Word: zhivkov
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Bulgarian Leader Todor Zhivkov was the next to get the party faithful together. Zhivkov, 74, has been in power for 32 years and is the doyen of East European party bosses. He had incurred Gorbachev's displeasure earlier because of Bulgaria's faltering economy, but in his keynote speech he paid glowing tribute to the Soviet leader. Zhivkov stridently called for "profound change" in the economic system, such as linking wages to performance and conducting a "scientific and technological revolution." But the veteran Bulgarian leader offered little of substance that would suggest he had plans for bureaucratic reforms along...
...leaders of the East European nations formally allied with Moscow, however, Gorbachev's message is clear enough: Toe the line. Todor Zhivkov of Bulgaria last year had scheduled a trip to Western Europe in the interest of fostering closer relations with non-Communist countries. He abruptly canceled those plans after Gorbachev, acting for the ailing Chernenko, hurriedly visited the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, in December to confer with Zhivkov and, presumably, communicate Soviet displeasure. In dealing with the West, and the U.S. specifically, Gorbachev has not altered the line pursued by his predecessors in any substantive way. He has, however, taken...
...also heard from KGB officers in New York that they were outraged when Ludmila, the Oxford-educated daughter of Bulgarian Party Chief and President Todor Zhivkov, tried to reawaken Bulgarian cultural identity in the late 1970s. They considered her activity an "undue liberty." Ludmila became a political figure and a member of the Bulgarian Politburo. She died suddenly at the age of 38. I always wondered whether this was another "wet affair" carried out by the KGB's Bulgarian agents...
First, East German Communist Party Chief Erich Honecker bowed to Soviet pressure last month and canceled a long-anticipated visit. Less than a week later, Bulgarian President Todor Zhivkov announced that his trip was off as well. After those rebuffs, the West German government of Chancellor Helmut Kohl, which has been seeking closer ties with its Communist bloc neighbors, particularly looked forward to the visit of a third East European leader. The obliging guest was Rumanian President Nicolae Ceauşescu, 66, who earlier this year defied Moscow by allowing his country to participate in the Los Angeles Olympics. Said...
...Gulag. His prison experiences and literary skills combined to produce the scabrous picture of a nation enslaved. Yet in the eyes of the Bulgarian leadership that was not Markov's worst crime against the state. On Radio Free Europe the defector offered a description of Bulgarian President Todor Zhivkov, a smiling brute on the order of Nikita Khrushchev. At a banquet the author catches the official acting like a Balkan Queen of Hearts, shouting the Bulgarian equivalent of "Off with his head!" when a writer who has offended him is mentioned. Little wonder that when Markov ultimately aroused...