One can forget what an Internationale movement the early Communists were. There were conventions, factions and debates. Then in the 20s there was Stalin and he regarded all that with suspicion as he was the world leader of the movement, and therefore deserved personal loyalty. Kolorov was able to age out but shows what was happening. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
The wave of communist exiles that returned home had been abroad for decades. They were also quite old. and by 1950 such leaders had passed. This allowed Stalin to put in his own people. No reason however not to give Kolarov a nice sendoff. On this issue of two stamps, the lower denomination writes the country name in the local language while this stamp has Bulgaria written in Latin letters. Already in 1950 a nod to the international collector that would soon be so important to Eastern European communist era issues.
Todays stamp is issue A377, a 20 Lev stamp issued by the Peoples Republic of Bulgaria on March 6th, 1950. The two stamp issue had quickly been put together after caretaker Prime Minister Vasil Kolarov had died in January. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 70 cents, whether mint or canceled to order as here.
Vasil Kolarov was born in Bulgaria in 1877 when the area was still part of the Ottoman Empire. He was the son of a shoemaker. In 1897 he joined the Tesniak wing of the local Communist movement. He was then given the opportunity to study law in France and make connection with the various communist movements. At the time it was thought that a communist takeover of the Balkans would involve a federation of Slavic countries that would itself sub serve itself to a communist Russia.
After being defeated in World War I a new King appointed leftist Aleksandar Stamboliski as Prime Minister. He was from the rival leftist Agrarian Party. Bulgaria was much shrunken and was faced with a huge war reparations bill. As Stamboliski worked through it, he angered Bulgarians on the right for kowtowing to the new reality. In 1923, the Right lead a coup that saw the King appoint a new right wing Prime Minister. Stamboliski tried to fight the coup but had no help from the rival Tesniak communists like Kolarov. He was captured, tortured, blinded, had the arm he signed peace treaties with cut off and had his head removed as a trophy. This greatly angered Stalin, who was on good terms with Stamboliski. His anger was mainly directed at those communists of the Internationale that were passive through the struggle as Stamboliski was of the other party. Another issue for Stalin was that he now opposed a wider Balkan Slavic Soviet federation. as he thought it would be too powerful for the Soviets to easily control. Realizing the danger of angering Stalin, the Communists like Kolarov started a separate uprising later in 1923. This was quickly defeated and sent Bulgarian communist leaders into exile where they perhaps wanted to be. The Communist International took care of them.
In 1944, Bulgaria switched sides and welcomed in the Red Army as the Germans retreated. With them came the exiled Bulgarian Communists like Kolorov. He accepted the abdication of Bulgaria’s last King and became a figure head President of the new People’s Republic. These were the old passive guys from 1923 and Stalin was not pleased. They still harbored ideas of a Balkan federation and were too close to Marshal Tito in Yugoslavia. New Prime Minister Dimitrov was some believed poisoned in Moscow and there was a show trial and execution of the deputy Prime Minister. Kolarov stepped in as caretaker Prime Minister but perhaps lucky for him he died of natural causes a few months later allowing Stalin to put in his people. No longer a threat, Kolarov was given a hero’s funeral and his hometown was even renamed for him. This enthusiasm was short lived, by 1965 the town had reverted to it’s previous name.
Well my drink is empty and I will stay out of Bulgarian politics. I am sure someone would find me too passive. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.