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56-683: Stamboliyski was a member of the Agrarian Union , an agrarian peasant movement which was not allied to the monarchy , and edited their newspaper . He opposed the country's participation in World War I and its support for the Central Powers . In a famous incident during 1914 Stamboliyski's patriotism was challenged when members of the Bulgarian parliament questioned whether he was Bulgarian or not, to which he shouted in response "At

112-455: A coalition . It is a founding member of the former International Agrarian Bureau . An Agrarian Union was first organized in Bulgaria in 1899. It was to be a professional organization open only to peasants and was at first not meant to become a political party. The Union initially won widespread peasant support by mobilizing peasants throughout Bulgaria to peaceful demonstrations against

168-769: A concerted effort to improve relations with the rest of Europe. This resulted in Bulgaria becoming the first of the defeated states to join the League of Nations in 1920. Though popular with the peasants, he antagonized the middle class and military. He was ousted in a military coup in June 1923 . He attempted to raise a rebellion against the new government, but was captured by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization , which detested him for renouncing Bulgarian national interest on

224-431: A harsh international occupation force, debt amounting to a “preposterous sum”, as well as national problems such as food shortages, general strikes, and a great flu epidemic. His goal was to transform the political, economic, and social structures of the state while at the same time rejecting the rhetoric of radicalism and its Bolshevik associations. He aimed at establishing the rule of the peasant, which comprised over 80% of

280-402: A moment, like the current, when our brothers South Slavs are threatened, I am neither a Bulgarian nor a Serb, I am a South Slav !". This statement relates to his belief in a Balkan Federation which would unite the region and supersede many of the national identities which existed at the time. He was court-martialed and sentenced to life in prison in 1915 due to his opposition to Bulgaria joining

336-457: A promise to help restore order in the military. However, Stamboliyski instead aligned himself with the uprising and in Radomir proclaimed Bulgaria to be a republic . His supporters then attempted an attack on Sofia . The Radomir Rebellion was stopped when this force was defeated by Bulgarian and German tsarists, who also did not retain control for long as Bulgaria had signed an armistice with

392-490: A series of theoretical articles on the peasants’ role in the state and history, and finally taking control of the BZNS party. In 1909 he wrote the book Political Parties or Estatist Organizations , which laid the foundations for the ideology of the BZNS. Stamboliyski rose through the ranks of the BZNS and by 1918 had become the leader of the party. World War I left Bulgaria in a state of severe social and economic crisis, and after

448-588: A series of worker and peasant strikes and uprisings between 1918 and 1920, the Bulgarian army and all old political parties were essentially discredited. In 1920, by a combination of major popular support and some coercive methods, Stamboliyski was able to create a BZNS controlled government. The party also formed a militia, the Orange Guard . The chief rival of Stamboliyski's BZNS was the Bulgarian Communist Party (BKP). After World War I,

504-475: Is a boulevard in central Sofia . Bulgarian Agrarian People%27s Union The Bulgarian Agrarian National Union ( Bulgarian : Български земеделски народен съюз , romanized :  Bŭlgarski zemedelski naroden sŭyuz , BZNS ), is a political party devoted to representing the causes of the Bulgarian peasantry . It was an agrarian movement and was most powerful between 1900 and 1923. Unlike

560-495: Is the boza capital of Bulgaria, often called Bozenburg. The town is home to the FK Strumska Slava football team. Radomir (1000–?) was also the name of a Bulgarian prince. Radomir was the surname of Gavril Radomir of Bulgaria (Bulgarian: Гаврил Радомир), who ruled Bulgaria from October 1014 to August 1015. The primary religion of the city's residents is Eastern Orthodox Christianity . The religion played

616-545: Is the natural habitat of rare bird species and a repository of therapeutic mud. The village overlooking the lake consists of small houses traditionally made of mud and sticks. There is some small-scale construction from the 1970s and 1980s and several newer villas. Legend has it that a Medieval ruler, settled opposite the lake, issued a decree for all houses to face in his direction. Baykalsko may be reached by bus from Sofia or Kyustendil, or by train via Zemen. Bed & breakfast accommodations are available by arrangement. Radomir

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672-547: The Aegean . In the village of Dren there were woodcarvers incomparable in mastery. 1831 Ottoman population statistics show that 41% of the Christians in the kaza of Radomir, which included Pernik Province, were non-taxpayers and 82% of Christians were recorded as middle-class. The population has a vigilant national consciousness. The first schools in Radomir were established by people who devoted themselves to worship. One of

728-408: The region of Macedonia , was brutally tortured, and killed. Born to a farmer , Aleksandar Stamboliyski spent his childhood in his birth village of Slavovitsa , the same village where he would later gather several thousand insurrectionists from the region and advance against the town of Pazardzhik . However, before this grand counter-insurgence was to transpire, Stamboliyski had to work himself up

784-566: The socialist movements of the early 20th century, it was devoted to questions concerning agriculture and farmers, rather than industry and factory workers. The BZNS, one of the first and most powerful of the agrarian parties in Eastern Europe , dominated Bulgarian politics during the beginning of the 20th century. It is also the only agrarian party in Europe that ever came to power with a majority government , rather than merely as part of

840-424: The 1909 book Political Parties or Estatist Organizations . In this vein, the BZNS was supposed to be more than a political party. It was meant to retain its original function as a professional organization for peasants, and also involve itself in politics in order to guarantee the protection of the peasant classes. The BZNS was a populist party, and as such supported the rights of the individual peasant over those of

896-553: The Agrarian Union became the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union, Bulgaria's official peasant party. BZNS candidates subsequently ran for positions in local and national elections. Over the next twenty years, the BZNS remained a part of Bulgarian politics, but it began to falter for lack of a concrete ideological base. Aleksandar Stamboliyski saved the party from that plight by first publishing

952-458: The Allies by the end of the month. The village of Baykalsko is a quiet and beautifully preserved natural settlement. The old church of Sveta Bogoroditsa, partially destroyed and rebuilt in the 19th century, has a recently restored, historic bell tower. A new cemetery bears the remains of generations on the opposite side of the village. The mayor's office and the post office are located across from

1008-502: The BANU, Stamboliyski was a notorious anti-monarchist and led the opposition to Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria. On September 25, 1918, in order to gain the BANU's acceptance, the regime was forced to release a number of political detainees, most notably Aleksandar Stamboliyski, who had been sentenced to life in prison after his meeting with Tsar Ferdinand to protest the war effort on 18 September 1915; two weeks before Bulgaria entered World War I on

1064-531: The BZNS and the BKP were the two leading parties in Bulgarian politics. Though the BZNS initially beat the Communist Party for political power, its authority quickly began to wane because, according to the communists, the BZNS wavered in its support between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie . Although most of them were not rich, peasants still participated in an old bourgeois economic system, which was, from

1120-557: The BZNS in 1923. Radomir (town) Radomir ( Bulgarian : Радомир [ˈradomir] ) is a town in the Radomir Municipality in the Pernik Province of Bulgaria . The town of Radomir is located at 764 meters above sea level in the Radomir valley, at the foot of Mount Golo Bardo. It is the center of the historical-geographical region of Mraka . The climate is humid-continental ( Dfb ). The town

1176-732: The Bulgarians to support the Stamboliyski government. Yet in the 1923 coup of Alexander Tsankov in June, 1923, the Bulgarian Communist Party refused to come to the aid of Stamboliyski and following the coup the Communist Party was forced "underground" by the Tsankovist Terror that followed the coup. The Communist International then "ordered" the Bulgarian Communist Party to redress this error of passivity in

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1232-632: The Central Powers in WWI. In 1918, with the defeat of Bulgaria as an ally of the Central Powers, Tsar Ferdinand abdicated in favor of his son Tsar Boris III who released Stamboliyski from prison. He joined the government in January, 1919, and was appointed prime minister on October 14 of that year. On March 20, 1920, the Agrarian Union won national elections and Stamboliyski was confirmed as prime minister. During his term in office, Stamboliyski made

1288-457: The Communist point of view, destined to fail. Though the BKP was always opposed to certain BZNS policies, most other factions became dissatisfied with Stamboliyski and the BZNS because of growing corruption within the party, and an increasingly oppressive rule over the Bulgarian people. On 9 June 1923 a bloc of military factions staged a coup d'état and deposed the Stamboliyski regime. Though

1344-533: The Communists ultimately gained control of the Bulgarian government, the BZNS remained in existence (as a member of the Fatherland Front ), and participated in agricultural policy in Bulgaria until the fall of communism in 1989. Stamboliyski believed that over time, new groups which were more attuned to modern political and economic needs would replace old political parties. He detailed this view in

1400-626: The IMRO carried out from Bulgarian territory. On 9 June 1923, Stamboliyski's government was overthrown by a coup composed of the right-wing factions of the Military League, IMRO , the National Alliance, and the army led by Aleksandar Tsankov . Italian agents sent by Mussolini in retaliation against Stamboliyski's refusal to ally with him against Yugoslavia also aided in the coup. With the Communist faction refusing to intervene and

1456-568: The Russian government and the Bolshevik Party. Stalin , who, by 1923, was gathering power in the absence of Lenin in the leadership of the new Soviet Russian government, had sought close relations with the Stamboliyski government. The Soviet government sought a means to break the ring of isolation that the western powers had erected around the new Soviet nation. Accordingly, following the Russian example, Russian Communists were strongly of

1512-844: The approval of the Allied Powers . After Tsar Boris III took the throne, the emerging political factions in Bulgaria were the Agrarians, the Socialists, and the Macedonian irredentists. However, due to the loss of the territory of Macedonia immediately following Bulgaria's surrender to the Allied forces, the Macedonian faction fell out of contention leaving the Agrarian and Communist factions struggling for political supremacy. As

1568-587: The army below the low level set by the Neuilly treaty, further angering the military by restriction their social status and opportunities for advancement. However, importantly Stamboliyski never settled the Macedonian problem . On February 2, 1923, Stamboliyski and three of his ministers survived an assassination attempt in the National Theater carried out by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO). On 4 June 1923 - just few days before

1624-569: The benefits of large scale agriculture without resorting to Soviet style collectivization. Stamboliyski founded the BANU Orange Guard , a peasant militia that both protected him and carried out his agrarian reforms. In foreign policy, Stamboliyski abided by the terms he helped set in the peace treaty signed at Neuilly-sur-Seine in November 1919, which was eventually exploited by the nationalist factions of Bulgaria as he failed to lessen

1680-544: The church of Bogoroditsa. The village is home to fewer elderly people and a growing population of seasonal visitors. Natural trails leading in and about nearby Konyavo Mountain, and the Choklyovo Marsh ( Bulgarian : Чокльово блато , Choklyovo blato ), are tourist attractions of Baykalsko. The old name of the village, Choklyovo, has not been restored to date. The marsh of Choklyovo is a preserved area (Regional Environment and Waters Inspectorate — Sofia), as it

1736-424: The corporation or large-scale landowner. Stamboliyski believed that mechanized agriculture would never replace the individual peasant, but also that peasant agriculture need not be backward or inefficient. Therefore, he stressed the importance of education in peasant communities. He also emphasized the need for social welfare, and believed that if the state could distribute arable land equally to each family and lower

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1792-595: The coup as well, such as the mayor of Sofia Krum Popov . In 1979 the then- Communist government of Bulgaria renamed the town previously known as Novi Krichim to Stamboliyski , in honour of Aleksandar Stamboliyski. A village in Haskovo province has been named after him, as well as one in Dobrich province . A reservoir in Veliko Tarnovo province has also been named after him. Aleksandar Stamboliyski boulevard

1848-665: The coup, the internal minister Hristo Stoyanov said that if someone kills Stamboliyski or some other leader of BANU "the Pirin region and maybe Kystendil and the capital will look like graveyards." (Pirin Macedonia and the Kyustendil region were the center of power of IMRO in postwar Bulgaria till the 1934 coup and the banning of IMRO that followed the same year). In 1921 a conspirative Committee for Peasant Dictatorship (Комитет за селска диктатура, Komitet za selska diktatura )

1904-406: The declaration without his knowledge) and he immediately went to Sofia to inform the government that he did not support the uprising, a warrant was issued for his arrest. The rebellion, centered to the west of Sofia in the town of Radomir threatened to develop into a national revolution, but the movement for a new, agrarian republic was quickly eliminated due to several factors and was left without

1960-490: The end of the 14th century. In 1418 a wave of discontent broke out in the vicinity of Radomir against the heavy taxes imposed by the Ottoman rulers. At that time the population did not exceed 6-7 thousand people in the whole valley, but it gave good handicrafts. The locals were mostly farmers and stockbreeders, but the craft went hand in hand with them. Very famous were the so-called "katzars", who produced barrels known as far as

2016-536: The face of the successful coup. Accordingly, the Bulgarian Communist Party denied that they had suffered a defeat in the June coup and rose in a hastily arranged uprising in September 1923. This uprising however was quickly defeated by the Tsankov government. After the coup d'etat, Stamboliyski relocated to his native village of Slavovitsa. From his native village, Stamboliyski was organizing a counter-insurgence that

2072-455: The general election of 1919 approached, Stamboliyski came out of hiding and won the election of prime minister of the new coalition cabinet. However, because the election was so close, Stamboliyski was forced to form a government coalition between the agrarians and the left-wing parliamentary parties. By March 1920, however, Stamboliyski was able to form a solely BANU government with another decisive election victory and some tactical manipulation of

2128-532: The government's unfair taxation policies. While condemning the government's suppression of peasant protests against the tithe , the Union remained politically unaligned. However, at its third congress, motivated by upcoming elections for the Bulgarian National Assembly, the Union leaders, who were not peasants themselves but a group of teachers, voted to become a political party. Thus, in 1901,

2184-504: The international community uninterested, Stamboliyski was isolated. As important as the overthrow of Stambolyiski was for Bulgaria, the refusal of the Communist Party of Bulgaria to unite with the Stamboliyski's Agrarians had important ideological consequences for the young Soviet Russia next door. The passivity of the Bulgarian Communists during the June 9 coup in 1923 was bitterly disappointing to nearly all factions within

2240-585: The minister of education Stoyan Omarchevski . The agrarianist orthography was boycotted by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and many intellectuals, as well as by the opposition. Immediately after the 9 June coup , the old orthography was restored. On March 23, 1923, he signed the Treaty of Niš with the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and undertook the obligation to suppress the operations of

2296-417: The new groups which would supposedly replace the old political parties had the possibility to become international organizations. He hoped for and encouraged an agrarian alliance that would spread outside of Bulgaria to the entire Balkan region. He did not pursue territorial expansion, and generally neglected the army. These policies contributed to the dissatisfaction that led to the overthrow of Stamboliyski and

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2352-595: The opinion that the Communists in Bulgaria should aid and support what they viewed as "the liberal petty bourgeoisie" —in the form of Stamboliyski's Agrarian Party as a means to advance the interests of the workers in Bulgaria. Indeed, this was the thinking of the Fourth Congress of the Communist International which was held in Moscow in November, 1922. At the Fourth Congress, delegates instructed

2408-458: The outstanding reparations payments until 1923. Stamboliyski rejected territorial expansion and aimed at forming a Balkan federation of agrarian states, a policy which began with a détente with Yugoslavia. His administration was successful in bringing out land redistribution legislation, creating maximum property holding regulations. It also increased the vocational element in education, especially in rural areas. Being ardently anti-war himself he kept

2464-456: The parliamentary system (common practice at the time). From his complete acquisition of power in March 1920, until his death on 14 June 1923, Stamboliyski ruled Bulgaria with a strong personality leading many to remember him as a kind of strongman, dictator, or thug. This is in spite of his electoral successes. Stamboliyski's government immediately faced pressures from the political left and right,

2520-408: The population (approximately 4/5) who were peasants was roughly the same in 1920 as it had been in 1878. The Bulgarian Agrarian National Union , or BANU, emerged in 1899 in reaction to the low standard of living facing the agrarian peasants of Bulgaria as well as the general focus on the towns and cities which marked the political situation at the turn of the twentieth century. By 1911, as the leader of

2576-498: The population of Bulgaria in 1920. Part of his objective was to offer each member of the dominant group an equitable distribution of property and access to the cultural and welfare facilities in all villages. The local BANU cooperative organizations known as the Zemedelski Druzhbi (Agrarian fellowships) were to play a vital role in linking the peasant economy to the national and international markets in addition to offering

2632-604: The prominent personalities during the national revival was Archimandrite Zinovii Poppetrov, who developed his vigilant activity in this area. In 1918, Bulgaria was ruled by Ferdinand of Bulgaria , under whom Aleksandar Stamboliyski had been imprisoned for opposing Bulgaria's participation in the Balkan War and its alliance with the Central Powers in World War I . When in September the Allied forces broke into Bulgaria, Ferdinand agreed to release Stamboliyski in return for

2688-529: The ranks of the nation's political scene as the leader of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union . Although successful in his political ambition of acquiring the highest political office of the state, the unstable political atmosphere of Bulgaria in the early inter-war years ultimately contributed to Stamboliyski's demise. Until the mid 20th century Bulgaria was primarily a land of small, independent peasant farmers. The proportion of

2744-402: The rebellion and became its de facto leader. Rayko Daskalov issued a declaration under his name and that of Stamboliyski, which named Bulgaria a people's republic and the monarchy of Tsar Ferdinand was denounced and told to surrender to the new provisional government headed on paper by the BANU leader. Even though Stambolyiski had not been informed of Daskalov's decision (his name had been added to

2800-415: The side of the Central Powers. When the regime released Stamboliyski from prison, it did so with the hope that he would contain the growing unrest within the army, which at that time was essentially in full rebellion and heading for Sofia. While he initially tried to quell the rebellion, his fellow agrarian party activist Rayko Daskalov , who had been sent with Stamboliyski for the same purpose, quickly joined

2856-417: The sufficient means to bring about the change it desired. Lasting only from 28 September until 2 October, the rebellion, although short-lived, found some early success. The mutineers managed to enter Bulgaria's capital where Tsarist forces, led by general Aleksandar Protogerov , crushed the rebellion killing an estimated 2,000 soldiers and arresting an estimated 3,000. Unlike many of his supporters, Stamboliyski

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2912-439: The tax burden on the peasantry, the condition of the Bulgarian peasantry would naturally improve. After Stamboliyski came to power, the BZNS organized campaigns for redistribution of land and rural education. These campaigns were largely successful, and the BZNS enjoyed widespread support in the immediate post-war period. In the international sphere, the BZNS was strictly anti-imperialist in its policies. Stamboliyski thought that

2968-428: Was able to escape the fate of imprisonment or execution and, instead, went into hiding until he was to re-surface in the political arena during the reign of Tsar Boris III . The movement, however, could not be considered a total failure by the Agrarian Union as it was successful in eliminating the rule of Tsar Ferdinand, who fled Bulgaria by train on 3 October 1918. Ferdinand was to be succeeded by his son, Boris III, with

3024-486: Was established. The committee became the Union's de facto leadership. In 1922 by the will of the committee the militarized Orange Guard was established to guard the regime. In early 1923 BANU openly discussed the possibility of establishing an agrarianist dictatorship. The BANU government also made an orthographical reform, simplifying the Bulgarian orthography - the so-called agrarianist or Omarchevski orthography (Омарчевски правопис, Omarchevski pravopis ), named after

3080-499: Was first mentioned in a 15th-century source as Uradmur . The current form appears for the first time in a source from 1488. The name is derived directly from the personal name Radomir or its adjectival form. Not many names of priests and clergymen have been preserved in the history of the small town, but it is a fact that the Radomir valley was defended in the Christian spirit even after the fall of Bulgaria under Ottoman rule at

3136-516: Was large in number but weak in arms. On 14 June 1923, he was taken prisoner by activists of the IMRO, brutally tortured, and murdered. The IMRO members were extremely brutal because of his signature on the Treaty of Niš. His hand that signed the Treaty of Niš was cut off. He was also blinded in his torture and his head was cut off and sent to Sofia in a box of biscuits. Besides Stamboliyski, other notable BANU representatives were killed immediately after

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