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15-3 Brzezinski on Bulgaria




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This article is from the Bulgaria FAQ, by Dragomir R. Radev radev@tune.cs.columbia.edu with numerous contributions by others.

15-3 Brzezinski on Bulgaria

(by John Bell), last updated: 17-Mar-1997
The attention paid to the recent speech of Zbigniew K. Brzezinski
at the Atlantic Club in Sofia shows that this political scientist,
former presidential advisor, and long-time anti-Communist has many
admirers in scb.
They would, perhaps, be interested to read the following passage
about Bulgaria from his study of Eastern Europe, entitled -The Soviet
Bloc: Unity and Conflict-. It clearly shows Prof. Brzezinski's
attitude toward the "constitutional order" in Bulgaria before 1944

In Bulgaria, the Communist Party had the advantage of having enjoyed
some measure of popularity in the past and was not handicapped, as in
the cases of Poland, Rumania, and Hungary, by nationalist anti-Russian
feelings. In 1919, the Bulgarian Communist Party succeeded in electing
over one fifth of the deputies to the parliament and was, until outlawed,
the country's second largest party. Subsequently, operating under the
label of Independent Workers' Party, the Communists managed to elect
31 of the 274 deputies in the 1931 elections. During the war they
were instrumental in setting up the Fatherland Front, an organization
of anti-Fascist parties dedicated to the overthrow of King Boris'
dictatorship. When the Soviet Union suddenly declared war on Bulgaria

************

in September 1944, on the eve of a Bulgarian decision to join the Allies,
the Fatherland Front seized power. In the coalition government the
Communist Party obtained control of the important Ministry of the
Interior and played a major role in the "purge" of public officials
which was immediately launched.

-The Soviet Bloc- p. 15.

 

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