page_title: People's Republic of Bulgaria
section_title: Culture
hierarchical_section_title: People's Republic of Bulgaria / Culture
caption_attribution_description: Български: Членска карта на Никола Вапцаров от Съюза на българските писатели, издадена посмъртно на 28.ІІ.1947 г. English: Membership card of Nikola Vaptsarov, issued from the Bulgarian writers' union after his dead, at 28.II.1947
context_page_description: The People's Republic of Bulgaria was the official name of Bulgaria, when it was a socialist republic that existed from 1946 to 1990 ruled by the Bulgarian Communist Party, which in turn ruled together with its coalition partner, the Bulgarian Agrarian People's Union. Bulgaria was part of Comecon and a member of the Warsaw Pact and was closely allied with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The Bulgarian resistance movement during World War II deposed the Kingdom 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 BCP modelled its policies after those of the Soviet Union, transforming the country over the course of a decade from an agrarian peasant society into an industrialized socialist society. In the mid-1950s and after the death of Stalin, conservative hardliners lost influence and a period of social liberalization and stability followed under Todor Zhivkov. Varying degrees of conservative or liberal influence followed.
context_section_description: Culture in PRB was strictly regulated by the government, although there were some periods of liberalization (meaning entrance in Bulgaria of Western literature, music, etc.). The thaw in intellectual life had continued from 1951 until the middle of the decade. Chervenkov's resignation and the literary and cultural flowering in the Soviet Union created expectations that the process would continue, but the Hungarian revolution of fall 1956 ended the experiment.
  Chervenkov was appointed minister of education and culture. In 1957 and 1958 he purged the leadership of the Bulgarian Writers' Union and dismissed liberal journalists and editors from their positions. His crackdowns effectively ended the "Bulgarian thaw" of independent writers and artists inspired by Khrushchev's 1956 speech against Stalinism. In July 1968, the 9th World Festival of Youth and Students took place in Sofia, attracting 20,000 people from 138 countries. The main holiday of the country was the Day of the People's Uprising of 9 September (Ден на народното въстание на 9 септември), celebrations of which modelled on Soviet celebrations on October Revolution Day. The celebrarions saw the Bulgarian Politbureau greeting the masses from Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum. However, in this case, there were no military parades. The yearlong 1300th anniversary celebrations of the Bulgarian State took place in 1981 to commemorate the establishment of the First Bulgarian State in 681. There were 23,000 events connected with the anniversary, including a military parade and the creation of a monument in Shumen
caption: Membership card of Nikola Vaptsarov
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