Strange as it may sound, even inside a one-party system there are power struggles – they do not take place above board, but employ backhanded behind-the-scenes maneuvering and intrigues. The first such steps within the Bulgarian Communist Party were taken in 1947, right after the opposition in the country had been done away with. Power had been seized by the communists, former political prisoners and guerilla fighters. But as it turned out, even among them there were “enemies with party membership cards”.

The repressions began and the first to be targeted was Traycho Kostov, Deputy Prime Minister. Moscow had singled him out as a target after he refused advisors from the USSR access to Bulgarian trade secrets. In 1949 Kostov was taken to court, along with others, charged of espionage, subversive action and creating a “conspiratorial centre against the “people’s power”. Traycho Kostov was sentenced to death and hanged; other ministers – to life imprisonment. Around the mid-1950’s the series of law court repressions against top-notch members of the communist party was over. The struggles inside the party took on new forms.

On 2 April, 1956 a sitting of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party started that lasted five days. Before the plenum, Todor Zhivkov, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the BCP had secret meetings in Moscow with the leader of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev to coordinate his seizure of power. Central at the plenum were the discussions of the personality cult of Stalin and Bulgaria’s previous state leader Vulko Chervenkov. One year after the death of Georgi Dimitrov in 1949 (first secretary of the BCP Central Committee and Prime Minister of Bulgaria), the man who succeeded him to the post Vassil Kolarov also died. This left Chervenkov as the undisputed leader of the communist party. But once Stalin died, he fell out of favour with the Soviet Union’s new leader Khrushchev. The man who paved the way to and organized the April Plenum, Todor Zhivkov did win over his approval. In Sofia, Zhivkov wrote a report in complete secrecy but took it to the Soviet leader for approval. After the plenum Todor Zhivkov remained first secretary and cemented his positions.

But what had really happened in 1956 was that the cult of Vulko Chervenkov came to an end and that of Todor Zhivkov began. People were led to believe that if the state errs it can only be through the fault of an individual leader, ascribing the evil wrought by the overblown totalitarian machine solely to Vulko Chervenkov. “April line”, “April generation”, “April emulation” – these were all phrases coined through the decades of totalitarianism. Theories were formulated and set in motion regarding the advantages of the April line: that agriculture and the farming cooperatives had got a firm foothold and had been enlarged, that the salaries of low-paid workers had been raised, that the managers of enterprises had had their rights extended.

The April plenum marked the beginning of what was termed “genuine socialist life”, whose authentic face was that of Todor Zhivkov. Here is an excerpt of his speech, from the BNR Golden Fund audio archives, delivered in 1956, just a few months after the April plenum:

“The April plenum of the Bulgarian Communist Party has taken account of the fact that alongside the major achievements in the construction of socialism, in party, state and economic activity, there have been harmful, erroneous methods of administration that have had a negative effect. In light of the decisions of the 20^th congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which are crucial to the development of the entire international communist and workers’ movement, at its April plenum the central committee of the party made the right decisions. They were aimed at overcoming the existing mistakes and shortcomings swiftly, at a full rehabilitation of the Leninist principles of party and state leadership. Communists and the working people in this country were absolutely right to approve these decisions and to assess the April plenum of the Central Committee as a major event, a breath of fresh air in public and state life. There is no doubt that the April plenum will continue to have its beneficial effect on the development of the country. Even though it has been but a few months since the Central Committee April Plenum, the party’s Central Committee and the government have already resolved a number of important issues, vital to the country for improving the material and cultural position of the working people. Measures have been taken aimed at consolidating and expanding the farming cooperatives. The granting of pensions to senior cooperative farmers has been settled, something that will go a long way to help provide for their old age. New workers’ canteens were organized, and the canteen food has been reduced by an average of 25-30 percent. The monthly children’s allowances will go up as of 1 January, 1957. This is an acquisition that will affect hundreds of thousands of families and will improve the material position of families with many children.”

English version: Milena Daynova

Sources:

http://liternet.bg/publish/aalipieva/aprilski.htm

The mythical 1956 April plenum and the mythical April generation of poets – Antoaneta Alipieva