Communism+and+Bulgaria

media type="custom" key="24805232" width="800" height="262" [] (Written on paper).

WEB ADDRESS: [] Author: unknown Publisher: unknown Title: Which Countries Were Involved? --Bulgaria Notes:
 * 1944: Bulgaria was allied with Germany, and they wanted to break this commitment to them with them because the Germans were losing the war, however they would have to make an armistice on Soviet terms.
 * In August of 1944, Bulgaria got out of he war and then threw Germany out, they later declared war on Germany and the Soviets declared war on Bulgaria. --- September 16th, 1944 the Soviets occupied the capital, Sofia
 * The Capital was taken over by Soviet Representatives, and soon harassment from non-communist parties arose.
 * February 1945: Many government officials were brought up on war charges. Sept. 1946, the monarchy was abolished and communism took over Vasil Kolarov became President and Dimitrov became Prime Minister since the elections were rigged.
 * June 1947: the Agrarian Party leader, Nikola Petkv was arrested and executed
 * When Stalin was running the Soviet Union, Bulgarian agriculture was collectivized-- Over 100,000 people were imprisoned in labor camps and the Orthodox church was under state control.

WEB ADDRESS: [] Author: None Type: Video Publisher: Bulgarian News Title: Bulgarian Communist Newsreels Notes:
 * Bulgaria was sincerely excited to implement communism into their economy, they held parades honoring the ideals and philosophies of Lenin and Stalin and people even placed flowers in the center of the USSR embassy
 * In order to continue to be allied with the USSR, they needed to convert to communism as a whole
 * They refer to America and its allies as imperialists who are putting the independence of Bulgaria at risk
 * They created a city for Dimitrov called Dimitrovograd, which was a mining town, in order to honor the representative of communism in Bulgaria.
 * They reference the Great October Revolution as being one of the greatest steps for their country to take, the Great October Revolution(Red October) was a period of time in which Russia overturned the Tsar in favor of Communism
 * Appreciation for the USSR was brought by the demand for the end of fascism by the Bulgarian people, they had complete support for the process their country would now take and they destroyed buildings that represented their fascist past

WEB ADDRESS: Title: Mass Privatization in Bulgaria After Communism Ends Type: Video Publisher: Nameless Date: January 1st 1996 Notes:
 * Companies in Bulgaria were transferred to the private sector and had to begin using vouchers
 * The government began selling lottery tickets and vouchers
 * Vouchers could be bought for seven dollars or less and this would allow them to invest in the country's mass privatization and success, like a stock in America
 * The vouchers could not be sold, they could only be invested into a company or be invested into a fund. (They had to buy them by the 8th of January, 1996)
 * Bulgaria was far behind the other countries of Central and Eastern Europe and needed another market system rather than communism.
 * The citizens were complaining that they were not fully informed about the meaning of mass privatization, false hype.
 * The working class people were not in favor of the privatization because it would only help the big corporations, simple workers would have to put money in to adapt or even lose business to the ones who could afford it.
 * Bulgaria does not have many foreign investors, investors worried about the delay and the tactics of bureaucrats with threats of weapons

WEB ADDRESS: [] Title: Bulgaria's Delayed Transition: Problems but Progress Author: Dr. John R. Lampe Type: Article (Summary of his remarks during EES discussion) Publisher: Nameless Notes:
 * Bulgaria transitioned to a multi-party democracy in 1989 and adopted a market economy as well, both functioning properly has been slow compared to Hungary
 * The shock of the loss of Soviet trade regime hit Bulgaria HARD since an entire half of their exports went to the USSR
 * Legal trade was near impossible due to the distance needed to trade since they were in an embargo with their nearby countries so illegal trade picked up with the illegal countries of Greece and Serbia and Macedonia
 * Bulgaria showed more promise than any other recovering country to become part of NATO
 * "Bulgarska Rabota." Was the notion that a successful operation turns bad because Bulgarians became part of it, this phrase arose due to their losses with Macedonia and losses in world war I.
 * Bulgaria made a lot of mistakes by siding with the Nazi party as well as siding with USSR even after Chernobyl
 * The public health services, public education jobs had low salaries and caused very little citizen involvement in government, Bulgaria spends 40 percent of what it spent in 1990 for education which is the lowest in all of Europe
 * Unemployment was at 17.5 percent in 2002 and the average income was $1,500 a year (24 percent of Europe's average) This was due to the falling birth rate, and rapid emigration, from 8.9 million people in 1985, to 7.9 million in 2001
 * Internal reform, civilian control and transparency allowed the Bulgarian military to distance itself far enough from its Communist past
 * Bulgaria has had relatively no ethnic violence within the country for more than the last 4 centuries.