The Republic of Bulgaria was founded in 1990, it replaced the People's Republic of Bulgaria founded in 1946. For almost 43 years the Bulgarian Communist Party ruled the nation, its leader for 35 years was Todor Khristov Zhivkov, who's nepotism and Bulgarian nationalism was mixed with stalinism. He gave his own family leading positions in the Bulgarian Communist Party ( BCP ). Zhivkov promoted his children, daughter Lyudmila Zhivkova and son Vladimir Zhivkov, in the Bulgarian Communist Party hierarchy. Both of them would live a life in luxury and wealth, while most workers were forced to obey the ruling caste.
After the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the Romanian Revolution, Todor Khristov Zhivkov was forced out of office. Two months later the People's Republic of Bulgaria became the Republic of Bulgaria and his BCP renamed itself into the Bulgarian Socialist Party ( BSP ). This new party was not revolutionary socialist. The new BSP turned social democratic and accepted capitalism. Zhivkov died in 1998, just before his death he showed the world how anticommunist he truly was by calling Marxism ''nonsense''!
The new Bulgaria became a capitalist hell on earth. Poverty and crime rose, so did political corruption. The first elections in ''democratic'' Bulgaria were always a fight between the right-wing; Union of Democratic Forces and the capitalist left-wing; Coalition for Bulgaria, a group of capitalist leftists around the BSP. The first election under the new democratic constitution gave the Union of Democratic Forces 34,4% of the votes. The Coalition for Bulgaria got 33% of the votes!
By 1994 the capitalist democrats destroyed so much, that voters turned massive to the Coalition for Bulgaria ( led by the Bulgarian Socialist Party, ex-stalinists ). The social democrats won 43% of the vote, leaving the Union of Democratic Forces with only 24%. But the social democratic government did not changed anything. The ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party did not limited capitalism, they did not even created a welfare state like the Scandinavian social democrats did!
Angered by this social democratic betrayal the people fell for the anti-leftist propaganda of the Union of Democratic Forces. In 1997 the Bulgarian rightists won 52,3% a clear majority. Now they were able to rule unopposed. Yet their rule was good for the new rich and those with big money, workers and poor people got nothing. Anger rose again and by 2001 most people hated both the Union of Democratic Forces and the Coalition for Bulgaria!
Then an old ruler offered something different. The National Movement Simeon II was created around the former king ( czar ) Simeon II. He was the son of the king who ruled Bulgaria until 1946. As a political liberal democrat Simeon II was not infected with all the bad things people knew of the other politicians. So during the 2001 elections, the National Movement Simeon II won 47% of the vote. Leaving the Union of Democratic Forces and the Coalition of Bulgaria far behind. Simeon II became prime minister of Bulgaria and ruled for four years!
The revolutionary left was nothing in Bulgaria after the collapse of stalinism. People who called themselves Marxists, were either old Stalinists, still dreaming about their People's Republic of Bulgaria. Soon the elderly realized that their life in capitalist Bulgaria was worse then under stalinism. So they started to idealize their former life in the People's Republic of Bulgaria. Poverty among the elderly is very high, but the ruling class does not care at all. Their target is the youth of Bulgaria. Most young people had no interests in the Stalinist past, they were blinded by the propaganda of the capitalists. Many teens who lived between 1990 and 2000 were told that capitalism would mean a bright future for them. The market was God, competition was King!
But as the 21st century began, most young people realized that there was no good life for them in Bulgaria. So many choose to work in other European nations. As Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007, many Bulgarians left home to find work in western EU nations. Not all western Europeans were happy with all those Bulgarians searching for work. In 2008, the capitalist crisis erupted as the stock market collapsed. Now many people in western Europe were losing their jobs to cheap Bulgarians, this fueled racism and hatred.
The National Movement Simeon II did not brought change to Bulgaria. As a liberal capitalist party, they too supported the rule of the markets against workers and poor people. The elections of 2005 were a big defeat for the former king, who's movement lost 67 seats in the parliament. Winner was the Coalition for Bulgaria, but they needed a coalition partner to form a government. The social democrats were told that the financial markets demanded a stable capitalist government. So after much debates and compromises a capitalost government was created between the Coalition for Bulgaria, the National Movement Simeon II and the liberal; Movement for Rights and Freedoms.
The Movement for Rights and Freedoms is the liberal democratic party of Bulgaria. While the Union of Democratic Forces is conservative and nationalist, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms is mainly liberal and supportive of neoliberalism. With these three parties a stable government was created. The markets were pleased, but workers would soon find out that this government was again no government of the people.
Again there was no socialist alternative. This is mainly because the Bulgarian Socialist Party is called ''socialist'' by the Bulgarian media. They fool the workers into thinking that the BSP is leftist and pro-worker. The BSP is getting their voters from workers based communities. But these workers are not helping themselves with a vote on the BSP. The lack of a socialist alternative is the reason why many still choose to vote for the Bulgarian Socialist Party and their Coalition for Bulgaria!
As the story grows very familiar, the government was defeated in the elections of 2009. Again a new capitalist formation promised to change everything. This time the Bulgarians were told to trust in the European Union and European capitalism. The Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria was created in 2006 by pro-EU populists who love the European Union and its free market dogma's. They won 39,7% during the elections in 2009. But for the supporters of Simeon II, the elections were a huge defeat. In 2007 they changed their movement's name to National Movement for Stability and Progress, but the people voted them out of the parliament. Simeon II's movement is reduced to nothing!
The new pro-EU government of Bulgaria was again pro-capitalist and anti-worker. After another four years of capitalist rule the anger exploded. Many Bulgarians choose to demonstrate against the corrupt government and their pro-capitalist agenda. The elections on May 2013 were a defeat for the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, but they remained the biggest party in the nation. Winners were the social democrats of the BSP who were able to mask themselves as progressive and leftist again!
Thanks to the support from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms the BSP was able to form a ( capitalist ) government. The EU populists were forced into the opposition. But they have nothing to fear. The BSP is pro-EU and will not stop the European demands for free markets and freedom to exploit workers. Because that is very common in Bulgaria. The minimum wage is €158.50 and prices are rising.
Soon the new government made another huge mistake that angered the people. They appointed a media mogul to be the leader of the secret police of Bulgaria. On July 24 of 2013, more then 2000 angry people attacked the parliamentary building preventing some ministers and politicians from leaving. The Bulgarian police was ready and after a few fights were able to clear the road for the ministers and politicians to escape.
But the anger is not gone. Many Bulgarians don't trust the government and they have a good reason to oppose it. Every government has been capitalist and anti-worker. This is because all political parties in Bulgaria are supportive of capitalism. Even the new Communist Party of Bulgaria supports capitalism, by joining the Coalition for Bulgaria under BSP wings.
What Bulgarians need is a workers party. A party for workers, young people and the poor. This party must be build on a revolutionary socialist platform. Nationalizing the means of production and expropriate the rich and the corrupt politicians, who got rich behind the backs of the poor. Capitalism must be abolished and be replaced by democratic socialism. But this can only happen when the working class of Bulgaria wakes up from the nightmare the ruling class imposed on them since 1990!
Since 1990, Bulgaria is good friends with
the capitalist class of the USA!
