Bulgarians witnessed a great number of initiatives that were born after the April plenum of 1956 when the power in the Bulgarian Communist Party was seized by Todor Zhivkov. A green light was given to heavy industry that should provide work to the great number of Bulgarian villagers coming to the cities. Meanwhile Todor Zhivkov continued to stabilize his position in the party. On July 12, 1957 Yonko Panov, Dobri Terpeshev and Georgi Chankov were ousted from the Central Committee of the party for anti-party activities and careerism.
At the backdrop of this situation, in June 1958 in the presence of party and state leader of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev the 7th Congress of the Bulgarian Communist Party was held. In domestic policy, the congress confirmed the rise of Todor Zhivkov to autocracy and even though no new members were admitted to Politburo, a number of Zhivkov supporters entered the Secretariat and the Central Committee of the party. When it came to foreign policy the Congress decided to repel Yugoslav accusations of hegemonic attitude of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and reject any "national roads" towards socialism. And more:
"The congress became a vivid symbol of the powerful unity of our entire political party and the members of the Central Committee”, said Todor Zhivkov. “What caused this unity? The most important is the base of our policy - the Marxist-Dimitrov-Leninist line of the Central Committee. The experience of the international communist and workers' movement and our party has repeatedly shown that without proper Marxist-Leninist leadership, without a consistent Marxist-Leninist line, the ideological, political and organizational unity of the party could not be protected. Deviations from the correct Marxist-Leninist course inevitably cause cracks in the unity of the party."
Major decisions of the 7th Congress, however, concern mostly the economic sphere. Directives for accelerated implementation of the third five-year plan for the development of Bulgaria in the period 1958-1962 were adopted. The party propaganda declaring the forum was a "Congress of the victorious socialist system," as 92% of arable land had already been included in farming cooperatives. 99.99% of industry, construction and transport were already state property and any return path to capitalism was considered cut.
"Comrades, The Seventh Congress of the Bulgarian Communist Party has successfully completed its tasks. In the history of the party and the Bulgarian people, it will be marked as a Congress of the victorious socialism in our country,” Zhivkov said. “This basic conclusion that was spontaneously expressed during the congress is true and accurate. It reflects the undisputed fact that in the People's Republic of Bulgaria socialism has won and dominates all areas of socio-political, economic and ideological life. There is no doubt that the Seventh Congress will have great historical significance for the development of the party and the country."
The congress actually followed in the footsteps of Mao Zedong, who had already started the policy of the "Great Leap Forward” in China. During the plenum of the Communist Party of 11 November 1958 according to the Chinese model it was decided that Bulgaria should achieve a "leap in development." The movement for communist labor was created which aimed at helping achieve the ambitious goal. This was not by accident as a year earlier at a meeting of the leaders of communist countries in Moscow Mao Zedong saw in Todor Zhivkov the future Prime Minister of the world socialist system.
In theory, the picture painted by Zhivkov looked great: five –year plans would be completed within 3-4 years. A widespread irrigation system and construction of livestock farms was necessary in agriculture while industry was planned to be developed also with the help of workers and students.
In practice Zhivkov soon realized that this leap was an impossible task for small and resource-poor Bulgaria and he turned his attention to the Soviet Union: "In this great battle we are not alone. We have a faithful brother, companion and protector - the mighty Soviet Union.” In other words, Bulgaria started receiving cheap raw materials in exchange for obedience and turning Bulgaria into the most loyal satellite of the Soviet Union. Bulgaria was loyal to such an extent that later with a letter to Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev it requested to become the 16th member of the Soviet Union.
Voluntaristic efforts would continue and during the 8th congress of the BCP of November 14, 1962, a decision was made that by the end of the 20th century the material basis for communism should be present in Bulgaria. These slogans would continue to be repeated until in November 1989 television cameras at the Party’s plenum would show the unbelieving expression of the ousted party leader, who probably realized at that very moment that absolute power and complete collapse of illusions are just a step away from one another.English: Alexander Markov
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