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How much does an unrealized past—once a possible future—continue to agitate us?
Today the Balkans are too often defined by nationalism, violence, and xenophobia—ills cultivated after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the intervention of the Great Powers in the region. The peoples of the Balkans have since been squeezed into numerous small state entities, each promoting its own insular national idea.
But this was not the only path history could have taken.
At the dawn of the twentieth century, revolutionary movements envisioned a radically different future: a united, federated Balkans, where diverse peoples would manage public affairs through communal and participatory means. Ideas like the Balkan Federation and the Balkan Commune captivated the hearts and minds of revolutionaries, anarchists, and socialists across the region—traditions deeply rooted in the lands of the area now known as Bulgaria.
In this book, political theorist Yavor Tarinski revives and examines these buried visions. With clarity and commitment, he brings to light the radical traditions and libertarian imaginaries that continue to resonate.
This is a history from below—a story not of borders and empires, but of solidarity and possibility. One that still asks to be taken seriously by future generations.
“As Tarinski suggests, this reading of history is crucial and should be used by horizontal social movements as the root from which contemporary political projects of internationalism, federalism, universal equality, and justice can flourish throughout the Balkan Peninsula. So, let us plant new revolutionary seeds for the new Balkan Federation and not forget that we belong to lands we have never known, against the bourgeois state, capitalism, nationalism, and war.”
—Giorgos Chatzinakos, lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University
“Yavor Tarinski’s book is particularly important because it brings to the stage the social movements and struggles that took place in our common place, the Balkans, and in the period preceding our own extended socio-historical present. It illuminates the ideas, visions, and actions that opened a horizon of social liberation against the intolerant paradigm of nation-state domination.”
—Alexandros Schismenos, post-doctoral researcher (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
Foreword to the Greek Edition by Alexandros Schismenos
Introduction
The Balkan Federation in the Bulgarian liberation movement of the 19th CenturyThe Balkan Federation Project After the Treaty of Berlin
The Form of the Commune in Practice (19th and Early 20th Century)
Appendix 1: "Ridiculous Weep": Hristo Botev in Defense of the Paris Commune
Appendix 2: Ada Kaleh: the Sunken Balkan Island Where People Once Lived Without a State and Masters (Testimony of a Bulgarian Anarchist)
Appendix 3: Photographic Materials
Bibliography
Index
About the Author