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Anti-Communism, Neoliberalisation, Fascism by Bozhin Stiliyanov

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Anti-Communism, Neoliberalisation, Fascism by Bozhin Stiliyanov Post-Socialist Blues Within Real Existing Capitalism: Anti-Communism, Neoliberalisation, Fascism by Bozhin Stiliyanov Traykov A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Sociology University of Alberta © Bozhin Stiliyanov Traykov, 2020 Abstract This project draws on Alex William’s (2020) contribution to Gramscian studies with the concept of complex hegemony as an emergent, dynamic and fragile process of acquiring power in socio- political economic systems. It examines anti-communism as an ideological element of neoliberal complex hegemony in Bulgaria. By employing a Gramcian politico-historical analysis I explore examples of material and discursive ideological practices of anti-communism. I show that in Bulgaria, anti-communism strives to operate as hegemonic, common-sensual ideology through legislative acts, production of historiography, cultural and educational texts, and newly invented traditions. The project examines the process of rehabilitation of fascist figures and rise of extreme nationalism, together with discrediting of the anti-fascist struggle and demonizing of the welfare state within the totalitarian framework of anti-communism. Historians Enzo Traverso (2016, 2019), Domenico Losurdo (2011) and Ishay Landa (2010, 2016) have traced the undemocratic roots of economic liberalism and its (now silenced) support of fascism against the “Bolshevik threat.” They have shown that, whether enunciated by fascist regimes or by (neo)liberal intellectuals, anti-communism is deeply undemocratic and shares deep mass-phobic disdain for political organizing of the majority. In this dissertation I argue that, in Bulgaria, anti- communism has not only opened the ideological space for extreme right and fascist politics, it has demoralized left political organizing by attacking any attempts for a politics of socio- economic justice as tyrannical. ii Preface This thesis is an original work by Bozhin Traykov. A version of Chapter Three has been published as "The Use of Batak or Questions not Meant to be Answered," Critique and Humanism, 50/II (2019) in Bulgarian language. iii Acknowledgments This dissertation would not be possible in its current form without the invaluable help of many people. Knowledge creation is a collective endeavour and this dissertation is not an exception. I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Rob Shields for his guidance, help and support throughout the process of my studies and research. Rob's supervision gave me the freedom to explore my ideas and encouraged my independence. My gratitude goes to my supervisory committee: Catherine Kellogg for her insightful suggestions and challenging questions that greatly helped shape the theoretical approach of this work; Marko Živkovič for appreciating the ambitions and scope of my project and for the many intellectual discussions and exchanges of ideas, as well as for his supportive feedback; Richard Westerman for his feedback and contributions to the form this dissertation took. Special thanks to Srdja Pavlovič for his involvement with and support of my work. Other scholars and colleagues from the University of Alberta have also helped in the various stages of this project. I would like to thank Sourayan Mookerjea and Anna Kirova for their earlier engagement with my work, as well as my friends and colleagues Mike Granzow and Matt Unger with whom I had countless discussions and debates, wrestling with ideas and theories. As always, thank you to my friend and mentor Jerry Zaslove. Many thanks to friends, colleagues and scholars in Bulgaria that in some capacity influenced this project to take the direction it took, they are too many to mention here. I would like to acknowledge: Alexander Vezenkov, Borislav Subev, Georgi Zelengora, Dimitur Subev, Julia Rone, Zhivka Valiavicharska, Lea Vajsova, Momchil Hristov, Polina Manolova, Philipp Lottholz, Stanimir Panayotov, Todor Hristov my friends and colleagues from dВЕРСИЯ magazine - Ivaylo Dinev, Neda Genova, Raia Apostolova, Petur Dobrev and Stanislav Dodov. Thank you to my mother Darina and my father Stiliyan for their unconditional love and support. Thank you to my uncle Yordan Donchev whose intellectual integrity and honesty have been example and inspiration of how to conduct my life. This dissertation is dedicated to the loving memory of my grandmothers Mara Nikolova and Spaska Traykova, two strong and resilient women that lived through most of the turmoil of mid-20th and early 21st century Bulgarian history, they both passed away during my absence. iv Table of Contents Abstract ii Preface iii Acknowledgments iv Introduction 1 1. Hegemony, Passive Revolution and Neoliberalisation 4 2. Ideology: Contradiction of Enunciation and Position of Enunciation 9 3. Outline 16 Chapter One: Freedom, Rights and Democracy: Contradiction of Enunciation and Position of Enunciation 20 1. Property and Freedom 20 1.1. Who has the Right to Property? 22 1.2. Citizen vs Economic Rights 24 2. Hayek’s Intervention: The Economy is Natural 26 2.1. The Pernicious Outcome of Neoliberal’s Freedom 29 3. Democratization Theory and Practice 31 Chapter Two: Trajectories of Anti-Communism/Fascism /(Neo)Liberalism 39 1. The Ideological Significance of Anti-Communism 39 1.1. The Rise of Anti-Communism After World War II 40 1.2. The New Revisionism: End of the Cold War and Rise of Neoliberalism 43 1.3. Attack on Antifascism 45 2. Dissidents: Formation of New Common Sense 47 2.1. Zheliu Zhelev and Anti-Communism 48 2.2. The Anti-Democratism of Bulgarian Anti-Communism 51 3. A Reading of Fascism 53 3.1. The Jew and the Communist: Tracing the Figures of Mass-Phobia 58 3.2. Imitating Bolshevism or Following Colonialism 61 4. The Question of Fascism in Bulgaria: Then and Now 63 4.1. Silencing the Fascist Past 67 4.2. Victims of Communism: The Road Towards Rehabilitation of Bulgarian Fascists 70 5. Fascistic Tendencies of Neoliberal Anti-Communism in Bulgarian Context 75 Chapter Three: Batak Massacre Scandal: On the Mythologizing of History and its Political Use 80 v 1. On the Use of History and Wars of Position 80 2. The Batak Massacre Scandal 82 3. Producers of Stories About the Past 84 3.1. Bulgarian Historiography Then and Now 85 3.2. Separate Categories or a Single Entity 87 4. Nationalism and National Mythology 88 4.1. Nationalism in Context 88 4.2. National Mythology 89 5. Preventing Discussion: Unanswered Questions 93 5.1. Silencing the Past: The Case of the Pomaks 93 6. The Batak Scandal as War of Position on the Cultural and Political Front 96 Chapter Four: From Anti-Communism to Fascism: Ideological Crusaders of the Bulgarian Passive Revolution versus Socio-Economic Reality 102 1. Hegemony and Passive Revolution 103 2. The Coloniality of Power 105 3. Bulgarian Passive Revolution 106 3.1. Demonizing the Past to Justify the Present 108 3.2. Criminalizing Communism 111 4. Patriots and Other Morbid Symptoms 116 5. Filling the Vacuum 120 Conclusion 123 Bibliography 131 vi Introduction This project starts with the premise that post-socialist capitalist Bulgaria has joined a global trend, characterized by a right wing political extremism, authoritarianism and the emergence of right wing mass movement base (Bofo et al, 2019; Brown, 2018, 2019; Traverso, 2019). This shift occurs both in the Global North and the Global South. In the EU not only more evident cases like Viktor Orbán in Hungary and Jarosław Kaczyński in Poland have moved away from liberal democracy, but also Emanuel Macron’s later actions signal similar trends within the traditional spaces of social democracy with strong left movements and organized labour power, like France.1 Marco Bofo, Alfredo Saad-Filho and Ben Fine summarize this trend as transitioning from previous neoliberal stages of shallow and formal practices of liberal democracy towards various forms of authoritarianism (2019, p. 3). I argue that the rise of right wing nationalism and extremism has to be analysed in the context of the draconian policies of austerity enforced on EU countries by the troika – the European Commission (EC), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank (ECB). The austerity of the troika is not only an economic measure but an ideological component of neoliberal worldview. Mark Blyth argues that austerity has not only hindered social mobility for the majority but is also a dangerous idea that he traces back to Adam Smith’s moral judgment of debt. According to Blythe Smith’s moral critique of (state) debt resonates with austerity policies today – saving is a virtue, spending is a vice (2013, p. 114) and countries that spend have become “black sheep”, or as they were referred PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain) in the EU (114). “Austerity as we know it today”, Blythe stresses, “as an active policy of budget cutting and deflation, may not be readily apparent in the history of early economic thought”. Nevertheless, “the conditions of its appearance—parsimony, frugality, morality, and a pathological fear of the consequences of government debt—lie deep within economic liberalism’s fossil record from its very inception” (2013, p. 114).2 Bulgaria together with Romania, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania has been the poster boy of austerity, a source of pride for PM Boyko Borisov, who has said many times in interviews that Bulgaria is the most loyal and obedient EU member to the austerity requirements of the troika, as opposed to the PIGS. The turn towards authoritarianism in Bulgaria is associated with Borisov. Borisov and his party of big business GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) have been in power for more than a decade, forming various coalitions with other parties with neoliberal agendas. Borisov came to power in 2009 but had to resign in March 2013 amidst massive protests against his cabinet’s draconian austerity policies.3 In November 2014 he managed to 1 Consider recent attempts to dismantle the pension system in France by introducing a point system to determine workers’ pensions that was faced with mass mobilization of unionized workers from various sectors.
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