In 1943 the National Committee of the Fatherland Front was formed, and this committee became the vehicle for the communist takeover in 1944. In the same year the so-called National Liberation Army, composed of partisans and certain units of the Bulgarian army who had joined forces with them, was established. In the fall of 1944 there were approximately 18,000 people in the National Liberation Army, augmented by some 200,000 people who sheltered and assisted them.
Before 1944, however, the Communists were still not widely popular. The apathy of a large portion of the population was due primarily to the fact that the country had remained relatively untouched by the war; but, as the country was not actually at war with the Soviet Union, little rationale was provided to the Soviet-backed Communists in their attempts to enlist the support of the partisans. The Bulgarian army and police were active in hunting down the known Communists. All of these factors precluded the possibility of the country becoming totally committed to either the communist cause or armed resistance. By 1944, however, when Soviet troops entered Romania, activity became widespread within Bulgaria. In August 1944 Romania completely capitulated. By early September the Soviet Union declared war on the Bulgarian government, an act more symbolic than real, as Soviet armies met no Bulgarian resistance. On September 9, 1944, the Fatherland Front was installed, and the Communists were firmly entrenched in the country.
Development Since World War II
At the time of the Fatherland Front takeover in Bulgaria the Soviets, with the assistance of the partisans and units of the National Liberation Army, occupied many Bulgarian towns and cities. It is said that they were received by the people with gifts of bread and salt, a traditional Bulgarian gift of welcome (see ch. 7). At the same time, on the political front, the Soviets and their Bulgarian collaborators took over the key ministries in the capital city and arrested members of the government.
The Fatherland Front—a coalition composed at that time of Communists, members of the left wing of the Bulgarian Agrarian Union, members of the left wing of the Social Democratic Party, and the Zveno group—was led by Georgiev as the new premier. Dimitrov and Kalarov returned from Moscow, where they had been in exile since 1925, to assist the new government in its takeover. The Communists proceeded to rid the coalition of certain opposing elements within its ranks. Nikolai Petkov of the Peasant Union and Kosta Lulchev of the Social Democratic Party were temporarily retired from the coalition. Large-scale purges were initiated against German collaborators and sympathizers; many thousands were either executed or imprisoned by the Communists.
When plans for elections were made in 1945, both Great Britain and the United States made a strong bid for the holding of popular elections. Their hopes were temporarily defeated when, on November 18, 1945, communist-controlled elections were held. The Fatherland Front won a decided victory, eventually resulting in Georgiev's formal installation as premier. His tenure in office was brief, and he was quickly succeeded by Dimitrov. At this point Great Britain and the United States protested, insisting that the Communists broaden their governmental base. Thus, although the two leading figures of the BKP, Dimitrov and Kalarov, were installed eventually as premier and president, respectively, Petkov and Lulchev were allowed to take over control of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice, two vital organs of the government.
By 1946, however, the Communists had whittled down all opposition. In July 1946 control over the army had been transferred from noncommunist members of the ostensible coalition government to exclusively communist control. At this time 2,000 so-called reactionary army officers were dismissed. A plebiscite held in September abolished the monarchy, declared Bulgaria a republic, and gave all power to Dimitrov as premier. He officially took the title on November 4, 1946, and held it until his death in 1949. When Dimitrov took power, any opposition that remained was quickly eliminated. Once the United States had ratified the Bulgarian Peace Treaty—a moment for which the Communists waited anxiously in order to rid themselves of all Western control over Bulgarian affairs of state—Petkov was summarily arrested and executed. His party, the Peasant Union, had been dissolved one month before his death.
On December 4, 1947, a new constitution was adopted. It was called, after the premier, the Dimitrov Constitution and was modeled on the Soviet Constitution of 1936 (see ch. 8). One historian claims that, at its first drafting, it closely resembled the Turnovo Constitution of the late 1800s but was later amended to parallel more closely the constitution of the Soviet Union. The Dimitrov Constitution created the National Assembly as a legislative body. In fact, however, laws were proposed by the Council of Ministers and passed pro forma by the National Assembly. The constitution was approved by the National Assembly in 1947. It defined collective ownership of production, stated that the regime held the power to nationalize any and all enterprises, and declared that private property was subject to restrictions and expropriation by the state.
By 1948 the small forces that continued to oppose the Communists were finally eliminated. Many opposition Socialists and their leader, Lulchev, were arrested, and the Socialist Party was abolished. The only remaining Socialist party—the Fatherland Front Socialists—was forced to merge with the Communists in August 1948. Thus, absolute communist control was achieved within four years of the seizure of power.
Bulgaria underwent a series of rapid changes in the early years as a communist state. Agricultural collectivization—initiated in 1946—was begun in the form of cooperative farming. By the end of 1947 nationalization of banks, industry, and mines was well under way. Nationalization was not a new phenomenon for the country, as railroads, ports, and mines had been under state control since 1878, but it was greatly extended by the Communists (see ch. 13; ch. 14).