EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
Historical knowledge is overgrown with myths. The reasons for this can generally be reduced to two. First, the past is usually projected into the political or other goals of contemporary elites and their court historians. The other reason for the mythologizing of the past is its use as a means of escape from the present.
Unity is strength?
Among the most persistent politically motivated myths about the Bulgarian Renaissance is the one about the existence of national unity. Every society is based on some degree of agreement around fundamental principles, such as: do not steal, do not kill, etc. The truth is that beyond them, unity is not a force, or rather it is the force of a limited elite at the expense of the rest. During the period before liberation, Bulgarian society was divided on almost all fundamental issues – cultural, linguistic, political, religious, etc. Competition and the clash of ideas gave birth to true achievements. Unity among the Bulgarian people existed before the Renaissance – in the 15th-17th centuries. Then the Bulgarians were deprived of their own elite and were left to exist within the framework of the powerful Ottoman Empire. There were almost no social or educational differences among them. They were united in their poverty, illiteracy and isolation, in the lack of higher goals than purely physical survival.
The good old days?
A widespread misconception is that in the past life was better, calmer, healthier. In other words, the standard of living of our ancestors was generally better. The present, on the other hand, is artificial, full of harmful industries that pollute nature, cause diseases, climate change, etc. This myth is not only related to the Renaissance era, but the Renaissance itself is considered part of the "good old days".
What the Bulgarian lands were like in terms of the standard of living of the people who lived there at that time is well illustrated by the words of the economist and classical liberal Jérôme-Adolphe Blanqui, who visited them in 1841. When describing his impressions of Pazardzhik, he noted: “I have never seen so many cripples, hunchbacks, sick with skin and scrupulous diseases, as in this gloomy trading town. One slips at every step on offal that everyone throws in front of their door and no one removes it”. Here is the description of priest Mincho Kanchev about the school in the village of Arabadzhievo, where he received his first education: “They found us a room ... where they lock up their donkeys in the evening. In the morning we throw the donkeys’ breeches and sit down to read”. These examples illustrate a primitive way of life that can hardly be described as the good old days.
Go, people, reborn?
Another of the modern unofficial myths, which are repeated with a loyal intoxication of the beautiful holidays associated with education, is the one about the love of learning of the Bulgarians and the all-round cultural progress during the Renaissance era. Certainly in the 19th century the Bulgarian intelligentsia increased, and several names appeared that could do honor to any nation. It should not be forgotten, however, that during this period the vast majority of the population lived in the villages, and in most of them either there was no school, or if there was, it was extremely primitive. When the rural population decides to send their children to school, it is not so much out of a conscious need for education, but simply, in the words of a contemporary to the local teacher, because "it is winter now, we don't need the children; now that they are going to be mischievous around the house, it is better for them to go home, teach them how to cross themselves, how to clean the table, and that is enough for us peasants."
Heroism and bad soup cooks?
The last of the deliberately nurtured myths that I will pay attention to is related to the idea of heroism. The Renaissance was indeed an era of heroes, and any educated person could name a few of the names that fueled the self-esteem of many scoundrels. However, the majority of Bulgarians during the Renaissance were not heroes, but ordinary people with their own small dreams, achievements, and shortcomings. During the Renaissance, there were more traitors than heroes. Moreover, the traitors were far from being mainly from the chorbadjii community, but from ordinary "people of the people." A detailed study of Bulgarian chorbadjii showed that out of 200 chorbadjii known during the Renaissance, only 5 were known to have committed treason.
Truth and lessons: self-organization
Pointing out the myths associated with the Bulgarian Renaissance past would be incomplete if we did not point out the real achievements of the Bulgarians during the Renaissance. These are the lessons of this period that are worth knowing.
Perhaps the greatest Bulgarian achievement during the Revival was the ability to self-organize in order to achieve some generally accepted goals. Moreover, true self-organization, which was not imposed or nurtured by state power, but was the fruit of local initiative, which developed with the voluntary participation of those interested. During the Revival, a true civil society emerged. All schools, community centers, churches and monasteries that were built on Bulgarian lands were the result of local initiative, were financed on a voluntary basis by the Bulgarians, the organization of construction, the supply of books, textbooks and other materials was largely a matter of local initiative of the Bulgarians.
In just one decade, in the 1830s, 178 Orthodox churches were built, restored or renovated. Even more remarkable is the fact that schools are subject to effective control by local communities. Despite the dissatisfaction of individual teachers due to their dependence on the chorbadjii, local communities find a way to control the schools they finance. A major problem of modern education is that it cannot be established whether an adequate product is obtained for the public funds that are invested. Local Revival municipalities, through sometimes daily control over the activities of teachers, through public annual exams, etc., find a way to make sure that they are getting something real for their money.
Truth and lessons: and yet - capitalism
Another important point is the attitude of the Renaissance intellectuals towards capitalist activities. In the 19th century, Bulgarians gradually became involved in relatively large-scale commercial initiatives. Entrepreneurs appeared who, without being specially educated, understood and practiced diverse trade. They had difficulty transcending oriental customs, but still valued and held on to trust and honesty as basic capital. Trade and honest profit were not looked down upon by the intellectuals of the time - and not because angels predominated among the merchants of the time, but because it was understood that trade was a mutually beneficial activity and did not simply consist of transporting goods from one place to another. Even in the construction of Orthodox churches, some of the funds for them were not given absolutely free of charge, but in the form of loans. Nevertheless, these funds were gratefully accepted by the local communities.
Truth and lessons: business and culture, not politics
One of the rarely mentioned positive features of the Bulgarian Renaissance is the relatively weak professional politicization of Bulgarian society. For a number of reasons, a position in the administration is not an option in the career development of capable Bulgarians. Therefore, they direct their professional efforts mainly to various economic activities, to school or to journalism. The partisanship known after the Liberation, in which many of the most talented, well-educated and capable Bulgarians are attracted to a career in the state administration and in order to secure it, become the clientele of the various political parties, is missing in the Renaissance society.
The most important universal lesson
During the period of the Bulgarian Renaissance, as well as during any other period of history, there were no angels living in Bulgarian society. There were sympathetic and not so sympathetic people, who had their own mistakes and shortcomings. No superstars of world intellectual, economic or scientific history were born among them. Their lives with their shortcomings and achievements are the basis of a universal conclusion. In summary, it can be argued that the Bulgarian Renaissance is the strongest empirical evidence in our history that spontaneous order, the free exchange of ideas, the free competition between different political concepts, and free economic initiative lead to development that benefits the greatest possible number of people.
