- Georgi Dimitrov
Georgi Dimitrov Mikhaylov ( _bg. Георги Димитров Михайлов), also known as Georgi Mikhaylovich Dimitrov ( _ru. Георгий Михайлович Димитров), (
June 18 ,1882 -July 2 ,1949 ) was aBulgaria n Communist leader.Early career
Born in
Kovachevtsi ,Pernik Province , he trained as a compositor and became active in thelabor movement inSofia . Dimitrov joined theSocial-Democratic Party of Bulgaria in 1902, and in 1903 followedDimitar Blagoev and his wing, as it formed theSocial Democratic Labour Party of Bulgaria ("The Narrow Party") - theBulgarian Communist Party in 1919, when it affiliated toBolshevism and theComintern . From 1904 to 1923, he wasSecretary of the Trade Union Federation; in 1915 (duringWorld War I ) he was elected to the Bulgarian Parliament and opposed the voting of a new war credit, being imprisoned until 1917.In June 1923, when Prime Minister
Aleksandar Stamboliyski was deposed through acoup d'état , Stamboliyski's Communists allies, who were initially reluctant to intervene, organized an uprising againstAleksandar Tsankov . Dimitrov took charge of the revolutionary activities, and managed to resist the clampdown for a whole week. He and the leadership fled to Yugoslavia and received adeath sentence in absentia . Under variouspseudonym s, he lived in theSoviet Union until 1929, when he relocated toGermany , where he was given charge of the Central European section of the Comintern.Leipzig Trial and Comintern leadership
In 1933 he was arrested in
Berlin for alleged complicity in setting the Reichstag on fire ("seeReichstag fire "). During theLeipzig Trial , Dimitrov's calm conduct of his defence and the accusations he directed at hisprosecutor s won him world renown.During the Leipzig Trial, several German aviators who had been trained in secret in the Soviet Union were arrested. They were released when, after secret negotiations, the Bulgarian communists Dimitrov,
Vasil Tanev andBlagoi Popov tried in Leipzig were allowed to leave for the Soviet Union. There Dimitrov was awarded Sovietcitizenship . The massive popularity he enjoyed made him an asset ofJoseph Stalin 's regime, and Dimitrov was appointedGeneral Secretary of theComintern from 1934, remaining in office until the organization's dissolution in 1943. He asserted himself as a Stalinist during and after theGreat Purge , taking a submissive position on every occasion. In 1935, at the 7th Comintern Congress, Dimitrov spoke for Stalin when he advocated the "Popular Front " strategy, meant to consolidate Soviet ideology as mainstreamAnti-Fascism — a move later exploited during theSpanish Civil War .Leader of Bulgaria
After the war, Dimitrov returned to Bulgaria to head the Communist party there, and in 1946 succeeded
Kimon Georgiev asPremier , while keeping his Soviet citizenship. In 1946, Dimitrov issued the order that theBulgarians ofBlagoevgrad Province ("Pirin Macedonia") should claim Macedonian identity, in anticipation of the failed future incorporation of the region into theSocialist Republic of Macedonia , and Bulgaria's into Yugoslavia. As a result of this, Dimitrov is admired by many in theRepublic of Macedonia with aSkopje high school being named in his honor.While displaying the same hardline facade, Dimitrov become involved in discreet projects for the creation of a Balkan federation according the project of
Balkan Communist Federation . ApproachingJosip Broz Tito , the two signed the 1947 Bled accord calling for closer cooperation in several areas.Although in tune with the inter-war Soviet dogma which Dimitrov himself advocated throughout his career, this attitude had become an obstacle in the way of Stalin's wish for total control over the new
Eastern Bloc . This was worsened after the falling out between Stalin and Tito in 1948, and Dimitrov's public speech during his visit in Romania at the beginning of the same year, when he had tried to convince the Romanian leadership to join the proposed Federation. Tito's dissidence prevented the secession of Pirin Macedonia and the negotiated admission of Bulgaria as a republic into theFederal People's Republic of Yugoslavia .Dimitrov died in 1949 in the
Barvikha sanatorium nearMoscow . The rising speculations that he had been irradiated (or poisoned in some other way) have never been confirmed, although his health seemed to degenerate quite abruptly. His body was embalmed and placed on display in the SofiaGeorgi Dimitrov Mausoleum . After the fall of Communism in Bulgaria, his body was buried in 1990 in the Central cemetery of Sofia. His mausoleum was torn down in 1999.External links
* [http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/dimitrov/ Georgi Dimitrov Reference Archive] at [http://www.marxists.org/ Marxist Internet Archive] .
* Video [http://www.uctv.tv/search-details.asp?showID=7644 A Better Tomorrow: The Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum] from UCTV
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