Marxism and Myths: Why Bulgaria and North Macedonia Are at Odds

It seems that North Macedonia is about to part with some of the myths in its history under pressure from Bulgaria. Prime Minister Zoran Zaev have recently made such suggestions. The reason for this turn is that Bulgaria is blocking the negotiations of the former Yugoslav Republic to join the EU. The process in Skopje proceeds painfully and dramatically.

 About 2,000 people took part in an anti-government protest triggered by Prime Minister Zoran Zaev's statement before BGNES that Bulgaria is a friend of his country, not a "fascist state". Even President Stevo Pendarovski, who was nominated by Zaev‘s party, also criticized his speech. He said that a solution to the dispute with Bulgaria can only be made with respect for the dignity of the Macedonian people, and the anti-fascist struggle is "at the heart of the modern Macedonian state".

 This attitude of the elite and a large part of the Macedonian population is obviously rooted in the Yugoslav past of Macedonia, in whose ideological environment several generations have grown and been educated.

 The attitude towards today's North Macedonia and history as such in Bulgaria is similar and rests on an ideology that should have been forgotten and even declared criminal by law. The myths in Bulgarian history are not one or two. We can start with the idea of the proto-Bulgarians and the legendary bundle of Kubrat sticks as symbol of unity, the "Ottoman slavary", that Russia "has always been a friend of Bulgaria", that under Todor Zhivkov people lived much better, that the "Revival Process" was inevitable.

We can look for the roots of this mental paradigm in the society and in tenacity to explain historical events from antiquity till today through the idea of a nation that was formulated  as late as the 19th century - that is, in our recent past.

History=Ideology?

 The most fundamental source, the "Bible" of Bulgarian history, on which the textbooks of several generations have been based is the multi-volume edition of "Bulgarian History" published by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS). Accordingly, the knowledge of history and worldview of the majority of Bulgarians and the governments are built on these volumes. The first volume was printed in 1979, and the seventh, in 1991. The decision on the writing and publishing of this multi-volume book was taken by the 9th Congress of the Communist Party of Bulgaria (1966) to mark the 1300th anniversary of Bulgaria.

On 21 May 1968 at a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee  of the Bulgarian Communist Party Prof. Hristo Hristov, Director of the Institute of History with BAS said: "The Bulgarian Communist Party has assigned Bulgarian historians with a responsible task of writing a multi-volume history of Bulgaria, in which, on the basis of Marxist methodology and scientific research, to reveal those virtues and qualities of the Bulgarian people , which preserved it during the time of slavery and turned it today into a heroic builder of socialist society".

 And more: "The writing of a multi-volume scientific history has not only a cognitive and educational but also important socio-political significance for the upbringing of our people in a spirit of socialist patriotism and proletarian internationalism, for strengthening and developing our friendship with the fraternal Soviet Union and other socialist countries," prof. Hristov writes further.

 Bulgaria risks remaining in the past

 In her article "How myths give birth to falsifications" Prof. Evelina Kelbecheva writes that for the creators of the doctrine "1300 years Bulgaria" the only possible successful policy for Bulgaria was to focus on cultural activity and to intensify the propaganda of Bulgaria‘s cultural achievements, mainly the historical heritage.

 In this way, the center of gravity shifts from the nebulous and bankrupt postulates of Communist internationalism to a type of politics that can be called "socialist nationalism". Nationalism has always been a tried and trusted weapon in such a situation, Prof. Kelbecheva says.

 And, if Macedonia faces a dilemma whether to renounce this Yugoslav socialist nationalism, the question remains when and if Bulgaria will come to this point of catharsis without ultimatum-like pressure from the outside? Otherwise, stubbornly focused on our mythologized historical significance, we risk to miss the present and stay in the past./Georgi Angelov, Deutsche Welle

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