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Metodiev, Metodi (2017) The writers, the conflicts and power in Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia 1948-1968. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/7858/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] 1 THE WRITERS, THE CONFLICTS AND POWER IN BULGARIA AND CZECHOSLOVAKIA 1948-1968 Metodi Metodiev Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Modern Languages and Cultures College of Arts University of Glasgow November 2015 2 Abstract My research answers the need for a comparative approach in the research of the history of Eastern Europe. In this respect I will compare the relationship between the writers and the power wielders in Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia during the first twenty years of communist power in the two countries (1948-1968). My main idea is firstly to trace the influence of the international context on the domestic scene in Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia, and then to show how writers in the two countries answered the challenges posed by their political context. In terms of the international context, I will outline the role of the Soviet Union in the political development of the two countries. In connection with the domestic context, I will illustrate the two models of relations between the power wielders and the writers, exemplified by the Bulgarian Communist leader Todor Zhivkov and the First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, Antonín Novotný. The second trajectory of the research focuses on the conflicts conducted in the highest organ of control in the writers’ sphere - the Praesidium of the Writers’ Union. On the basis of primary sources, I will demonstrate the different approach exhibited by the writers in Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia in a period of political unification. As a result of this comparison the thesis will contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between the politics and the arts in Eastern Europe during the Communist period. 3 Acknowledgments I would like to thank to my supervisor Dr Jan Čulik for his constant support in the last four years. I am also grateful for the assistance of Dr John Bates, provided by him in different stages of my research. In addition I was happy to have institutional support from the following major academic centers in Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia: The Archive State Agency (Sofia) The National Library (Sofia) The Library of the Bulgarian Academy of Science (Sofia) Památník národního písemnictví (Praha) Bulharský Kulturní Institut (Praha) The Library of the University of Glasgow (Glasgow) 4 Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 7 Theorizing Writers and Conflicts: An Interdisciplinary approach ....................................... 10 Political conflicts............................................................................................ 11 The Writers and the Conflicts .............................................................................. 13 Literary representation of conflicts ........................................................................ 15 Primary and Secondary Sources ........................................................................... 17 Contribution ................................................................................................. 23 Chapter 1: Politics and the writers in Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia 1919 – 1953: Between the Nation State and the Totalitarian Regime ........................................................................................ 25 Introduction ................................................................................................. 25 The Prewar Years and WWІІ 1919 – 1944 ................................................................ 25 The World of Yesterday: The Writers and The State 1919 – 1944 ....................................... 33 Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia on the Road to Totalitarianism ............................................ 39 The Present versus the Past: The Writers in the Post-war Decade ....................................... 45 The Literary Text and Political Reality: The Novel Tobacco in the Context of the Battle for the Past 62 Plot and Structure ........................................................................................ 62 Time and Space .......................................................................................... 63 The Characters and the Past ............................................................................. 65 Resistance before 1941 .................................................................................. 68 Groupings and Contradictions ........................................................................... 69 The two worlds colliding ................................................................................ 71 The Decay of Niccotiana and the Rise of the Communist Resistance ................................. 73 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................................... 77 Chapter 2: The Contradictions of De-Stalinization: Restoration and Containment of the Conflicts of 1953- 1957 ...................................................................................................................................... 84 Introduction ................................................................................................. 84 Global Politics and Impact ................................................................................. 85 The Power Wielders and the Writers: Preservation of Unity in the post-Stalinist Period 1953-1956 .. 88 Return of the Conflicts inside the Rank and File Members of the Writers’ Union 1953-1956 ......... 91 The year 1956 ............................................................................................... 94 The April Plenum of the BCP .............................................................................. 95 The 2nd Congress of the Czechoslovak Writers ........................................................... 98 The Aftermath ............................................................................................. 101 The Controversial Autumn of 1956 ...................................................................... 106 The Impact of the Hungarian Revolution in Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia ............................ 110 Concluding Remarks...................................................................................... 120 5 CHAPTER 3: The writers in Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia during the second wave of De-Stalinization 1958-1964 .......................................................................................................................... 124 Introduction ............................................................................................... 124 The thaw and the international context .................................................................. 125 Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia ............................................................................ 128 Liberalization and Preservation of Political Unity inside the Soviet Union ........................... 131 The Writers in Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia in the age of victorious socialism ...................... 133 Conclusions ............................................................................................... 153 A Representation of socio-political conflicts in the post 1956 novel: Case study of Georgi Markov’s Men ........................................................................................................ 155 Introduction ............................................................................................. 155 Ivan – An honest communist .......................................................................... 159 Sasho – A road to domestication ...................................................................... 162 Mladen – adaptation versus confrontation ............................................................ 164 CHAPTER 4: The Writers and Politics: Transition, Restoration and Re-evaluation (1964 – 1967) ............................................................................................................................................ 169 Introduction ............................................................................................... 169 The Political Context ..................................................................................... 170 The Restoration of control over the public sphere inside the Soviet Union ........................... 174 Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia ............................................................................ 175 The Writers and Power ................................................................................... 179 Bulgaria ................................................................................................. 179 Czechoslovakia ........................................................................................