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Stalin accuses Georgi Dimitrov of shrugging his shoulders
woman at a crossroads when the federation of
the South Slavs, the “lion of Leipzig” thanked him
Stalin closely followed the idea of creating a Balkan confederation
for the notes made
Todor Zhivkov and Josip Broz Tito
In the 1960s, in the plenary sessions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Bulgaria, Todor Zhivkov twice proposed that Bulgaria become the 16th republic of the USSR. Both Khrushchev and Brezhnev interrupted his wish. Much has been written about this in detail.
It is less known than 20 years earlier, on the one hand, Bulgaria would become part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – Federal Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as the seventh republic.
The idea of a South Slavic federation was born at the head of the “father of nations” Stalin as early as 1943. After the Battle of Stalingrad and especially after the intervention of the United States and Great Britain in the war, its end is foreseen , although distant.
Stalin is already making plans
for postwar device
of Europe and in particular
in the balkan peninsula
– how to keep it under Soviet influence. Consider that Josip Broz Tito, the leader of a country with a very strong guerrilla movement that fought heroically against Hitler, is the highest authority in the Balkans.
Britain and the United States also treat Tito with respect and trust, knowing him as the leader of the Yugoslav resistance. Especially the British, who supplied many weapons, ammunition and food to Serbian partisans by plane in 1943-1944.
In 1944, British planes also supplied weapons, clothing and money to the Bulgarian partisans.
Since the 30s of the last century
the main problem in
The relationship between
Bulgaria and Yugoslavia is
The “Macedonian question”: the problem of the fate and nationality of the Macedonian Bulgarians in Vardar Macedonia. This is one of the biggest wounds in the history of Bulgaria and deserves special attention.
In late 1944 and early 1945, the “Macedonian question” began to be debated in the context of the South Slavic federation. Stalin’s idea has already been adopted by Tito and his government is working hard on it. Titovtsi offers two main mandatory conditions. First, Pirin Macedonia should annex Yugoslavia before the federation is established.
And secondly, Bulgaria will become the seventh republic of the multinational SFRY. The other six are Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Macedonia.
According to the preliminary “distribution” of posts, Georgi Dimitrov was appointed president of the federation, while Tito became head of government.
He is also expected to direct foreign policy and the military. According to these “arrangements”, the “lion of Leipzig”, as Georgi Dimitrov is called, becomes completely silent and subservient to the partisan hero Tito. It is common for the capital of the new federation to be Belgrade.
These opportunities scare Georgi Dimitrov. Despite his preference for Yugoslavia, Stalin also reacted negatively.
Historian Prof. Angel Vekov, who years ago had access to secret archives, quoted him as saying to Dimitrov: “The Yugoslav proposal that Bulgaria become one of the seven republics of Yugoslavia essentially means the absorption of Bulgaria.”
In another conversation, Stalin was even more emphatic: “I don’t like their behavior. The Yugoslavs want to take both Greek Macedonia and part of Hungary and Austria …”
According to some historians, Stalin’s cooling off to the idea of creating a South Slavic federation was the reaction of the United States and Great Britain.
Both countries believe that such a federation allows the USSR to guarantee its presence on the Balkan Peninsula. Washington and London strongly protest against this idea of Moscow.
On August 1, 1947, in the Serbian city of Bled, Georgi Dimitrov and Tito signed an agreement establishing a federation of South Slavs. According to this agreement
Enter the Pirin region
in the Macedonian part of
the federation, a
Western suburbs –
in the bulgarian part
The agreement in Bled is only on paper. There are several spectacular scandals that prevent it from becoming a reality.
In January 1948, a Bulgarian delegation headed by Georgi Dimitrov arrived in Bucharest. They have to sign a Bulgarian-Romanian agreement of cooperation and mutual assistance with Gheorghe Georgiou-Dej.
On the train he’s traveling with, Dimitrov gives a press conference. When asked what is happening with the federation and whether Romania will be included in it, the Bulgarian leader replied:
“The issue of federation and confederation is premature for us. It is not on the agenda now and we are not debating it. When it matures, and will mature, then our peoples, the peoples of the people’s democracies: Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Albania, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Greece, remember, and Greece will decide. “
Stalin was angry with this statement. He used the organ of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Pravda newspaper, which in the form of a reply to a reader’s letter refuted what Dimitrov had said in a relatively diplomatic way:
“The publishers are convinced that these countries (Georgi Dimitrov – n. R.) ready, they don’t need a troublesome artificial federation or confederation, or customs union. What they need is to strengthen and protect their independence and sovereignty ”.
George Dimitrov
order the BTA
publish information to clarify what he said at the press conference: that it is not at all about the creation of an Eastern bloc in any form, as it is being inflated in the West.
But Stalin doesn’t smell. In addition to publicly criticizing him, he sent a personal letter to the Bulgarian prime minister.
In it, the Father of Nations wrote that Dimitrov’s declaration on a federation and confederation “is evaluated by the comrades in Moscow as harmful.” Dimitrov’s idea would facilitate the struggle of Anglo-Americans against countries with people’s democracies.
But that is not all
On the morning of February 10, 1948, a Bulgarian delegation composed of Georgi Dimitrov, Vasil Kolarov and Traicho Kostov, and a Yugoslav delegation composed of Edward Kardel, Milovan Djilas and Vladimir Bakarich arrived at the Kremlin.
Tito is gone, the official information is that he is ill. The other version is more realistic: he feared that Stalin might “see his bill.” He had already sent KGB agents to Belgrade, but his missions failed.
The two delegations were received by Stalin, Molotov, Zhdanov, Malenkov, Zorin and Mikhail Suslov, Brezhnev’s future ideological gurus, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko. The last two – future general secretaries of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
Stalin is silent and smokes. Molotov says that the Soviet government has serious differences with Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. In their international activities, they did not consult Moscow, which was a big mistake.
A direct attack on Dimitrov followed: he engaged in press conferences and interviews and raised the issue of federations, confederations, a customs union, including Poland, Czechoslovakia, and even Greece. And imagine, Comrade Dimitrov talks about all this without anyone authorizing it.
Stalin is fiercely sarcastic towards the Bulgarian Prime Minister: “Shoulders like a woman at a crossroads, everything that comes to mind and journalists get it. You feed the reaction elements … “
Half an hour later, “pushing the helmet”, as they said in the barracks, during which
Dimitrov is silent as
student who
he hasn’t learned his lesson
Only he knew what it all cost him. Still, find the strength to say: “Joseph Visarionovich, I gratefully accept your comments.”
At Stalin’s suggestion, two documents were drawn up. The Bulgarians signed the protocol between Bulgaria and the USSR for joint consultations on all international issues. However, the Serbs did not sign the same protocol between Moscow and Belgrade.
In his “Bulgarian Chronicles”, Stefan Tsanev writes that then Tito, who did not suffer from a lack of self-confidence, declared: “Regarding our approach with the Bulgarians, no one has the right to interfere in this matter!”
Four months after the unfortunate February meeting in Moscow on Stalin’s order
The Yugoslav Communist Party
is turned off
of the Cominform Bureau (Communist Information Office). On July 12 and 13, 1948, a plenary session of the BRP (k) Central Committee was held in Sofia. In it, the Bulgarian Communists officially broke their relations with the PCU. The idea of creating a South Slavic federation was abandoned, Bulgaria remained a faithful satellite of Moscow until 1989.
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