Young Macedonian Literary Association

The Young Macedonian Literary Association was founded in 1891 in Sofia, Bulgaria together with its magazine ''Loza''. The association was formed as primarily a scholarly and literary organization.

Although the members of the Young Macedonian Literary Association, called often ''Lozars'' (from the title of their magazine) self-identified as Macedonian Bulgarians,"Though Loza adhered to the Bulgarian position on the issue of the Macedonian Slavs' ethnicity, it also favored revising the Bulgarian orthography by bringing it closer to the dialects spoken in Macedonia." Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Dimitar Bechev, Scarecrow Press, 2009, , p. 241.The Young Macedonian Literary Association's Journal, Loza, was also categorical about the Bulgarian character of Macedonia: "A mere comparison of those ethnographic features which characterize the Macedonians (we understand: Macedonian Bulgarians), with those which characterize the free Bulgarians, their juxtaposition with those principles for nationality which we have formulated above, is enough to prove and to convince everybody that the nationality of the Macedonians cannot be anything except Bulgarian." Freedom or Death, The Life of Gotsé Delchev, Mercia MacDermott, The Journeyman Press, London & West Nyack, 1978, p. 86. contemporary Macedonian historians see in their activity expression of Macedonian ethnic-nationalist sentiments. The Lozars demonstrated both Bulgarian and Macedonian loyalty, and combined their Bulgarian nationalism with Macedonian regional and cultural identity.

Background

Following the establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate in 1870, as a result of plebiscites held between 1872 and 1875, the Slavic population in the bishoprics of Skopje and Ohrid voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining the new national Church (Skopje by 91%, Ohrid by 97%). At that time a long discussion was held in the Bulgarian periodicals about the need for a dialectal group (Eastern Bulgarian, Western Macedonian or compromise) upon which to base the new standard and which dialect that should be. During the 1870s this issue became contentious, and sparked fierce debates.

After a distinct Bulgarian state was established in 1878, Macedonia remained outside its borders. In the 1880s, the Bulgarian codificators rejected the idea of a Macedono-Bulgarian linguistic compromise, and chose eastern Bulgarian dialects as a basis for standard Bulgarian. One purpose of the Young Macedonian Literary Society magazine was to defend the Macedonian dialects, and to have them more represented in the Bulgarian language. Their articles were of a historical, cultural, and ethnographic nature.

Members

The association's founders included Kosta Shahov, its chairman. In May 1894, after the fall of Stambolov, the ''Macedonian Youth Society'' in Sofia revived the Young Macedonian Literary Society. The new group had a newspaper called ''Glas Makedonski'', and opened a Reading Room Club. The group included a number of educators, revolutionaries, and public figures from Macedonia—Evtim Sprostranov, Petar Pop Arsov, Thoma Karayovov, Hristo Popkotsev, Dimitar Mirchev, Andrey Lyapchev, Naum Tyufekchiev, Georgi Balaschev, Georgi Belev, etc.—all known as the ''Lozars''.

Later, for a short time in the company were involved also Dame Gruev, Gotse Delchev, Luka Dzherov, Ivan Hadzhinikolov and Hristo Matov. These activists went on to various paths. Some members went on to become leaders of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization in 1894 and the Supreme Macedonian Committee in 1895. Others later became prominent intellectuals, including Andrey Lyapchev who became the Prime Minister of Bulgaria.

The Greek national activist from Aromanian background Konstantinos Bellios was considered a "Macedonian compatriot" by the ''Lozars''.{{Cite news, last=The Young Macedonian Literary Association, date=1892, title=Preamble, volume=1, page=1-2, work=Loza, url=http://macedonia.kroraina.com/loza/loza_1892_1.htm#1, access-date=27 November 2020

Relationship with Bulgarian government

An article in the official People's Liberal Party newspaper "Svoboda" blamed the organization for lack of loyalty and separatism. The Society rejected these accusations for linguistic and national separatism, and in a response to "Svoboda" claimed that their "society is far from any separatist thoughts, in which we were accused and to say that the ideal of Young Macedonian Literary Society is not separatism, but unity of the entire Bulgarian nation". Despite this, some linguists identify the journal as an early platform of Macedonian ''linguistic separatism.''Nationalism, Globalization, and Orthodoxy: The Social Origins of Ethnic Conflict in the Balkans
Victor Roudometof, Roland Robertson, p. 145

Notes

Sources

Modern history of Bulgaria
Macedonia under the Ottoman Empire
1891 establishments in Bulgaria
Arts organizations established in 1891
Defunct organizations based in Bulgaria
Macedonian writers' organizations
Organizations based in Sofia
Macedonian Question