Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The agrarian and workers' movements were the most significant challenges to the monarchy and bourgeoisie in Bulgarian society in the beginning of the twentieth century. The workers' movement drew upon the Marxist-social democratic tradition, while the agrarian movement adopted some of the ideological tenets of Marxism, but looked to the peasants rather than factory workers as the source of social and political transformation. Differences in the demographics the movements appealed to, and communist rejection of the agrarian movement because it sought reform within the bourgeois economic system rather than its overthrow, ultimately set the two movements in conflict with one another rather than in alliance against their common enemies. The workers' movement in Bulgaria emerged during the last decade of the nineteenth century. In 1891, Dimitar Blagoev and Nikola Gabrovski established the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party; the following year, Slavi Balabanov formed the Bulgarian Social Democratic Union. The organizations merged to form the Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party (BWSDP) in 1894, but differences with respect to ideological purity and programmatic scope led the party to split in 1903. The Broad Socialists, led by N. Gabrovski and Yanko Sakazov, embraced an inclusive platform and political strategy, arguing that Bulgarian society relied not only on workers but also on ... log in or subscribe to read full text