d
sold their land to engage in commerce. Artisans, on the other hand,
underwent special training to prepare them for their calling. These
special skills and the fact that artisans did not have to toil long
hours in the sun or rain put them in a higher social category than
peasants. The elite group was the village intelligentsia--the teacher,
doctor, priest, mayor, and other officials who had more than an
elementary education. Their prestige derived from their education, and
their power derived from their positions. Through their ties to the
wider world, the village intelligentsia bridged the gap between rural
and urban societies.

The social structure of towns distinguished between artisans, merchants,
and intelligentsia. In the preindustrial Bulgaria of the 1930s, the
artisans and peasants together formed the backbone of the economy. The
guild system of progression from apprentice to masterworkman still
prevailed and fostered social distinctions among the artisan group.
Merchants occupied a higher rung on the social ladder than did artisans,
primarily because they did no manual work to earn a living. The
distinction, however, was not great, and members of the two groups
generally associated with each other. The elite group in town, as in the
village, was the intelligentsia. Because towns were usually government
administrative centers and, often, garrison posts, the intelligentsia
was often quite numerous. It included all the white-collar workers,
professionals, and army officers. The town intelligentsia was a
self-contained group whose members mostly associated only with each
other. Within the group, however, distinction was made on the basis of
education and rank in the government hierarchy.

The city social structure resembled that of the towns but had additional
strata reflecting the wider range of economic activity found in the
city. The most economically and socially disadvantaged were the workers,
including industrial and domestic workers. Just above them were petty
government employees, such as janitors, messengers, and railroad men,
whose standard of living was extremely low but who could look forward to
a secure old age with a government pension and who took pride in being
civil servants. Above these lowest groups were the artisans, shopkeepers
and merchants, and the intelligentsia, as in the social structure of
towns. A few industrialists ranked among the highest because of their
economic power, but even th