Balkan Federation

The Balkan Federation was a project about the creation of a Balkan federation or confederation, based mainly on left political ideas.

The concept of a Balkan federation emerged at the late 19th century from among left political forces in the region. The central aim was to establish a new political unity: a common federal republic unifying the Balkan Peninsula on the basis of internationalism, social solidarity, and economic equality. The underlying vision was that despite differences among the Balkan peoples the historical need for emancipation was a common basis for unification.

This political concept went through three phases in its development. In the first phase the idea was articulated as a response to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century. In the second phase, mostly through the interwar period (1919–36), the idea of the Balkan federation was taken up by the Balkan communist parties. The third phase is characterized by clash between Balkan communist leaders and Joseph Stalin as an opponent of the idea during the post-World War II period.

Background

At first in Belgrade at 1865 a number of radical Balkan intellectuals founded the Democratic Oriental Federation, proposing a federation from Alps to Cyprus based on political freedom and...
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