[DraganOfStip]

Originally Posted by Karposh

This observation by Petko Slaveikov really speaks volumes about how Macedonians saw themselves back then (i.e. 1871, to all those who buy into notion that the commintern invented the Macedonian nation). Even back then, you can really feel the frustrations coming from the Bulgarian nationalists such as Slaveikov in the face of overt Macedonian national pride. It's quite evident and obvious that Macedonian national self awareness was alive and well back then and the proof in the pudding is in Slaveikov's candid observation. Add to this the Bulgarian ethnographer Vasil Kanchov's candid observation that, what he calls, the "Bulgarians" of Macedonia in fact refer to themselves as Macedonians, and a pattern begins to appear where the Macedonians are perhaps something more than merely a figment of Tito's or the evil commintern's imagination.

There were a series of articles by Risto Stefov on this forum called something like "Tito's time machine" if I remember correctly, in which the author notes many cases where Macedonians refer to themselves (or are referred to by others) as Macedonians prior communism, noting how the Macedonian nation isn't "invented" by the commintern or Tito as foreign (especially Bulgarian) propagandists claim.
If you can find them it would be worth the read.