On November 8, 1950, Valko Chervenkov was elected general secretary of the Central Committee of the BCP. This happened several months after he took over the government of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria and marked the beginning of a period in which the party and state leadership were concentrated in the same hands.
The change came after the death of Prime Minister Vasil Kolarov on January 23, 1950. On February 3, Chervenkov took over the government. By that time, he was already among the most influential figures in the Bulgarian Communist Party.
The Decision on the Party Post
Minutes from a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the BCP on November 2, 1950, record decisions on proposals by the Central Committee plenum to elect Valko Chervenkov general secretary of the party. The document also mentions the proposal for Todor Zhivkov to become a candidate member of the Politburo.
The Bulgarian Telegraph Agency identifies November 8, 1950, as the date on which Chervenkov took up the restored post of general secretary of the Central Committee of the BCP. He remained in the party post until 1954, while as prime minister he continued to govern until April 1956.
The Concentration of Power
Under Chervenkov, the two highest offices in the state and the party were combined for the first time since the death of Georgi Dimitrov. This strengthened his position in the system of government and made him the country’s principal political figure in the early 1950s.
The period was marked by highly centralized rule and by the establishment of a public image of the party leader as the principal bearer of the political line. Later, at the BCP Central Committee plenum in April 1956, Chervenkov himself admitted that „the cult of my personality as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and subsequently as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the BCP, became widespread in our country“.
The End of the Combination of the Two Posts
At the meetings of the Central Committee of the BCP on January 25 and 26, 1954, the post of general secretary was abolished. Todor Zhivkov was confirmed as first secretary of the Central Committee, while Chervenkov retained his leading role in the state administration and remained prime minister.
Following the April Plenum in 1956, Chervenkov was removed from the post of prime minister. Anton Yugov became head of the Council of Ministers, and the change marked the beginning of Chervenkov’s withdrawal from the pinnacle of political power.
Sources: bta.bg, old-news.bnr.bg, 24chasa.bg