>>2588828The Balkan Peninsula, approximately the size of Germany but with only two-thirds of its population, is carved up into numerous independent states. In these tiny states, each possessing its own army, currency, and customs system, or belonging to this or that economic union or military alliance, live numerous nations and peoples, shattered into separate fragments. The borders between these dwarf states were not drawn in accordance with ethnic realities or national needs, but are the result of wars, diplomatic intrigues, and imperialist interests. The Great Powers have always had a direct interest in pitting the Balkan nations and states against one another, only to subject them to their own economic and political influence once they have mutually weakened themselves.
The petty dynasties of political compradors ruling these 'fragments' of the Balkan Peninsula have served, and continue to serve, as levers for European diplomatic intrigues. This entire mechanism, founded on violence and treachery, constitutes an immense burden that suffocates the Balkan nations and stifles their economic and cultural development. The peninsula, richly endowed by nature, is senselessly partitioned; people and goods constantly run up against the barbed wire of state borders. This slicing of nations and states into numerous strips prevents the formation of a unified Balkan economic space, which could serve as the foundation for a great expansion of industry and culture. On top of everything, there is debilitating nationalism, created to maintain division and generating the danger of wars fatal to the peninsula's progress.
The only way out of this national and state chaos is the unification of all the peoples of the peninsula into a single economic and political entity, based on the national autonomy of its constituent parts. Only within the framework of a unified Balkan state can an individual people connect into a single cultural community while enjoying the benefits of a common economic union. Only united Balkan nations can truly stand up to the predatory aspirations of European imperialism.
The state unity of the Balkans can be achieved in two ways: from above, through the expansion of the European Union, neoliberalism, and capitalism—this is the path of oppressing weak nations, a path that consolidates imperialism and militarism; or from below, through the rapprochement of the peoples themselves. This is the path of revolution, a path that signifies the overthrow of the Balkan compradors and the unfurling of the banner of the Federative Socialist Balkan Republic.
The masses, who have experienced the restoration of capitalism and live in precarious conditions, are too scattered, uneducated, and politically indifferent for one to expect spontaneous political initiative from them.
The Balkan compradors, artificially installed by European imperialism and lacking any historical roots, are too insignificant and insecure on their thrones to dare undertake a 'broad-sweeping' policy such as a Balkan federation.
The Balkan bourgeoisie is—as in all countries forced into the restoration of capitalism—politically sterile, cowardly, untalented, and saturated to the core with chauvinism. It is completely beyond its powers to undertake the task of uniting the Balkans. Because it cannot grasp that its historical mission should be the creation of a union of Balkan nations, and because it is incapable of rising above its narrow interests, it is split into many camps fighting among themselves, yet all willing to sell the freedom of the nations to the imperialists.
Only united Balkan nations can break the backbone of European imperialism. The Balkan bourgeoisie, that cowardly servant of foreign capital, is historically impotent. While the people suffer under the yoke of neoliberalism and uncertainty, the task of liberation and unification inevitably falls on the shoulders of the only force possessing the potential for change: on the shoulders of the class-conscious and politically mature Balkan proletariat.