Communist Bulgaria began as the People's Republic of Bulgaria in 1944. The communists won the elections in 1945 and Georgi Dimitrov became a prime minister. Although he had been in exile, mostly in the Soviet Union, since 1923, he was far from being a Soviet puppet. He was also close to the Yugoslav communist leader Tito, and believed that Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, as closely related South Slav peoples, should form a federation. This idea was not favoured by Stalin, and there have long been suspicions that Dimitrov's sudden death in 1949 was not accidental, although this has never been proved.
After his death the power passed to an extreme Stalinist, Vulko Chervenkov Bulgaria's Stalinist phase lasted less than five years. Agriculture was collectivised and peasant rebellions crushed. Many people were repressed in labor camps. The church was placed under state control. In 1950 diplomatic relations with the USA were broken off. The Turkish minority was persecuted, and border disputes with Greece and Yugoslavia revived. The country lived in a state of fear and isolation. Stalin died in 1953, and in 1954 Chervenkov was replaced by Todor Zhivkov with the approval of the new leadership in Moscow.
Todor Zhivkov ran Bulgaria for the next thirty years, completely loyal to the Soviets but pursuing a more moderate policy at home. Relations were restored with Yugoslavia and Greece, and the labour camps were closed. Some limited freedom of expression was restored and persecution of the Church was ended. The upheaval in Hungary in 1956 was not emulated in Bulgaria, but the communist government placed firm limits to intellectual and literary freedom to prevent any such outbreaks. Economic conditions improved and Bulgaria became generally regarded as the staunchest of the Soviet Union's eastern European satellites. In 1968 Bulgaria demonstrated its loyalty to the Soviet Union by taking part in the invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Although Zhivkov was never a despot in the Stalinist mold, his regime was growing increasingly corrupt and autocratic. The culminating point was the bizarre campaign of persecution against the ethnic Turks who were ordered to adopt Bulgarian names. Many fled to Turkey, and the issue strained Bulgaria's relations with the west.
By the impact of Mikhail Gorbachev's “perestroyka” in the Soviet Union the communist leaders in Bulgaria were unable to resist for too long the demand for changes. In November 1989 demonstrations on ecological organisations were staged in Sofia, and these soon broadened into a general campaign for political reforms. The communists reacted by deposing Zhivkov and replacing him, but this was only a palliative step and a few months later the party voluntarily gave up its claim on power. In June 1990 free elections were held, thus paving Bulgaria's way to democracy.
