Upon graduating, Kočić left Vienna in April 1904 and returned to northern Bosnia, where he and Vukmanović eloped on 18 September. In February 1905, the two relocated to Skopje, in Ottoman-controlled Macedonia, where Kočić worked as a teacher at a local Serbian-language high school. Upon arriving in Skopje, Kočić was shaken by the news that his father had died. Kočić remained in Skopje for less than a year. He made the mistake of writing an article for the Belgrade daily "Politika" that was critical of the local Serbian archimandrite, prompting his superiors to arrange a transfer to Bitola, which he declined. Kočić and his wife moved back to Vienna, but their stay there proved to be shortlived. Within a year, the couple relocated to Sarajevo, where Kočić became the general secretary of "Prosveta" (Enlightment), a Serb cultural society. In May 1906, he took part in a province-wide general strike. In his speeches, he drew parallels between the grievances of workers and those of peasants, whose discontent continued to fester, as the average size of their plots had decreased by 11 percent between 1895 and 1910.