Ten minutes before a meeting with American Ambassador Sol Polanski on October 23, 1989, Petar Mladenov received a warning to accuse the United States of gross interference in Bulgaria's internal affairs. Todor Zhivkov also got on the phone. The foreign minister refused to change the conversation he had prepared about the state of bilateral relations.
The next day, Mladenov wrote a letter to the Politburo and the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party. The text is dated October 24, 1989 and became one of the sharpest internal party documents at the end of Zhivkov's rule.
In it, Mladenov states that given the party leader's attitude towards him, he can no longer fulfill his duties either as a member of the Politburo or as Minister of Foreign Affairs. The reason is the immediate conflict, but the criticism quickly goes beyond the personal dispute.
“With his policy, Todor Zhivkov threw Bulgaria out of the rapids of time“, writes Mladenov. He accuses the country's long-time leader of having led Bulgaria to a deep economic, financial and political crisis, and through “dishonesty and petty tricks“ has isolated the country from the world and even from the Soviet Union. In the letter, Bulgaria is placed in a “trough“ with Nicolae Ceausescu's Romania.
The resignation was not formally submitted on October 24
Public accounts of the event often state that Mladenov resigned on October 24. It is more accurate to separate the two actions: the letter was written on that date, and was submitted to the party secretariat on October 25. His resignation was officially submitted two days after the letter was written.
The document was distributed to the members of the Politburo, and Zhivkov reacted sharply and demanded that Mladenov retract what he had written. Party representatives were sent to the foreign minister, but he refused. The meeting between the two leaders also did not lead to the withdrawal of the letter.
Weeks until the fall of Zhivkov
Mladenov's open disagreement came against the backdrop of a deepening crisis in the communist bloc. In the fall of 1989, the changes in Poland and Hungary, the collapse of the old model in Eastern Europe, and Moscow's distancing left the Bulgarian leadership increasingly isolated. The State Agency “Archives“ defines the letter of October 24 as the beginning of the change that led to Zhivkov's removal.
On November 9, the Politburo accepted Zhivkov's resignation as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party. On November 10, the plenum of the Central Committee formalized the decision and elected Petar Mladenov as his successor. On November 17, the National Assembly also elected him Chairman of the State Council.
Thus, the letter, which began as a protest against specific interference in the work of the Foreign Ministry, became a public sign that the rift in the highest party leadership could no longer be concealed.
Sources: old-news.bnr.bg