DESCRIBES BULGARIA UNDER RED RULE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600340250-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 16, 2011
• Sequence Number: 250
• Publication Date: September 1, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/17: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600340250-6
CLASSIFICATION RESTRI^? TFJD ~GS11OV I tU
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
COUNTRY
SUBJECT
HOW
PUBLISHED
WHERE
PUBLISHED
DATE
PUBLISHED
LANGUAGE
Political
Daily newspaper
Stockholm
31 JUl, 1350
Swedish
TMI1 OOC1800T CoI1TAl1/ IM/011A11O1 AFFECTING Tilt NATIONAL OIR10
OF iME YMITID 1717[1 OITIIIN THE 111111E OF OROMAAN ACT EE
S. E. C.. III AND St' Al 111 NO10. ITS TIA5E11E"01 01 THE 21TOUTiON
171 colTESTE I1 ANT MA1111 TO Al BUASTMO11LE1 11OEON 11 PRO.
OF MIOITEO 1T LAO. 11-IO SUCTION OF Twu 1611 IS -1OMUl1E0.
SOURCE Svenska Dagb1adet.
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1950
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
DESCRIBES BULGARIA UNDER RED RULE
Belgrade, July --_pkime Minister Chervenkov of Bulgaria, through a purge of
the Bulgarian Communist Party ranks conducted on his ascent to -Vower and another
purge conducted not rang ago, has wiped out completely any possible Communist
oppositipn to. his policy. Chervenkov's policy vis-a-vis the USSR is one of-
com-plete subordination and Acquiescence to the USSR's wil). and needs.
The policy pursued by the Bulgarian Communists in 1947 and 1918 of
to convert their land into a-miiced industrial-egr Gsto leaders
Chervenkov declared that the main task confronting the Bulgarian was not the struggle-for electrification and industrialization, butthe adaptation
' -of the Bulgarian national..economy_to the needs of the USSR." Work on the fac-
-tories and power.plants stopped., --and-Bulgaria was forced to devote all her ener-
gies to the production of agricultural products and raw materials to be delivered
to the USSR.
In 191 , the Saviet government had.premised to deliver modern machinery to
one of the-largest power p7.aa-ts.the-Bulgarians were constructing. The name of
the power plant _was ti-be the "Traycho goatov Plant," btlt with 7.Costov''s subsequent
arrest,-the name -was changed to the "Stalin Plant : In 1948, the Russians. made
the first ihiiment of. machinery; it turned out to be old machinery. of English
i$nufa^.ture for which.the.Russians-no longer had any use. The same situation
.prevailed with other large industrial projects for which the Russians had promised
delivery of machinery and equipment.
7n consequence of the suspension of the-electrification program, the whole
industrialization program collapsed. Durim all of 1949 and the early months of
1950, not one single tadtory of importance was erected. The situation might not
have been so bad hat the,?Bulgarians been able to export their agricultural prod-
ucts, but their Russian.''protectb^s"'deni-ed them this. Instead, they were re-
quired to=sell their co*'todities_at very low prices to the USSR, which in turn
sold the surplus on the"world market. - For exapple, two-thirds of the Bulgarian
-tobacco crop. goes to the USSR. '!I%e Bulgarians have difficulty in selling the re-
jidnla third, as-the Russians ns undersold them with Bulges'iaatobacco on the world
market. Most of the rose oil, one of the most important Bulgarian export prod-
ucts, goes to the USSR at prices determined'by the.USSB.
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Under those circumstances, the Bulgarians can import only from the USSR.
But while the USSR avails itself of Bulgaria's total production, Butgaria'has
access to USSR surplus only and then at very high prices.
It-is only natural that the Bu'_gaiian people, like those in all the other
People's.Democracies, are sinking even deeper into apathy-and despair. Fear
and want dominate their lives. The real value of a monthly salary of 6,000 leva
can best be determined if one compares it to the price of a meal at a second-
class restaurant in Sofia -- between 700 and 1,000 leva.The sheer effort re-
quired to keep themselves alive leaves them no time for politics. Possibly
that is one of the reasons one cannot speak-of any organised resistance in Bul-
garia, despite the fitct that the overwhelming majority of the people in the .
cities hate their Russian employers. The'other reason is that the anti-Commu-
nist parties and organize+.ions have been so completely crushed, and the people
placed under such close surveillance by the Bulgarian'dnd.Russian police,, that
it vould be inconceivable to form new centers of resistance. -- Bretholz, Svenska
DagblacLe foreign correspondent.
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/17: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600340250-6