PROGRAM STATEMENT
on
"POPULAR FRONT"
Dear compatriots, brothers and sisters,
We, the citizens of the Republic of Bulgaria, created this organization of vigilant civil organizations and individuals to fight and prove that civil society and the Bulgarian people are alive.
Our homeland is in danger! We are on the brink of another national disaster. In recent years, political parties have proven that they cannot cope with the challenges of the times. Instability, alienation and hatred of kings in our country. Millions of Bulgarian citizens left the country in search of a better life - without fear, without corruption and misery.
The series of elections with all the lower voter turnout and resulting from this negligible representativeness of the rulers, the reproduction of the same people in power, regardless of the scandals and the open dependence on foreign powers put the change of the model in defense of national interests sharply on the agenda.
In fulfillment of our civic duty to the Motherland and the people, we declare the following goals:
- ESTABLISHMENT OF PEOPLE'S POWER
Bulgaria is experiencing fateful days. The fate of our Motherland today depends entirely on the people. The primary task is the deployment of the national struggle to establish the power of the people, which would create conditions for the economic, social and political development of the country as a free and independent state;
- NO TO THE WAR! BULGARIA ZONE OF PEACE!
Turning Bulgaria into a Zone of Peace. As a first step, to end our membership in the NATO military bloc. Non-participation in any military blocs. The country is not officially recognized by five countries, permanent countries of the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, the neighboring countries of Bulgaria, the EU and other countries with a proposal to recognize the status of a ZONE OF PEACE.
Foreign military bases, centers and facilities cannot be informed on the territory of the country. Our country undertakes not to be a source of aggressive actions and cowardice for the world. Accordingly, no one should commit any kind of aggression against Bulgaria.
Bulgaria to be included in a source for peace initiatives and a place for conducting negotiations in connection with the resolution of various conflicts, assemblies and events for peace.
- NO TO THE DICTATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION!
Restoring the supremacy of national legislation over any foreign legislation.
the low union was supposed to represent a union of sovereign states, not a federal union of Brussels provinces, in which Europe's anonymous and unelected bureaucracy imposes colonial political engineering, financially motivated and paid for by the world backstage.
Freedom of Bulgaria to participate in various economic organizations around the world.
- NO TO THE EUROZONE, NO TO THE ACCEPTANCE OF FOREIGN CURRENCY!
The integration of Bulgaria into the Eurozone would mean the impossibility of implementing a common policy that meets the needs of our national economy, and would threaten the economy it is a financial policy.
In Europe, the monetary policy and the interest rates determine the economic citation in the largest economies, where the largest part of the annual income is generated a product in the European Union. The monetary policy for the entire eurozone is absolutely harmful for the economic development of small economies like Bulgaria.
This for us means a permanent slower economic development and dooms Bulgaria to remain forever in the economic epiphyte of the European Union.
It will be a preserve and a source of cheap labor and raw material base.
- EXIT THE COLONIAL CURRENCY BOARD!
Exiting the colonial currency board would free up the foreign exchange reserve. And instead of these funds sinking into the bottomless pockets of the European Bank, with the released funds, Bulgaria can carry out a complete re-industrialization of the economy, as a result of which we will become a developed European country from the last place of the poorest countries in Europe.
Instead of the tranches from the European Union granted under binding conditions, we have enough of our own funds to revive our Motherland.
- NO TO THE GENOCIDE OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION!
The Pandemic Agreement being prepared places each signatory country in full dependence on the decisions of the World Health Organization, which is a non-governmental organization controlled by the pharmaceutical industry, both in terms of the vaccines and drugs used and the measures applied. In practice, Bulgaria completely loses its sovereignty in favor of the corporate interests driving this pseudo-health organization.
- NO TO GENDER IDEOLOGY!
Our forcibly imposed gender ideology and the Strategy for the Child, disguised under the benign words of protecting the rights of women and children, destroys our national identity, cripples our people physically, spiritually and morally, tramples on our faith. The damage that the new subjects are doing to our education system is having a long-term detrimental effect on our children. The future of Bulgaria is in danger.
- BULGARIA – WORLD CULTURAL AND SPIRITUAL CENTER!
To preserve the Bulgarian spirit and traditions, to preserve our Eastern Orthodox faith, to continue the Bulgarian race is the main task for every true Bulgarian. The loss of national identity, the replacement of history and the erasure of historical memory are the main threats leading to our extinction as a nation.
- LET'S GIVE THE STATE BACK TO THE BULGARIAN PEOPLE!
Being aware of our responsibility to the Motherland and the Bulgarian people and in fulfillment of our civic duty with the sole task of saving our country from another national catastrophe and returning it to the Bulgarian people, we firmly stand behind the creation of a strong, solidary and social state, an active participant and leader of overall socio-economic and political life.
THE POPULAR FRONT must unite all patriotic Bulgarians and organizations that love and are ready to fight for Bulgaria and the future of our children.
THE POPULAR FRONT must boldly and resolutely stand at the head of the struggle and come out openly with their names.
THE POPULAR FRONT calls the people to a brave struggle. The THE POPULAR FRONT is the only force that can and must, with bold, immediate and decisive actions, save the country.
Only a THE POPULAR FRONT government will provide the conditions for a true people's democratic government.
Of immediate and courageous universal actions, of a determined struggle for the conquest of a free, independent and just Bulgaria!
17.06.2024 г. National Council of the POPULAR FRONT
Declaration - appeal
for the repeal of the "Law on Declaring the Communist Regime in Bulgaria Criminal"
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the date November 10, 1989. Enough time has passed to allow for stocktaking. But also for comparison of the current period of the "so-called democracy and market economy' with the previous era of 45 years of socialism. But also for a comparison from the first half of the 20th century to 9/09/1944 - an era of cruel decades of wars, national catastrophes, uprisings and the establishment of terrorist regimes.
We will recall that on November 10, 1989, the so-called "change" was met with mass enthusiasm by the widest circles of the Bulgarian people. Although this enthusiasm in all professional groups, social strata and classes was born from different motives. With one group, purposefully the most numerous and diverse in its composition, there is hope that the bureaucratic distortions accumulated over the years will be overcome. And it will return to renewed socialism. Among the other, also numerous, there are naive illusions about a "rosy" capitalist future for Bulgaria, based on the remedies presented to the countries of the West.
There were various others too – some hoping to return, something their fathers and grandfathers possessed. There was also one in which they felt that something was "stirring", they decided to fish in "murky water". Simply put, to take away as much as possible from that "common"... I must say that almost nothing that the first two groups thought and dreamed about came true. While for the last two groups, much of what was desired happened.
In this whole series of events, full of dreams, hopes, illusions, but also multiplying disappointments, an important event took place. It somehow imperceptibly, but became a furrow that marked the beginning of the new period in this time of change. On April 26, 2000, the XXXVIII National Assembly adopted the "Law on Declaring the Communist Regime in Bulgaria Criminal". /hereinafter referred to as "the Act"/.
Here we will recall that the above "Law" consists of the 4th article. The first article declares that the BKP "came to power using an external force, declared war on Bulgaria, /and/ is leading the country to a national catastrophe". In the second article, ten accusations are leveled at the leadership of the BKP and six against the established socialist government. In particular, the BKP and the socialist government were denounced as being responsible for the "destruction of the remaining values of European civilization", for the "moral and economic decline of the state", for violating human rights and freedoms, for subordinating the country's interests to foreign practical state - USSR "to the extent of loss of state sovereignty". Article three declares the BKP a criminal organization based on the accusations of article two, and article four declares all actions carried out to resist and reject the regime as "just, morally justifiable and worthy of respect". It is interesting that the "Act" has been declared to have no legal effect.
Today, 35 years since the change and 24 of the last years after the adoption of the "Law", on the basis of the accumulated experience, a reliable assessment can be made based on the last period - 9.09.1944, following until 10.11.1989 and after:
- The "law" denies the work and life of at least two generations of working Bulgarians - the same ones who turned rural and miserable Bulgaria into a medium-developed industrial-agrarian society, which ranks 26th in terms of standard of living in the world according to UN statistics. According to these statistics, today the country is not in 73rd place. We will not mention here the socio-demographic catastrophe, as a result of which, from 9 million in 1990, Bulgaria reached 6 million today, with a declining birth rate and an increasing death rate. There is a real threat of the Motherland not disappearing for demographic reasons within a few decades;
- The "law" is an example of the incompetence of the ruling political right for most of the time after November 10, 1989. But also a demonstration of the failure of political forces of different nature - right-wing, centrist and even left-wing, current neoliberal model of the international and domestic politics of our country. As a result of both this model and the manifested administrative impossibility, the Fatherland neither exists in the conditions of limited and all the more limited sovereignty. Wherein this is produced with an archaic economy, western education, a genocidal healthcare system and a vulgarized culture. This happens in the conditions of planting values from outside. The latter have nothing to do with the rest of Bulgarians, nor with common human values and moral code;
- The "law" with its humiliating wrongful allegations of the crimes of socialism served as a smokescreen for the looting and squandering of the nation's wealth. In essence, this meant denying the value of the production created and any other assets. Thus, the floodgates were completely opened and the process of thefts and destruction of the material base created by the working people of Bulgaria, which was a guarantee for an optimistic future of our Motherland in the XXI century, was legally strengthened;
- The "law" represents an attempt at a neo-fascist revenge - the pro-Hitler and fascist regime in Bulgaria in the first half of the 1940s declared war on two of the main anti-fascist powers - the USA and Great Britain. He served as a faithful sentry for Nazi Germany in the Balkans, freeing 10 German divisions to be sent to the Eastern Front. This is how you provoke a "backfire" - the entry of the Red Army into Bulgaria and your fall from power. But the entry of the USSR into Bulgaria played a saving role for our Motherland in view of the looming danger of a possible occupation of our Motherland by Turkish troops, which Great Britain insisted on. And also at the signing of the peace treaty in Paris in 1947, when, at the insistence of the Soviet representative, Greece's request to move our southern border 30 km from Plovdiv and 90 km from Sofia was not accepted. That is why the given "Law" definitely represents an attempt at a late-dated neo-fascist revenge by falsification of historical truth;
- The "Law" represents an attack on human rights - despite the claims that the "Law" has no legal consequences, it has been turned into a legal basis for attacking human rights and humiliating various categories of Bulgarian citizens. For example, these worked and gave forces to strengthen the security of our Motherland. The consequences, apart from the humiliation of a large group of professionals, are a breakdown in the authority of the national security system and a significant spike in crime;
- And finally, we must note the most important thing that "The law declaring the communist regime in Bulgaria criminal" started the "Student Civil War in Bulgaria. With the bloody execution of the Soldiers' Uprising in 1918, the "Hot Civil War" began in our Motherland. It continued with an oscillating dynamic until the end of the 1950s. Then the last flames of this conflict were extinguished. But with the "Law" in practice, still smoldering embers were fanned, which today reveal the potential for a huge fire that can burn our Fatherland to ashes.
That is why we issue this declaration-appeal for the repeal of the misleading, humiliating, destructive and dividing the Bulgarian people into warring groups "Law", as a condition for starting a process for a new revival of our beloved Motherland.
Association "Popular Front"
Society for the Protection of Human Rights-Bulgaria
Association "Just Bulgaria"
Anti-Fascist Forum - Bulgaria
George Dimitrov
and
THE POPULAR FRONTS
Georgi Dimitrov (1882-1949) was a prominent Bulgarian politician and communist leader who played a significant role in the international communist movement in the first half of the 20th century. One of his most important achievements was the creation and strengthening of the concept of popular fronts.
Context and Ideology
Popular Fronts are coalitions made up of various leftist and democratic forces, united against the threat of fascism and the extreme right. The idea was to create broad alliances that would use communists, socialists, liberals and other progressive forces to oppose the Nazis and fascists who were gaining power in Europe in the 1930s.
The role of Georgi Dimitrov
Georgi Dimitrov plays a key role in popularizing and realizing the concept of popular fronts. His participation in the Leipzig Trial (1933) and his final activity as General Secretary of the Comintern (Communist International) were crucial.
- Leipzig Trial: Dimitrov became world famous after being accused of setting fire to the Reichstag in Germany in 1933. He used this trial to expose fascists and defend the communist cause. Dimitrov managed to defend himself with great skill, directing the trial on the platform of condemning the Nazi regime.
- The Comintern: After the Leipzig Trial, Dimitrov became General Secretary of the Comintern (1935-1943). Under his leadership, the Comintern adopted a new strategy known as the Popular Front. This strategy calls for the creation of broad coalitions against fascism, including not only communists but also other leftist and democratic forces.
Popular fronts in action
Popular Fronts played an important role in the political life of several European countries in the 1930s:
- France: Leon Blum's Popular Front
The French Popular Front is one of the most famous and successful examples of this political strategy. Established in 1935, it united communists, socialists and radical socialists. In 1936, the Popular Front won the parliamentary elections, with Leon Blum becoming Prime Minister. The main achievements of the French Popular Front include:
Social reforms: The introduction of a 40-hour work week and paid annual leave, which ensured working conditions for workers.
Economic measures: Stimulating the economy by nationalizing key industries and increasing government spending.
Political Stability : The Popular Front succeeds in pressing the tension between your social groups and strengthening the democratic states in France.- Spain: The Popular Front and the Civil War
In Spain, the Popular Front won the elections in February 1936. The coalition included socialists, communists, republicans and other leftist forces. Although the Popular Front failed to prevent the Civil War (1936-1939), its rule had several important aspects:
Political mobilization: The Popular Front mobilized broad sections of the population against fascism, including both urban workers and the rural poor.
Social reforms: Despite difficulties, the Popular Front is trying to carry out agrarian reforms and improve the social conditions of workers and peasants.
International Solidarity: The Spanish Popular Front is supported by the international left, including volunteer brigades that come from all over the world to fight against the fascists.
- Czechoslovakia: The Unification Against the Threat
In Czechoslovakia, the Popular Front was formed in the context of growing fear of Nazi Germany. Although Czechoslovakia was later forced to surrender to Hitler after the Munich Agreement (1938), the Popular Front played an important role in uniting various political forces in the country:
Political consolidation: The Popular Front helps to strengthen democratic states and resistance forces in the country.
Anti-Fascist Mobilization: The organization of resistance to Nazi occupation, which included both political and military action.
- Greece: The Popular Front and the Anti-Fascist Resistance
In Greece, the Popular Front played a key role in organizing the resistance against the Nazi occupation during World War II. One of the most famous movements is the EAM (National Liberation Movement), which includes communists, socialists and other anti-fascist forces:
Military Resistance: The Popular Front organized a guerrilla war against the occupying forces, playing an important role in liberating large parts of Greece.
Social and political changes: After the war, the Popular Front was an important participant in the political processes seeking social justice and democratic reforms.
Creation of the People's Front in Bulgaria
The Popular Front in Bulgaria was formed in 1942 as a coalition of various leftist and anti-fascist forces, including the Bulgarian Workers' Party (Communists), farmers, social democrats and other opposition groups.The main goal of this coalition is the removal of the fascist regime and the establishment of a democratic system in the country.
The anti-fascist resistance
The anti-fascist resistance in Bulgaria was organized mainly through the partisan movement that developed in 1941-1944. Partisan detachments were formed throughout the country and operated in the mountainous and rural areas. These units carried out actions against the German occupation forces and the Bulgarian fascist police. The local population actively supports the partisans with food, shelter and information, despite repression from the government.
In the last year of the war (1944), partisan activity intensified significantly. In September 1944, when the Soviet Army in Bulgaria, partisan units were already able to control large territories and create conditions for a change of power.
On September 9, 1944, as a result of the coordinated actions of the partisans and the incoming Soviet army, a change of power took place in Bulgaria, the fascist government was overthrown and a new government led by the Patriotic Front was established. The Fatherland Front is an expanded version of the People's Front, including communists, social democrats, farmers and other leftist and democratic forces.
The overthrow of the fascist regime and the establishment of the Patriotic Front government led to a radical change in the country's political structure. The new government began implementing a number of social and economic reforms, including the nationalization of industry and agricultural land.
The Popular Front and anti-fascist resistance in Bulgaria are important elements of the country's history during the Second World War. They demonstrate the power of the union of different political and social groups against a common enemy and play a decisive role in the removal of the fascist regime and the establishment of a new political order. These events are fundamental for the latest development of Bulgaria as a country.
The People's Fronts today
Today, the concept of popular fronts, although radically different from its original form in the 1930s and 1940s, continues to be used in political movements around the world. In the external context, popular fronts are often formed as coalitions of different political parties and civil organizations united against common threats or to achieve a specific goal. Here are some examples of popular fronts and coalitions:
Latin America
In Latin America, the concept of popular fronts is often used to unite leftist forces against neoliberal policies and authoritarian regimes.
Venezuela: The unity of various leftist forces, such as the PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela), is often presented as a form of popular front that resists external pressure and internal oppositional forces.
Brazil: The Workers' Party (PT) and other left-wing parties and movements often form coalitions to participate in elections and to oppose conservative governments.
Europe
In Europe, albeit under different names, there are alliances and coalitions that can be seen as the world's version of popular fronts.
Spain: Podemos and other left-wing parties and movements created the Unidos Podemos (United We Can) coalition to oppose the other political parties and the economic crisis.
Greece: The Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) unites various leftist parties and movements in opposition to the severe economic measures imposed on the country.
North America
In the United States and Canada, coalitions and movements exist that unite various groups for social justice and countering far-right politics.
USA: Progressive coalitions such as "Our Revolution" and "Justice Democrats" unite various progressive and socialist groups to change the political system.
Canada: The New Democratic Party (NDP) often forms coalitions with other left-wing and progressive groups to achieve social justice and economic reform.
Asia
In Asia, too, there are examples of popular fronts and coalitions fighting for democracy and social justice.
India: Left-wing parties, such as the Communist Party of India (Marxist), often join forces with other progressive forces to oppose right-wing and neoliberal policies.
Philippines: Leftist movements and parties form coalitions to oppose authoritarian rule and defend the rights of workers and peasants.
Conclusion
Popular fronts continue to play an important role in world politics today, albeit in a different form than in the 20th century. They often represent an amalgamation of various political and civil forces fighting for democracy, social justice and opposition to authoritarian and neoliberal policies. These external coalitions demonstrate the importance of cooperation and unification in the pursuit of common goals and values.