3. BULGARIAN NATIONALISM - Part 02

farmers to create the VMRO-United as a United Federal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (or Federalists). By their actions, regardless of their ideological basis, these organizations at this time were serving Serbian and Greek interests in Macedonia. The Comintern attempted to infiltrate and take over VMRO through its agents, causing a sharp conflict which ended with a series of murders. They took place between VMRO activists led by Todor Aleksandrov and Ivan Mikhailov on the one hand and those led by the Comintern in Bulgaria, Vardar and Aegean Macedonia on the other. That is why the like-minded activists under Ivan Mikhailov’s leadership were fiercely persecuted after September 9, 1944.

At the same time Serbia and Greece, in their own struggle against VMRO, managed to subdue with intimidation, some of the degraded activists of the organization - mainly Federalists, turning them into counter-revolutionaries in Macedonia. They left a bloody trail in a series of towns and villages in Macedonia.

VMRO attempts to save the organization from the Serbian and Greek Comintern agents, led to a fratricidal war, which remains misunderstood by a large part of Bulgarian society to this day.

Through its overall activity in that period, VMRO managed to keep the Bulgarian national awareness awake and the idea of freeing the population of Macedonia and Aegean Thrace alive. Over two decades it managed to keep the national question open to the world and, in the most dignified way, the Bulgarian national cause protected. Its contributions were not small, particularly those to the western provinces, Dobrudzha and Thrace which were left outside the homeland.

Robbed territorially and materially by its neighbours, and disarmed and left without an army, Bulgaria was exhausted.

Part of the Bulgarian intelligentsia devoted itself to the national half-heartedness and exit to the national nihilistic positions. This period coincided with the October Revolution in Russia and the revolutionizing of a significant part of the population in Germany, Hungary and Bulgaria, dissatisfied with the aftermath of the World War.

In this difficult period for Bulgaria, Prime Minister Andrei Liapchev (1926-1931) pledged that in this free state there was a need to preserve “the core of the Bulgarian nation”, because, “for as long as there was a Bulgaria, there would be hope for the enslaved Bulgarians”. It is more important to preserve what remains than to risk it for “almost nothing”.

Foreign policy was to rely on imposed moderation and on a weakened regular army in order to achieve the national ideals.

Bulgaria persistently said “no” to joining the Balkan Pact, signed on February 9, 1934, because it did not recognize the imposed post-war status quo.

Failure of the Serbian authorities to assimilate the Bulgarian population in Vardar Macedonia for thirty years necessitated a change in their tactics. And thus the doctrine of “Macedonian-ism” was put into action, concocted by the Serbian politician and scholar Stoian Novakovich in 1888. It consisted of 6 core theses:

1. Formally claiming that the Macedonian Slavs are neither Serbs nor Bulgarians, but a separate nation - Macedonians;

2. The Macedonian dialect to continuously distance itself from the Bulgarian literary language;

3. The Serbian language to increasingly enter the Macedonian language;

4. To use the Serbian alphabet;

5. To blaspheme the work of the Bulgarian Exarchate as denationalization in Macedonia;

6. To continuously repeat that Macedonians have nothing in common with Bulgarians.

After the Comintern’s decision in 1934 to establish a “Macedonian nation”, the Bulgarian population in Vardar Macedonia was

subjected to an intense process of Macedonian-isation. At that time, the BCP steered us here along the line of creating a “Dobrudzhan”, “Macedonian” and “Thracian” nations.

On May 19, 1934, the Military Alliance once again began to interfere in the political life of the country torn apart by inter-party rivalry and by brutal interference from foreign powers in its internal affairs. The political scene was joined by the “Zveno” political circle led by Kimon Georgiev. (The leaders of this takeover (Kimon Georgiev and Damian Velchev) were later used by Moscow to carry out the September 9, 1944 coup, to establish the “Otechestveno frontovska” government under the leadership of the CPB.)

Along with the changes made to the Turnovo Constitution and along with the banning of political parties, a severe blow was also dealt to the national-liberation movements in Macedonia, the western provinces, Dobrudzha and Thrace, with the banning of their organizations including VMRO. With this anti-national procedure, the government actively served Yugoslav, Greek and Romanian interests.

This imposed military dictatorship paved the way for the authoritarian management of King Boris III for the rest of his life.

Fascism never came to power in Bulgaria. Only a small number of Fascist type organizations were created in this country which, among other things, opposed the government until September 9, 1944.

Bulgaria was pressed by the iron ring of its neighbours. For a decade the Bulgarian people gathered their strength to heal from the wounds of war, from which every family in the entire country suffered. It was not until the late thirties that the process of economic recovery began and reached its peak in 1939.

On September 7, 1940, based on the perfectly executed diplomatic actions of King Boris III and his government, headed by Professor Bogdan Filov, the Krajovskata Agreement was signed by which Southern Dobrudzha was returned to Bulgaria. (See map No. 13.)

With the signing of the Tripartite Pact on September 27, 1940, the totalitarian forces divided their spheres of influence and belligerence in new territories worldwide. As a result of this, the field for Bulgarian manoeuvering started to decline frighteningly. Tsar Boris refused to join Bulgaria to the newly established Pact, rejecting Mussolini’s proposal to participate in waging war against Greece and would not accept the Soviet proposal for a pact of mutual assistance.

Bulgarian diplomacy was investing tireless efforts to preserve Bulgarian neutrality but soon it too went up in flames when the world caught fire. Hitler was determined to help Allied Italy, at all costs, which had suffered a humiliating defeat. That is why he issued the directive for the 12th Army to cross through Bulgarian territory.

In the beginning of 1941 Bulgaria’s choices were narrowed to an alliance with Germany, which assumed a national unification or Hitler would break through and occupy Bulgaria. The necessity to preserve the state and the people from the horrors of war was overcome when, on March 1, 1941, Bulgaria joined the Tripartite Pact.

King Boris III and Professor Bogdan Filov’s government accepted the “formula” for achieving our national ideal - a “United Bulgaria”, despite the uncertainty of the future. Bulgaria was united without a single soldier in the Bulgarian army shedding blood on the battlefield. (See map 14.)

Even if it was for a short time, Bulgaria had achieved its ideal - a “united and indivisible homeland”.

Before the Bulgarian army entered Vardar and Aegean Macedonia, an exceptional political act took place.

The Bulgarian population in all towns in Vardar and Aegean Macedonia established “Action Committees”. These committees represented the unofficial organ of the Bulgarian government and emerged as a demonstration of Bulgarian national self-

determination. They remained functional and later established the institutions for the Bulgarian state administration.

Our military was greeted as a liberator - with flowers, garlands in hand, in the newly liberated territories. It was only natural, because over two decades (1918-1941) the Bulgarians in Macedonia had led a struggle for liberation and unification. The fifth Bulgarian army, in which 70% of the officers and 50% of the soldiers were born in Macedonia, was relocated to Macedonia. They are now returned to their places of birth, their parents, brothers and sisters.

With the establishment of official Bulgarian rule in Macedonia, the Bulgarian state took over, according to proportions, a huge initiative to build schools, hospitals, churches, roads, bridges. It made urban plans for all the cities in Macedonia. It started to build rail lines to connect Macedonia to Bulgaria. It opened the University in Skopje. For the overall three years of freedom, Bulgaria invested in excess of 30% of its national budget in Macedonia alone. All this shows how the Bulgarian government behaved towards the oppressed and newly liberated iconic countries, Macedonia and Thrace, inhabited by Bulgarians.

After June 22, 1941, after the Comintern directive, the BCP organized a partisan movement in Bulgaria. It was directly linked and managed by Moscow, unlike other liberation movements in Europe. From here the movement looked more like “revolutionary -communist”. Its acts of sabotage and terrorist measures caused a sharp reaction from the government. A gendarmerie was formed which began anti-partisan and anti-terrorist actions. Several concentration camps were opened which, not only detained activists but also supporters of the BCP.

The Partisan movement showed no serious counteractions in the government’s internal or foreign policies.

Bulgaria was forced by the Tripartite Pact to declare war on England and the United States. This decision had fatal consequences for the country. Besides that, Germany would convince King Boris to send our troops to the Eastern front to fight against the Soviet Union.

In 1941, Bulgaria, under pressure from the German government, adopted the “Law for the Protection of the Nation”. Based on this law, the Bulgarian Jews were deprived of their civil, political and economic rights. Germany’s attempt to impose their extradition from Bulgaria, however, encountered a sharp reaction from the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The Church opposed the extradition and destruction of the Jews. This democratic and humanist act protected the Jewish citizens of Bulgaria. Unfortunately, the Bulgarian authorities were unable to protect the Jews in the newly liberated countries because of the pressure put on by Hitler for his final solution to the Jewish question. A lot of these Bulgarian territories outside of Bulgaria, at that time, were not completely under the jurisdiction of the Bulgarian state.

Abandon the national ideal and replace it with the ideology of “Building Socialism”

In 1944, after its successful Iash-Kishinev operation, the Red Army entered the Balkan military operating theater and moved towards Bulgaria’s borders. On account of the existing diplomatic relations between the two countries, on September 5, 1944 the USSR declared war on Bulgaria and on September 8, 1944 the Red Army invaded through Dobrudzha and occupied the country.

On September 9, 1944 a military coup was enacted by a group of officers connected with the “Zveno” political party circles, with “decisive support” from the Red Army. Konstantine Muriev’s government, composed of representatives from the democratic oppositional forces, was deposed and power was passed on to the Otechestven Front government headed by Kimon Georgiev, which in fact was run by the Communist Party.

Bulgaria declared war on Germany. The Bulgarian army participated in the last stage of World War II and saw action in the Balkans (freeing Pomoravie, Nish, Vardar Macedonia and much of Aegean Macedonia) and Hungary. During these battles against the German army, Bulgaria provided more than 32,000 soldiers who were killed, wounded and missing without a trace. However, after the Second World War Bulgaria was not recognized, including by the USSR, as a warring country of the grand coalition. Bulgaria, once again, was

placed on the bench with the vanquished. At the time of the Paris Peace Conference, representatives from the Bulgarian Otechestven Front government, headed by Vasil Kolarov, did not feel we were worthy to protect our national interests. Bulgaria managed to save Southern Dobrudzha but lost Pomoravie, Macedonia and Aegean Thrace. With that, our national ideal was dealt a hard blow. Bulgaria was again in a state of national disaster.

After the mass killings that took place without trials and without convictions (as those of 1923-1925), for the supporters of the former political regimes in Bulgaria and for the VMRO activists, meaning those who were responsible for this national disaster, a “People’s Court” was established. Those responsible for the catastrophe along with those who participated in the persecution of partisans were labeled “fascist” Bulgarian politicians. This also included many of the cultural activists. They were accused of “Greater-Bulgarian chauvinism” and of cooperating with their ally Nazi Germany during World War II. They were sentenced to long periods of imprisonment and many were sentenced to death.

With the Soviet military present in Bulgaria, the ruling BCP pressured leading Bulgarians to abandon their national ideal, which then was called “Bulgarian chauvinism”. The national question became subordinate to the class struggle and was sacrificed in the name of the “socialist revolution”.

The Yalta conference of the “Big Three” (February, 1945) decided the division of Europe, putting Bulgaria under the “Soviet Zone” of influence. This decision basically determined Bulgaria’s political fate for the next 45 years.

In circumstances of political violence in the presence of parts of the Red Army, a referendum was held on September 8, 1946 by which Bulgaria was declared a Republic.

Georgi Dimitrov’s government established the “people’s democracy” regime, a variant of the “proletarian dictatorship”.

Political parties and organizations were banned. New concentration camps were opened where thousands of detained Bulgarian citizens,

mostly intellectuals whose opinions conflicted with those of the BCP, were interned.

The whole nation was exposed to total dictatorship. The worst blow was against the Bulgarian intelligentsia and the loss of property by the entire population. There was also the nationalization of industry, expropriation of city property and forced collectivization of land.

The Bulgarian people were deprived of their basic human rights -the inviolability of the person, freedom of speech, the right to information and the right to travel in the world.

Our state was converted into a satellite of the USSR, with limited sovereignty and national independence.

In 1945 the People’s Republic of Macedonia was created on the territory of Vardar Macedonia, within the Yugoslav federation. It was created in accordance with the famous Comintern decision of 1934, to establish a “Macedonian nation” and in accordance with Stoian Novakovich’s “Macedonian-ism” doctrine mentioned earlier.

The Republic was built on an anti-Bulgarian basis. The creation of a “Macedonian language” with a Serbian alphabet was imposed by Belgrade. The Serbian alphabet was alien to the morphology of the language of the Macedonian Bulgarians. Its aims were to move them away from their Bulgarian linguistic form.

The process was designed to rob and forge the parts of the Bulgarian National History which refer to the geographical area of Macedonia. Along with it came the planning process which aimed to denationalize the Bulgarian people in Macedonia. As a result of this 23,000 people were killed and about 140,000 were sent to concentration camps, only because they did not give up their Bulgarian consciousness.

At the same time the same processes were developed and applied in Aegean Macedonia; assimilation and terror against the Bulgarian population living in Greece. We are talking about the Bulgarian people in Macedonia who the Greeks called “Bulgarian-speaking Hellenes” or “Vulgarofoni”, and later “Slavo-phone Hellenes”. This

population was deliberately drawn into the Greek Civil War by the Greek Communist Party, which made promises that, after it won the war, it would guarantee the people their Bulgarian national rights. The balance was tragic. Thousands of Bulgarians were killed; over 60,000 were exiled from their homeland and turned into permanent immigrants worldwide.

A large number of them joined the Macedonian Patriotic Organization in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe where they continued their struggle for the realization of the Bulgarian national ideal - national liberation and reunification with the motherland. A large part was displaced throughout the socialist countries, mostly in the USSR.

In order to achieve Tito and Stalin’s desired solution for Vardar Macedonia, in August 1946, during the BCP Central Committee Tenth Plenum, under Georgi Dimitrov’s leadership, a monstrous anti-national solution was adopted - to create a “Macedonian nation” in the Pirin region. Not a party and not a government in the history of the world would allow their own people to give up their nationality. While attempting for force this solution on the people, thousands of patriotic Bulgarians in Pirin Macedonia were tortured and interned, others disappeared without a trace.

Many preferred death over renouncing their Bulgarian name.

Throughout its 45 years of totalitarian rule, the BCP often led inconsistent, contradictory and voluntary-istic policies regarding the Bulgarian national question. Nationalism was seen as an expression of chauvinism and fascism, and national-nihilism as evidence of the high communist consciousness and internationalism.

In 1937 the cultural, educational and humanitarian organization “Rodina” was created by a number of Bulgarian-Muslims who, in a short time, managed to restore the Bulgarian national identity of some 90,000 souls who accepted Christianity. Shortly after September 9, 1944, “Rodina” activists in the Rhodopes Region were declared fascists and repressed. Almost all Bulgarian-Muslims who had returned to the Bulgarian nation were forcefully sent back to the

wing of Islam. With this act a new denationalization campaign was initiated with aims at denationalizing these Bulgarians.

The Turkish population in Bulgaria has been given special privileges. Dozens of Turkish public and high schools have been opened and teach in the Turkish language. A newly created Turkish intelligentsia has begun to manifest interest in Turkish nationalism, which has created problems for the socialist rule.

In 1956 Todor Zhivkov, head of the Bulgarian government, for a brief time turned the totalitarian regime in our country into an authoritarian regime.

Industrialization of the country and mechanization of agriculture continued during this period. A significant industry was created compared to the size of the country. The entire Bulgarian economy was tied to the USSR and to SEV members.

Free education was introduced and an atmosphere of social security was created. A row of high schools and cultural institutions were opened. Art and cultural activities were subordinated to party ideology - “socialist realism”.

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church was deprived of the opportunity to perform its religious work and was converted into a “decorative institution”. Everything possible was done, through “atheism”, to remove it from the Bulgarian spiritual space.

“Regimentation” was imposed in order to manage the highly centralized economic system and as a result the standard of living remains low. It especially worked against the intellectual society but in favour of the unskilled “working class”. The price, paid by the entire nation for building a “material-technical base of socialism” was very high. It contributed to the low standard of living during the entire totalitarian period.

In the course of over 45 years, the national ideal was replaced with “proletarian internationalism”, “socialist patriotism” and other communist ideologies. For the sake of the supreme ideal called “building communism”.

After 1961, the BCP began a new policy regarding the national question. The Turkish schools were closed and so was the process of the national reawakening of the Muslim Bulgarians and some of the Gypsies. Then in the 1980’s this same process, under the name “revival”, was spread around and embraced the Turks, Tatars and Gypsies.

Here is a good place to mention that not only during the governing of the BCP, but in the entire 120-year-old new Bulgarian history, the Bulgarian-Muslims have been Christianized (baptized) more than three times. These shameful pages of our new history are mostly the fruits of petty, party accounts and the absence of a clear and consistent policy on the part of our statesmen regarding the Bulgarian national issue.

Bulgaria, throughout the entire totalitarian period, did not lead its own sovereign and independent foreign policy. The “Brezhnev” doctrine of “limited sovereignty” was forcing us to constantly adjust every foreign policy issue in accordance with Moscow. This also applied to the Macedonian question which was very painful for the Bulgarian nation. The tides and manner in the political relations between the USSR and Yugoslavia determined the mood of Bulgarian politicians in terms of Vardar and Aegean Macedonia respectively, with respect to Yugoslavia and Greece.

There was much reluctance and lack of interest on the part of the administration during the time of the totalitarian regime which uniquely affected the fate of the Bulgarians living outside of Bulgaria. Only in the 1970’s did the BCP begin to revise its policy on the “Macedonian Question”, but on the principle of a double standard. On the one hand, allowing the Bulgarian scientists-historians to work on the problems of the Macedonian Question in order to protect the “historic truth” and on the other in its foreign policy, the BCP implemented a line to recognize the “Macedonian language” and the “Macedonian nation”. (See - Decision no. 333 from June 22, 1971 of the BCP Plenum.)

With the approaching of the 1300th anniversary of the founding of the Bulgarian state, the ban on the complete exploration of the

Bulgarian national Question was lifted. It was realized that according to its measures, its penetration would have a significant effect on the Bulgarian national history and culture, especially in the world. This was greeted by foreigners with surprise and admiration, who had rediscovered the spiritual genius of one of the earliest European peoples.

The Bulgarian state’s 1300th anniversary celebration was a highly energetic and brave attempt to restore the national ideal of the spiritual unification of all Bulgarians in Macedonia and the world. During the time of crisis in the communist system, which began in the early 1980s (“Solidarity” in Poland, dissidents in the USSR), this attempt was stopped due to heavy pressure from the KPSS, in the name of “socialist internationalism”.

After 1985 an economic slowdown began to occur in Bulgaria, a prelude to the great economic crisis that started in the late 1980s.

Bulgaria in the post-totalitarian period

A political coup took place on November 10, 1989, which put an end to totalitarian rule in Bulgaria.

From the totalitarian regime the Bulgarian state inherited a $12 billion external debt, an inefficient economy, limited export opportunities which strongly limited our traditional markets after the collapse of SEB (CMEA). The country was faced with a severe economic crisis; there was high unemployment which caused more than 250,000 men, mostly young and highly educated Bulgarians, to emigrate. A process of national intellectual impoverishment was taking place in Bulgaria.

The transition from totalitarianism to democracy had begun. To free ourselves from the economic crisis, we pushed for implementing structural and financial reform but it was too late. It greatly exacerbated the economic and social situation in the country.

Bulgaria was experiencing a severe demographic crisis. It was due not only to the emigration of large masses of Bulgarian citizens but also to the low birth rate. The declining standard of living and lack

of sufficient funds constantly disrupted the normal functioning of our health care and educational and cultural institutions in the country.

In 1991 the Grand National Assembly adopted a new constitution, which provided for a planned breakdown of the totalitarian state structures and for laying the groundwork for a parliamentary republic.

In the transition to democracy the necessity for a Bulgarian national ideal was reborn. We began to speak, write and act openly, with much concern for the fate of the Bulgarians outside of Bulgaria.

Today Bulgaria has no national ideal or reference to the closest national tasks.

On November 10, 1989 the national question came down to mutual relations between ethnic communities in the country. Thus, it was again directed inwards. The effort on the part of institutions, parties and organizations carried the spirit of insurmountable ideological opposites. It further deepened our national disunity.

The question of recovery in free Bulgaria becomes paramount and the fate of our compatriots “outside of Bulgaria” again was moved to the background. Self-empowerment was renewed with vigour: “First save ourselves, then we will help our brothers outside of our border”. The economic appeal of the Bulgarian state was reduced to zero.

The national ideal was carried on and passed on from generation to generation. It was possible to make changes to it or to endure interruptions, but its acceptability had to be strengthened. We, Bulgarians, are one of those people who are afflicted with an unrealized ideal, which weighs on us even when we are not aware of it. Our belief in “being” is deeply tender. Our belief in the ability in “being” is deeply ingrained. These ideals were ingrained in us from the time when we were children, from our children’s books, in which the internationalists replaced Vardar with Iskar, without the consent of Dedo Vazov.

Because of that it would be more honest for us to start with ourselves first, and then get angry at the other counterfeiters.

And yet we have no choice but to hope that the national ideal is not buried, but is rooted in the Bulgarian people, because without it we would become a population living on a certain latitude. Even the name Bulgaria would turn into a geographical concept...