Prof. Plamen Pavlov, historian, in an interview for the Audiocast of "Focus” "This is Bulgaria“
How did the April Uprising as a high point in the Bulgarian national liberation movement lead to the liberation of Bulgaria?
The topic is very extensive, but without the April Uprising, the Bulgarian Liberation would not have taken place, as well as the question "if“ to be considered forbidden in history. This is the truth and it is recognized by all contemporaries, even by modern science, since in practice the culmination of the Eastern Question was caused precisely by the Bulgarians and it was the April Uprising. But before I try to answer, albeit briefly, I should still say that I, and not only me, my fellow historians on behalf of the "Vasil Levski“ – we even sent letters in the year 2019 to all institutions, we insist that this huge event be celebrated on April 20th when it should be, because the new style is a technical change that affects us, but not the people of the 19th century and from previous centuries.
So we again bring it to the point of marking the events at some random time. Moreover, yesterday's celebrations, which you mentioned at the beginning, were carried out on May 1st, which again resulted in a mix with Labor Day, and today in other villages it is celebrated on May 2nd. I.e. in this way, the very significance of the uprising is somehow lost, not that anyone denies it, and it passes to a large extent at the local level, which is not right, since it is a huge national event.
I have had paradoxical, curious cases – mayors of towns connected with the insurrection to answer me that they agreed with me that the 20th of April was the date, but they were accustomed to it being the 1st or 2nd of May. That just sounds frivolous. We have the same problem with the date of the death of Vasil Levski, with the birth of Hristo Botev. And on the other hand, we have a case like the Union and the Independence, which are marked in the old style, as is correct. So I appeal again through your broadcast to the state, whatever that means, to put some order, because this is how people get confused, and the significance of events is lost.
The April Uprising lasted about a month, but the blood of more than 30,000 men, women and children killed in it entered the foundations of the Pantheon of Bulgarian immortality. As a continuation, we see his heroism 20 years later in the Ilindensko-Preobrazhensko-Krastovdensko uprising. Why is this heroism and this sacrifice not possible today?
Even so, I will make a slight correction, begging you for an apology, that already in the Kresnensko-Razlozh uprising, practically before the creation of the new Bulgarian state or the two new Bulgarian states took place, because they are: Principality of Bulgaria and East Rumelia Autonomous Region, practically the spirit of April has not passed at all. Moreover, if we look at Stefan Stambolov's party or let's say other political formations, they are generally composed of the same people or their successors.
Why this spirit is absent today is a complex question, the answer to which will not be very pleasant for us. But in any case, the uprising is a fact, in it, a great many victims have indeed been given. It has a limited scope for objective reasons, since it is still about the modern age. No matter how far away 148 years are from us, then there is already a telegraph, there is a railway, i.e. to a large extent, the modernization of the world has begun at a rapid pace, and by the time some messenger from Panagyurishte reaches, say, Gorna Oryahovitsa or Vratsa with the Bloody Letter, the enemy has long since understood that there is an uprising by telegraph, and has taken the appropriate measures. But it is an extremely great effort of the nation and should not in the least be belittled and viewed only in minor tones. In fact, this was somewhat objectively assumed already by the participants in the uprising, and by Zahari Stoyanov, and by others, since they feel some guilt that they did not succeed, after it was clear that we could not deal with an empire of three continents, with a huge army that made it difficult for the Russian army as well, as we know very well a year or two later.
But it is about a manifestation of national self-awareness and national mobilization, which rarely has an analogue in our history. It is good to say here that the basis of the uprising is the middle class, even the rich class. I.e. The Marxist-Leninist explanations for the rising people just like that are largely fireworks in a class-party spirit, but they do not correspond to the truth. We see everywhere that in Levski's committees and in the organization of the uprising are the local intelligentsia, the local bourgeoisie, if I call it that, i.e. entrepreneurs, merchants, artisans who also have shops. And this applies to absolutely all the following. There are other things about the uprising that we have not understood to this day, or if let's say the historical college more or less understands them, the people at the mass level do not understand them well enough.
Well, this is that in practice the apostles of the George meeting of the apostles - it is called, not exactly a committee, as we traditionally call it, but the apostles, they are simply the people who are conductors of the accumulated discontent, but in the basis is the local committees. Even Benkovski appeared in Panagyurishte with a revolver on his waist. He is, so to speak, equipped with weapons, with powers, with everything from the local people, and these local people are the local elite. Priests are definitely included in them. And that is why it was good last night in this commemoration in Panagyurishte that special emphasis was placed on the priests and monks who have an extraordinary role. Let me recall Pop Hariton – a monk from the Preobrazhensky Monastery, who is the leader of one of the largest groups in the First Turnov Revolutionary District. So the mobilization is very big.
The uprising is not at all some naive utopian story, it has a very clear plan: to liberate a territory and now appeal to the Great Powers. So neither the apostles nor the committee workers are some fantasists and some utopians who do not understand what they are doing. They know that there is enormous international tension built up and that it will lead to some kind of negotiation anyway. That's how it happens. But maybe that's why the uprising was so brutally suppressed, so that there was no one to negotiate with. Because even in the days of the uprising, there were initiatives by some of the Great Powers, unfortunately without Great Britain, which appealed to start negotiations.
They target both Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the tension is also very high, but anyway Benkovski, Volov, Stefan Stambolov, who is the chief apostle of the First District and during the George meetings is actually the leading figure, they know very well what it is about, they know very well what the situation is, and as Botev writes - we know that he gave one of the climaxes of the uprising with his squad, but he writes: "let's strike the matches of the uprising, because we will miss the historical moment“.
And they were all very right. So Dimitar Strashimirov – the most consistent researcher of the uprising, you know his three-volume "History of the April Uprising, Plovdiv, 1907", says that in the end what they did was fundamental, and that they had to do it regardless of the risk, from the victims and from everything else.
What are the messages and conclusions from the April Uprising that are still valid today?
The messages are not one and two. One is that our people value freedom, dignity, that they are willing to put themselves and their families and their villages at risk. We know, the houses of the villages around Panagyurishte are set on fire, and not only there. Actually, if you'll allow me, I don't want to talk too much, but yesterday I was particularly annoyed that Dimitar Popgeorgiev Berovski and Pope Stoyan were not mentioned among the heroes of the uprising. These are the two leaders of the Razlov uprising, with "in“, not Razlog, but Razlovtsi. Razlovtsi and Metoshentsi – these are settlements that rise up in rebellion, they are on the other side of today's border with Kyustendil region, in today's Delchevo Municipality or the old name is Tsarevo, a village in Macedonia.
Well, the same thing is done there that we see it in the Fourth District. And the leader of the insurgents himself, Dimitar Popgeorgiev Berovski, he is a participant in the First Legion of Georgi Stoykov Rakovski, he obviously has a connection with the Georgian activists, because there he followed exactly the same plan that we see everywhere. And the uprising of Dimitar Popgeorgiev Berovski was also suppressed very brutally, but it broke out on May 7th, in the old style, a little late, but despite everything there, the flag was sewn by grandmother Nedelya – a Bulgarian teacher in Thessaloniki, who is a native of Sopot. So the conspiracy in which the uprising was prepared has not left us enough clear traces in its systematic organization, but it is clearly there, and we can see it even in Macedonia. That's why the foreign newspapers wrote that Macedonia had also revolted.
Today, North Macedonia is trying to steal this uprising from us, because the flag said "Macedonia". What about the words "Macedonia“ grandmother Nedelya exported them from Sopot. Therefore, there is no national vision, as is said about the Panagyur Uprising, this is the color of the Bulgarian language and ideas of the time. But here, Macedonia was also planned for the Fifth Revolutionary District, there because of a failure with the capture of Nikola Slavkov, designated as an apostle, in practice this did not happen. But the participants in the George meeting of the apostles, and Nikola Obretenov, and some others say that at the beginning they planned five districts, the fifth being Sofia and North Macedonia – North Macedonia geographically, not the present-day country of North Macedonia. But the plan of Dimitar Popgeorgiev Berovski and Pope Stoyan included it to cover the Osogovo mountain, to reach Strumica, Petrich.
So national thinking was a fact in that era, despite the tyrannical regime in the Ottoman Empire, despite the practically complete indifference of Russia to this uprising. So the attempts of some to connect him with Russia are absolutely fruitless. Neither the weapon was given by Russia, nor was anything else done by Russia, it was just that it then used the moment to decide its geopolitical projects, and this fortunately still coincided with events and led to the partial Liberation or as one modern observer says and analyst Dr. Zhivko Voinikov "the semi-liberation of Bulgaria”. This, although it sounds like a joke, is unfortunately true.
Should I return you again to the messages and conclusions of the April Uprising, which still have value today?
The first message is that we must have a society. As much as it may sound drastic on my part to say it and perhaps somewhat scandalous, there was a society back then, and right now our society is terribly broken, mired in pettiness. Then we see, I am not saying that this was the case for 100% of the entire Bulgarian people, since the Renaissance development itself was uneven, but in those towns and villages where there was a rapid economic rise as a result of the entire 19th century, there we see that people value freedom, are against the oppression of Ottoman power and the lawlessness that is spreading everywhere, corruption, hyperinflation. So one of the things then is that there's also hyperinflation, which makes everyone very combative. But here, such a unity is achieved.
We know, at the Gathering in Oborishte, which should be a model for our parliament, there are fierce arguments about tactics, about one or another, but in the end everyone unites around one dominant idea, and they do it with majority vote, i.e. in a democratic way. The other is the pro-Western orientation. Some early thinkers may not understand me correctly, but our renaissance society is pro-European. Looking at the portraits of the leaders of the uprising: both Volov, and Benkovsky, and Petleshkov, and whoever, they are dressed in European clothes, they are not wearing caps and caps, not that there is anything wrong with that, and it is about the urban class, it is leading, about the intelligentsia, about people who know very well what they want.
So there is no doubt about this pro-European desire to be equal with other European nations, as Levski said, and the April uprising is in a sense Levski's uprising, it was prepared by the committees that he created, and this recognized by the apostles themselves. And another message is: to have dignity. In the sense of not bowing down to any foreign factors, regardless of where they are from, especially to the mythical grandfather Ivan, who recently so aggressively enters the Bulgarian environment through the fifth column in a number of media, especially in the Bulgarian National Radio, I say this with deep regret. After all, our way is there, together with the other European nations, not with Eurasian tyrannies, which in practice are typologically indistinguishable in behavior from the retrograde Ottoman Empire against which our forefathers rose.
And something else very important I want to ask you, Prof. Pavlov. The chronicler of the uprising, Zahari Stoyanov, calls the participants in the Oborishte meeting "penniless and our first deputies", whose only rewards are the "ugly gallows and the Zapti whip", and with bitter foresight the writer concludes: "the Bulgarian people will not see such deputies again" until the end of time“. Do our modern politicians realize with what sacrifice the beginning of our parliamentary democracy was laid?
Well, I doubt very much that they realize it. The same spirit prevails during the General Assembly in Bucharest and in many other places. But really Oborishte is something unique and that is why I have protested many times that "Notes on the Bulgarian Uprisings” in practice it is not studied in the Bulgarian school. I was told years ago, even by the Ministry of Education itself, that I was wrong, that teachers could have included it as additional material. In my opinion, these are frivolous things. And what did he learn from Zahari Stoyanov, from "The Notes” – this book, which we ought to know almost by heart, let me not be extreme, but it is one of the most characteristic, it gives our national psychology, not only the history itself. Well, that's where the Batash massacre and the meeting in Oborishte were studied at school.
The Batash massacre is a massacre, and it was carried out under the influence of the hybrid manipulations, if we use modern terms, of the beys from Pazardzhik and from other places. So it is a fact, and it does not cast a single shadow on the Bulgarian Muslims, not to mention that there are cases of Muslims saving Christian children, to recall the wonderful novel "Kalunya-kalya" of Georgi Bozhinov, where in fact one such story was developed, and it is a credible story. And the other thing is the Meeting in Oborishte. It really gives a very high moral ground to what a representative of the people should be. How should he represent his voters, how should he protect their interests at all costs.
So I appeal again through you, let's hope that someone, it's not just me and other people have done it: The meeting in Oborishte must be studied, the spirit of that era must be understood. And these penniless people are practically some of the richest people in Bulgaria at that time. This means that, in practice, a middle class, an intelligentsia, is aware of what a nation gains and loses when it is under foreign rule. And what freedom means.
Georgi Benkovski himself was actually involved in trade, he spoke 11 languages, which is difficult to achieve even for the modern world.
The Marxist-Leninist interpretation of this uprising and of many other events has not yet been overcome. In the history textbooks, he is no longer present, but in the mass consciousness he dominates. We proposed that April 20th be our national holiday. I was also in the other group he suggested, that was later, May 24th as a more universal day. Either way, April 20th should have official status, not be celebrated on May 1st, 2nd, whenever it was convenient and as he was used to. So in this way, to actually realize things, to see how modern the Bulgarian people of that time were, no matter that there was no Internet or Facebook or mobile phones. These people live very modern. Let us also understand what kind of self-sacrifice the people of this uprising were ready for, which were sung by Ivan Vazov in particular, but also by many other contemporaries.
Actually, this uprising with the Assembly in Oborishte marked the beginning of parliamentary democracy, which is also not much talked about.
Similar assemblies were planned for the rest of the revolutionary districts, so the scale was much larger. But this is how things work out, the best prepared, the most motivated is the revolutionary element in the Fourth District, which has been underestimated, by the way, by the other districts. But in no case should we forget the acts of heroism in the First District, the squads of Pope Hariton and Bacho Kiro, of Tsanko Dyustabanov, of Hristo Patrev and the squad of Stoil Voivode and the feat of Georgi Obretenov in the Third District, and also in Vratsa, where the rebellion is crushed at the outset as regular units and bashibozuk enter. But even there there are exceptional manifestations. We see that it also exists in Macedonia, and we should not forget this either, since after all, Macedonia is part of Bulgaria. And the foreign newspapers of that time, while talking about Bulgaria, also talk about Macedonia, that there is an uprising, and it really is, although it is not so massive, but it is a fact. So the messages are many, the question is for us to realize them and thus follow the best that these modern people for their time bequeathed to us - freedom-loving true Bulgarians.
Prof. Pavlov, what makes the April Uprising unique? It is unique not only for Bulgaria, it is unique not only for the Balkans, it is also unique for Europe. Although in Europe in the same period or a little earlier, national liberation struggles, etc., were characteristic. But the April Uprising is unique. With what?
One of these manifestations of uniqueness is that we consider it suppressed and a failure, and it actually succeeds. And the late academician Dimitar Kosev wrote it several times very categorically that this is in practice: that we lose the battle, but we win the war. This is precisely what speaks of the genius and at the same time of the sobriety of its organizers and its participants. They know very well what they are risking, they know very well that they are betting their fate: their own and that of their loved ones and of their towns and villages. But in the end, they do it in the name of the great idea of a free Bulgaria.
And this example was followed both in Macedonia and in Odrinska Thrace, this should also not be forgotten in any case, that it practically did not end in 1876. Not to mention that there are cases like Dimitar's troop Popgerogiev, which operated in practice until the arrival of Russian troops. And the Strelcha detachment, there is a detachment from Strelcha, from which part of the insurgents are withdrawn, they are hiding, of course, this is impossible without the support of the local people. And in fact, if the first rifle is in Koprivshtitsa, the last rifle of the uprising is in Strelcha and Panagyurishte, of course, since they are very close to each other and people are connected to each other.
Georgi Benkovski himself, watching the burning Panagyurishte from a bair, says: “We have opened a deep wound in the Turkish Empire".
Yes, he also says “Let Russia command" and this is very often used tendently that he is hardly a Russian agent, or else that he blindly trusts Russia. Nothing of the kind! Georgi Benkovski is from Botev's group, who knows very well what Russia means, that it is no less a tyrant than the Ottoman Empire. Both Botev, Levski, and Benkovski in this case, they know that an international crisis will occur and the one who would act most actively in our region is, without a doubt, the Russian emperor. But this once again shows the depth of geopolitical thinking of these educated, uneducated boys, they are also very young. And the blindness of a large part of our present-day politicians, who in the end, in terms of geopolitics, can at most get some kind of satisfactory evaluation.
So the leaders of the uprising are people of their time, they are in the spirit of the then European and world trends. They know very well what is happening in America, they follow events on a global scale, so Benkovski is very right. By the way, Tsanko Dyustabanov also said the same when he was tried in Tarnovo. He says: “We are not some, paraphrasing freely, we knew you would win because we had neither your army nor your weapons. But we knew you would act like tyrants, that is, you lost. And that the world will rise up in our defense." And so it is, for the first time we become an object of world solidarity throughout Europe, and in the Russian Empire, and across the ocean...
And in America.
And even in New Zealand, documents emerged that aid was collected there as part of the British Empire. So, for the first time, the Bulgarian cause has been categorically established, and there is no longer any doubt that there must be a free Bulgaria. The Russo-Turkish war is just one element of these events. Anyway, the Constantinople Conference proclaimed two autonomous Bulgarian regions. So one should not speculate on the story. We, of course, are not some black-eyed people, not to recognize the people who have shed blood for our freedom. But in no case can this be the basis for modern political propaganda in favor of the regime of the bloodthirsty Putin and other such phenomena denied by history and by common sense, of which, unfortunately, we are contemporaries and witnesses, and even participants .
In what political context is Bulgaria celebrating these 148 years since the April Uprising?
That context is marked by these elections, by the collapse of the previous government, which I think was quite a gamble with the situation. In no case do I want to look for who is guilty and who is not, although it is clear to everyone how it happened. In today's geopolitical environment, we need a stable government, and a government that will not be a slave to Putin's whims and favor people like Orbán, who effectively betrayed the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 with their behavior. Let's listen to leaders of supposedly nationalist formations who campaign for Putin or Orbán, and not only for that. We just have to think soberly, as those people did from the days of the April Uprising. On the one hand, they were romantics, they were ready for self-sacrifice and they did it. At the same time, however, they are sober-minded and have thought about the future not for themselves personally, but for their children and grandchildren, in general for the entire Bulgarian society.