Политики на различието: ,„дясно“ и „ляво“ представяне на „народа“ с перото на публицистиката (1879–1885)
Politics of dissimilarities: right-wing and left-wing representations of the people (narod) in party-affiliated bulgarian newspapers (1879–1885)

Summary/Abstract: The article analyses the uses of “the people” (narod) and the constituting of an image of “the people” with the political vocabulary of the Bulgarian Conservative and Liberal newspapers (1879-1885). The appearance of the concept of “the people” in party discourses had to assist the public in the perception of reality and to suggest a way to discuss and conceptualize the Bulgarian people. The new economic and political system, a borrowing from the West, materialized in the ambitions of a class whose early identification with “the people” soon made it clear that it also needed hierarchy and discipline so as to couple political freedom with entrepreneurial skills and competition. Hence, Conservative newspapers set out to advocate strict discipline; they assumed that Conservative rule should be accepted as self-evident, while the constituting of an almost virtual image of “the people” completely agreed with the party’s desired ends. For the Liberals, appeals to democracy were the be-all and end-all of their political activity, and consequently, the future of the ordinary people did not appear as cause for concern. The image of “the people” in Liberal newspapers went no further than the flaming debate with the Conservatives. Liberal inept handling of objective needs hit on preferential treatment of the ones who were better off, neglect of the poor, and last but not least, concern for “the people” lest they fell prey to “false European science”. Each party transformed the definition of “the people” and the route for its Europeanisation into tools for its own ends thus endorsing a lasting abuse of power as regards “the people” in Bulgarian politics.

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