Communism in Bulgaria

The People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB; Bulgarian: Народна република България (НРБ), Narodna republika Bŭlgariya, NRB) was the official name of Bulgaria when it was a socialist republic from 1946 to 1990, ruled by the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) together with its coalition partner, the Bulgarian Agrarian People's Union. Bulgaria was closely allied and one of the most loyal satellite states of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, sometimes being called the 16th Soviet Republic rather than an independent country. Bulgaria was also part of Comecon as well as a member of the Warsaw Pact. The Bulgarian resistance movement during World War II deposed the Tsardom of Bulgaria administration in the Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944 which ended the country's alliance with the Axis powers and led to the People's Republic in 1946.

The 1944 Bulgarian coup d'état, also known as the 9 September coup d'état (Bulgarian: Деветосептемврийски преврат, Devetoseptemvriyski prevrat), was a coup that overthrew the government of Kingdom of Bulgaria carried out on the eve of 9 September 1944. During the People's Republic of Bulgaria it was called using the propaganda term People's Uprising of 9 September – on the grounds of the broad unrest and Socialist Revolution – as it was a turning point politically and the beginning of radical reforms towards Soviet-style socialism.

The September Uprising (Bulgarian: Септемврийско въстание, Septemvriysko vastanie), also called the September Riots (Септемврийски бунтове), was a 1923 communist insurgency in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) attempted to overthrow Alexandar Tsankov's new government established following the coup d'état of 9 June.

The Macedonian literary circle (1938–1941) was a literary society created in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1938 by young and educated members of the Macedonian immigrant community, who were Bulgarian communists. After the resolution of the Comintern on the Macedonian Question published in 1934, the Bulgarian Communist Party adopted its thesis and tried to urge some intellectuals to work out a plan for the creation of a distinct Macedonian language and for development of new Macedonian literature. With the foundation of this society, an attempt was made, to use it in order to do both. Though, its by-laws and statutes were in Bulgarian. Most active from its members were: Nikola Vaptsarov, Venko Markovski, Kole Nedelkovski, Vasil Ivanovski, Gjorgji Abadžiev, Anton Popov, Mihail Smatrakalev, Dimitar Mitrev and others. However, the circle disbanded itself as useless in the spring of 1941, when most of Macedonia came under Bulgarian administration, and a euphoria overwhelmed its participants, seeing in it a form of national unification.

Recep Küpçü (Bulgarian: Реджеп Кюпчу, Redzhep Kyupchu; 28 September 1934 – 26 April 1976) was a Bulgarian poet and writer of Turkish origin who wrote in both Bulgarian and Turkish. Born in 1934 in the town of Kuklen, he spent most of his life in Burgas, where he met various and influential Bulgarian writers. He met Turkish communist authors such as Aziz Nesin as well.

As in other Eastern Bloc states, the communist People's Republic of Bulgaria operated a network of forced labour camps between 1944 and 1989, with particular intensity until 1962. Tens of thousands of prisoners were sent to these institutions, often without trial.