View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship Repository Copyright 2017 Veneta T. Ivanova OCCULT COMMUNISM: CULTURE, SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY IN LATE SOCIALIST BULGARIA BY VENETA T. IVANOVA DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2017 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Maria N. Todorova, Chair Professor Diane P. Koenker Associate Professor Zsuzsa Gille Associate Professor Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi Professor Peter Fritzsche Abstract “Occult Communism” explores the unlikely infusion of state-sponsored spiritualism into the materialist ideology of Bulgarian late communism. In the 1970s, Minister of Culture Lyudmila Zhivkova initiated grandiose state programs to inject the “occult” into Bulgaria’s national culture, art, science and even political philosophy. Inspired by her Eastern religious beliefs, she sought to ‘breed’ a nation of “all-round and harmoniously developed individuals,” devoted to spiritual self-perfection, who would ultimately “work, live and create according to the laws of beauty.” My project focuses on how Zhivkova translated her religio-philosophical worldview into state policies. I examine three realms of what I have termed “occult communism:” Zhivkova’s domestic and international cultural initiatives; occult religiosity and the mystical movement known as the White Brotherhood; and occult science as embodied by the Scientific Institute of Suggestology. I contend that as quixotic as Zhivkova’s vision was, her policies contributed to the liberalization of art and culture in a period that has long been associated exclusively with stagnation and decay. In so doing, my work questions the failure of utopianism in late socialism and demonstrates that impulses to attach "a human face” to the communist project endured even after the Prague Spring of 1968. Occult Communism” demonstrates that late communism was far less monolithic and dull than typically imagined while challenging our understanding of the relationship between communism, spirituality, and science in the global 1970s and 1980s. ii Acknowledgments In the course of researching and writing this dissertation I have incurred innumerable debts of gratitude and I am happy to be able to acknowledge a fraction of them here. First and foremost I am deeply thankful to my inspiring and impossibly generous advisor Maria Todorova and the other members of my dissertation committee at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign – Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, Diane Koenker, Peter Fritzsche and Zsuzsa Gille. They have been invaluable interlocutors every step of the way and I am enormously grateful for their knowledgeable and involved critique, ideas, support and friendship. I really could not have wished for a more pleasurable experience as a graduate student. I owe more than I can ever hope to express to Maria for teaching me the love of archives and empirical research and the appreciation for temporal depth, methodological diversity and theoretical sophistication. To say she is the warmest and most caring advisor is an understatement. I treasure Behrooz Ghamari’s unfailing support and intellectual nourishment beyond language. I am grateful to Diane Koenker who meticulously read every chapter and provided prompt and extensive feedback – my work has profited enormously from the questions she has posed. The intellectual community that I encounter on a daily basis at Illinois has left a permanent mark on my trajectory as a pedagogue and a scholar. It is impossible to mention here all the seminars, workshops and reading groups that have contributed to my development. Professor Keith Hitchins has been both a model and inspiration and an invaluable resource for teaching Eastern European and Balkan history. Tamara Chaplin has been energetically providing priceless assistance, feedback and editorial brilliance. Dona Buchanan has been an enthusiastic supporter of my project who generously shared her own work and insights. I am also truly thankful for the efforts of our wonderful and extremely helpful history department staff, iii especially the lovely Tom Bedwell who has gone above and beyond for myself and the international community in the department – successfully and empathetically bulldozing his way through the numerous challenges we have faced. Shannon Croft’s constant care and ability to rally at short notice has been an incredible asset which has saved me again and again. Our vibrant yet cozy East European Reading Group (EERG) will always have a special place in my heart. I have benefited significantly from the critical insights of my fellow East Europeanists who have read and commented on earlier drafts of these chapters, including Anca Mandru, Zsuzsa Magdo, Milos Iovanovic, Donna Buchanan, Stefanos Katsikas, Peter Wright, Anca Glont, and Stefan Peychev. In Bulgaria, I have spent unforgettable days in the archives and libraries and at every turn, have encountered and been indebted to highly skilled archivists, librarians and fellow researchers. There is not enough space here to note every one of them, but my cordial thanks go out to each and every person who has helped me at the Bulgarian National Archives (especially Varban Todorov and Panto Kolev), the Archives at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (AvMNR) and SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library. The contributions of my cherished Bulgarian fellow historians have been instrumental: especially of Iskra Baeva, Evgenia Kalinova, and Iliana Marcheva who have all expended countless hours from their busy schedules to assist me with gaining access to restricted archives, feeding me little known sources related to my project, arranging interviews with key protagonists in this dissertation, putting me in contact with every relevant scholar, providing secondary literature out of print and unavailable in libraries, and sharing their knowledge and critical insights over a drop of wine. Zhivko Lefterov not only graciously shared his deeply researched dissertation on the White Brotherhood but also pointed me to a wealth of relevant documents and sources and shared his insights over email. Augusta iv Dimou has been a most insightful interlocutor and friend – it was a pleasure to pick her brain after we would close the archives. I am also indebted to Denver Graninger and Emil Nankov who provided assistance with every aspect of my research and ensured that my tenure as a research fellow at ARCS has been a deeply gratifying experience. In London I was also fortunate to encounter a very supportive, welcoming and lively environment at the LSE IDEAS. Special thanks are due to Eirini Karamouzi who not only showed me the way around the archives and library but generously offered me her hospitality, and to Emilia Knight whose inclusivity made me immediately feel like I was part of their team. This dissertation would not have been possible without the generous financial support of the American Research Center in Sofia, which provided funding for my research in Bulgaria in 2011-2012, the Graduate College at the University of Illinois, the Department of History at the University of Illinois (which supported me with several fellowships and teaching and research assistantships), the LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics which awarded me a Dianko and Mladena Sotirov research fellowship in 2013, and the Doris G. Quinn Foundation Dissertation Fellowship. Sincerely and whole-heartedly, I’d like to express my undying enthusiasm for the company of my Champaign-Urbana family who kept me sane during the years that my focus on the rabbit hole threatened to purge me of any semblance of reality: Lisa Pierce, Hana and Marek Jochec, Yulia Tkatchuk, Evangelos Benos, Djavid Novrouzov, Victor Nyekel, Lena Kiselev, Larissa Chasanov, Nelly Matova, Fedja Buric, Diana Georgescu, Karen Rodriguez’G and the indefatigable Zsuzsa Magdo, with whom I wrote, commiserated and celebrated the final stage of the dissertation. Meeting Olga Svinarski and Naza Agassi when I first arrived in this country provided me with a sense of stability and East European comradeship, as both of these extraordinary women took me under their wings to show me the ropes and make sure I was never far from a warm word, good v advice, and sisterly devotion. Maria Cristina Galmarini has been a cherished co-conspirator, interlocutor, friend and on more than one occasion, with the wonderful Matteo—a favorite roommate. My dear Anna Jacobs has been a steady source of love, laughter, intellectual and culinary nourishment. Language is incapable of conveying the thanks I owe to Anca Glont for her sharp intellect, always spot-on feedback, editorial assistance, and technological acumen – which was indispensable on more than a few occasions. Danny Nasset, these acknowledgments would be void and null if I fail to express my gratitude for the support from you and your NoDak family, who have been my family away from home – you have been there from the very start of my endeavors, and my anchor of strength in a foreign territory. Thank you for your humor, your help, your input, and above all your late night cooking skills. As always, my chief debt is to my family: without you, nothing, ever, would have been possible. vi Table of Contents INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1