Word: zhivkov
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...U.S.S.R. as its liberator, not its conqueror. The two countries share the Cyrillic alphabet and speak similar languages. Though it is difficult to measure the affection felt by the Bulgarian people toward the Soviet government, there is no doubt about the official devotion of Sofia toward Moscow. As Todor Zhivkov, 71, leader of the Balkan country for the past 39 years, once characterized the relationship, "We will act as a common organism that has common lungs and a common circulatory system." Moscow, in turn, is so confident of the fealty of the country's 8.9 million people that...
...Zhivkov, who has been in power longer than any other Soviet-bloc leader, is a sprightly, plain-spoken man given to proferring glasses of yogurt to his guests. Though obedient to Moscow, he has cautiously attempted to create a Socialist state more attuned to Bulgarian needs. His economic program, while not as ambitious or as innovative as Hungary's, allows managers more flexibility than in the U.S.S.R. and encourages industrial workers to till plots of an acre...
With the appointment of his Oxford-educated daughter Lyudmila Zhivkova as head of the committee for culture in 1975, Zhivkov sought to bolster national identity and pride, reportedly to the displeasure of the Kremlin. It was Lyudmila, for instance, who was the guiding force behind the 1981 celebrations of the 1,300th anniversary of the founding of the Bulgarian state. Halfway through the anniversary year, however, Lyudmila died at age 38 of a brain hemorrhage. Since her death, no one else has emerged as a staunch crusader for Bulgarian nationalism...
...troops on its soil, and its state security apparatus keeps a low profile. Says one diplomat: "The obvious signs of repression aren't there." Economic growth was 6.5% in 1979, highest among the satellites. A new system of wage incentives and decentralized planning was also introduced. President Todor Zhivkov, 68, tolerated by an apathetic people, heard little more than a grumble when he hiked prices sharply last year...