Young Macedonian Literary Society



The Young Macedonian Literary Society, also known as Young Macedonian Literary Association, was founded in 1891 in Sofia, Bulgaria. The association was formed as primarily a cultural and educational society. It published a magazine called Loza (The Vine).

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.

Foundation and ideology
The organization was established in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1891 as a type of cultural and educational society by Macedonian emigrants. It had the purpose of protecting the various Macedonian dialects. In 1892, it created and published a monthly magazine called Loza (The Vine), which is where their name "Lozari" (Lozars) was derived from. The first issue of the magazine was printed in Sofia in January 1892 and its main article contained the Program Principles of the organization. The association's founders included Kosta Shahov, its chairman.

In the middle of 1892, Bulgarian prime minister Stefan Stambolov's government officially banned the organization. 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 Poparsov, Thoma Karayovov, Hristo Popkotsev, Dimitar Mirchev, Andrey Lyapchev, Naum Tyufekchiev, Georgi Balaschev, Georgi Belev, etc.

Later, for a short time, Dame Gruev, Gotse Delchev, Luka Dzherov, Ivan Hadzhinikolov and Hristo Matov were also involved in the company. These activists went on 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. The members of the Young Macedonian Literary Association self-identified as Macedonian Bulgarians.

Reception and legacy
Its magazine Loza was attacked in the Bulgarian press as "separatist." 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 of 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". Some scholars identify the journal as an early platform of Macedonian linguistic separatism. Macedonian historians, such as Andrew Rossos, saw expression of Macedonian nationalism in their activity. However, the Lozars demonstrated both: Bulgarian and Macedonian loyalty and combined their Bulgarian nationalism with Macedonian regional and cultural identity.