Крсте Мисирков: Жизнь и противоречивое наследие македонского деятеля

Philologist, journalist, historian and ethnographer

Krste Petkov Misirkov (, ; ; ; 18 November 1874 – 26 July 1926) was a philologist, journalist, historian and ethnographer from the region of Macedonia. In the period between 1903 and 1905, he published a book and a scientific magazine in which he affirmed the existence of a Macedonian national identity separate from other Balkan nations, and attempted to codify a standard Macedonian language based on the central Western Macedonian dialects. A survey conducted in the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) found Misirkov to be "the most significant Macedonian of the 20th century". For his efforts to codify a standard Macedonian language, he is often considered "the founder of the modern Macedonian literary language". On the other hand, he was one of the founders of the pro Bulgarian Secret Macedonian Adrianople Circle established in 1900 in St. Petersburg. In 1905 he began publishing predominantly articles, written from a Bulgarian nationalist perspective in the IMARO affiliated press. In his diary written during the Balkan Wars, he espoused pro Bulgarian views. During the First World War, he became a member of the local parliament in Bessarabia as a representative of the Bulgarian minority there. During the 1920s he encouraged the Macedonian Slavs to adopt a Bulgarian national identity. Misirkov returned to Macedonian nationalism for a period in 1914 and again in 1924 and 1925. Misirkov died in 1926 and was buried in the Sofia Central Cemetery with the financial support from the Ministry of Education, as an honoured Bulgarian educator. Because Misirkov expressed conflicting views about the national identity of the Macedonian Slavs at different points in his life, his national affiliation and legacy remain a matter of dispute between Bulgaria and North Macedonia. While Misirkov's work and personality remain highly controversial and disputed, there have been attempts among international scholars to reconcile the conflicting and self contradictory statements made by Misirkov. According to historian Ivo Banac, Misirkov viewed both himself and the Slavs of Macedonia as Bulgarians, and espoused pan Bulgarian patriotism in a larger Balkan context. However, in the context of the larger Bulgarian unit/nation, Misirkov sought both cultural and national differentiation from the other Bulgarians and called both himself and the Slavs of Macedonia, Macedonians.

Krste Petkov Misirkov was born on 18 November 1874 in the village of Postol in the Salonica vilayet of the Ottoman Empire (present day Pella, Greece). He started his elementary education in the local Greek school, where he studied until the sixth grade, but the bad financial situation of his family could not support his further education at that point and he left the school. At that period, the Serbian government began to promote efforts to espouse a pro Serbian Macedonian nationalism and to recruit young people in order to "Serbianize" them. After some period, Misirkov applied and was granted a scholarship by a Serbian association, "The Society of St. Sava".

For a period, Misirkov studied in Serbia. Soon after he realized that the promotion of pro Serbian ideas and propaganda was the main goal of the education provided by the Society of St. Sava. As a result of it, the school ended its programs and the students were sent throughout Serbia. Misirkov was sent to Šabac, where he finished his fourth secondary education course, but this time in the local gymnasium, which happened to be his last course.

His qualifications obtained in Belgrade were not recognized in Russia. Misirkov had to study from the very beginning in the Seminary at Poltava. In 1897, he was able to enter the Saint Petersburg Imperial University. Here he entered at first in the Bulgarian Students Association and the Secret Macedonian Adrianople Circle. Misirkov wrote about that part of his life in the article "School and socialism" "– In 1897 I went to Petrograd University and for five years was among the Bulgarian studentship as Bulgarian and member of the Bulgarian Student Society." Misirkov carried out here his first scholarly lecture on the ethnography and history of the Balkan Peninsula before the members of the Russian Imperial Geographical Society. On November 15, 1900, Misirkov, a third year student in the Faculty of History and Philosophy at the time, and other students in Russia created a students' circle in Saint Petersburg. The main objective of the circle was the political autonomy of the Macedonia and Thrace, declared by IMRO, and implemented and guaranteed by the Great Powers. In a letter sent to the President of the Supreme Macedonian Adrianople Committee on 28 November of the same year, the founders of the circle stated that, "there's no Bulgarian who is not interested in the situation and fate of that part of our homeland, which continue to groan under the yoke of the tyrant." At that time, Misirkov considered the Slavic peoples of Macedonia and Thrace as Bulgarian. He graduated in 1902. Misirkov attacked the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), among others, as a Bulgarian creation. As a result, he was persecuted by IMRO, and it is believed that its members destroyed a sizable amount of copies of his book.

In 1905, he left Saint Petersburg for Berdiansk. There, he resumed publication of the journal Vardar and was given a post as assistant master in a grammar school. although this behavior might have been caused by the many threats made towards him warning him to stop fighting for Macedonian separatism from Bulgaria. On 1 October 1909, he printed the article, "The foundations of a Serbian Bulgarian rapprochement" in the magazine, "Bulgarian Collection", edited by Bulgarian diplomats and officials in St. Petersburg. During this period, a Slavic Festival was held in Sofia in 1910 with Misirkov invited to attend as its guest of honor. In 1910–1911, he translated the book of the Bulgarian geographer Prof. Atanas Ishirkov, "Bulgaria" from Bulgarian to Russian. When the First Balkan War had begun, Misirkov went to Macedonia as a Russian war correspondent. In Macedonia, he could follow the military operations of the Bulgarian Army. Misirkov published some articles in the Russian press demanding that the Ottomans be driven out of Macedonia. In 1913 after the outbreak of the Second Balkan War, Misirkov went back to Russia, where he worked as a teacher in the Bulgarian language schools in Odessa. As a Bulgarian, I would willingly return to Bulgaria, if there is a need of a scientific research of the fate of the Bulgarian lands, especially Macedonia " A shorter letter with similar content was sent to another professor at Sofia University – Vasil Zlatarski with the request to be assigned as a chosen at the newly established department for history of Macedonia and the other western Bulgarian lands. At that point, Misirkov made contacts with the Macedonian Scientific and Literary Society, which started publishing the journal, Makedonski glas (Macedonian Voice) in Russian. Misirkov published in this magazine for some period under the pseudonym "K. Pelski". In this period, Misirkov also advocated a Bulgarian identity for the Macedonians. He also resumed his journalistic activity and published many articles on the Macedonian Question in the Bulgarian press and in some of them expressed Macedonian national ideas. Misirkov died in 1926 and was buried in the graveyards in Sofia with the financial support of 5000 levs from the Ministry of Education, as an honored educator.

In his life, Misirkov wrote one book, one diary, published one issue of a magazine and wrote more than thirty articles. His book On the Macedonian Matters was published in Sofia in 1903. The magazine was called Vardar and was published in 1905 in Odessa, Russian Empire. The articles that Misirkov wrote were published in different newspapers and focused on different topics. The book, magazine and a number of his article were written in the Central Macedonian dialects, which are the basis of Modern Macedonian.

One of the most important works of Misirkov is the Macedonian book On the Macedonian Matters (Original: За македонцките работи) published in 1903 in Sofia, in which he laid down the principles of modern Macedonian. This book was written in the Macedonian dialects from the area between Prilep and Bitola. It argued in favor of national separation, the establishment of autonomous national institutions within the Ottoman Empire, and the standardization of a distinct Macedonian language. Misirkov attacked both the Bulgarian Exarchate and the Internal Macedonian Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO) as agents of the Bulgarian interests in Macedonia. According to this book and Misirkov himself, the Macedonian literary language should be based on dialects from the central part of Macedonia, which were used in the book itself. Furthermore, Misirkov appealed to the Ottoman authorities for eventual recognition of a separate Macedonian nation. Misirkov admitted that there was no Macedonian nation, but argued that it should be created, when the necessary historical circumstances would arise.

Misirkov was the author and editor of the first scientific magazine in Macedonian. The magazine Vardar was published in 1905 in Odessa, Russian Empire. The magazine was published only once, because of the financial problems that Misirkov had been facing with at that time. He expressed views about the national distinctiveness of the Macedonians. The magazine was meant to include several different scientific disciplines, mostly concerned with Macedonia.

During his life, Misirkov published many articles for different newspapers and magazines. The articles deal with Macedonia, Macedonian culture, ethnology, politics and nation on one hand and with the Bulgarian nation, politics and ethnography on the other. Misirkov published his articles in Macedonian, Russian and Bulgarian and he published them either in Russia or in Bulgaria. Most of the articles were signed by his birth name, but there are articles that are signed with his pseudonym K. Pelski.

In 2006, a handwritten diary by Misirkov written during his stay in Russia in 1913 was discovered. It was declared authentic by Bulgarian and Macedonian experts and was published in 2008. The content of the diary clearly shows that at the time, Misirkov identified himself as a Macedonian Bulgarian and had a clear pro Bulgarian stance. It has given rise to new public discussion over Misirkov's stances on Bulgarian and Macedonian ethnicity. Per academic Alexis Heraclides, Misirkov's stance was not clear cut and he sounded Macedonian at times too. The manuscript includes 381 pages written in the Russian language. Misirkov wrote it in Kotovsk's nearby village of Klimentove, where he lived and worked at the time. It contains also articles and excerpts from the Russian press of that time.

In several publications, Misirkov made an attempt to determine the border between the Serbo Croatian and Bulgarian language, including in the Bulgarian dialect area, nearly all of Torlakian and Macedonian dialects. Misirkov pointed there, that the population in Pomoravlje is autochthonous and Bulgarian by origin, excluding any later migrations during the Ottoman rule from Bulgaria. According to Krste Misirkov, Krali Marko epic songs in Serbia, the so called Bugarstici are a result from Bulgarian musical influence over the Serbian folk music.

During the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the idea of a separate Macedonian ethnicity was as of yet promoted by small circles of intellectuals. Then, most of the Slavic people in Macedonia considered themselves Bulgarian, as part of the Bulgarian Millet, and Macedonian separatist ideas failed to gain wide popular support. At different points in his life, Misirkov expressed conflicting statements about the ethnicity of the Slavs living in Macedonia, including his own ethnicity. According to Ivo Banac, Misirkov viewed himself and the Slavs of Macedonia as Bulgarians, and espoused pan Bulgarian patriotism, but in the context of the larger Bulgarian nation, Misirkov sought cultural and national differentiation, separating the Macedonians. Misirkov's ideas had a small impact in his own time and he was re discovered in the post WW2 era.

In Bulgaria, Misirkov is regarded as a controversial educator with scientific contribution to Bulgarian dialectology and ethnography. He graduated from the Belgrade University as a student of Prof. Stojan Novaković and was influenced by his ideas. At that time, Novaković was a prominent proponent of the Macedonism, thereby promoting Serbian interests in the region of Macedonia. Afterwards Misirkov met several times with him and Novaković's diplomatic activity in St. Petersburg played significant role for the foundation of the Macedonian Scientific and Literary Society. However, Misirkov later developed a kind of Serbophobia. He also argued that the Slavic population of Macedonia was not "a formless paste" but a "well baked Bulgarian bread". Bulgarian historians believe that the post WWII Yugoslavian Communist regime significantly altered his writings to support the notion of a "Macedonian nation", distinct from the Bulgarian one. According to Bulgarian observers, after the breakup of Yugoslavia, polemics have also arisen in the Republic of Macedonia about the identity of Misirkov.

In North Macedonia, Misirkov is regarded as the most prominent Macedonian publicist, philologist and linguist who set the principles of the standard Macedonian in the early 20th century. Misirkov is also the author of the first scientific magazine in Macedonian and because of his contributions to the Macedonian national cause, he has been widely regarded as the greatest Macedonian of the 20th century by the Macedonian public. His work and ideas became a major field of exploration for scholars from the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, who used them to support the claim that there was a Macedonian national consciousness in the 19th century. In his honor, many books and scientific works have been published and the Institute for Macedonian language "Krste Misirkov" is named after him. There is a debate about Misirkov's ethnicity in North Macedonia issued by Dr. Rastislav Terzioski, who brought to light memos from Russian archives which clearly stated his pro Bulgarian positions. The publication of his 1913 diary, which revealed his pro Bulgarian views, sparked a major controversy in Skopje. On the other hand, according to Vlado Popovski, Misirkov's usage of the term "Macedonian Bulgarian" was only a tactic as a consequence of the Balkan wars and the Bucharest Agreement. In 1914 and many times after that, he repeated his views about the Macedonian national existence.