MISCELLANEOUS ECONOMIC POLITICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL INFORMATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A006500350008-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 20, 2008
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: April 15, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2008/03/20: CIA-RDP80-00810A006500350008-7
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains Information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18. U.S.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
S E-C-R-E-T
COUNTRY Bulgaria
SUBJECT Miscellaneous Economic, Political
and Sociological Information
DATE OF INFO.
PLACE ACQUIRED
DATE ACQUIRED
REPORT
DATE DISTR.
NO. OF PAGES
15 April 1955
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
REFERENCES
This is UNEVALUATED Information
Pay of Workers
1. Workers are paid as follows:
a. Unskilled worker, or clerk - 600 leva a month;
b. Skilled worker or clerk - 700 leva a month;
c. Physicians - 600 leva per month; physicians may practice after
working hours served in government employ;
d. Factory managers - 800 to 1000 leva a month; and
e. University and technical schools - 1000 leva a month.
Holidays and Special Bonuses
2. Every worker is entitled to two weeks off with pay every year. They may
take their vacation at a resort or rest home by paying a fi3oed sum of
80 leva.
Political Situation
3. Persons disappear from time to time, and not even their next of kin know
what has happened to them. Each 10 families has a group chief who is a
trustee of the police. This family group chief passes on ordinary and
special messages to the families, and in turn he must be informed by them
of what is going on in the family circle, such as illness, departures,
arrivals, and stay of relatives and friends, requests and signs of anything
regarding one's family or other families in the building. This system is
foolproof because nothing escapes the attention of the police.
4. Strict censorship probably hides the commission of acts of sabotage, which
have been reported several times. Of course, they are sporadic and
isolated, so that they cannot be said to weaken the regime.
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The government feels so strong that lately it is relaxing its guard bit,
in the matter of police measures. Among these relaxed measures are the
abolishment of police exile for many civilians who were moved fro-.7 the
cities immediately after World War II. They have been allowed to return
to their homes. However, they cannot repossess their property, nor is their
citizenship automatically restored.
6. Many of these police exiles have preferred to stay in their new hones,
where they have made a new life, rather than go back to live in poverty
where they once were lords.
7. Another relaxation is in the granting of passports to Western countries.
During the past few months, women of Western nationalities married to
Bulgarians have been allowed to visit their relatives in the West for sh't
periods of time.
8. The issuance of passports to Bulgarian citizens of advanced age who wish
to expatriate from the Orbit has been streamlined and shortened in time.
This is also true for aged Jews who wish to expatriate. A certain
reluctance to give permission to young Jews, however, is still evident.
Many persons wish to leave Bulgaria, but not everyone is in a position to
do so. There have been cases of Bulgarian women who married Jews in the
hope of leaving the country, and found that the authorities refused their
requests to expatriate.
not assume the nationality of her husband; on the contrary, women of other
nationalities who marry Bulgarians do become citizens of the country.
According to Bulgarian law, a Bulgarian woman who marries a foreigner does
there are no official measures discriminating 25X1
against the Jews or other minorities in Bulgaria. Officially they have
the same rights and duties as other citizens.
10. There is reportedly no present anti-Semitism among the Bulgarian people.
Official and people's demonstrations against Jews have not occurred during
the past year or longer.
Propaganda
11. Propaganda is intense, continuous and oppressive. It is carried on by
every conceivable means: press, radio, motion pictures, lectures. Every
Saturday afternoon a political lecture is held in all factories.
Attendance is compulsory, and the meeting lasts for two or even three hours.
At the end of the talk, the audience is invited to participate in a question
and answer period, and to express its opinion.
12. Even residential buildings have their periodic lectures and political
meetings for all residents. Absence from them is a cause of suspicion.
Radio broadcasts constantly preach the line, interspersed with short
musical programs which offer a prevalence of Russian compositions; old
Italian songs are often transmitted, as they are favored by the listening
public. Railroad cars are equipped with radio loudspeakers which barrage
the captive audience with Soviet propaganda.
13. I (Bulgaria has only the following radio transrnittin;
s ons: Sofia 1 and 2, and Stalin.
The motion picture theaters show propaganda films of Soviet, Czechoslovakian,
and Hungarian production. Except for Soviet films, all. have Bulgarian
sub-titles. From time to time, Italian musical and sentimental pictures
are shown; at such time, attendance rises sharply. People stand in line
for hours to buy tickets, and often the house is sold out before all have
bought their tickets.
15. In spite of the political events of the past 10 years, the Bulgarian
people still keep their sympathy for Italy, as it was before the last
conflict. In 1954, Bulgaria bean its own motion picture production.
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Western Radio Listening
16. Western radio broadcasts beamed to Bulgaria are heard by a large part of
the people in spite of warning and threats by the police. These broad-
casts suffer from interference by local stations which have the sole
purpose of jamming.
18.
19. Western radio broadcasts are heard in Bulgaria with fair audibility, at
the following hours: Radio London 8:30 p.m., Voice of America 9 p.m.,
and Radio Free Europe 9:30 P.M.
20. Up to the middle of 1954, Communist newspapers from the Western countries,
especially L'Hwmanite and L'Unita were permitted to enter the country.
They are no longer sold because they revealed a much higher standard of
living in the West.
21. Once in a while, a bold humorist will slap the government. Some time
ago there was a cartoon in Sofia, showing a cow with its front quarters
in Bulgaria and its hind quarters in the USSR. The cow was being fed in
Bulgaria and milked in the Soviet Union. The people are aware of how
the USSR exploits their resources.
Schools and Universities
22. There are no restrictions placed on the number of students up to the
higher secondary level. Enrollment of university students?-is subject to
the approval of government agencies. The number of vacancies is un-
determined ~..,
and unpublicized for the various schools, and there is no
competitive examination for entrance.
23. Graduates of pre-university schools must apply for admission by executing
a detailed personal history statement. The government then accepts or
rejects the application, the latter without stated reason. A rejected
request may be refiled on the following year. Requests from working class
backgrounds or children of political personalities are favored.
Political and Special Subjects Taught
24. The Russian language is a compulsory subject in all schools. The
majority of the Russian language teachers are Bulgarians, supplemented
by a few Russians. Instructors or professors of other nationalities are
not permitted to teach in Bulgarian schools.
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S-E-C-R-E-T
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25. Secondary schools and universities teach compulsory military theory, and
university students are examined in this subject. The following subjects
are also compulsory and considered important on the university level:
Marxism, Leninism, and Marxist dialectic. Examinations in these subjects
are severe and are a decisive factor i^ he individual's continuation of
studies. elass:I c and humanistic courses are almost 25X1
non-existent in Bulgarian universities.
AP-ricultural Crisis
26. Farm work is no longer loved, and the peasant no longer feels the call of
the soil, which is not his property. Remuneration is poor; less than that
for industrial labor to which many of the country folk have drifted, with
the initial encouragement of the government.
27. The peasant has acquired the feeling that a greater effort on his part
on the farm will not bring any immediate visible benefit to him or to the
community. Greater production only means greater exports to the USSR,
leaving the Bulgarian people in a chronic state of need. In 1954, the
farm crop was abundant, but the Bulgarian people were not fed any better
than in less-yielding years.
28. There has been no real improvement in farm techniques: machines are only
limitedly employed, and chemical fertilizers are scarce, The government
is attempting to salvage the situation by restoring part of the land to
its former owners for private tilling. However, this step should go hand
in hand with a substantial reduction in the quota of produce payable to
the government, because many of those who repossessed their land have
already given it back to the government for this very reason.
29.I
(
prices of the following products:
Flour
4 lava a kg
White bread
5 n n
Black "
2 n n
Egg macaroni
10 "
Macaroni (no eggs)
7 n
Rice
20 "
Butter
25 n
Steer meat
12 "
Veal
16 "
Sugar
20
Sunflower seed oil
or pumpkin seed oil
12 lava a liter
Milk
3.5 n n
Wine
7-10
30. There is a shortage
leva a kilogram. Re
prices for an entire
year, many pastry sh
Clothing
of coffee, tea, spices, etc., w
staurants sell a la carte only;
meal, and prices are quite hig
ops have reopened.
hich cost about 200
there are no set
h. During the past
31. Clothing is in short
supply, of poor quality and hi
gh-priced.
25X1
i
25X1
ces of t
pr
he following:
Shoes
Cloth for men's suits
Ordinary shirts
Nylon hose for women
Artificial silk hose
Common men's socks
200-250 leva a pair
210 " a meter
70 to 80 leva each
80 to 100 leva:'a pair
25 n n
16 n n
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Electric Power Supply in Sofia
32. The supply of electric pier for civilian use is subject to certain
restrictions. Residential buildings are limited in their use of electricity
and are actually without it for several hours every evening, taking turns
or shifts based on odd or even house numbers.
33. Electrically operated house appliances may be used only from 1-4 p.m.
Power is fed to the capital at 150 volts; 220 volts in the suburbs and
elsewhere in Bulgaria. Normal electric bills are 50 lava a month.
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