Politika
- STOJAN NOVAKOVIĆ
- ANDRA NIKOLIĆ
Politika's page of 30 October 1926 carried signed memorial tributes to two Serbian statesmen. In Slobodan Jovanović's portrait of Stojan Novaković, the 1885 appointment as envoy in Constantinople is described as making Novaković a minister of education once more, this time 'for Macedonia', at a moment when Bulgarians were already pursuing a cultural conquest of the region through their schools and bishops. A second tribute recalls how Andra Nikolić, together with Đaja and Stojan Protić, filled the newly launched paper Odjek in the reactionary climate of 1884 with fine articles and with a literary column, 'Political Fables', which the writer says meant a great deal in its day.
This reading covers two short excerpts from the page, one from each memorial tribute; the rest of both texts is not translated. The OCR was fragmentary, so the excerpts were transcribed from the page images. Column edges at tile borders are cut off, the portrait captions are partly blurred, and the lower part of one column is faded. No byline is legible for the Nikolić excerpt. The consulted background sources do not describe the 'Political Fables' column, so the commentary relies on the tribute alone for it.
Translation
STOJAN NOVAKOVIĆ
In 1885, Novaković became our envoy in Constantinople. In that post he was once again a minister of education, but not for Serbia — for Macedonia. At that time the Bulgarians were already carrying out, on a large scale, the cultural conquest of Macedonia through their schools and their bishops.
ANDRA NIKOLIĆ
And when Odjek was launched in 1884, in a terrible whirlwind of reaction, Andra, together with Đaja and Stojan Protić, filled it not only with exceptionally fine articles but also with what was, I would say, an even finer and more literary column: Political Fables, a column which, for that time, meant a great deal and said a great deal.
Context
Why both men were honoured at the end of October 1926
Both men honoured on this page had died during the First World War, and the remains of both were transferred to Belgrade in 1926. Novaković died on 17 February 1915, in the middle of the war, and his remains were transferred to Belgrade at the end of October 1926, the very days in which this issue appeared. Andra Nikolić died in Paris on 28 September 1918 after a short illness; his remains were likewise transferred to Belgrade in 1926 and buried with honours near the Church of St Nicholas in the New Cemetery. The return of a Progressive statesman and a Radical one in the same season explains why Politika set signed tributes and portraits of the two side by side on one page.
What Novaković did as envoy in Constantinople from 1885
Jovanović's phrase about a 'minister of education for Macedonia' compresses a concrete diplomatic and school policy. Novaković stayed as Serbian envoy in Constantinople for almost seven years, until 1892. His negotiations produced the 1886 convention with the Ottoman Empire that allowed Serbia to open consulates in Skopje and Thessaloniki, and he organised a large network of Serbian consulates, secular and religious Serbian schools and Serb religious institutions throughout Turkey-in-Europe. In early August 1886 the Serbian government decided to create an Association of Serbo-Macedonians in Constantinople, and there Novaković worked with two former members of the Secret Macedonian Committee, Kosta Grupčević and Naum Evrović. The 'education ministry' Jovanović describes was thus an arm of Serbian foreign policy run from the legation.
Schools and bishops: the rival Serbian and Bulgarian campaigns in Macedonia
Jovanović casts the Bulgarians as the aggressors, waging a 'cultural conquest' of Macedonia through schools and bishops, with Novaković as the defender. The Serbian programme of the same years shows the mirror image. The Association of Serbo-Macedonians called on Macedonian Slavs to abandon the Bulgarian Exarchate and demanded the expulsion of Bulgarian bishops and teachers. Serbian schools were opened in Macedonia, and books were printed in the Macedonian dialect with Serbian linguistic influence. Modern accounts describe Serbia as promoting 'Macedonism' as a stage towards the Serbianisation of the Macedonian Slavs. The 1926 tribute records the contest from the Serbian side; the historical record shows both states using schools and church posts for the same end.
Odjek, the reaction of 1884, and Novaković on the other side
The 'terrible whirlwind of reaction' in the Nikolić tribute is the crackdown that followed the Timok rebellion of 1883. Nikolić was imprisoned after the rebellion and, although acquitted, lost his civil-service post. He then founded Odjek, the first Radical newspaper, which was regarded at the time as the main voice of the opposition; Stojan Protić became its editor in 1884 and argued for changing Serbia's constitution. The government they opposed included Novaković himself. He was entrusted with the interior ministry in Milutin Garašanin's first cabinet (1884–1885), whose repressive policy of consolidating royal power and suppressing the opposition was carried out largely through his ministry, although he soon stepped down, judging that Garašanin was conceding too much to King Milan. The two men honoured side by side in 1926 had stood on opposite sides of the 1884 struggle that the Nikolić tribute recalls.
Original
СТОЈАН НОВАКОВИЋ
Године 1885, Новаковић је постао наш посланик у Цариграду. На томе положају, он је опет био министар просвете, али не за Србију, него за Македонију. У то време, Бугари су већ у велико вршили културно освајање Македоније посредством својих школа и својих владика.
АНДРА НИКОЛИЋ
А кад се 1884 год. покреће Одјек, у једноме страшноме вихору реакције, Андра га, са Ђајом и Стојаном Протићем, пуни не само изванредно финим чланцима, него још, рекао бих, финијом и литерарнијом рубриком: Политичке басне, рубриком која је, за оно доба, много значила и много говорила.