society and,
therefore, better off. When they returned to the village to visit
relatives, they were looked up to as persons who had enlarged their
horizons and bettered their lot in life.

The social contrast between the educated urban
intelligentsia--white-collar workers and professionals with a secondary
or a higher education--and the peasant was even greater. Some members of
the intelligentsia maintained a romanticized attachment to their village
origins, but most of them tried to build up their own status by
disparaging the rural population. Even the village schoolteacher and
rural physician were seen as unsophisticated country bumpkins, although
they had the same education as their city counterparts.

The urban intelligentsia saw itself and was seen by others as the top
group in society, just below the royal family, which occupied the apex
of the social pyramid. The top level of the intelligentsia, that is, the
leaders in the political, economic, and cultural spheres, became a small
entourage surrounding the king and thereby gained additional prestige
and power. The economic position of most of the intelligentsia, however,
was very precarious because there was an oversupply of graduates for
whom government employment was virtually the only outlet. Those who had
an official position held on to it against all odds. Others, who could
not find employment appropriate to their presumed qualifications, sat
around cafes waiting for openings rather than returning to their home
villages to put their education to use there.

The peasant, for his part, was distrustful of the city and of city ways.
He did not feel inferior--even to the intelligentsia whose education he
greatly admired. The peasant took pride in his land, in his
self-sufficiency, and in his adherence to custom and tradition. He was
conscious of belonging to the large mass of peasantry that shared his
point of view, his way of life, and his strong sense of tradition.
Differences in wealth and economic independence were recognized among
peasant families but did not affect their relationships, which were
basically egalitarian.

The village, town, and city in pre-World War II Bulgaria each had its
somewhat different social structure. Village structure distinguished
between peasants, artisans, and intelligentsia. Innkeepers and
storekeepers were sometimes identified with the artisans but more
frequently with the peasants because they were usually peasants who ha