SOCIALIST STATE IN BULGARIA: INTRODUCTORY SURVEY

Extending southwards from the Danube and westward from the Black Sea, Bulgaria occupies a key position in the eastern Balkans, adjacent to Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey. Like Greece and Yugoslavia, the country includes portions of historic Macedonia, and tensions with neighboring states have long existed because of the Bulgarian tendency to consider all Slavic -speaking Macedonians as ethnic Bulgarians; more than 88 percent of Bulgaria's population is so classified, with a sizable minority (about 9 percent) of Turks and scattered groups of gypsies and Romanians. The predominant language is Bulgarian, a component of the southern Slavic language group. Religious observances are discouraged, but the principal faith remains that of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, with small percentages of the other Christians, Muslims and Jews,

Traditionally an agricultural country, Bulgaria has industrialized since World War II under a series of five-year plans; as a result, machine building, ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, textile manufacturing and agricultural processing have grown in importance. In 1979, following the example of Hungary, the government introduced a "New Economic Mechanism" (NEM) in agriculture that was extended the following year to industry, transport and tourism. A distinct departure from the Soviet model of economic organization, which had been rigorously followed for over a decade, the NEM has emphasized decentralized decision making, accountability on the part of state enterprise and the gradual elimination of subsidies for non-self-supporting operations. Early results of the policy were encouraging, with industrial output increasing by more than 4 percent in both 1982 and 1983, although major reverses in 1985 contributed to a series of structural economic reforms in early 1986, most of which were themselves substantially revised in the late 1987. Bulgaria, however, remained highly dependent upon the Soviet Union which took 60 percent of its exports, with another 20 percent going to the other members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA).

As a historical background, Bulgarian kingdoms existed in the Balkan Peninsula during the Middle Ages, but the Ottoman Turks ruled there for 500 years prior to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, and full independence was achieved only with the proclamation of the Bulgarian Kingdom in 1908. Long-standing territorial ambitions led to Bulgarian participation on the losing side in the Second Balkan War and in both World Wars. Talks aimed at Bulgaria's withdrawal from World War II were interrupted on 5 September 1944 by a Soviet declaration of war, followed by the establishment four days later of a Communist-inspired "Fatherland Front" government. The monarchy was rejected by a 92 percent majority in a referendum held 8 September 1946, and a "People's Republic" was formally established on 4 December 1947., under the premiership of the "father of Bulgarian Communism", Georgi Dimitrov, who died in 1949. Communist rule was consolidated under the successive leadership of Vulko Chervenkov and Anton Yugov. Since 1954 Todor Zhivkov, occupying various positions within the government and party hierarchies, has maintained his status as Bulgaria's leader while continuing the pro-Soviet policies instituted by his predecessors.

In the wake of what reporters termed "an unusual absence of warmth" between Zhivkov and Soviet party chief Gorbachev during a meeting at Belgrade in October 1985, there were rumors that the 74-year-old Bulgarian leader might step down at the XIIIth Party Congress in April 1986. Instead, Zhivkov embarked on a major "rejuvenation" of leading government and party posts, beginning in late January. Two older Politburo members were dropped and Georgi Atanasov, therefore a candidate member, was elevated to a full status and named to succeed Georgi Filipov as premier on 21 March. Subsequently, a number of economic ministries were abolished and replaced by government corporations reporting to an umbrella "Council for Economic Affairs"; less than two years later, the Economic Council and three sister "super ministries", together with several other bodies (including the "State Planning Commission"), were scrapped in an even more drastic reorganization plot.

Under the 1971 constitution the Presidium of the National Assembly was replaced by a Council of State, most of whose members were drawn from the Communist Party. The Council president was party general secretary Todor Zhivkov, who thus held the highest position in both state and party organizations. Legislative authority was vested in the National Assembly, which sat for a five-year term and nominally elected the Council of State and the Council of Ministers. The Assembly met at least three times a year but served primarily to ratify decisions made by other state and party bodies. The judicial system was headed by a Supreme Court and a chief prosecutor (attorney general). Charged with governing the behavior of all lower courts, the Supreme Court was elected by the National Assembly; local courts included lay assessors as well as judges. The chief prosecutor, elected by the National Assembly for a five-year term, was responsible for ensuring the lawful behavior of all citizens, including government officials, and appointed and discharged all other prosecutors.

Bulgaria's close alignment with the Soviet Union in foreign policy reflected not only the two countries' economic and ideological ties but also a traditional friendship stemming from Russian assistance in Bulgarian independence struggles. Fidelity to Soviet policy has characterized Bulgarian participation in the United Nations, the CMEA and the Warsaw Treaty Organization. Indicatively, its ambassador to the USSR was accorded ministerial status. In January 1977 Bulgaria's network of relations with West European governments was completed by an exchange of ambassadors with post-Franco Spain. While shunning contact with Beijing, Sofia has pursued close relations with North Korea, as evidenced by a visit to Bulgaria by Kim Il Sung in July 1984. Relations with Third World nations included strong trade links with Ethiopia, Libya, Nigeria and Yemen.

Bulgarian relations with Yugoslavia have been periodically complicated by a contention that all Macedonians (including those resident in Yugoslavia) are ethnically Bulgarian. Relations with Albania and Greece have improved constantly, with President Zhivkov calling in 1979 for full normalization of relations with Tirana and agreeing, during an April visit to Corfu, to participate in multilateral Balkan discussions on specific issues. Since 1982 Zhivkov has received support from Greece, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia for the concept of a Balkan "nuclear-free zone", which was discussed during a meeting at Athens in early 1984. Bulgarian-Turkish relations have fluctuated. Although under a ten-year agreement (1968-1978) Bulgaria permitted over 100 000 ethnic Turks to emigrate, efforts toward assimilation of ethnic Turks (reportedly including the forced adoption of Bulgarian names) have generated pronounced tension with Ankara. In early 1985 Turkey's ambassador to Sofia was recalled for consultation, while Prime Minister Turgut Yozal offered to reopen its borders to as many as 500 000 new immigrants. Sofia's official position was a scathing rejection of all "Turkish accusations", calling the Bulgarian Turks "a fictitious minority" and claiming that the name changes were merely those of Bulgarians voluntarily reversing a process mandated during Ottoman rule.

The extensive ministerial restructuring undertaken during the first half of 1986 came in the wake of highly adverse weather conditions in 1985 that contributed to a severe shortfall in plan fulfillment for the year and pointed up what were described as "failures in economic management and too much caution" in implementing the 1979 NEM. In May the National Assembly approved a series of measures intended to "totally liquidate the departmental structure and departmental work" of the government. Under the reform, four new bodies were established within the Council of Ministers: an Economic Council, an Agriculture and Forestry Council, a Social Council and a Council for Intellectual Development.

After a period of apparent hesitation following Mikhail Gorbachev's accession to power in the Soviet Union, President Zhivkov, acknowledging that the party had become "uncontrollably omnipotent" in some spheres, proposed an even more comprehensive restructuring in July 1987 that entailed abolition of the recently established Councils in favor of economic "self-management". Under the new plan, industrial enterprises would be accorded broad discretion in regard to production, sales, revenue distribution and local management. Central planning would continue, but the State Planning Commission (s well as state committees for prices, social and labor affairs, and science) would be dropped and the acceptance of plan requirements would be voluntary. Implementation of the program was to have been discussed at an extraordinary party conference in December. However, in October President Zhivkov was summoned to Moscow for talks with General Secretary Gorbachev, amid indications that the Soviets were alarmed at the projected pace of the reforms. Subsequent to Zhivkov's return, the Bulgarian press noticeably toned down its references to preustroistvo (the Bulgarian equivalent of the Russian perestroika, or "restructuring") and the party conference that eventually met on 28-29 January 1988, confined itself to endorsement of the party's "leading role" in providing for change, with no specifics being advanced. The retreat from preustroistvo was seemingly reinforced by dismissal from the party leadership in July 1988 of Politburo member Chudomir Aleksandrov and Central Committee secretary Stoyan Mikhailov, although there were reports that the former had been involved in a bid to succeed Zhivkov. Also removed from the Politburo was Assembly chairman Stanko Todorov, whose wife had been expelled from the BCP earlier in the year for participation in an environmental committee that had protested atmospheric pollution by a Romanian industrial complex adjacent to the border city of Rousse.

An excellent presentation of the Socialist State in Bulgaria is: "Georgi Bokov /editor-in-chief/. Modern Bulgaria - History, Policy, Economy, Culture. Sofia: Sofia Press, 1981". However, the western reader will find it overburdened with socialist style of thinking! See also, "The Editors of BAS. Information Bulgaria - a Short Encyclopedia of the People's Republic of Bulgaria. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1985".

SUPPLEMENT: A physical map of Bulgaria