:
"The Russian public forgot Macedonia, but although she is in a disastrous plight, she is still alive. She suffered the tremendous oppression of the Turkish yoke for five centuries, and yet kept her national spirit. If Malorussia was able to bear the Polish yoke in the 16th and 17th centuries, Macedonia, too, will be able to survive the sufferings, of 1913. The Slavs freed themselves from their misfortunes, overcoming the bitterest disappointments, and began to heal their wounds and lay the foundations of a lasting peace in the Balkans in virtue of the national independence of all the Balkan peoples. So Macedonia, too, will be able to obtain what is her due."
In order to be able to say what he thought with absolute freedom, Misirkov began to write articles under the pseudonym of K. Rilski. These articles appeared in the Makedonski glas and were marked by their combative spirit. In them Misirkov defended the Macedonian national ideals, which were in contrast to those of the Bulgarians, and emphasized the struggle for the independence of Macedonia during the course of history. In these stormy days of 1913 when attempts were being made in the Balkans to prove that the Macedonians were Serbs, Bulgarians or Greeks, Misirkov declared:
"The time has come for all the world to know that the people living in Macedonia are Macedonians and not Serbs, or Bulgarians or Greeks; and that the Macedonian people has its own history, its own national dignity, and its own important contributions to the cultural history of the Slavs... Macedonia is a land of old Slavonic culture, and no one will succeed in rooting out this old Slavonic culture... Macedonia will survive all misfortunes because the giants of Macedonia are not yet dead. The figures of SS. Cyril and Methodius, and St. Clement and St. Naum of Ochrid are shining examples to the sons of Macedonia, whom a glorious future awaits on the day that Macedonia, united and free, takes her place as a member with equal rights of the family of the Balkan peoples."

(10)

First of all, we have to believe that Misirkov, who was not “absolutely free” to write whatever he wanted as “Misirkov”, became absolutely free to express his opinion as “K. Rilski”!!! Why? Was that because somebody didn’t like the name “Misirkov” to be used as the name of an author in newspaper articles, or because he was writing different things as “Misirkov” and different things as “K.Rilski”? Why did he have to use a pseudonym at 1913, not all those years before, - since 1897 - when he was writing in Russia? He didn’t give the impression that he was censored when he gave lectures about "Marko Krale as a national hero" and "The ethnic pattern of the population in Macedonia." amongst others, before the members of the Russian Imperial Geographical Society and other influential Russians. Neither he seemed to be under censorship while he worked as a Russian war corresponded in Macedonia either. But he was not “absolutely free” to write his opinion now? Why could “K. Rilski” defend the Macedonian national ideals, which were - specifically - in contrast to those of the Bulgarians? Couldn’t “Misirkov” write - specifically - against the Bulgarians, while “K. Rilski” could do so? How does Nechakovski know that Misirkov was indeed the writer of the articles of “K. Rilski”?
Furthermore, Misirkov claims that four armies fought in Macedonia (apart from the Ottoman) and only the three of them which were subsidized got their claims, but history writes that three tactical armies (apart from the Ottoman), the Greek, the Montenegrin and the Serbian fought in Macedonia and one tactical army (apart from the Ottoman) the Bulgarian, fought in Thrace. If Misirkov (or “K.Rilski”?) uses the term “subsidized” to describe a tactical army, the description is a bit odd. Officially, the only armies which fought battles were the Ottoman, the Greek, the Bulgarian, the Serb, and the Montenegrin. There is no record of any other army apart from those participating in any single battle of the first Balkan war.
Furthermore, what is Malorussia? An existing state (Belarus?) or a Russian plot against the Poles? (Remember WWII?)
The Slavs laid “…the foundations of a lasting peace in the Balkans” according to Misirkov, which is being threatened by Misirkovs’ “Old Slavonic” culture - and thus it shall not be a lasting peace. Total absurdity!!! Or shall the “Old Slavonic” culture be renovated into one or more “New Slavonic” culture(s), thus there shall indeed be a lasting peace in the Balkans? Or did Misirkov believe that the oppressors (or “oppressors”) shall willingly withdraw from the hard-fought Macedonian soil in favor of a new state? (I think that this question is simple enough. Two out of the three options are out of question, one because of absurdity, the other because nobody makes war to pass his time, all the soldiers fight for a purpose: either to conquer or to liberate.)
And finally Mr. “K. Rilski” makes a clear statement (unlike “Misirkov”) which makes a specific mention of Bulgarian oppression (unlike somebody who cannot possibly… “…defend the Macedonian national ideals, which were in contrast to those of the Bulgarian national ideals”)

11

When he returned from the Balkan front, Misirkov gave up his post at Odessa and was appointed assistant master of the grammar school at Kishinev. At that time Bessarabia became a republic, and he was elected the first member of its Parliament. However, the pro-Rumanian party was dominant and the Rumanian army brought strong pressure to bear on the young republic so that the Parliament was forced to declare the annexation of Bessarabia to Rumania in November 1918. Then Misirkov was expelled and, not being able to return to Macedonia, he went to Sofia. Misirkov's arrival in Sofia coincided with the serious disorders that broke out immediately after the First World War over the Macedonian question, and every Macedonian emigrant was compelled to sign the various resolutions and petitions in favor of the Bulgarian cause in Macedonia. In this state of affairs, Misirkov was distrusted by the Bulgarians because of his ardent defense of Macedonian nationhood.

(11)

It seems that Misirkov can easily take a new nationalist cause, when the one he had does not promise too much any longer. Even more funny is the idea that the Bessarabian parliament was forced by the Rumanian army to declare the annexation of Bessarabia to Rumania, but not from the predominant pro-Rumanian party!!! Poor Misirkov! As Nechakovski would say: “Life in Macedonia - oh sorry, I meant Bessarabia - became so unbearable for him that he felt obliged to leave his native land and return to Russia - oh sorry, I meant Bulgaria" (actually, he was kicked out of Bessarabia) and got back to his old nationalist cause. Then he was compelled to sign that Macedonia was Bulgarian, but unfortunately the Bulgarians did not trust him, right? I thought that they did not trust “K. Rilski” who was really anti-Bulgarian. How did they find out the coincidence of Misirkov and “K.Rilski”?

12

After working for a year at the Ethnographic Museum in Sofia, Misirkov was appointed assistant master of the grammar school at Karlovo, where he was always suspected on account of his fervent Macedonian nationalism.

(12)

Where would the Bulgarians send someone whom they did not trust to be serving their wish that Macedonia is Bulgarian? In the Ethnographic museum in Sofia, of course! Where else could he prove that… The Macedonians are not Bulgarians? Or the Bulgarians sent him there because he was the ideal to prove that the Macedonians are Bulgarians? Oh! Hard questions again!

13

In 1921 Misirkov wrote a letter to the Serbian Minister Plenipotentiary at Sofia asking him to use his influence to secure his appointment to a teaching post at the grammar school in Skopje, or else in some other Macedonian town, or failing that in Belgrade or Zagreb. After being kept waiting for two years, he was informed that his application had been rejected and he realized he would have to stay in Bulgaria indefinitely.

(13)

It is truly hard to be an oppressed man. It is even harder to decide which oppression is better, the Serbian or the Bulgarian. He considered that he had to try the Serbian oppression once again, but the Serbs did not wish to oppress him once again. What a pity…

(interim)

Before we deal with the next paragraph, we have to make a reference to a not very much known incident of the Balkan history. In the middle of the 1920’s, the first (without a monarch) Greek republic fell from a coup led by general Pangalos. (Yes, there is a relation with our former foreign and culture minister: He is the Dictators’ grandson) Pangalos decided some day to violate the treaty of Neuilly, which defined the status quo between Bulgaria and the winners of the WWI, amongst them Greece. He invaded Nevrokopi (Nevrokop, in Bulgarian) and the Bulgarians, who in a similar instance just a few years ago would retaliate with an all out war against Greece, request the support of the Society of Nations (The predecessor of the U.N.) and Britain threatens Greece with repercussions, if the Greek army does not retreat from Bulgarian soil, and Pangalos backs down and orders the retreat.

It must have been very humiliating to the Bulgarians, to feel that somebody has just pulled their panties down, and them, unable to react due to their horrible financial condition (they lost the wars with Greece mostly because of their weak economy, rather than a weak army - they were probably stronger than Greece in the battlefield) and thus compelled to request of Britain to …pick their panties back to their place! That had some decisive impact upon Misirkov as well…

14

Accordingly, he resumed his journalistic activity and published articles on the Macedonian question in the Bulgarian press. In all, he wrote some thirty important articles, which will remain as his testament for future generations of Macedonians. In one of his articles published at that time, he affirmed:
"There are no solid grounds for pessimism for us or for optimism for our oppressors... Are we Macedonians a people without a class of intellectuals, without glorious traditions, without strong energy, without national ideals, without a literature, and in general without culture." On the contrary, "a real, original Macedonian culture has always existed, and has been the most powerful weapon of the Macedonians for preserving their cultural identity and for enduring all the vicissitudes of their country's history: neither Byzantium, nor Bulgaria, nor Serbia, nor Turkey were able to change the character of the Macedonians so as to separate them from their Slav forbears."

(14)

Can you imagine a nation “without a class of intellectuals, glorious traditions, strong energy, without a literature”, even “in general without culture”? Even if you can, how the hell can there be a nation “without national ideals”? Without a SENSE OF NATIONAL IDENTITY? As for the character of the Macedonians, it was a bit different before the Slavic invasions in Macedonia, but still, it was not altered too much from an “absence of a culture, literacy, ideals, glorious traditions e.t.c. e.t.c.”

15

Misirkov declared that the new oppressors would obtain nothing by terror: "Terror can only create martyrs for an idea; it can never obtain the victory of lies and oppression. Our work is sacred, and therefore it will obtain the support of the civilized peoples of Europe, particularly of the Italians."
Misirkov's assertion of the existence of a separate Macedonian culture aroused a storm of angry comment. In one of the many articles he wrote on the subject, he did not hesitate to say:
"Yes, Macedonian culture and history are quite separate from Bulgarian and Serbian culture and history; they have never been the object of an impartial and detailed study. The Serbs and the Bulgarians most unfairly took from Macedonian culture only what they could make use of for the glory of their own national names; ignoring facts of capital importance either because they did not concern them, or because they contradicted their own national aspirations. Unfortunately, the Macedonians themselves are only now beginning to study Macedonian history, having realized, towards the end of last century, that they could no longer trust the historians of Belgrade or Sofia..."

(15)

Yes indeed, the oppressors gain nothing by terror, as the Italian fascists were to find out during the WWII. Hey, wait a minute! Weren’t these fascists ruling Italy since before Misirkov described them as the “…civilized peoples of Europe…”? As far as I can remember, Caesar (or August?) Mussolini dreamed a revival of the Ancient Roman Empire, part of which was Macedonia. (Perhaps that type of “independence” Misirkov had in mind, something like Ethiopia under Italian rule, with the difference that the Ethiopians were much braver than Misirkov and his likes…) but when he failed to defeat Greece, he was forced to cede to Germany and Bulgaria the whole of Macedonia…The funny thing is that, even if Misirkov and his friends were able to convince Italy to conquer Macedonia, Mussolini would probably be forced to handle the land to someone else, probably the Bulgarians, because the Italians are known for their cowardice during that period...

16

In articles written at that time, Misirkov frequently dealt with the situation of the Macedonians in the Yugoslav Kingdom, and was profoundly convinced that the Macedonian minority in that kingdom was the most unjustly treated of all the minorities. He also said that the kingdom was the Austria of the Balkan Peninsula, and concluded:
"Only by the unification of all the Macedonians and a common program for the creation of Macedonia in a Balkan Switzerland will it be possible to end rivalry within the Balkans and in Europe for the hegemony of the Balkans."
He also wrote: "Only Serbian and Bulgarian shortsightedness is responsible for the unhappy plight of the Macedonians and therefore of their serious international situation." In this connection, Misirkov painted out that "the Serbs and the Bulgarians must know that we Macedonians have suffered, and still suffer, more than anyone else as a result of the disagreement between them and for this reason we, more than anyone else, could con- tribute to a reconciliation between them and to the prosperity of all the Southern Slav peoples."

(16)

So the Yugoslavs were the harsher of all the oppressors, that is why he wished to get a job in Yugoslavia earlier, or were the Serbs the harsher of all the oppressors because they refused to give to him a post? (They are very harsh, you know, they do not wish to grant a decent job to a decent Macedonian! Ha!) As for the Serbian and Bulgarian shortsightedness, it is probably ought to the fact that Serbia and Bulgaria cannot possibly realize their common Slav legacy and join forces with each other against Greece (which is not accused of… shortsightedness!) which holds the most of Macedonia, and in particular his beloved Postol, the… imaginary capital of Alexander the Great!

17

What, according to Misirkov, did the Macedonians want from their oppressors? "Give us our rights and our freedom," he declared, "so that we can respect our language and our past as you respect your past and your present, and we will build a firm bridge between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria." After the tripartition of Macedonia, in a message to his people Misirkov wrote: "Macedonians are tested by struggle and, if to armed struggle is added that for a real Macedonian culture and science, and if these are intensified, Macedonia will not be lost and Macedonians will accomplish their historic mission..." The agreements with Greece for the emigration of Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia, as well as the agreements between Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, were strongly condemned by Misirkov for the harm they did to the Macedonian people.
He wrote: "I hope I may be forgiven but, as a Macedonian, I put the interests of my country and my compatriots first and then those of Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. I am a Macedonian with a Macedonian conscience, and as such I have my opinion about the past, present and future of my country and of the Southern Slavs; I therefore demand that we Macedonians should be consulted on all questions concerning ourselves and our neighbors, and that agreements should not be made between Bulgaria and Yugoslavia about us over our heads. They may be sure that Macedonia will show the necessary tact, the necessary insight and spirit of self-sacrifice for the achievement of a general improvement in the Balkans, provided their personal and national dignity are respected."

(17)

The above makes clear that Misirkov above all hates Greece, and despises the exchange of populations between the various Balkan states (Not that anyone liked them - ever!) He dreams Macedonia as a bridge between the Bulgarians and the Serbs (towards the Aegean sea, of course) He seems very upset because his kindred is forced to abandon Greece (is he upset because Greeks are forced to flee towards Greece too?) and he does not even make an attempt to make a call towards Greece to stop these acts. He never tried to approach Greece in any way, or to live in Greek soil during his lifetime…

18

In his article entitled "Macedonian Nationalism," Misirkov explains what he means by this: "A boundless and unalterable love for Macedonia, continual thought and toil for the interests of Macedonia, and an absolute manifestation of the Macedonian national spirit: the language, poetry, life and customs of the people - here in broad outline is what I mean by Macedonian nationalism..." All these articles, published in the Bulgarian press, aroused a storm of opposition to Misirkov, and in September 1925 he was removed from Karlovo and sent to Koprivchitsa, threatened with death if he continued to write articles of this kind. Furthermore, the publishers and editors of the papers Mir and Ilinden, in which his articles appeared, were formally warned to cease publishing them. This was the end of the public life of a great Macedonian patriot. Soon after he fell ill, and his physical life, too, came to an end in a hospital in the Bulgarian capital.
One of the most important points constantly maintained by Misirkov was that the Macedonians, as a Slav people who for centuries had shared the fate of all other neighboring Slav peoples, had their own national history and a rich, essentially national culture. For the achievement of their independence, Macedonians had to get rid of foreign names, introduced by various propaganda campaigns and pseudo-histories at Macedonia's expense, and restore the Macedonian national names. Politically, Misirkov preferred that Macedonia should remain within the Ottoman Empire when she was under Turkish rule, and later, when this was ended, he wanted a free and independent Macedonia. Misirkov was a Slavonic scholar of broad views who had tackled the most difficult philological, linguistic, ethnographic, historical and other problems of Macedonia and the Balkans. He was a student of folklore who had collected and studied the epos of the Southern Slavs; be had also made a careful study of past and contemporary ethnography, and compiled the first ethnographic statistics, in which the Macedonians appear under their national name. As a publicist, Misirkov expounded the ideas that he believed should govern Macedonian national development and the organization of the struggle fm the national and political independence of Macedonia. As a philologist, Misirkov was the founder of the modern Macedonian language and orthography, which he gave the status of a literary language, separate from the Serbian, Bulgarian and Greek languages, which the Serbs, Bulgarians and Greeks had tried to impose on the Macedonian people.

(18)

There is something wrong in here. I cannot understand why I cannot possibly imagine the average Bulgarian who reads the "For the Macedonian Cause.", a “book, written in the Macedonian language,” which “was published in Sofia” at 1905 - when the Bulgarian nationalism is near the zenith point - sits in his desk and enjoys the qualities of a book which advocates that Macedonia is not Bulgarian. (And do not claim that the Bulgarians could not read that language! How the hell did the printing house in Sofia was able to print a book in a foreign language, without to know the contents of the book? They would not have approved the printing at all in such an instance!) Two decades later the same Bulgarian reads in his newspaper that - alas - Misirkov advocates the existence of Macedonia again, which lies (also) within the Bulgarian territory, at a time when Bulgaria is bankrupt and without the slightest national aspirations, and yet rebels against Misirkov and shouts and finally, with the support of others, he creates an uproar against Misirkov.
We are being informed by Nechakovski that Misirkov “For the achievement of their independence, Macedonians had to get rid of foreign names, introduced by various propaganda campaigns and pseudo-histories at Macedonia's expense…”. We are unfortunate that we cannot ask Misirkov if names like “Macedonians” (which derives from the Ancient Greek “Makos” + “eidos” - long/tall + kind = tall people or highlanders) and “Slavs” (From the Medieval Greek “sklavinoi” from the Ancient Greek “Sklavoi” = Slaves!!!) can be considered Macedonian, or foreign, introduced by “foreign propaganda campaigns”!!! and “pseudo-histories”!!!
Misirkov also “…preferred that Macedonia should remain within the Ottoman Empire when she was under Turkish rule…”, while he wrote several “…violent articles demanding that the Turks should be driven out of Macedonian territory…” which were published in the Russian press during the first Balkan war. (O.K., something is going wrong here again. Misirkov or Nechakovski created all the fuss? You decide!

Conclusion? Well, if you ask me (sikader@yahoo.com) I shall say that, from what Nechakovski claims in the article, I believe that Misirkov was a very fine Bessarabian. He deserves the title, since, after all, he was a member of the Bessarabian parliament. Misirkov did never accredited with a higher position in any other country during his lifetime. Too bad that the Bessarabians were so faked that they could not possibly stay alive…

This page was sent to us by Aleksandar Nechakovski: arakis@freemail.org.mk and is also available in Macedonian at: http://nka.hypermart.net/misirkov.htm

P.S. 2007

Of course Misirkov felt Bulgarian (when he was not Bessarabian, of course) and proof has been found very recently:

Krste Misirkov - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"In his recently discovered 381 page diary, written in 1913 while he resided in Odessa, Misirkov identified as "Macedonian Bulgarian".[2]

Misirkov's diary

Misirkov's diary was discovered in late 2006 in a Bulgarian antiquity shop. It is going to jointly be published by Macedonian and Bulgarian State Archives in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Russia. Its authenticity has been confirmed by Bulgarian and Macedonian experts."

No kidding!!!

[Tsontos]

hahaha i remember this long live bessarabia. Not surprising Bessarabia was to become a Comintern favourite as well

[Petros Houhoulis]

Originally Posted by Voulgaroktonos

hahaha i remember this long live bessarabia. Not surprising Bessarabia was to become a Comintern favourite as well

Not surprising that Bessaarabia is modern Moldova. They shall end up like them, the bottom of the European pit...

[Persey]

The self-determination of the Macedonians


My article Macedonian Nationalism, which appeared in Mir on 12 March this year, aroused the ire of the paper Svobodna rech, which described me as "a man who still does not even know his own nationality", a "simple-minded thinker who is capable of writing nonsense, of sinking even lower", and who is "well-known for having once served in the Serbian propaganda service" and for lending his support to the theories of the Belgrade professor Cvyitch concerning the existence of a separate Macedonian nationality". As a result of these slanders against me in Svobodna rech many of my own townsfolk turned in fury upon me, and there were even some people who thoughtlessly claimed that they knew that in my student days I had attended assemblies of both the Bulgarian and the Serbian students and that this was why I had been driven out of the Bulgarian assemblies.

Similar senseless accusations were made in Svobodna rech and, as was only to be expected, these false rumors spread around Karlovo. This, however, did not greatly disturb me, as would have been clear to anyone who had read my article in Mir and who knew anything about my past… I knew full well that I would be attacked for my Macedonian Nationalism and that my article could certainly not be published in Ilinden. Nevertheless, although I was far from sure that it would be printed in Mir, I wrote out the article and sent it to this journal. And two days after it had appeared, Svobodna rech made me out to be a man who does not know his own nationality.
I was fully aware that I will be attacked for my “Macedonian nationalism”, that this article has no chance to be published in “Ilinden”, and I was not even sure that they will print it in “Mir”. I still wrote the article and sent it to the newspaper “Mir”. On the second day after its printing “Svobodna rech” named me a man that does not know his ethnicity.

Unfortunately “Svobodna rech” cannot make me give up my “lowly reasoning”. I still find that Macedonia today is butchered, that Greeks took their best parts, and have chased away the Macedonian population and replaced them with Asiatic new-comers that today are piled up next to the Serbian and Bulgarian border, the same as once the Byzantine Emperors were establishing next to the Bulgarian border military settlements of the Asiatic colonists: Armenians and Paulikians. I also find that if Serbs and Bulgarians do not find peace, and Macedonians are not included in voluntary cooperation with both Bulgarians and Serbs for safeguarding against the Greek wave that slowly, but surely moves from south toward north, all of us: Serbs, Bulgarians and Macedonians will drown in the non-Slavic see that surrounds us from all sides. I think that only in agreement and cooperation between Serbs, Macedonians and Bulgarians is the salvation for all of us. Serbs and Bulgarians were fighting, Greeks and Romanians were profiting: they lost Macedonia, Trace and Dobrudza.

The most important condition for a cooperation between Serbs, Bulgarians and Macedonians, however, is the freedom of self-determination of Macedonians. And that is why, regarding this last issue, I emphasized the principle of the Macedonian patriotism and nationalism, as a fully neutral and satisfying for all: Serbs, Bulgarians and Macedonians alike; but for now it is more correct to say that it is equally unsatisfying for all: Serbs, Bulgarians and Macedonians.

Since it is primarily us Macedonians that are suffering from the Serb-Bulgarian conflict, it is our duty to search for means and ways of resolving that conflict. That is forcing us “to know” up to the current day our nationality and to tell both Serbs and Bulgarians: forget about your big-Serb and big-Bulgarian ideas, give up enforcing your nationalism and patriotism on us, since it basically is putting your interests up front instead of ours. Let us have our own understanding for our relations toward you and your conflict about us and our fatherland, as well as for the means that will bring us to a general South Slav benefit. Let us have our own Macedonian national feelings and to create Macedonian culture, as we did that during the ages when our fatherland was not part of the same state with yours.

As Macedonians we will be more useful for all: for Macedonia, for Bulgaria and for Serbia and in general for the whole South Slav community, than as Bulgarians and Serbs.

As a Bulgarian I would have said long time ago: What Macedonia! It is good for me here too. I don’t need to think for what is already lost. But as Macedonian, in Bulgaria I feel as in a foreign land, although between brothers, I’m not at home, in my fatherland. My fatherland is there, where I have been born and where I should leave my bones, where my son should go at least, if I am not allowed to go myself.
The awareness and the feeling that I am Macedonian should stand higher than everything else in the world. Macedonians should not let themselves been assimilated and to lose their individuality living among Bulgarians and Serbs. We can acknowledge the closeness of the Serb, Bulgarians and Macedonian interests, but we need to evaluate them from the Macedonian stand point of view.

Uncompromising and unlimited love toward Macedonia, the constant thinking and working for the interests of Macedonia and the full conservativism in the manifestations of the Macedonian national spirit: the language, the national poetry, mentality and customs – those are the main characteristics of the Macedonian nationalism, demonstrated through “lowly reasonings of a man that still does not know his nationality”.
But we are not egoists. We don’t think only about ourselves. We are ready to make a good service to both Serbs and Bulgarians, but only if that service is voluntary and not forced.

How we can serve Serbs: we will all die, and we will not let the Greek foot to cross the current border of the Serb and Bulgarian Macedonia. But we will do that as Macedonians, and not as Serbs. We will fight with Greeks because they are our only historic and age old enemies. Our complete Macedonian national history is full with fights against Greeks. There is no fight with Bulgarians and Serbs recorded in the Macedonian history. Bulgarians and Serbs have respected the national rights of the Macedonians in the middle ages, and it was only Greeks that were destroying our national spirit and were de-nationalizing us. They even to the current day are chasing us away from our native fireplaces, and are reminding us that we have an age old obligation to chase the un-invited guests from our grand father’s and great grand-father’s lands.

That is the Macedonian national feeling, which is the historic call of every Macedonian that can be fulfilled only as a free and equal citizen of Yugoslavia, allowed to think and feel and talk and act as Macedonian.


K. Misirkov: The self-determination of Macedonians, “Mir”, 7427, 25. III 1925, 1.

[terastios]

As a Bulgarian I would have said long time ago: What Macedonia!

I agree!
Even though Bulgarians are our friends now and our partners in E.U.!
Something you'll never be till you admit you are Slavs and Bulgarians!

[Persey]

Bulgarians are not Slavs...

Bulgarians are Mongols Tatars or something like that

if you like

I will post you some great bulgarian scholars who were talking on this matter

And when are you talking about slavs

Do you forget that Sparta was inhabited with slav population !!!

[Orphic_Hymn]

Originally Posted by Persey

Bulgarians are not Slavs...

Bulgarians are Mongols Tatars or something like that

if you like

I will post you some great bulgarian scholars who were talking on this matter

And when are you talking about slavs

Do you forget that Sparta was inhabited with slav population !!!

Bulgars were C.Asians, Bulgarians on the other hand are a people that have been totally Slavised both in language and in culture and thus are correctly defined as Slavs.
Yup 150 of Leonidas' 300 were Slavs

[Persey]

The Bulgarians were Slavised by Macedonians !!!

But in the blood, they still are Tatars and Mongols...

They were in war with the Slavs !!!

The topic was about Krste Petkov Misirkov !!!

What happened on this subject ???

[Orphic_Hymn]

The who?
Someone forgot to tell you that the Makednoi weren't Slavs so its impossible for them to have had any such effect on the Bulgars.

But speaking of blood is interesting, since genetics prove that FYROMians and Bulgars are almost identical. Thats just some food for thought.

[terastios]

Originally Posted by Persey

And when are you talking about slavs

Do you forget that Sparta was inhabited with slav population !!!

Yes i am one of them!
We even have a football team in Sparta called...Slavomonians(from Lacedaemonians), the 152(Orphic ) of Leonidas 300 were Slavic and my right ball is lost as you Slavic monkeys are lost too!

Get lost you monkey!