Yugoslavia and Macedonia Before Tito: Between Repression and Integration

Description

Held together by apparatchiks and, later, Tito’s charisma, Yugoslavia never really incorporated separate Balkan nationalisms into the Pan-Slavic ideal. Macedonia – frequently ignored by Belgrade – had survived centuries of Turkish domination, Bulgarian invasion and Serbian assimilation before it became part of the Yugoslav project in the aftermath of the First World War. Drawing on an extensive analysis of archival material, private correspondence, and newspaper articles, Nada Boskovska provides an arresting account of the Macedonian experience of the interwar years, charting the growth of political consciousness and the often violent state-driven attempts to curb autonomy. Sketching the complex picture of nationalism within a multi-ethnic, but unitarist state through a comprehensive analysis of policy, economy, and education, Yugoslavia and Macedonia before Tito is the first book to describe the uneasy and often turbulent relationship between a Serbian-dominated government and an increasingly politically aware Macedonian people. Concerned with the question of integration and political manipulation, Boskovska gives credence to voices critical of Royal Yugoslavia and offers a fresh insight into domestic policy and the Macedonian question, going beyond traditional high politics. Broadening the spectrum of discussion and protest, she reveals the voices of a people protesting constitutional and electoral fraud, the neglect of local needs and state machinations designed to create a satellite province. Cover Author Bio Title Copyright Dedication Contents List of Illustrations List of Maps Acknowledgements Introduction Names and Terms On the Establishment of Yugoslavia The Current State of Research Aims of this Study Regarding Sources 1. The Politics of the 1920s A Difficult Start for the New State The ‘Macedonian Party’ Uprising in Vardar Macedonia? Relaxation of the Tension 1924–5 1927: Intensified Terror and Counter-Terror 2. Political Developments in the 1930s Hopes in a Dictatorship 1931: Coerced Constitution and Sham Parliamentarism The Stojadinović
Era, 1935–9: Economic Recovery, Political Revival Movement among the Macedonian Intelligentsia The ‘Lučists’ ‘Even the last shepherd became an official here, if only he was from Serbia and a Serb’ The ‘25th Anniversary of South Serbia’s Liberation’ The Macedonian Parliamentarians Contacts between the Macedonian Movement and the United Opposition In Expectation of Changes The Understanding with the Croats Skopje as Seat of the ‘Serbian Lands’ Macedonia and the War Measures against ‘Autonomism’ and ‘Separatism’ 3. Economy and Finances The Yugoslav Economy Vardar Macedonia: ‘Passive’ Region or Garden of Eden? Industry Crafts and Trade Finances The 100-Million-Dinar Loan Investments and Development? Skopje as a Model City 4. Agriculture Agricultural Reform and Colonisation Crops and Agricultural Problems The Loan System Animal Breeding The Agricultural Policy of the Stojadinović
Government ‘The Most Crying Grievance’: The Tobacco Monopoly Opium: The Demise of a Lucrative Industry 5. The Educational System The Elementary Schools Secondary School Education ‘Nationalisation and Assimilation’ through the Schools? University Education 6. Transport and Communications The Road Network The Railway The Media Language Conclusion The ‘Classical’ or the ‘Primitive’ South? Officials, Teachers and Gendarmes The Economy Modest Investments The Failure of Yugoslav Integration The Unsuccessful Serbianisation of Macedonia ‘Macedonia for the Macedonians’ The Elites in a Dilemma Macedonia as a Special Case within Yugoslavia? Notes Bibliography Index