ECONOMIC REVIEW OF VELES

ECONOMIC REVIEW OF VELES

The main reasons for the spread of revolutionary ideas among the Macedonian people as a whole and especially among the Macedonian youth, were due to the economic, social and political crisis that surfaced in the European part of the Ottoman Empire in the last decades of the 19th century, whose manifestations were the greatest in Macedonia. That crisis was born as a result of greed, social contradiction and oppression of the diverse people. It had national and religious overtones. The Macedonian people quickly realized that they were exclusive targets of social injustices and economic exploitation. The holders of political slavery and those who economically oppressed them were the same. They discovered that social injustices, economic exploitation and corruption of the state apparatus were tied with the political and national oppression. They witnessed the collapse of handicrafts and trade, serfdom, looting of their villages... In other words every kind of misfortune possible... And all this was due to the fact that Macedonia, their country, was under Ottoman rule.

How did the crisis appear? How and why did the guilds and trade collapse? Obvious examples of this can easily be found in the Macedonian city Veles.

Veles in the first half and middle of the 19th was one of the largest and most developed cities in Macedonia. In 1860 about 20,000 people lived in Veles, of whom about one third were Muslims. (Dancho Zografski, Condition and purpose of the Veles trade school in the 1857 school year, education and culture in Macedonia at the time of rebirth, MANU, Skopje, 1979, 44.) The economic prosperity of the city was influenced by the development of three main

economic sectors: preparing yellow sahtians (leather), trade and viticulture (grape growing).

The people of Veles made high quality yellow sahtians. Almost one quarter of the population dealt with this craft. Initially stock was bought in from various parts of Macedonia, and later goats began to appear in Veles. (Vasil K’nchov, visited Veles after the city experienced its economic boom, during which time over 400,000 skins were processed (Veles today and yesterday - Selected works. P, Sofia 1970, 196). Another author (H. Chochkov, City Veles, Sofia 1929, 48) put the number to 100 to 150,000 skins.) This trade greatly contributed to the development of animal husbandry and to the meat production industry enhancing the city’s overall trade capacity. Meat in Veles was so inexpensive it could even feed the poorest. But according to K’nchov there were no poor people living in Veles. (V. K’nchov. C. D., 197.)

The yellow sahtian produced in Veles and the white sahtian made in Giakovitsa, Prizren and Pech was bought out by the Veles traders and sold in Vienna and Budapest. But Austria, protecting its own industry from Ottoman imported goods, began to impose import taxes. A 30% import levy was placed on all sahtian imports. On top of that, the Ottoman government not appearing overly concerned about its own economy, and seeing that its citizens were making good money from selling sahtian, decided to tax the skin production with a 12% levy of its own. The Ottomans also imposed a 6% transit levy on Serbian goods so that the general merchants from Veles and Macedonia had to pay 48% tax on their skins sold in the Austrian markets. This in fact led to the collapse of the leather industry in Veles as well as in other towns in Macedonia where sahtian was made. Most traders soon went bankrupt and leather craftsmen lost their jobs. Hundreds of families in Veles were left without bread. This drop in the market had a devastating effect on the other industries that supplied the raw materials for making sahtian, including on livestock and meat production.

Food production in Macedonia, particularly in Veles, developed separately during the Crimean War (1853-1856) when demand for food increased significantly in Europe. At that time Veles became the centre from where goods were transported along the Vardar

River to Solun and to a good part of northeastern Macedonia. However, competition from cheaper cereals imported from other countries pushed back agricultural production and trade with it. Commissioning the impatiently expected first railway in Macedonia in 1873 did not provide the desired results. Shipping agricultural products by rail was very expensive. On top of that, Veles lost its importance as a centre of distribution along the Vardar River. With the introduction of the railway more stations were opened up along the way and people from everywhere could transport their goods.

A highly developed viticulture, or grape production, was another developed aspect of the Veles economy. Veles at the time had around 1,200 vineyards and was capable of producing 420,000 oki of rakia. Revenues from rakia amounted to about one million grosha. This production and trade, however, was dealt a severe blow after the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878), when most of the territories that bought rakia from Veles were levied with high taxes. This was due to decisions made at the Berlin Congress when parts of the Ottoman Empire were torn away. On top of that many European countries began to import other kinds of spirits, competing with rakia. The loss of these markets literally destroyed the viticulture in Veles, which was a serious economic factor in the life of that city.

In time more taxes were added to goods produced in Veles against the growth of corruption and wars… to mention a few factors. This gives you an idea of the general situation in which Veles found itself at the end of the 19th century. After the economic collapse in Veles, its main preoccupation became agriculture and remained that way. There was hardly any trade in crafts and the small revenue coming from them could hardly meet the people’s most basic needs. K’nchov wrote: “The situation in Veles is dire. The city looks like a deserted village. You only see a person here and there. Those who profited from the trade became rich and those close to them, a whole mass of population, who helped them profit with their pain and labour are now hungry and can hardly appease themselves with rye bread.” (V. K’nchov. c. d., 199.) Veles, however, was not alone in this; there were similar situations all over Macedonia during the late 19th and early 20th century.