Text from “Radničke novine”, 27 May 1914.

“When reading the bourgeois press, which with one voice and under special instructions writes about the Albanians (Arnauts) as a lazy and thieving people — a people accustomed to living off the sweat of others — one is simply shocked when one comes into personal contact with this people, travels through the lands where they live, and becomes convinced that everything our bourgeois press says about the Albanians (Arnauts) as a nation is nothing but a lie, and the exact opposite is true.

From personal verification I have reached the following conclusions:

1. The Albanians (Arnauts) are a hardworking people. To be convinced of this, it was enough for me to travel — even by train — through the Kaçanik Gorge and see the modern road cut through the gorge, through the rocks, built by the hands of this “barbaric” people. In addition, it was enough to see every piece of land that is not rock and stone, and even on the hills, beautifully cultivated and planted. From the Vučji Do railway station through Kaçanik to Ferizaj, the entire area is mostly inhabited by the Arnaut nation, and nowhere — absolutely nowhere — did I see abandoned or uncultivated land.
   
   Moreover, on the flat terrain, the fields are connected with river and stream islands, especially with well-directed and criss-crossing irrigation channels across the fields, creating a primitive but very effective irrigation system, so that even in the case of the longest absence of rain, the crops have enough moisture.
   
2. The Albanians (Arnauts) in this part of Kosovo are also an honest people. This is proven by the presence of dozens of wealthy Serbian merchants who, even during the Turkish administration, held the entire market of Ferizaj in their hands. Ferizaj is a commercial centre where all the imports and exports of Prizren, Gjakova and Kaçanik are gathered, and yet, apart from three Catholic Arnauts, all the others are Serbian merchants.
   
   If the Albanians (Arnauts) were as our bourgeois press describes them, no Serbian merchant could have survived, let alone held the entire market in their hands. This is especially true considering that in this whole area the population is predominantly Arnaut.
   
3. That the Albanians (Arnauts) are not thieves is best proven by the Arnaut rebellion and the occupation of Skopje, when no one lost so much as a hair from their head, nor even a loaf of bread from the oven. In that rebellion, according to the accounts of Skopje residents, there were also poor Arnauts, even barefoot ones, but none of them took anything from anyone by force or “requisition”.

Meanwhile, with the arrival of our army and our authorities, things have become much worse — and to our own detriment.

1. While under Turkish administration, Serbs could freely conduct their trade and sell their goods to Turks and Arnauts for their golden lira, our military authorities, through “requisition” that will never be paid, took from the Arnauts everything that could be taken — wheat, maize, livestock — in short, everything they found in the fields and in the houses.
   
2. While under the Turks and among the Albanians (Arnauts), every Serb could perform any work in the municipality or district for a maximum of 20 grosh, today an Arnaut cannot enter a municipality or district without paying a golden medjidiye. How honest the work of our authorities is can best be seen in the wealth of Marko Despotović, the president of the municipality, who in just one and a half years has “honestly” acquired more wealth than any Arnaut in Ferizaj.
   
3. While the Serbs paid the Turks one tenth of all their crops as taxes, today the Albanians (Arnauts) pay, one could say, half — not from the crops, but from all their property. The best proof of this is the tax imposed on the village of Stari Kaçanik, near Ferizaj, where no peasant pays less than 100 dinars. Even though in this village there are many families who own nothing outside their house and yard and who live from day labour, not a single house has been exempted from the tax. Is it then any wonder that many families are selling their property for 200–3000 dinars and fleeing their homes?
   
4. Although I could believe that today’s sporadic Arnaut rebellions are the result of plunder and unlimited violence carried out against them by our “civilisers”, I was still surprised when this was confirmed to me on the train by a lieutenant of the 18th regiment with these words:

“Not a week passes without the municipal authorities from Arnaut districts sending us a report: The Albanians (Arnauts) have rebelled, send a military unit. We go with one or two infantry companies and 2–3 cannons to the respective village, but there everything is quiet. We call some Arnauts and they tell us roughly the following: There were some shots fired from this or that house.

But the inhabitants of the house had fired at some guards and foresters who wanted to rape the women. We ask: where are those who fired? They reply: They have fled to the forest, and only the children and women remain in the house. We go to those houses and become convinced of the truth of the Arnauts’ complaints.”

[…]

Let the Albanians (Arnauts) and all citizens of the new Serbia be given a just constitutional democratic regime. Let them be given full municipal self-government and freedom of movement and trade. Let them not be burdened with various regular and irregular taxes. Let the honour of the home and personal and property security be guaranteed by state and municipal official and unofficial guardians of order, work and law — and the whole world will soon be convinced that today’s “wild” Albanians (Arnauts) are far more honest and more civilised than their conquerors and “civilisers”.

Text from “Radničke novine”, 27 May 1914.

(Translated by Nexha Gjema)