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Bulgaria's first post-war (WWII) Communist/Socialist leader!! Largely unknown outside of Bulgaria for one reason -- His Very Short-Lived Rule!
Read about Uncle Georgi and How He Came to Power and How He Stopped the Nasty Facsists From Taking Power in His Little Bulgaria!!In 1946 Georgi Dimitrov, formerly banished from Bulgaria because of his leftist/socialist/communist leanings, returned to Bulgaria from the Soviet Union in order to lead his new country from the doldrums of a post-war defeat into the progressive idealism of a Communist/Socialist Bulgaria. Find out what drove this idealistic man who was famous for uttering such Dimitrovisms as, "Criticism and Self-criticism!"
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The story of Georgi Dimitrov for most of the world begins with the accusation that he was behind the famous Reichstag fire in Germany of 1933! Was he? Read on and find out for yourself!
A revolutionary from boyhood, he was a leader in the 1923 Communist uprising against Alexander Tsankov. When it failed, he fled Bulgaria and continued to work for the Communist cause. In 1933 he was arrested in Berlin for alleged complicity in setting the Reichstag on fire. Dimitrov's cool conduct of his defense and the accusations he directed at his prosecutors won him world renown. He was acquitted and went to the USSR, which conferred citizenship upon him. Dimitrov was secretary-general of the Comintern from 1934 until its dissolution in 1943. In 1944 he returned to Bulgaria to head the Communist party there, and in 1946 he succeeded Kimon Georgiev as premier. Dimitrov died in Moscow, where he was undergoing medical treatment, although some say that he was poisoned by the Soviets because he was becoming a cult of personality in his own time. |
Georgi Dimitrov (1882-1949) |
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Let's learn about his formative years!
An outstanding member of Bulgarian and international communist movement, organizer of the Fatherland Front and Bulgarian resistance, Georgi Dimitrov, was born on 18 June 1882 in a craftsman's family of Kovachevtsi village, district of Pernik (western Bulgaria). He started working as a typesetter apprentice as early as at the age of 12. In 1901, in the age of 19, he was already a secretary of the Printers' Trade Union in Sofia, and next year he joint the Bulgarian Social Democratic (Workers') Party where he found himself in its radical Marxist faction of so-called tesnyaks (since 1909 the Bulgarian Communist Party - BCP). Since his election in 1909 to the Central Committee he was always in the party's leadership. In 1905-1923 Dimitrov took part in political struggle of Bulgarian workers and peasants. He organized miners' strikes in Pernik in 1906 and in 1911, match manufacturers' in Kostenka in 1909, railway workers' in 1919-1920. He took part in party's conferences in 1909 and 1913 where he advocated unity of Balkan nations. During the First Balkan War (1912-1913) he used parliamentary tribune to denounce Bulgarian government's expansionist policy. He was often persecuted for his political activities.
Shortly before and during the First World War (1914-1918) he used to denounce official nationalism and as a member of the parliament (1913-1923) voted against war credits and against Bulgaria's involvement in the war.
Anti-war, Uncle Georgi! And I thought Communists were raised to fight!
After the October Revolution in Russia (1917) Dimitrov advocated its ideas in Bulgaria and appealed to support and defence of the Soviet Republic. In 1921 he took part in works of the III Congress of the Communist International (Comintern), during which he met Vladimir Lenin. The same year he had become a member of the Central Council of the International Red Trade Union Organization (Profintern) and a secretary of the Balkan Communist Federation. In September 1923 Dimitrov, as one of leaders of an abortive anti-fascist popular uprising in Bulgaria emigrated abroad, where in 1923-1933 he took part in works of the Executive Committee of the Communist International. Twice in 1923 and 1926 Bulgarian courts sentenced him in absentia to death. (THANK YOU, MONARCHISTS!)
Dimitrov lived in Berlin when Hitler seized power. He was arrested with two other Bulgarian communist activists Blagoy Popov and Vasil Tanev as well as a German communist E.Torgler and a Dutchman Marinus van der Lubbe. The Reichstag fire, staged by Nazis on 27 February 1933 in order to compromise opposition parties and justify mass reprisals, could have a tragic finale to the four defendants.
During the Leipzig trial, which lasted from 21 September to 23 December 1933, Dimitrov was the main defendant. He did not only dismiss charges against him but also used the courtroom to denounce the real goals of the hitlerism and nazi dictatorship in Germany. In his famous speech for the defence he denounced false testimony of Hermann Goerring, the main witness of the prosecution, and pointed at him and his aides as the real culprits of the arson. Dimitrov's speech during the Leipzig trial brought him a worldwide support of the public opinion. This reaction as well as Dimitrov's attitude caused acquittal of the accused communists. Only van der Lubbe was sentenced to death and executed.
After the release from prison Dimitrov had made in the beginning of 1934 for the Soviet Union. Being deprived of the Bulgarian citizenship he obtained the Soviet one. He settled first in Leningrad, where he was elected a member of the city executive council, later he moved to Moscow, where he assumed duties of the secretary general of the Executive Council of the Communist International. He held this post until the dissolution of the Comintern in 1943. In 1937-1945 he was a member of the Supreme Council of the USSR.
In 1942 during the Second World War Dimitrov initialized creation of the Fatherland Front (OF) of Bulgaria and assumed its leadership. The OF played a major role in mobilization of Bulgarian people to the struggle against domestic fascists and armed uprising, which took place on 9 September 1944. For his merits in the struggle with fascism the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR awarded him with the Order of Lenin. On 6 October 1945 - after 22 years in exile - Dimitrov had returned to his country where he became in December the secretary general of the CC of BCP, and in November 1946 also the president of the Council of Ministers. In 1947 under his leadership was worked out the constitution of the People's Republic of Bulgaria proclaimed on 4 December 1947. He died on 2 July 1949 at spa in Barvikha near Moscow.
After his death a personal cult of Dimitrov was created in communist Bulgaria. The Order of Dimitrov was established the highest award in communist Bulgaria. His name was given to many factories, schools and streets, the Young Communist League as well as to the town Dimitrovgrad built by Bulgarian youth in 1947. The Dimitrov's Award was established as the highest award for achievements in science, technics, literature and arts. His body was entombed in a mausoleum in Sofia and his former apartment was turned into a museum.
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Commies! |
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