Svetozar Markovic
Encyclopedia
Svetozar Marković (September 9, 1846 – February 26, 1875) was an influential Serbian
political activist and literary critic. He developed an activistic anthropological philosophy
with a definite program of social change.
on 9 September 1846, the son of a small time government official. Marković's childhood was spent in the village of Rekovac and then the town of Jagodina
. The family moved to Kragujevac
in 1856. In 1860 he began to study at the gymnasium
in Belgrade
and in 1863 at the Grande École, the highest educational body in Serbia at that time, founded in 1808, which eventually became the University of Belgrade
.
It was only at the Grande École that he began to become interested in politics falling under the influence of Vladimir Jovanović
(also spelled Vladimir Jovanovich), a leading Serbian Liberal.
, who wrote and edited Nikolay Nekrasov's The Contemporary magazine. There he also met Dmitry Pisarev and Lyuben Karavelov
, a journalist and an important figure in the late Bulgarian National Revival
.
In March 1869 he left Russia, suspecting, rightly, that he was in danger of being arrested by the Russian authorities for his socialist sympathies.
He continued his studies in Switzerland. Shortly after he arrived, he gathered a small group of students, which included the future Radical leader Nikola Pašić
. At the time, Serbia was ruled by a regency on behalf of Prince Milan. This regency had been in place since 1868. In the spring of 1869, the Serbian Liberal Party signed an accord with the Regency and a constitution with a toothless assembly was set up. Marković denounced this deal as a sellout and formed a minuscule radical party.
, which in those days was in Austria-Hungary but close to the Serbian border. Marković and his fellow radicals proposed a resolution calling for decentralization and a number of social measures which began with: "The solution of the nationality problem in Austria-Hungary
, and the Eastern Question
, on the principle of 'free humanity'."
Jovanović's liberal supporters countered with a call for an aggressive foreign policy saying that domestic policies had to take second place to unification of the South Slavs. A compromise was reached calling for decentralization and an expansionist foreign policy.
On June 1, 1871, Marković launched Serbia's first socialist newspaper with Đura Ljočić (Jura Lyochich) as editor. The paper, Radnik (The Worker) struck a careful balance between outspokenness while avoiding printing anything that would get it banned. The paper proved very successful. It was soon being denounced by the establishment. A group of deputies of the Serbian National Assembly's accused Radnik of propagating communism "thus striking at the very foundations of the state; faith morals and property."
In March, 1872, the government decided to arrest Marković but, warned in advance, he escaped across the Sava into Hungarian territory. Finally Radnik overstepped the mark once too often when it published an article in which Christ was described as a communist and a revolutionary. Using that as a pretext, the government banned the paper in May 1872 for blasphemy and treason.
In Realni Pravac u Nauci i Zivotu ("The Real Trend in Science and Life") which appeared in Letopis Matice Srpske, (1871–1872) and other works, he developed an activistic anthropological philosophy with a definite program of social change. By this time the ideas of Nikolay Stankevich, N. G. Chernyshevsky, Nikolay Dobrolyubov and other Russian revolutionary democrats, the materialistic philosophies of Ludwig Buchner
, Karl Vogt
, and Jacob Moleschott
, and the revolutionary theories of Darwin
and Herbert Spencer
had gained considerable ground among Serbian intellectuals. He emphasized the role of science and of an educated minority in the historical process. He held that there are objectivelaws governing social progress but that they depend on the laws of human nature, which can be discovered by an analysis of the history of mankind. Genuine intellectuals help their people to become aware of their sufferings and their real needs and to produce a radical change in their conditions. A social revolution, therefore, presupposes the total intellectual power of the people. In time, Ljubomir Nedic
, another philosopher and literary critic, took issue with Marković's premise.
of 1804) as a society divided not so much on religious lines as by class. Marković argued that the Serbian revolt against the Turks had a social character rather than a religious one. He saw the social organization of the Serbian peasants who played the leading role in eventual successful overthrow of Turkish rule as insufficient to prevent the new state becoming a despotism which soon brought to life a parasitic bureaucracy.
Marković argued that growth of Serbia while this bureaucracy was in control would not lead to greater freedom, but merely strengthen the power of that bureaucracy. As an alternative to this Greater Serbia
Marković advocated democratic federalism. Marković idealized the old Balkan family structure, the zadruga
, and believed that the state should merely serve to coordinate the activities of opštine, or small communities organized on the zadruga principle.
, Marković was expelled by the Hungarian authorities, but was promptly arrested upon his arrival in Serbia. The new Prime Minister, Jovan Ristić, immediately released him. Ristrić owed his position to the whim of Prince Milan, and as a result, was opposed by both the liberals and the conservatives. Ristrić hoped that releasing Marković would keep the socialists off his back.
On 8 November 1873, a new newspaper, Javnost (The Public) began publication in Kragujevac
with Marković as editor. Marković was initially quite gentle on the new conservative government that had come to power only a few weeks before Javnost began publication.
Javnosts criticism quickly became more strident. The government lost patience and on 8 January 1874, Marković was arrested, even though he had handed over editorship by then.
Defending himself against the charges that he had "insulted" the National Assembly by dismissing it as a mere debating society, Marković answered that he had written the truth. He then launched into a defense of the freedom of the press
. On the charge that he had defended the right of the people "to overthrow a prince who does them evil and replace him with a good one", he denied that this was a call for revolution. He had been talking in the abstract.
Ten years after the trial, the Serbian people and the National Assembly exercised this right and in 1885 deposed Prince Alexander Karađorđević and recalled the reigning prince's father, Miloš Obrenović to the throne.
The trial attracted a large audience, including many of the local peasants. As a result of the trial Marković became a symbol of the growing discontent against the government. Marković's conviction was a foregone conclusion but the sentence, 18 months in prison, was relatively light. However, by now his general health problems had developed into full blown tuberculosis
. The sentence was further reduced to 9 months; it was far from certain that he would survive his term in prison. He was released on 16 November 1874, and recuperated in Jagodina
.
When, however, the police told him he had the choice either to submit to arrest or leave Serbia, he chose the latter. This time he had no illusions that prison would be anything other than a death sentence.
steamer for Vienna
. Here the doctors told him that there was little hope for him, but they recommended him to go to Dalmatia
where the climate was warmer. He reached Trieste
but collapsed in his hotel. He did not recover and died on 26 February 1875, at the age of 28.
.
In the elections of 1875 the socialist-radicals made significant gains and were for a time a significant force in Serbian politics. It was not however able to stay united in the long term. In 1881 Nikola Pašić
and other followers of Marković founded a new radical party.
The Socialism of the new radical party did not survive the failure of the 1883–1884 Timok uprising, after which the radicals repackaged themselves as a nationalist party. For the Yugoslav communists, Marković was merely a Utopian.
Nevertheless his writings (extensive considering how young he died) remained influential even though no political party claimed to follow in his footsteps. Anarchist Krsta Cicvarić, speaking in 1920 said "all of us in Serbia who are democrats or socialists learned the political ABC's from Marković."
A Yugoslav film on his life Svetozar Marković directed by Eduard Galić was first shown in 1980.
The Belgrade University Library
is named after Marković, along with numerous institutions in Serbia.
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
political activist and literary critic. He developed an activistic anthropological philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
with a definite program of social change.
Early life
Marković was born in the town of ZaječarZajecar
Zaječar is a city and municipality in the eastern part of Serbia. According to the 2011 census the town has a population of 36,830, and its coordinates are 43.91° North, 22.30° East...
on 9 September 1846, the son of a small time government official. Marković's childhood was spent in the village of Rekovac and then the town of Jagodina
Jagodina
Jagodina is a city and municipality located in central Serbia, 136 km south of Belgrade, on the banks of Belica River. Its name stems from the word for strawberry in Serbian. It is the administrative centre of the Pomoravlje District of Serbia...
. The family moved to Kragujevac
Kragujevac
Kragujevac is the fourth largest city in Serbia, the main city of the Šumadija region and the administrative centre of Šumadija District. It is situated on the banks of the Lepenica River...
in 1856. In 1860 he began to study at the gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
and in 1863 at the Grande École, the highest educational body in Serbia at that time, founded in 1808, which eventually became the University of Belgrade
University of Belgrade
The University of Belgrade is the oldest and largest university of Serbia.Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-based departments into a single university...
.
It was only at the Grande École that he began to become interested in politics falling under the influence of Vladimir Jovanović
Vladimir Jovanovic
Vladimir Jovanović was a Serbian politician, political theorist, economist and journalist.Jovanović was educated at the Universities of Vienna and Berlin in agricultural and economic sciences...
(also spelled Vladimir Jovanovich), a leading Serbian Liberal.
Study abroad
In 1866, he received a scholarship to study at the Alexander I Institute of Communication Engineers in St Petersburg. Here he became involved with the Russian socialist underground who, in the main, were followers of the agrarian socialists Nikolai ChernyshevskyNikolai Chernyshevsky
Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky was a Russian revolutionary democrat, materialist philosopher, critic, and socialist...
, who wrote and edited Nikolay Nekrasov's The Contemporary magazine. There he also met Dmitry Pisarev and Lyuben Karavelov
Lyuben Karavelov
Lyuben Stoychev Karavelov was a Bulgarian writer and an important figure of the Bulgarian National Revival....
, a journalist and an important figure in the late Bulgarian National Revival
Bulgarian National Revival
The Bulgarian National Revival , sometimes called the Bulgarian Renaissance, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian people under Ottoman rule...
.
In March 1869 he left Russia, suspecting, rightly, that he was in danger of being arrested by the Russian authorities for his socialist sympathies.
He continued his studies in Switzerland. Shortly after he arrived, he gathered a small group of students, which included the future Radical leader Nikola Pašić
Nikola Pašic
Nikola P. Pašić was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and diplomat, the most important Serbian political figure for almost 40 years, leader of the People's Radical Party who, among other posts, was twice a mayor of Belgrade...
. At the time, Serbia was ruled by a regency on behalf of Prince Milan. This regency had been in place since 1868. In the spring of 1869, the Serbian Liberal Party signed an accord with the Regency and a constitution with a toothless assembly was set up. Marković denounced this deal as a sellout and formed a minuscule radical party.
Return to the Balkans
Marković now sought to wrest control of the youth wing Omladina from the Liberal Party. The Congress of Omladina met in late August 1870 in Novi SadNovi Sad
Novi Sad is the capital of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, and the administrative centre of the South Bačka District. The city is located in the southern part of Pannonian Plain on the Danube river....
, which in those days was in Austria-Hungary but close to the Serbian border. Marković and his fellow radicals proposed a resolution calling for decentralization and a number of social measures which began with: "The solution of the nationality problem in Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, and the Eastern Question
Eastern Question
The "Eastern Question", in European history, encompasses the diplomatic and political problems posed by the decay of the Ottoman Empire. The expression does not apply to any one particular problem, but instead includes a variety of issues raised during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, including...
, on the principle of 'free humanity'."
Jovanović's liberal supporters countered with a call for an aggressive foreign policy saying that domestic policies had to take second place to unification of the South Slavs. A compromise was reached calling for decentralization and an expansionist foreign policy.
On June 1, 1871, Marković launched Serbia's first socialist newspaper with Đura Ljočić (Jura Lyochich) as editor. The paper, Radnik (The Worker) struck a careful balance between outspokenness while avoiding printing anything that would get it banned. The paper proved very successful. It was soon being denounced by the establishment. A group of deputies of the Serbian National Assembly's accused Radnik of propagating communism "thus striking at the very foundations of the state; faith morals and property."
In March, 1872, the government decided to arrest Marković but, warned in advance, he escaped across the Sava into Hungarian territory. Finally Radnik overstepped the mark once too often when it published an article in which Christ was described as a communist and a revolutionary. Using that as a pretext, the government banned the paper in May 1872 for blasphemy and treason.
In Realni Pravac u Nauci i Zivotu ("The Real Trend in Science and Life") which appeared in Letopis Matice Srpske, (1871–1872) and other works, he developed an activistic anthropological philosophy with a definite program of social change. By this time the ideas of Nikolay Stankevich, N. G. Chernyshevsky, Nikolay Dobrolyubov and other Russian revolutionary democrats, the materialistic philosophies of Ludwig Buchner
Ludwig Büchner
Friedrich Karl Christian Ludwig Büchner was a German philosopher, physiologist and physician who became one of the exponents of 19th century scientific materialism.Büchner was born at Darmstadt, Germany, on 29 March 1824...
, Karl Vogt
Karl Vogt
Carl Christoph Vogt was a German scientist who emigrated to Switzerland. Vogt published a number of notable works on zoology, geology and physiology...
, and Jacob Moleschott
Jacob Moleschott
Jacob Moleschott was a Dutch physiologist and writer on dietetics.Moleschott studied at Heidelberg and began the practice of medicine at Utrecht in 1845, but soon moved to Heidelberg where he lectured on physiology at the university, beginning in 1847...
, and the revolutionary theories of Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
and Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
had gained considerable ground among Serbian intellectuals. He emphasized the role of science and of an educated minority in the historical process. He held that there are objectivelaws governing social progress but that they depend on the laws of human nature, which can be discovered by an analysis of the history of mankind. Genuine intellectuals help their people to become aware of their sufferings and their real needs and to produce a radical change in their conditions. A social revolution, therefore, presupposes the total intellectual power of the people. In time, Ljubomir Nedic
Ljubomir Nedic
Ljubomir Nedić was a popular Serbian writer, philosopher, and literary critic. In the 1890s, two groups were formed in literary criticism, one by the critics gathered around the literary journal Delo, and the other led by Ljubomir Nedić...
, another philosopher and literary critic, took issue with Marković's premise.
Serbia in the East
In June 1872 his book Serbija na istoku (Serbia in the East) was published in Novi Sad. The book covered the history of Serbia, interpreting the Serbian society before the War of Independence (also known as the First Serbian UprisingFirst Serbian Uprising
The First Serbian Uprising was the first stage of the Serbian Revolution , the successful wars of independence that lasted for 9 years and approximately 9 months , during which Serbia perceived itself as an independent state for the first time after more than three centuries of Ottoman rule and...
of 1804) as a society divided not so much on religious lines as by class. Marković argued that the Serbian revolt against the Turks had a social character rather than a religious one. He saw the social organization of the Serbian peasants who played the leading role in eventual successful overthrow of Turkish rule as insufficient to prevent the new state becoming a despotism which soon brought to life a parasitic bureaucracy.
Marković argued that growth of Serbia while this bureaucracy was in control would not lead to greater freedom, but merely strengthen the power of that bureaucracy. As an alternative to this Greater Serbia
Greater Serbia
The term Greater Serbia or Great Serbia applies to the Serbian nationalist and irredentist ideology directed towards the creation of a Serbian land which would incorporate all regions of traditional significance to the Serbian nation...
Marković advocated democratic federalism. Marković idealized the old Balkan family structure, the zadruga
Zadruga
A zadruga refers to a type of rural community historically common among South Slavs. The term has been used by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia to designate their attempt at collective farming after World War II....
, and believed that the state should merely serve to coordinate the activities of opštine, or small communities organized on the zadruga principle.
Return to Serbia
Due to his political activities in Novi SadNovi Sad
Novi Sad is the capital of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, and the administrative centre of the South Bačka District. The city is located in the southern part of Pannonian Plain on the Danube river....
, Marković was expelled by the Hungarian authorities, but was promptly arrested upon his arrival in Serbia. The new Prime Minister, Jovan Ristić, immediately released him. Ristrić owed his position to the whim of Prince Milan, and as a result, was opposed by both the liberals and the conservatives. Ristrić hoped that releasing Marković would keep the socialists off his back.
On 8 November 1873, a new newspaper, Javnost (The Public) began publication in Kragujevac
Kragujevac
Kragujevac is the fourth largest city in Serbia, the main city of the Šumadija region and the administrative centre of Šumadija District. It is situated on the banks of the Lepenica River...
with Marković as editor. Marković was initially quite gentle on the new conservative government that had come to power only a few weeks before Javnost began publication.
Javnosts criticism quickly became more strident. The government lost patience and on 8 January 1874, Marković was arrested, even though he had handed over editorship by then.
Trial
Marković had been in ill health for some time and being kept in a damp, poorly heated cell did nothing to improve it. His trial for "press crimes" began on 19 February 1874.Defending himself against the charges that he had "insulted" the National Assembly by dismissing it as a mere debating society, Marković answered that he had written the truth. He then launched into a defense of the freedom of the press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
. On the charge that he had defended the right of the people "to overthrow a prince who does them evil and replace him with a good one", he denied that this was a call for revolution. He had been talking in the abstract.
Ten years after the trial, the Serbian people and the National Assembly exercised this right and in 1885 deposed Prince Alexander Karađorđević and recalled the reigning prince's father, Miloš Obrenović to the throne.
The trial attracted a large audience, including many of the local peasants. As a result of the trial Marković became a symbol of the growing discontent against the government. Marković's conviction was a foregone conclusion but the sentence, 18 months in prison, was relatively light. However, by now his general health problems had developed into full blown tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. The sentence was further reduced to 9 months; it was far from certain that he would survive his term in prison. He was released on 16 November 1874, and recuperated in Jagodina
Jagodina
Jagodina is a city and municipality located in central Serbia, 136 km south of Belgrade, on the banks of Belica River. Its name stems from the word for strawberry in Serbian. It is the administrative centre of the Pomoravlje District of Serbia...
.
Socialist success
During Marković's imprisonment and building on the publicity created by Marković's trial, for the first time socialists succeed in getting elected to the National Assembly and small but vocal group, advocating Marković's ideas, formed round the Serb from Croatia, Adam Bogosavljević. Ignoring warnings that he needed to recover his health first, Marković was unable to stay in the background. On 1 January 1875 Oslobođenje (Liberation) came out, with Marković at the helm. He was as outspoken as ever at a time when harassment of socialists was in full swing.When, however, the police told him he had the choice either to submit to arrest or leave Serbia, he chose the latter. This time he had no illusions that prison would be anything other than a death sentence.
Death
Marković caught a DanubeDanube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
steamer for Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. Here the doctors told him that there was little hope for him, but they recommended him to go to Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
where the climate was warmer. He reached Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
but collapsed in his hotel. He did not recover and died on 26 February 1875, at the age of 28.
Legacy in literature and politics
As a publicist and critic, Svetozar Marković first introduced the doctrine of social reform among the Serbs. He exerted tremendous influence on his contemporaries recommending them to be positivists in science, republicans in politics, and realists or rather utiliterians in literature. He proudly subscribed to the realistic novels of Jakov IgnjatovićJakov Ignjatovic
Jakov Ignjatović was a famous Serbian 19th century novelist and prose writer from Hungary. He also wrote in Hungarian.-Biography:...
.
In the elections of 1875 the socialist-radicals made significant gains and were for a time a significant force in Serbian politics. It was not however able to stay united in the long term. In 1881 Nikola Pašić
Nikola Pašic
Nikola P. Pašić was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and diplomat, the most important Serbian political figure for almost 40 years, leader of the People's Radical Party who, among other posts, was twice a mayor of Belgrade...
and other followers of Marković founded a new radical party.
The Socialism of the new radical party did not survive the failure of the 1883–1884 Timok uprising, after which the radicals repackaged themselves as a nationalist party. For the Yugoslav communists, Marković was merely a Utopian.
Nevertheless his writings (extensive considering how young he died) remained influential even though no political party claimed to follow in his footsteps. Anarchist Krsta Cicvarić, speaking in 1920 said "all of us in Serbia who are democrats or socialists learned the political ABC's from Marković."
A Yugoslav film on his life Svetozar Marković directed by Eduard Galić was first shown in 1980.
The Belgrade University Library
Belgrade University Library
The Svetozar Marković University Library is the central library within the system of the University of Belgrade’s libraries, named after Svetozar Marković, Serbian political activist in the 19th century...
is named after Marković, along with numerous institutions in Serbia.