Blaga Dimitrova was harshly denounced for her critical portrayal of party officials in her 1982 novel Litse.[40]. Mass tourism developed under Zhivkov's direction from the early 1960s onwards. [74][75][76], In 2019, the history textbooks of five major academic publishers in Bulgaria had described Zhivkov as a 'moderate ruler, whose policies were aimed at improving the welfare of the ordinary people' - drawing condemnation from a faculty member at the American University in Bulgaria and an investigative journalist. Sports also prospered during Zhivkov's rule. The party also began an investigation into what it considered Zhivkov's "high living". In practice, though Bulgaria was now constitutionally at minimum a two-party state, the fact that the BANU was a minor coalition partner of Zhivkov's communist party allowed him to preside over a favourable national assembly, which could then approve of the State Council's decisions. Georgi Mikhailovich Dimitrov, (born June 18, 1882, Kovachevtsi, Bulg.died July 2, 1949, near Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.), Bulgarian communist leader who became the post-World War II prime minister of Bulgaria. The Lost World of Bulgarian Communism - Jacobin Qin . However, the protests turned violent the day after, as the local chief of police alleged that the demonstrators had started throwing stones at both the police and local fire brigade, which led to an attempt by the authorities to disperse the protests via a water cannon. [17] Despite this, by 1960 the value produced by heavy industry matched that of light industry, and food processing for export grew rapidly. It controlled its armed forces, the Bulgarian People's Army. In 1984 the 9,000 Bulgarian advisers stationed in Libya for military and nonmilitary aid put that country in first place among Bulgaria's Third World clients. An appellate court found "oddities" in the original verdict and decided to confirm it, but lowered his sentence to just 1 year and 6 months. Until the late 1980s, Zhivkov successfully prevented unrest in the Bulgarian intellectual community. [24] Complexes or associations were given explicit freedom to sign their own contracts with suppliers and customers at home and abroad. Subsequently, Zhivkov resigned from his post as prime minister and was instead made Chairman of the State Council, making him the titular head of the collective Bulgarian Presidency. [35], Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Bulgaria gave official military support to many national liberation causes, most notably in North Vietnam, Indonesia, Libya, Angola, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, and the Middle East. His rule . He spoke positively of the first, describing it as proper, justified and prosperous. This page was last edited on 28 May 2023, at 22:01. Bulgarian Communist Party - Wikipedia [43], Throughout his tenure, Zhivkov's dialect and poor manners made him the butt of many acerbic jibes and jokes in Bulgaria's urbane circles. Zhivkov was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union in 1977. The communist party rebranded itself as the Bulgarian Socialist Party and won the 1990 Bulgarian Constitutional Assembly election, defeating both the right-wing opposition Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, a party representing ethnic Turks. [20] The pilot enterprises did very well, earning profits that were double the norm. The party's origins lay in the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers' Party (Narrow Socialists) (Tesni Sotsialisti, "Narrow Socialists"), which was founded in 1903 after a split in the 10th Congress of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers' Party.[3]. [36] As in 1956 and 1968, however, Soviet actions altered Bulgaria's position. [36] Emulating Soviet dtente policy of the 1970s, Bulgaria gained Western technology, expanded cultural contacts, and attracted Western investments with the most liberal foreign investment policy in Eastern Europe. [25] By 1984 Bulgaria was suffering a serious energy shortage because its Soviet-made nuclear power plant was unreliable and droughts reduced the productivity of hydroelectric plants. President: Rosen Plevneliev (2012) Prime Minister: Boyko Borisov (2014) Land area: 42,683 sq mi (110,549 sq km); total area: 42,823 sq mi (110,910 sq km ) Population (2014 est. The Central Committee of the BKP is the highest governing body that operates between congresses. 11 January 2012. His rule remained unchallenged until the deterioration of EastWest relations in the 1980s, when a stagnating economic situation, a worsening international image and growing careerism and corruption in the BCP weakened his position. | DW | 14.09.2018", "Bulgarian Communist Dictator Zhivkov Pops Up on Billboard in Nessebar - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency", " ", " ", " ", " "" ", " 105 ", " 107 ", "108 (, )", " ", " - ", "Socialist Paradise? [12], "Zhivkov" redirects here. [9] In 1943, he was involved in organising the Chavdar partisan detachment in and around his place of birth, becoming deputy commander of the Sofia operations area in the summer of 1944. [45] To this end, Zhivkov attempted to counter this perceived threat by attempting to trigger a second Bulgarian National Revival through a series of policies collectively alluded to as the "Revival Process". [21] For example, in July 1968, one month before the invasion of Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria's unorthodox, three-tiered pricing system was eliminated. Zhivkov resented the idea of himself being the subject of a cult and later, when the residents of his hometown of Pravets erected a monument bearing his likeness - he personally thanked them for their gesture, before ordering the statue be removed. Zhivkov further wished to distance his country from the image of a one-party state, thus the Zhivkov constitution explicitly mentioned that political power in the country was to be shared "cooperatively" between the Communist Party and the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union, the communists' coalition partner. [40] Membership in the writers' union brought enormous privilege and social stature, and that drew many dissident writers such as Georgi Dzhagarov and Lyubomir Levchev into the circle of the officially approved intelligentsia. He criticised the ruling right-wing UDF government at the time, but reserved his harshest criticism for the former members of his party that had taken part in embezzlement of state assets following his departure. The Bulgarian Communist Party ( Bulgarian: (), Romanised: Blgarska komunisticheska partiya; BKP) was the founding and ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria from 1946 until 1989, when the country ceased to be a socialist state. They began plotting to remove him, but had to move discreetly given the ubiquity of the CSS. September 1947. The completion of collectivisation in 1958 had shifted 678,000 peasants, about 20 per cent of the active labour force, into industrial jobs. It was founded in September 1921, and was modelled after the Communist Workers' Party of Germany. [42] However, he showed his true colours when he expelled several members of a human-rights watch group from the Party. The Centenarian moniker comes from the fact that the BSP is recognized as the successor of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party, which was founded on 2 August 1891 on Buzludzha peak by Dimitar Blagoev, designated in 1903 as the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers' Party (Narrow Socialists), and later as the Bulgarian Communist Party. Learn about the leader of the Golden Age of Bulgaria when major changes were taking place. Zhivkov adamantly refused to ask for a pardon and stated that even if given one he would not accept it, as he opined that pardons are only given to guilty people and he did not consider himself guilty. A system of distribution was implemented, which gave priority to 'Active Fighters against Fascism' (those that had been part of the partisan struggle or fought against Nazi Germany in World War II), as well as eminent artists, scientists and "Heroes of Socialist Labour" (mostly collective farmers and shop-floor workers). [23] Bulgaria marked significant progress in scientific research by sending two men in space and supplying 70% of all electronics in the Eastern Bloc,[26][27], In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev visited Bulgaria and reportedly pressured Zhivkov to make the country more competitive economically. 5 of the Republic of Bulgaria, each with their own indictment. THE EARLY COMMUNIST ERA Bulgaria Table of Contents During World War II, the BCP actively opposed Bulgaria's Axis alliance by forming partisan terrorist and sabotage groups. It comprised most of the hardline Marxists in the Social Democratic Workers' Party. He is said to have coordinated partisan movements with those of pro-Soviet army units during the 9 September 1944 uprising. From fall 1944 to 1962, at least 23.531 persons were sent t prison camps; 478 persons were sentenced to death as "public enemies" during 1952-1985. Buzludzha was the pinnacle of Bulgaria's communist-era monuments and drew international visitors as a modern ruin. He concluded that the ultimate collapse of his system was due to his own failures to reform and modernise said system in the 1970s and 80s. Expressing confidence in his knowledge of local custom, this allowed him to calculate that his actual day of birth had been 13 days earlier - on 7 September of that year. COMMUNISM Bulgaria Table of Contents Initial Maneuvering In the months after the surrender, the communist element of the Fatherland Front gradually purged opposition figures, exiled Tsar Simeon II, and rigged elections to confirm its power. At that plenum, Zhivkov criticised Chervenkov as a disciple of Stalin, had him demoted from prime minister to a cabinet post, and promoted former Committee for State Security (CSS) head Anton Yugov to the post of prime minister. Huge Sculpture to Replace Communist's Mausoleum in Sofia Zhivkov took action against what he saw as a cults of personality - whether in relation to Stalin, Chervenkov or to other figures. Maleeva was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 1969, leading to a two year long and ultimately futile fight with the disease. [citation needed], However, shortly after falling from power, Zhivkov was expelled from the communist party and subsequently arrested by his former comrades. Zhivkov respected his wife's wishes during her life, but reconsidered his position following her death and was later convinced to appoint Lyudmilla, who was popular among artists and the intelligentsia, as the vice-chairperson on the consultative committee for friendship and cultural diplomacy. After Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev took power in 1985, the BCP underwent political and economic liberalization, which promptly liquidated the party and dissolved the People's Republic of Bulgaria completely. This event did not have any lasting political consequences, as Strauss died only a week after the end of his visit, before any real discussion on the topic could be made.[39]. [59], In early 1998, a shifting power balance within the Bulgarian Socialist Party led to Zhivkov re-joining it, leading to a round of ovation by party members during a rally. Through its Kintex arms export enterprise, Bulgaria also engaged in covert military support activities, many of which were subsequently disclosed. He disputed the court's verdict and appealed it. [15], In the mid-1950s, Soviet-style centralised planning produced economic indicators showing that Bulgarians were returning to their prewar lifestyle in some respects: real wages increased 75%, consumption of meat, fruit, and vegetables increased markedly, medical facilities and doctors became available to more of the population, and in 1957 collective farm workers benefited from the first agricultural pension and welfare system in Eastern Europe. [52] The Central Committee fell into line two days later, calling for free elections in the spring and asking the National Assembly to delete the portions of the Constitution that enshrined the party's "leading role". The citizens of Pravets responded by erecting a heroic statue to Zhivkov which he duly had taken down, ostensibly to prevent a personality cult growing around him. [4] The demands for democratic reform which swept Eastern Europe in 1989 led Zhivkov to resign. In the mid-1960s an economic reform package was introduced, which allowed for farmers to freely sell their over-planned production. Todor Zhivkov, in full Todor Khristov Zhivkov, (born Sept. 7, 1911, Pravets, near Botevgrad, Bulg.died Aug. 5, 1998, Sofia, Bulg. In 1950, Zhivkov became a candidate member of the BCP Politburo, then led by Valko Chervenkov, leading to a full membership in 1951. Sociologic surveys have found that the average approval of Todor Zhivkov in the 2010s ranged from 41% to 55%, while disapproval ranged from 18% to 25%. On the other hand, entry required intellectual compromise, and refusal to compromise led to dismissal from the union and loss of all privileges. During World War II, Zhivkov participated in Bulgaria's resistance movement in the People's Liberation Insurgent Army. [31] Zhivkov therefore created Unified Secondary Polytechnical Schools (Edinni sredni politekhnicheski uchilishta, ESPU), in which all students would receive the same general education. What To Do With Communist Decay - NOEMA The result was a controversial monument that was both incredibly unique, and commonly understood as very ugly. Remembering Bulgaria's 'Palace Revolution' - Radio Free Europe/Radio The Younger, 'Home-Grown' Group Includes Zhivkov The other set of Bulgarian Communist leaders eagerto serve Stalin comprised a motley group. [54][55][56][57], A month after Zhivkov's death, one of the main prosecutors, Krasimir Zhekov, resigned from his position, citing his inability to get Zhivkov convicted of anything. [54][55][56][57], On 8 June 1993 he was found innocent on indictment 5. Having been among the first nations to market electronic calculators (the ELKA brand, since 1973) and digital watches (Elektronika, since 1975), in 1982 the country launched its Pravets personal computer (a near-"Apple II clone") for business and domestic use.
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