By: Stevo M. Lapchevich – translated from Serbian by Novak Drashkovic & edited by Joaquin Flores

A Brief History of Serbian Socialism,
Part One

The First Serbian Uprising inspired Serbian socialist thought and was connected to the early abolition of feudalism and landlordism

he development of socialist ideas in the Balkans is closely tied to the political life of Serbia in the second half of the 19^th century. Arising in a tributary country semi-independent from the occupying Ottoman Empire, in a land of lords and impoverished peasants living on the edge of survival, Serbia is a land of a people that was the first one in Europe to liberate itself from feudalism in the fourth decade of the 19^th century. We should recall here that Serbian prince Miloš Obrenović I issued a decree according to which arable land could only be owned by the people that are farming it, as opposed to the rising Serbian aristocracy. Serbian socialist idea, unlike almost any other at that point in time, strived not only for the creation of a socially just, but also nationally independent and free state that would on the basis of self-government and self-determination unify the entire Serbian people.