Anton Tanev (Dontcho) Yugov ( bg, Антон Танев Югов) (28 August 1904 – 6 July 1991) was a Bulgarian politician who was a leading member of the

Bulgarian Communist Party The Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP; bg, Българска Комунистическа Партия (БКП), Balgarska komunisticheska partiya (BKP)) was the founding and ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria from 1946 until 198 ...

(BCP), and served as

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

of the country from 1956 to 1962. He was an Honorary Citizen of

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. Yugov was born to a

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

family in Karasuli (Rugunovets), Ottoman Macedonia (today

Polykastro Polykastro ( el, Πολύκαστρο, before 1928 , ''Karasoúli''; ''Pandektis: Name Changes of Settlements in Greece'', compiled by the/ref>) is a town and a former municipality in Kilkis regional unit of Central Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2 ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

).His family moved to Plovdiv after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

War years and Ministry

Yugov was a prominent figure in the BCP during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and attempted to reach a settlement with Marshal Josip Broz Tito in

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

regarding co-operation between both countries' communists. This 1941 initiative was aborted however as Tito would not accept the sacrifice of Macedonia, something upon which Yugov insisted. The two would revisit the issue in 1945 when they discussed the possibility of a Bulgarian-Yugoslav confederation to solve the issue although the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

raised such objections to the plan that

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

personally intervened to tell the two leaders to abandon the idea. He served as Minister of the Interior from 1944 to 1949. As Interior Minister he oversaw a purge of the army of members of

Zveno Zveno ( bg, Звено, lit=link), ''Politicheski krŭg "Zveno"'', officially Political Circle "Zveno" was a Bulgarian political organization, founded in 1930 by Bulgarian politicians, intellectuals and Bulgarian Army officers. It was associated ...

and fascist sympathisers that became noted for its brutality. Linked to Traycho Kostov, he fell with him in 1949 and, whilst Yugov was not to follow his ally to the gallows, he was nonetheless rebuked by new

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Valko Chervenkov Valko Velyov Chervenkov ...

for supposedly allowing Kostov's conspiracies to go unchecked.

Comeback

Following the death of Stalin and the process of de-Stalinization across Eastern Europe Yugov emerged as a leading figure within the "home communist" tendency, who emphasised the importance of specifically Bulgarian communism rather than simply following

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

in order to legitimise the regime in the eyes of the people. As part of the move away from the Stalin template, the Bulgarian government released the "April Line" of 1956, which formed the basis of Bulgarian communism for the next three decades. As well as a template for government it included such provisions as the abandonment of the cult of personality, the release of certain dissidents from prison and full rehabilitation to others, including Yugov, living under a cloud, thus allowing him to launch a full and immediate political comeback. The home communists gained the upper hand on the Politburo and as a consequence Prime minister Valko Chervenkov, a noted Stalinist, was removed in 1956 and replaced by Yugov, who had emerged as the leading figure amongst the home party, in part because of the ruthless reputation he garnered in the interior ministry.McCauley & Carter, ''Leadership and Succession'', p. 143

Fall from grace

He remained in the job for six years until overall leader

Todor Zhivkov Todor Hristov Zhivkov ( bg, Тодор Христов Живков ; 7 September 1911 – 5 August 1998) was a Bulgarian communist statesman who served as the ''de facto'' leader of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB) from 1954 until 1989 ...

also assumed this role. Yugov, who had criticised Zhivkov for allowing the Great Leap Forward to influence economic policy, was removed as a potential rival. His strong following amongst the home communists also meant that Zhivkov feared Yugov as a challenge to his own position and so used the economic issue as a pretext for his removal. Yugov's fate had been sealed earlier that same year when

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

visited Bulgaria and publicly declared his support for Zhivkov, whilst snubbing Yugov. J. D. B. Miller, T. H. Rigby, ''The Disintegrating Monolith: Pluralist Trends On The Communist World'', Routledge, 1966, p. 8 He was rehabilitated on the 1990 BCP party congress.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yugov, Anton 1904 births 1991 deaths Bulgarians from Aegean Macedonia Macedonian Bulgarians Prime Ministers of Bulgaria Deputy prime ministers of Bulgaria Government ministers of Bulgaria Bulgarian Communist Party politicians International Lenin School alumni Heroes of the People's Republic of Bulgaria Members of the National Assembly (Bulgaria) 20th-century Bulgarian politicians People from Kilkis (regional unit)