This period of Yugoslav history (from 1876 until the European War) was
at the beginning much concerned with Macedonia. And so it was towards
the end. Very wretched was the lot of the Macedonian Slavs--occasionally
the Exarchists and occasionally the Patriarchists were in the
ascendant, but while in religious matters the Greeks clung by all
possible means to their ancient, privileged position, so the Turks
maintained in secular affairs the sorry plight of their Slav raia. The
Macedonian Slavs, when the rest of Europe began to listen to their
cries, were not the most sympathetic of mortals--the more enterprising
of them had abandoned the country, while the moral sense of those who
stayed was grievously affected by the course of conduct which the
presence of the Turk compelled. Europe was touched by the anguish of
these Christians and did not inquire too closely as to the proportion
of the virtues, often called the Christian virtues, which they
cultivated. And it was undoubtedly a fact that their treatment left a
great deal to be desired. The peasant was obliged to pay direct
imposts in cash. There were taxes on landed property, on cattle, on
sheep and on fruit-trees, tithes on every species of harvest and a
poll-tax to which only Christians were liable, amounting to ten
shillings per annum for every male. To complete the exactions with a
touch of irony, there was also an education-tax and a heavy road-tax
for the upkeep of the indescribable highways. These taxes were not
collected by Government officials, but were farmed out to the highest
bidder, and so flagrant were the abuses of this system that it was not
unusual for the villagers to cut down their fruit-trees in order to
avoid the tax upon them, for the tax-farmer, against whom an appeal
would be worse than useless, was wont to appear with gendarmes and
estimate, according to his fancy, the amount of any crop.[78] Another
tax very frequently imposed upon the helpless peasant was the tribute
to some Albanian chief, who in return undertook to protect the
village. And if the village was outside the Albanian sphere of
influence it was usually obliged to have its own resident brigands,
who might or might not be Albanians. Generally speaking, those
villages were the least to be envied which were on the borders of
Albanian territory: cattle were lifted, crops of corn or hay were
carried off before they could be garnered, young men and old men were
kidnapped and held to ransom; sometimes, says Mr. Brailsford, they
were fettered and driven to the fields at sunrise with the cattle and
were forced to work there until evening. Most of the villages in
Macedonia were owned by a Turkish bey to whom the peasant was obliged
to give a clear half of the harvest, besides a certain amount of
labour on the bey's private farm and in his mill, as well as hewing
wood for him and transporting his produce to the market without
payment. It is not surprising that the Macedonian Slavs, whose labour
brought them such inadequate reward, sank into very slothful habits.
Thus at Monastir in 1914-1915, when the population had the choice of
taking flour from the Serbian Government or else the British Consul's
bread, which came from India, most of them--to save themselves
trouble--preferred the bread, though with the Serbian flour they could
have baked themselves just twice as much.... When Europe took up the
Macedonian problem towards the close of 1902 there had been a
considerable revolt, followed by an outburst of official ferocity and
the flight of some thousands of peasants. The Sultan, in the hope of
forestalling any Russian interference, promised various reforms. But
Russia and Austria proceeded to discuss what each of them would do in
Macedonia, and one resolve was that they also, being the two
"interested" Powers, would institute a scheme of reform. The Western
Powers for a time abdicated their responsibilities and left the
miserable Macedonians to the supervision of the two countries which,
as they themselves said, were the least disinterested. Now and then
the other Powers made a suggestion, as when Lord Lansdowne, who was in
favour of autonomy, made in January 1905 a number of proposals which
would have assisted the solution of the problem. But Austria and
Russia would only accept a part of his programme. Their own programme,
drawn up at Muerzsteg in September 1903, was plainly of a transitional
nature. It announced to the different Balkan peoples that the end of
their serfdom was approaching, and thus it accentuated their latent
rivalries and hostilities. Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian bands ravaged
the country.
"The Serbo-Bulgarian conflict," said Dr. Milovanovi['c], a Serbian
Minister of Justice, "has its origin exclusively in the chauvinistic
circles of both countries. Macedonia is the battlefield." He said,
very rightly, that the population of Macedonia was equally near to
Serb and to Bulgar; but unhappily, in his efforts to establish a
_modus vivendi_, he proposed that Macedonia should be divided between
the two countries. Surely it is far better that it should become the
common possession of Serb and Bulgar, the link joining them to one
another. After Dr. Milovanovi['c] came the Balkan wars, of which the
second utterly destroyed for many a long day his hopes of an
understanding, since the experiences of the invaded Bulgars were
generally very different from those recorded by the careful
schoolmaster, Stavri Popoff, in his monograph, _The Self-Defence of
the Village of Ciprovci against the Serbo-Roumanian Invasion of 1913_
(Berkovica, 1915). This isolated village in the mountains was defended
by thirty old reservists, who possessed 100 guns and 15,000
cartridges. So pleased is their historian with the manner in which
they held their own--the rocks which surround Ciprovci are so many
natural fortresses--that he tells us not only the names of the thirty
warriors but those of the other inhabitants who carried milk and bread
to the outposts. On July 14, a Sunday, there was an exciting battle,
in the course of which the Bulgars suffered no human casualties, but
lost to the Serbs 900 sheep and a score of cattle, and this, says
Popoff, "made the women weep very much." As soon as possible a
telegram was sent to the War Office at Sofia, asking for
reinforcements, after which "their spirits rose to such a height that
they felt they could resist anything." On July 26 the Serbs were again
repulsed, but once more a number of sheep and cattle were carried off.
In conclusion the author thanks "all those who morally and materially
have helped and will help the cause," including the mayors of the
neighbourhood.
If the second Balkan War had not left memories more bitter than at
Ciprovci then the reconciling labours of those who follow Dr.
Milovanovi['c] would be less difficult. In our own day Mr. Leland
Buxton, working also for this union which eventually must come,
suggests in his _Black Sheep of the Balkans_[79] that Macedonia should
be made autonomous. But this would do no more than perpetuate the
wearisome and fierce intrigues of which exponents can be always found
in Balkan countries. Macedonia must become the common possession; and
what could be more desirable than that one of these countries should
administer the province in such a way as to attract the other country?
Marshal Mi[vs]i['c] was of opinion that the officials whom the Serbs,
after the Balkan War, placed in Macedonia were too often not the kind
of men whom wisdom would have chosen; but there was as yet a general
eagerness to avoid being sent to those unalluring parts. The officials
left behind them such unhappy recollections that the Serbian army,
advancing through Macedonia in 1918, was received, as a rule, with
something less than delight. Fortunately the Yugoslav Government was
able, after these events, to induce a far superior class of officials
to serve in Macedonia, though I believe the scale of remuneration is
no higher than in the old kingdom. Men are selected who, in addition
to other qualities, speak the Turkish or Albanian of the district.
"You can count on our moral and material support, on all that we now
give to Turkey," said Mr. Balfour in 1903 to M. Svetislav Simi['c],
the Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs, who came as special envoy to
London "if," said Mr. Balfour, "you can come to an understanding with
the Bulgars on the one side and the Croats on the other." In many
Macedonian places one finds that priests and schoolmasters--I have
said this before but it will bear repetition--who officiated under the
Bulgars have been confirmed in their posts. How very different is this
from the policy of a few years ago when, for example, at Kriva (or
Egri) Palanka there was considerable propaganda with respect to the
school. While Macedonia was part of the Sultan's dominions there was,
on the whole, more willingness of Serbs and Bulgars to provide a
school than of the local population to frequent it.