The Fatherland Front () was a Bulgarian pro-communist political resistance movement, which began in 1942 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The Zveno movement, the communist Bulgarian Workers Party, a wing of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union and the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers Party all became part of the OF. The constituent groups of the OF had widely contrasting ideologies and had united only in the face of the pro-German militarist dictatorship in Bulgaria. At the beginning, the members of the OF worked together, without a single dominating group.

Professional association A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) is a group that usually seeks to advocacy, further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in ...

s and unions could be members of the front and maintain their organisational independence. However, the Bulgarian Communist Party soon began to dominate. In 1944, after the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

had declared war on Bulgaria, the OF carried out a coup d'état (9 September 1944) and declared war on Germany and the other

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

powers. The OF government, headed by Kimon Georgiev of Zveno, signed a ceasefire treaty with the Soviet Union (28 October 1944). In the summer of 1945 most of BANU led by Nikola Petkov and most of the Social-Democrats had left the OF and became a large opposition group which later on after the 1946 Grand National Assembly election would become a coalition named "Federation of the village and urban labour" with 99 MPs out of 465. On November 18, 1945, the OF won a large majority in national elections. In November 1946 Georgiev resigned as Prime Minister and was succeeded by Georgi Dimitrov, leader of the communists. Bulgaria became a People's Republic on 15 September 1946 after a referendum. In 1948 and 1949 all the remaining parties in the OF save for the pro-communist wing of the BANU self-dissolved and merged into the BCP. The OF eventually transformed into a wide-ranging popular front under overall Communist control. From 1947 onward, the Fatherland Front was effectively the only legally permitted political organization in Bulgaria. Voters were presented with a single list from the Front at all elections from 1949 to 1986, with official figures showing well over 99 percent of voters approving the list. With the fall of communism in Bulgaria the Fatherland Front was dissolved in 1990.

Chairmen of the National Council

* Georgi Dimitrov (1942–1949) * Valko Chervenkov (1949–1956) * Encho Stajkov (1956–1967) * Boyan Bulgaranov (1967–1972) * Georgi Traikov (1972–1974) * Pencho Kubadinski (1974–1989) * Zhivko Zhivkov (1989–1990)

Members

Electoral history

Grand National Assembly elections

References

{{Authority control 1942 establishments in Bulgaria 1989 disestablishments in Bulgaria Anti-fascist organizations Bulgaria–Soviet Union relations Bulgarian Communist Party Bulgarian resistance movement of World War II Defunct left-wing political party alliances Defunct political party alliances in Bulgaria People's Republic of Bulgaria Political parties disestablished in 1989 Political parties established in 1942 Popular fronts of communist states Stalinist parties