In mid-1973 political affairs and the administration of the country remained completely in the hands of the ruling circle of the Bulgarian Communist Party (Bulgarska Komunisticheska Partiya—BKP, see Glossary), headed by First Secretary Todor Zhivkov. Political power was exercised by him and by the few select officials in the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party, particularly those who were members of the Politburo and the Secretariat. The extent of such power was best described by Vulko Chervenkov, onetime premier and Politburo member, who declared that "no institution, organization, or person can be above the Politburo and the Central Committee." This statement, made in the early 1950s, continues to be the cardinal rule of communist power in Bulgaria.

Retention of power by the party was ensured through its absolute control of governmental machinery and of all organized activities. Virtually every important government post was held by a high-ranking party member. First Secretary Zhivkov, for example, was also president of the State Council, the leading government body, which made him the top man in both party and government. In addition to the interlocking of government and party posts at all levels, it was also customary for the top officers of mass organizations to be members of the party hierarchy. The continued existence of a second political party, the Bulgarian Agrarian Union (Bulgarski Zemedelski Suyuz—BZS), did not encroach on the monopolization of political power by the BKP because the prerogatives of the union had been curtailed to the point where it had become an auxiliary of the BKP rather than a competitor. Any opposition to the ruling elite had come from within the party rather than from outside organizations. As recently as 1965 an abortive attempt to overthrow Zhivkov was made, but this was the result of intraparty factionalism rather than antiparty opposition. Zhivkov managed to avert the attempted coup d'etat and afterward strengthened his power base within the party.

At the helm of the party for nineteen years, Zhivkov, despite occasional intraparty struggle and friction, remained the undisputed leader and, as such, he maintained very close relations with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and with the Soviet government. On the one hand the close Bulgarian-Soviet relationship has been interpreted by Marxist theoreticians as the application of "proletarian internationalism"—a theory that contends that proletarian unity is "historically the higher right than that of national self-determination." On the other hand, many observers of Bulgarian-Soviet relations maintain that the nature of the unequal alliance stems not only from historical and cultural affiliations as well as political and ideological identification but, more important, from Zhivkov's need for strong Soviet support.

At the Tenth Party Congress in 1971 Zhivkov reiterated the necessity for close ties with the Soviet Union and introduced a five-year economic plan that continued the long emphasis on heavy industry. The congress reelected the Politburo, despite the advanced ages of some of the members and their demonstrated concern for maintaining the status quo at a time when the changes necessary to transform Bulgaria into a modern industrial country have placed new demands on old methods and institutions. Success or failure of the Communists' ongoing efforts to industrialize, modernize, and communize the country depends on the adaptability of the leadership and the political institutions to meet the challenges of the 1970s.

MAJOR POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS, 1965-71

After discovery of the plot to overthrow him in April 1965, Zhivkov took steps to secure his position and to prevent future conspiracies. Because the threat to his regime had come mainly from the army, Zhivkov and his minister of defense often spoke to assemblies of military officers to explain party policies and to assuage dissident feelings within military ranks. In addition, state security functions were realigned in an attempt to tighten the system in order that such conspiracies would not be able to germinate in the future. The Ministry of the Interior lost its responsibility for security to the newly created Committee of State Security, which was under the direct supervision of Zhivkov in his position as premier. Later, in 1968, the Committee of State Security and the Ministry of the Interior were again merged under the latter's title.

After the abortive plot against him, Zhivkov offered some reforms to placate disgruntled elements and to avoid a repetition of the incident. Although the principal plotters were imprisoned, Zhivkov's reaction to the conspiracy was one of general appeasement. This policy of appeasement was shown by the fact that no general purges took place and that people who could have been suspected of dissident activity were allowed to remain in positions of authority in the party and in the government rather than being summarily swept aside. The programs of liberal reform that had been implemented before, but interrupted by, the 1965 plot were resumed, and Bulgaria seemed to be reaching for a national destiny rather than accepting the role of a Soviet puppet. The reforms affected all fields—political, economic, and cultural—and for a time it seemed that the abortive coup d'etat had given new impetus to Bulgarian national interests.

The promise of reform appeared to be the focal point around which the Ninth Party Congress was convened in 1966, and at the congress party leaders underscored the need for the widest participation in the democratic process. Reforms, however, fell victim to the conservatism of older party leaders, and Zhivkov did not have the personal strength or magnetism to push forward his program. The ninth congress ended with the reelection of the essentially reactionary Politburo and a reaffirmation of the status quo. The bright hopes for economic, political, and social progress that had been evident in late 1965 and early 1966 collapsed in a return of rigid ideological dogma and a firm reliance on Soviet rather than Bulgarian initiatives.

The failure of the ninth congress to rejuvenate the party hierarchy and to chart a reform course for the future had repercussions throughout Bulgarian society. Initiatives in foreign affairs that had been taken in 1965 and 1966 foundered in the retrenchment into party orthodoxy. Negotiations that had begun with Western European countries as well as with Balkan neighbors bore no fruit as the Zhivkov government failed to follow up earlier moves toward better relations. Even more detrimental to Balkan relations was Bulgarian participation in the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia, which Yugoslavia and Romania strongly opposed. In the cultural area the party tightened its controls over creative artists and reorganized the Committee on Art and Culture to better serve the needs of the government. The First Congress of Culture, held in 1967, emphasized the constructive role of culture in society and called for an intensification of anti-Western propaganda in order to counter the dangerous influence of so-called bourgeois culture.

There was also great concern among party leaders about the so-called nihilistic attitude of the country's young people. In December 1967 Zhivkov published his "Youth Theses" in an attempt to counter what the party considered to be dangerous apathy on the part of Bulgarian youth. Zhivkov's theses initiated some institutional reforms that dealt heavily with patriotic education in an attempt to instill some national pride in the young people, but about a year later patriotic education was deemphasized. Evidently the program had aroused strong feelings of nationalism that interfered with the pro-Soviet attitudes that have been characteristic of Zhivkov's government. After publication of the "Youth Theses," all youth activities came under the aegis of the Dimitrov Communist Youth Union (Dimitrovski Komunisticheski Mladezhki Suyuz), referred to as Komsomol, which is the junior auxiliary of the BKP. The moves to politicize young people failed to arouse any widespread interest, and in the early 1970s Bulgarian youth remained essentially apolitical and apathetic.

In the economic sector the BKP blueprint for reform commonly referred to as the New Economic Model offered innovations in decentralized decisionmaking that delegated more responsibilities to public and state organizations on the lower level as well as to individual enterprises. The attention given to economic reform at the time—late 1965—was motivated not only by Zhivkov's need to shore up his own political position after the attempted coup but probably more so by the examples of new economic programs that were sweeping the Eastern European communist countries and the Soviet Union. More important than the liberal reforms for decentralized management of the economy was the decision to allow planning from the bottom to the top. From the time of the enactment in 1965 up to about 1968 there were definite signs of change. The July plenum of the BKP Central Committee in 1968, however, formalized a number of changes that called for considerable reduction in the autonomy of the existing public and state organizations, thus setting aside the entire economic reform program. After the July plenum and another in November 1968, a reorganization of state enterprises took place in line with the new centralization policy.

During the remainder of the 1960s and into the early 1970s, Zhivkov's position remained stable, and there were no overt threats to his regime such as the 1965 plot to overthrow him. In 1969 and again in 1970 agreements were signed in Moscow that tied the Bulgarian economy even closer to that of the Soviet Union. Bulgaria's position, or more precisely the BKP's position, on relations with the Soviet Union was summed up in a statement made by Zhivkov just before the Tenth Party Congress in 1971: "The fraternal friendship and cooperation of the Bulgarian Communist Party with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the ever broader and deeper alignment of Bulgaria with the Soviet Union will remain the immovable cornerstone of the entire work and the domestic and foreign policy of our party."

At the Tenth Party Congress, which was attended by General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, there were no startling changes either in party policy or in high-ranking personnel assignments. The same Politburo, with an average age of sixty-three, was returned to office, and the party program promised no alteration in the heavily centralized, pro-Soviet policies that had marked most of Zhivkov's tenure. A new constitution was proposed by the party and later adopted by the government and, although some institutional changes were made—for example, creation of the State Council as a collective executive branch of government—the absolute supremacy of the BKP over every aspect of Bulgarian life was in no way diminished. On the contrary, the power of the top leadership was probably enhanced along with its ability to perpetuate itself in office.

THE BULGARIAN COMMUNIST PARTY

Organization

Party statutes define the organization, membership, and program of the BKP. A statute promulgated during the Sixth Party Congress in 1954 proclaimed the party to be an "inseparable part of the world communist front" and acknowledged the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as the leading political force within the communist bloc countries. Later party statutes refined the basic document but did not change the premise that the BKP looks to the Soviet party for leadership.

Central to the observance of basic communist policy is adherence to the principles of democratic centralism. Patterned after the Soviet model, these principles call for a pyramidal form of command responsibility in which lower party organs are subordinated to the next higher body. This also means that decisions of higher bodies bind those below, individually and collectively. Party policy and practice encourage open discussion of issues during meetings of local party units as well as during conferences and congresses at higher levels; however, party discipline requires unitary action after a decision has been reached by the hierarchy.

The party hierarchy is composed of the Politburo, the Secretariat and, to some extent, the Central Committee, the membership of which interlock as one man may occupy two or more positions at any given time. Theoretically occupying the apex of power is the congress of the party that is held every five years, following the example of Soviet party congresses. The congress is made up of delegates from various party units on the basis of proportional representation of party members. The main statutory functions of the congress include revising or amending party statutes, deciding party policy, electing the Central Committee, and receiving reports concerning past progress and future plans. It is customary for major governmental programs or reforms to be presented to a party congress before promulgation. The Tenth Party Congress, for example, listened to readings of the draft of a new constitution and the Sixth Five-Year Plan (1971-75) and approved both unanimously. Actually, the purpose of a congress is to demonstrate unanimity and accord. The size of the congress (1,553 delegates in 1971) and the fact that it meets only at five-year intervals preclude carrying out its statutory role as a deliberative and policymaking body. Public politicking or wrangling by delegates to a party congress would be unprecedented.

Because the party congress meets so infrequently, it delegates its functions to the Central Committee that it elects. Election of Central Committee members is also a pro forma action wherein the congress unanimously approves the list of names provided by the party leadership. The Central Committee is a large working party organ, which in 1973 included 147 members and 110 candidate (nonvoting) members. The committee is charged with the administration of party work between sessions of the congress and the implementation of party policies presented by the leadership. For the performance of its duties, the Central Committee has fourteen permanently operating departments and six schools and institutes, the latter ostensibly to promote political educational goals. As set forth in party statutes, plenary sessions of the committee are to be held at least twice a year, and special sessions may be called from time to time.

Within the Central Committee sits the nine-man permanent Secretariat headed by the first secretary who, by party structure, is the most powerful man in the country. The Secretariat is elected by the Central Committee during the party congress, but the election, once again, is merely formal approval of the members already selected by the top party leadership. Since 1954 the position of first secretary has been continuously held by Zhivkov, who also heads the State Council and is therefore the head-of-state. In addition to the first secretary, six other secretaries and two members complete the composition of the Secretariat. The main function of the Secretariat is to supervise the implementation of party policy.

Sharing the center stage of political power with the Secretariat is the Politburo, elected by the Central Committee in the same manner as the Secretariat. In effect the Politburo is a self-perpetuating body, and any change in membership is dictated by the members themselves. Composed of eleven members and six candidate members, all Politburo members belong to the Central Committee. They provide collective political leadership in both party and government.

The Politburo is the policymaking and decisionmaking branch of the party. In theory the eleven members of the Politburo are equal, but in practice the party first secretary occupies the topmost position of power in the party and is therefore first among equals in the Politburo. Such is the concentration of political authority in the top bodies that multiplicity of membership by party officials in any or all of the central party organs is more the rule than the exception.

Membership

After the successful coup d'etat in September 1944, communist party membership grew with unprecedented speed. From prisons and internment camps and from self-exile abroad, party leaders began to converge in Sofia to restructure the party and to form a new government. Party members assisted by sympathizers helped fill the necessary manpower requirements as functionaries and working groups in the new coalition government. A period of intensive recruitment and propaganda followed that swelled the number of members from 15,000 to 250,000 in just four months. By the time the Fifth Party Congress convened in December 1948, party membership reached 500,000. This was in part due to the merger of the Social Democrats with the BKP in August 1948. In large part, however, Bulgaria's egalitarian peasant society—coupled with indiscriminate recruitment using hardly any criteria for qualification—produced a predominantly peasant membership. Workers accounted for slightly over one-fourth of the total membership as compared to one-half made up of peasants.

Ironically, the intense campaign for new members was accompanied by wide-scale purges within the party during a power struggle between the Stalin faction and the home faction of the BKP. Led by Chervenkov, the Moscow-oriented leaders succeeded in getting rid of their political opponents and soon after established a Stalinist kind of government in the country. Observers noted that this was aimed not only at weeding out undesirable party elements but, more important, at increasing the number of workers and consequently achieving a numerical balance with the peasant members.

Once in full control of the party and government, the BKP hierarchy turned its attention to more systematic methods of recruitment. By the time the Eighth Party Congress convened in November 1962, the BKP had 528,674 members plus 22,413 candidates. It was also at about this time that the Zhivkov government relaxed the open police terror and pardoned 6,000 political prisoners, most of them Communists.

The Ninth Party Congress, held in November 1966, provided new regulations concerning party composition and acceptance of new members. Qualifications of candidates had to be checked thoroughly, and only those qualified could be accepted. Education as the main criterion of selection was emphasized among target groups of workers, peasants, specialists, women, and young people. As a result of this improved recruitment procedure, the new members after the congress were 44.3 percent blue-collar workers and 32 percent women. Of this group, it was estimated that 60.4 percent had at least a secondary education.

It was reported by the Secretariat that district (okrug) party committees after the Ninth Party Congress showed improvement in "content, style and methods of their work," and that they understood better the political approach in guiding local economic tasks as well as leading primary party organs in the political and organization work of their constituencies. Furthermore, over 77 percent of full-time secretaries of local party committees and about 90 percent of chairmen of cooperative farms had higher or secondary education. Formal training as well as in-service education was given serious attention. Educational training for party members includes two-year university courses, short courses, seminars, informal meetings, and conferences of local party committees.

Statistics reported in 1971 showed that 25.2 percent of about 700,000 members of the BKP were women. Increasingly more important positions were assigned to women in the party hierarchy. In the same period (1971) there was a woman member of the Politburo, several women members of the Central Committee, and two women ministers. Not only were women active in party activities, but they could also be found in boards of management of government enterprises.

Party Congresses

Party statutes formerly stipulated that congresses would be held every four years, but a decision was made to extend the interval to five years after the Communist Party of the Soviet Union had made the same change. Decisions of the congresses appear as party statutes that usually reflect the desires of the leadership and the circumstances that necessitated the additions, deletions, or amendments to already existing statutes. The most important innovations embodied in BKP statutes emerged from congresses beginning with the Sixth Party Congress, held in 1954, and continuing through the Tenth Party Congress, held in 1971.

The Sixth Party Congress abolished the position of general secretary and in its place created the post of first secretary, again following the lead of the Soviet party, which had done the same thing after Stalin's death a year earlier. Party leader Chervenkov, who was premier and a Politburo member, kept those posts and allowed the election of Zhivkov as first secretary. Zhivkov was then an unknown functionary who had risen from the ranks of the Sofia party structure. Aside from the usual exhortation for party unity and the changes in six Politburo positions as well as an increase in Central Committee membership, the Sixth Party Congress was uneventful. Zhivkov's rise to power did not take place immediately, and a period of intraparty struggle ensued as he gradually consolidated his authority as first secretary.

The Seventh Party Congress, held in June 1958, proved even more uneventful. It passed the Third Five-Year Plan for the development of the economy, the fulfillment of which was drastically reduced to three years even before the ink was dry on the document. With Central Committee approval, new plans for economic targets were prepared; meanwhile, Zhivkov prepared an elaborate propaganda campaign to push this program through. Zhivkov's Theses, as the collection of instructions have come to be known, advocated increased cultivation and production in agriculture and industry to obtain yields that were double those of previous plans. An unprecedented flurry of activity followed on the heels of extensive media coverage. Aided by the press, the Agitation and Propaganda Department under the Central Committee's direct supervision launched a vast campaign that surpassed even those efforts in neighboring countries.

This period is characteristically known as Bulgaria's Great Leap Forward, patterned after the Chinese experience, and historians put forth political and economic motives for such an economic experiment. Politically, after Nikita Khrushchev started his de-Stalinization policy in the Soviet Union, the Bulgarian repercussion was evident in Chervenkov's disenchantment with the Soviet trauma and his looking favorably instead toward the Chinese example. The Great Leap Forward was neither a spectacular success nor a dismal failure and achieved no more than the expected progress in three year's time. The ensuing period marked a return to earlier patterns and heralded the end of Chervenkov's political career and the concurrent elevation of Zhivkov. The election of Zhivkov's friends—Stanko Todorov and Mitko Grigorov—to full membership in the Politburo gave him added support. Khrushchev's visit as the head of a large Soviet government delegation did not hurt Zhivkov but rather gave convincing proof of Khrushchev's support of the Bulgarian first secretary. Anton Yugov was premier at this time, but it was not long before he too was purged, the final blow coming only hours before the start of the Eighth Party Congress.

The Eighth Party Congress in 1962 marked the end of the open opposition to Zhivkov's leadership. With Chervenkov and Yugov out, Zhivkov was in full control. A month earlier, in October 1962, a special plenum of the Central Committee announced Zhivkov's assumption of government power as premier while retaining the first secretaryship of the party. In the economic sector, the Twenty-Year Plan of Economic Development—patterned on that of the Soviet Union—had been passed. It featured more realistic goals in contradistinction to its predecessor. As usual, heavy industrial priorities ranked high in the development plan.

In November 1966 the Ninth Party Congress was held in Sofia. During the deliberations changes were made within the Politburo whereby Zhivkov's former protÉgÉ, Grigorov, was dropped from membership without an explanation and Todor Pavlov, a theoretician of Marxism, and Tsola Dragoycheva, head of the National Council of the Fatherland Front, were added as full members. Boyan Bulgaranov and Ivan Mihailov, both older party members, were retained—a move that indicated the influence of older functionaries over young potential leaders. Economically, the congress supported principles of new management, tying political progress with economic advancement.

Collectively the aforementioned congresses accomplished little. On the contrary the 1971 congress introduced considerable changes in the sociopolitical and socioeconomic patterns of growth—among them the drafting and adoption of a new constitution (see ch. 8).

Tenth Party Congress

Whatever political changes are visible in Bulgaria are the result of the Tenth Party Congress held in Sofia from April 20 to April 24, 1971. It was attended by 1,553 delegates representing roughly 700,000 party members, a ratio of about one delegate for every 450 members. Additionally, foreign representatives from eighty-nine countries were on hand. Leading the Soviet delegation were Brezhnev, general secretary of the Soviet party, and four other high-ranking officials.

As is customary, Zhivkov opened the congress with his usual state-of-the-nation address, extolling Bulgarian-Soviet ties and stressing friendship between the two countries. Included in the agenda were the adoption of a new five-year economic plan; discussion and adoption of the new party program; discussion and approval of the new constitution; the election of party members to the Central Committee, Politburo, and Secretariat; and a change in party statutes calling for a congress every five years instead of four.

The central theme of the party congress revolved around the concern or "care for man." To this end resolutions were passed during the deliberations purportedly giving "everything for the sake of man; everything for the good of man." A separate report on the subject also emphasized the need for improving the economic plight of the people. By the time the resolutions and directives were being implemented, however, noticeable variations in interpretation and emphasis had taken place. For example, the draft directives for the Sixth Five-Year Plan showed projection of industrial production that went up by 60 percent, whereas production of consumer goods was projected to increase by only 50 percent.

Special attention was given to the areas of education and culture by the Tenth Party Congress. Zhivkov underscored the need to close the educational gap between workers and peasants, who often had no more than an elementary education, and the intelligentsia and white-collar professionals, who had attained the secondary level and more often had gone on to higher education.

Far more significant changes in party statutes took place in the area of governmental operations. With the adoption of a new constitution, modified structural arrangements were worked out, the most important of which was the creation of the powerful State Council of the National Assembly; the council's functions are not entirely dissimilar to, but greater than, the presidium that it replaced (see ch. 8).

The composition of the new Politburo and Secretariat remained essentially the same. The congress seemed anxious to demonstrate unity by stressing continuity of tenure for its senior members. All of the eleven Politburo full members elected in 1966 were reelected in 1971; four were over age seventy, and the youngest was fifty years old. All Politburo members except one had been with the party since before September 9, 1944. Some Western observers wondered whether the retention of the entire old guard signified stability or exemplified stagnation. At a time when observers were expecting an infusion of new blood into the hierarchy, the leaders chose the status quo. Zhivkov, in his closing speech, seemingly aware that the political conservatism of the old ruling elite left something to be desired, maintained that "the communist is ... an official up to a certain age; but he never ceases to educate, to inspire, to unite, and to organize the masses." In effect he apologized for retaining the same old membership in the hierarchy.

THE BULGARIAN AGRARIAN UNION

The egalitarian character of Bulgaria's society derives from its basically agricultural economy. Its peasant organization—the Bulgarian Agrarian Union (Bulgarski Zemedelski Suyuz—BZS) was formed as early as 1899, making it one of the oldest agrarian organizations in Europe. Founded to promote the well-being and educational advancement of its members, it developed into a political party and a powerful machine that in the 1920s became the governing party under Alexander Stambolisky. After Stambolisky's government was overthrown in 1923, it did not rise to power again. The party split in 1931, and in 1942 the radical half of the party, known as the Pladne (the name of their newspaper) faction, joined the BKP in the Fatherland Front coalition.

The BZS in the early 1970s was a secondary political party subservient to, and controlled by, the BKP. Its membership was reported to be 120,000, of which 80,000 were cooperative farmers and approximately 15,000 were active militants in government jobs. It has a more simplified party hierarchy, being governed by an executive council elected by delegates of its congress, which meets every four years. The Executive Council—corresponding to the BKP Central Committee—is composed of ninety-nine members and forty-seven alternate members. From among them are elected members of the Standing Committee, comparable to the Politburo of the BKP, which directs the entire activity of the BZS. The Standing Committee derives its authority from the Executive Council and reports to it.

Assisting the Executive Council is the Auditing Commission, which oversees the financial accounts of the BZS. Another leading central organ of long historical tradition is the Supreme Council. It is not as large as the congress, but it is important enough to make policy decisions affecting the great mass of agrarian rank and file. It consists of all members and alternates of the Executive Council, members of various commissions, and all the chairmen of district committees.

There are twenty-eight district committees; 1,027 village committees; and 3,848 local branches of the BZS below the national level. Jurisdictionally, they all follow an orderly system of organization whereby lower organs fall under the supervision and control of higher organs, and all fall under the final jurisdiction of the BKP agencies above them.

The preamble of the 1971 Constitution recognizes the existence of the BZS as united in "purpose and action" with the BKP in the establishment and development of the People's Republic of Bulgaria. In keeping with this pledge, the BZS leadership and prominent members are elected to, and in some cases appointed to, important bodies of state administration through all levels of the government. There was an increase in the number of BZS members elected to public office in the general elections that followed the BKP congress in 1971. It appeared that the Communists had decided during their congress to broaden the base of representation by including more BZS members in the government as well as more members from various mass organizations and the Turkish minority. Regardless of affiliation, all candidates for office are carefully screened by the BKP, and after election all officials are under the control of the BKP.

Of the national officials in January 1973, Georgi Traykov, leader of the BZS, was one of two first deputy chairmen of the Fatherland Front. Earlier, he had been released as chairman of the National Assembly, which approved his nomination to the State Council, a move that was politically expedient in the view of Zhivkov to establish a "closer relationship ... between the State Council and the National Council of the Fatherland Front."

During the Thirty-Second Congress of the BZS, held in Sofia in October 1971, the presence of high-ranking BKP Politburo members as well as foreign delegates was very much evident. Boris Velchev, Politburo member and secretary of the Central Committee, delivered a speech praising the work of the BZS in its partnership with BKP in all aspects of Bulgaria's socialist development. Domestically, BZS was lauded for its efforts in the technological progress in agriculture resulting in the production of large quantities of cheap produce. BZS members were also praised as good machine operators in factories and as "innovators and frontrankers in field brigades and livestock farms."

Internationally, the BZS maintains contacts with dozens of agrarian and related organizations in various countries. As diplomats, national officials among the BZS leaders had demonstrated exceptional ability in foreign relations, especially where the regular high-ranking BKP representatives had been found less acceptable.

MASS ORGANIZATIONS

Mass organizations are auxiliaries of the BKP through which the party hierarchy exerts control over the bulk of the population. Established to serve the immediate interests of a particular class of workers or professionals, mass organizations work as transmission belts for the administration of party policies and the achievement of party goals. Most, if not all, of their chairmen are trusted and loyal BKP members.

The right to form organizations for any purpose not contrary to public law and national security is guaranteed in the constitution. These organizations may be political, professional, cultural, artistic, scientific, religious, or athletic. Furthermore, unions and other associations may be formed within public organizations and cooperatives. In all cases the guidelines set by the BKP for the development of a socialist state impose limitations on the operations of mass organizations. Recognition of the BKP as the leading political party and the subservience of all other organizations is clearly understood. The most important mass organizations are the Fatherland Front, the Central Council of Trade Unions, and the Komsomol and its affiliate Pioneer organization.

Fatherland Front

The Fatherland Front grew out of the internal dissension between the government and various political parties, in particular, the pro-Soviet elements who objected to the alliance with Nazi Germany. In March 1942 the government launched repressive measures in an attempt to immobilize communist activities. Working with a group of exiled Bulgarian leaders in Moscow, Georgi Dimitrov, former secretary-general of the Communist International (Comintern), urged action against the country's rulers, "who have sold themselves to Hitler." As conceived by Dimitrov, the program of the Fatherland Front aimed not only to bring down the "Hitlerite" regime and consequently establish a "true Bulgarian national regime" but also to declare Bulgaria neutral and dissolve its alliance with Germany.

Established in 1942, the Fatherland Front operated underground under communist leadership but also included other political parties. Cooperation among these political parties, however, did not take place without problems, mainly because each one espoused its own particular interests and viewed the BKP with suspicion. Leaders of each party worked as members of the National Committee (later known as the National Council) of the Fatherland Front. It was from within the Fatherland Front movement that the coup d'etat of September 1944 took place, the result of which was a coalition government.

When the Communists took full control of the government and dissolved the coalition, they retained the Fatherland Front as an umbrella organization. The BKP, of course, is the leading force within the front, which also includes the Bulgarian Agrarian Union and several other organizations. In effect the Fatherland Front is an instrument of the party through which most of the country's organized activities are controlled and supervised. Some of the tasks relegated to the front include the nomination and discussion of candidates for election to central and local bodies of state authority; the right to supervise the activities of enterprises, institutions, and organizations operating public utilities and services; and the right to supervise activities of workers and professionals to ensure conformance to party line and policy.In 1973 the Fatherland Front continued to be a large mass organization working fully for and with the BKP. Available statistics showed a membership of 3.86 million in July 1970, of which 3.1 million were nonparty members. It included both individual members and collective groups—mainly trade unions and youth organizations.

Central Council of Trade Unions

Trade unions are workers' and professionals' organizations—the function, role, and responsibility of which echo the economic directives and decrees of the BKP. With the abolition of capitalist ownership declared by the Fifth Party Congress in December 1948, the structure and activities of trade unions changed to conform to the party's management of the economy as the vanguard of the state in its socialist development. Since then the Bulgarian trade unions have been reliable mainstays and faithful transmission belts of BKP policies among the working masses. Thirteen individual trade unions unite to form the Central Council of Trade Unions, which accepts the leading role of the BKP in all Bulgarian affairs. In 1973 total membership in the central council was about 2.6 million.

Following the principle of democratic centralism, all trade union officials are elected from bottom to top but, following the pattern set by the BKP, all candidates for union offices are carefully screened and selected by officials at higher levels. Each trade union local is the basic organization unit at a factory or business enterprise, and there is an ascending hierarchical structure based on territorial organization. At the district level there is a district trade union that reports to the central organization. Theoretically, the trade unions are independent and nonparty, but they are organized hierarchically, and their activities are closely monitored and controlled by the BKP. In effect, the trade unions look after the interests of the state rather than the interests of the workers. To ensure party control there is an interlocking of positions in the highest realms of the unions, the government, and the party. For example, the chairman of the Central Council of Trade Unions in 1973 was also a member of the State Council of the National Assembly as well as being a candidate member of the Politburo. At lower levels many district and local trade union executives are also members of the district and communal people's councils. Under this arrangement the unions take a direct part in the management of state affairs—such as labor and labor legislation, recreational activities, workers' sports, and so forth.

Dimitrov Communist Youth Union

Young prospective members of the BKP come from the Dimitrov Communist Youth Union (Dimitrovski Komunisticheski Mladezhki Suyuz), also referred to as the Komsomol. Established as the youth's counterpart of the BKP, it is organized much as the parent structure, having a secretariat of nine members headed by a first secretary and a bureau of seventeen members and five candidate members that is comparable to the party Politburo. The Komsomol is under the leadership of party committees and is supported by the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Bulgarian Red Cross, and the Civil Defense Staff in interlocking roles of authority and supervision. Founded as a sociopolitical organization to train the youth in the ideological principles and goals of the BKP, the Komsomol also serves as a source of manpower reserve in government and as an instrument for the application of party policies and directives. In the early 1970s membership was about 1 million (see ch. 2; ch. 15).

Despite all the attention given to youth affairs, alienation of young people manifests itself in many different ways. There were no tangible signs of protest such as outward demonstrations, mass rallies, or disruptions during congresses, plenums, annual meetings, or regional conferences to show this alienation. But the negative attitude and sagging interest in political indoctrination and economic activities increasingly worries party leaders. The ideological and political gap between generations prompted the administration to prepare and publish Zhivkov's "Youth Theses" in December 1967. This work is basically an inspirational treatise to counter what Zhivkov averred was national nihilism among the youth, characterized by apathy, absence of discipline, improper family upbringing, misdirected school discipline, and ill-prepared Komsomol programs, among other things. The theses also deplored the "degenerate influences" of capitalist society that were evident in conspicuous material consumption in food and beverages, dress, music and dance, and social mobility brought about by bourgeois affluence.

In an effort to bring the youth back into line, the theses emphasized patriotic political education within a Marxist-Leninist frame of reference, defined the duties and privileges of the young people, and finally directed the reorganization of the Komsomol under closer party supervision. The initial reaction to the theses was one of increasing passivity.

In another effort to court the Komsomol-age group, political speeches openly lauding the youth union as the instrument for the realization of the technological and scientific as well as the military technical training of young people and their patriotic education have been resorted to. Further, in extolling the work and importance of the youth union to the all-round development of Bulgarian socialist society, Zhivkov also enjoined the youth to implement the Sixth Five-Year Plan of the BKP.

The organization for Bulgarian children still too young for the Komsomol is the Pioneers, also known as Young Septembrists to commemorate two September events in Bulgarian political history—the abortive communist coup d'etat in 1923 and the successful overthrow of the monarchy in 1944. The Pioneer organization is composed of children of elementary school age. It is structured like the Komsomol and operates as its junior division. A special division within the Komsomol National Central Committee oversees the affairs and work of the Pioneers. Lower committees at the district and municipality levels are directed by the soviets for working with students, which are charged with youth work in their respective territorial jurisdictions. Each district has a Pioneer battalion that is divided into companies corresponding to school classes and further subdivided into classroom rows, the lowest unit of Pioneer organization. The chain of command flows from the central committee and reaches down to the youngest member of the organization living in the remotest part of the country. The content of academic curriculum and party training is generally in accord with the ability levels of the children.

Committee of Bulgarian Women

There is no mass organization, as such, for Bulgarian women. The Committee of Bulgarian Women, with a membership of 171 in 1973, is a group dedicated to looking after the affairs of women in the country, whether they be workers or housewives. The Constitution of 1971 guarantees to Bulgarian women the enjoyment of equal rights with men. In the complex structure of the BKP-controlled government, recognition of women as a significant working force in the socialist movement is given great attention. An earlier provision contained in the 1947 Constitution, known as the Dimitrov Constitution, similarly guarantees the "right to work, equal pay for equal work," and the attendant benefits, such as paid leave, social security, retirement pension, and education.

Bulgarian women have become active participants in the political process under communist rule. As noted earlier, 25.2 percent of BKP members in 1971 were women, and there was one woman in the Politburo. There were 7,000 women members of the BZS and almost half of the Komsomol members were women (500,000); the same is true for the Fatherland Front, and women made up 41.2 percent of the trade unions. In the unions of writers, composers, artists, and actors women are also active. Most teachers are women. They represented 67.7 percent of the Teachers Union.

The women's movement was active on a nationwide scale. On the initiative of the Committee of Bulgarian Women, a plan for the development of science and technical progress including the study of the social role of women was presented to the presidium of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Another suggestion by the same women's group called for the study of conditions defining women's role as "mothers, production workers and public activists."

In the report to the plenary session of the party Central Committee in July 1968, Zhivkov outlined the functions of the Committee of Bulgarian Women. These included the coordination of state and administrative organs in research institutes that studied the role of women in society. Henceforth, according to Zhivkov, the Central Committee of the BKP would receive reports on such research and would be directly concerned with matters concerning Bulgarian women.

Ideological Training

How mass organizations relate to BKP party directives, orders, and decrees is best illustrated in the area of political education and indoctrination. The National Conference on Party Propaganda was held in April 1970 and sponsored by the Agitation and Propaganda Department of the Central Committee and by the district party committees. During the conference one of the district secretaries detailed some aspects of a three-stage system that is being applied.

The three-stage structure corresponds to the educational level as well as to the political training and age of students. Schools in the higher level of various district party committees and branches of the mass organizations train administrative personnel, intellectuals, and party activists. Training on this level includes theoretical seminars and study groups. For intermediate personnel, including employees with a secondary education, there are schools and institutes giving lectures and talks on Leninism. A more elementary form of mass propaganda is given to people with less training in theoretical political ideology; people of advanced age fall also into this category. Political education for this group consists of lectures in beginners' schools. Compulsory subjects in primary party organizations are also discussed during education sessions at party meetings. Except for Sofia, which has a high rate of literacy, most districts employ this three-stage system of political education. It is estimated that 60 percent of Communists in Sofia have at least a high school education; many have college degrees in contrast to some outlying districts where a large percentage of the Communists have only an elementary education.

The three-stage system is also used for training newly inducted Communists as well as youth groups. It was reported during the conference that approximately 900 of the best party propagandists have been sent to Komsomol organizations to train youth in the party school system. Within the Komsomol there is evident need for considerable changes in the training of youth in the system of political education, designed to bring the youth closer to the practice of the principles of Marxism-Leninism.