Under the Yoke

Ivan Vazov is one of the most outstanding Bulgarian writers and he is also famous by his poems. But what made him famous all over the word was a historical novel “Under the Yoke”. The novel was written in 1887-1889 when the author had fresh impressions about tragic events that took place in his motherland practically a decade ago, certainly I mean the April rebellion which aimed at the liberation of Bulgaria from the Turkish yoke. This rebellion was logical and long awaited because the period of time described in the book as well as the middle and the second part of the 19th c. were characterized by numerous liberation and revolutionary movements, particularly in Eastern European countries where the oppression was probably the strongest. This fact may be traced even in the novel because quite often we may find mentions about liberation movements in neighboring Balkan countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina. That is a historical background of the novel.

Speaking about the reason what make Ivan Vazov to right the novel we can’t say for sure whether it was just a great patriotism or the influence of Russia where he lived and worked on the novel and as we know its influence in Eastern Europe was very strong. Anyway, the novel was written and I think that we must rather dwell upon the work itself than on the reasons of its creation. So, we may call “Under the Yoke” a novel that reveals national character and the awakening of Bulgarian national consciousness in all layers of the society. Probably, this novel would also help to understand the mystery of Slav soul and understand the psychology of Eastern European oppressed peoples. Briefly speaking the author in his novel tells us about the eve and preparation of the April rebellion, the following struggle and the final defeat. The action of the novel takes place in tranquil town and surrounding villages which were awakened by the rebellion inspired by the activity of the main characters of the novel Ognyanov and Sokolov who were revolutionaries, to my mind a bit idealistic and to some extent naïve sincerely believing in there ideas of liberation of Bulgaria and its wonderful future when all people will be really free and equal. But, unfortunately their plans failed and the rebellion was defeated despite the support of different layers of Bulgarian society. Among the supporters were ordinary people, peasants who blindly believed in people like them by spirit and were ready to follow them till the death that may be proved by words of Stoyan who says that he believes in such “man from people and I will give my soul for such people as you”. There are also representatives of upper classes who support the idea of rebellion and through such characters as Marko Ivanov we may trace the evaluation of thought from indefinite to democratic and revolutionary. It means that the rebellion was actually supported by many people who were absolutely different by their social status but at the same time they were really unified by one common idea of liberation of their motherland though they might understand this idea in different ways that I would discuss a bit later. But not everything was so smooth and the revolutionaries had not only external enemies, Turks, but internal opponents as well among which we may name Diamangiev and Stefchov who mainly cared about the improvement of their own financial and social position and, consequently they supported Turkish government in the struggle against Bulgarian. Obviously they symbolize an internal opposition, particularly of upper classes, that were satisfied and did not want any changes. As a result under the pressure from both internal and external fronts the rebellion naturally fails. But we see that only the rebellion is defeated but not the revolutionary spirit because Ognynov says: “We fulfilled our duty, to the country, we tried to attain victory with our blood, - we could not do it… We can regret it but there is nothing to be ashamed… But if we stay without any actions, if we shrug off our ideal, if we forget about the blood and the flame of the fires, where now Bulgaria is dying, it will be shame and crime”.

On reading “Under the Yoke” I was very impressed by Ivan Vazov’s ability to masterfully describe the atmosphere reigning in the country and among all people in quite a symbolic way. For instance, the author says: “He [Ognyanov] was enjoying the beauty of this romantic spot and drinking in the fresh, bracing air of the mountain. The autumn landscape had a new charm with the golden leaves of the trees, the yellowed velvety hills of the Balkan range, and the atmosphere of sweetly tender decay and melancholy”. Through the description of the nature Ivan Vazov express his love to beauties of his motherland and at the same time he says that decay and melancholy reigns in the country. The autumn symbolizes the readiness of people for revolution because their minds are ripened for the rebellion. The author poses a great dilemma of the revolution, namely what should be its aim. Ivan Vazov gives two possible aims just the liberation of the country (this position is supported by Ognyanov) and more radical aim that implies besides the liberation, improvement of social position of oppressed people, including lower classes that suffer from national and economical pressure (supported by Kandov).

Actually, it is a great problem that was always a subject of a permanent argument. These two position, being characterized as moderate and radical, aiming at changing the Turkish yoke for a free national government were quite popular among Bulgarian revolutionaries. However, Bulgaria was not an exception but one of many countries that had the same choice. Actually, the question was when to stop revolution after the liberation or after the change of social order. The latter idea was inspired by the socialist ideology that began to become a powerful international movement and was spread all over Europe. It is noteworthy that seeds of this ideology faster and easier grew in the soil of deprived and oppressed countries or regions, naturally they were mainly Eastern European countries where foreign dominance were strengthened by social inequality. As a result the idea of the national liberation accompanied by social revolution were extremely popular in such country as Bulgaria, particularly among ordinary and poor people like peasants and workers.

That is why as I have already said before people understood the aim of the April rebellion differently. Lower and deprived classes obviously hoped to change their life for better, implying socio-economic improvement, whereas the representatives of upper classes, besides not all of them but only a part willing the revolution, wanted to build a new independent and democratic country, presupposing evolutionary, natural changes that would finally improve the position of poor people. I think that Ivan Vazov preferred the latter, evolutionary variant because in the opposition of Ognyanov – Kandov he stands on the ground of Ognyanov who is called “apostle of Freedom”. At first he seems to be bloodthirsty saying that “Bulgarian will feel freedom only when everybody takes axes and kills oppressors”. However, we do not find any noteworthy suggestions about the further development of Bulgaria, about possible changes at social structure or administrative changes. That could be found in Kandov’s beliefs and ideas though they seem to be weak and not shaped clearly. Though Kandov is probably the only one who seriously worries about social inequality and tries to find some solution of this problem and who really wants to improve the position of lower classes. Probably, the author introduced this character in order to say that social changes were also necessary and, in this sense, moderate revolutionaries such as Ognyanove either didn’t realize it or didn’t pay much attention to it and it could be one more cause of the defeat of the April rebellion. In other words such a misunderstanding of the revolution’s aims existing between revolutionary leaders and ordinary people who, actually, had to be the main power of this revolution, reinforced by internal opposition and external aggression, led to the failure.

Finally, the last thing I want to say is that the ideas and arguments we found in Ivan Vazov’s “Under the Yoke” were common not only for Bulgaria but for all oppressed or just poor countries which were mainly situated in Eastern Europe and radical revolutionary ideas were quite popular among the desperate population of these countries and what the author wanted to convey was the attempt to show us the way the revolution should go, namely it shouldn’t be too radical but at the same time it should take into account not only the problem of national liberation but also numerous social problems which, however, should be always on the mind of revolutionary leaders but solved in rather evolutionary and democratic way. It is particularly important if we take into consideration what happened in the 20th c. when such radical ideas as fascism and communism changed the whole world and in this respect we may regard at the novel of Ivan Vazov “Under the Yoke” as the warning for future generations.   

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