Georgi Ivanov Bakalov (Bulgarian: Георгий Иванов Бакалов; 7 November 1873 – 14 July 1939) was a Bulgarian literary historian, critic and public figure.
Biography
Bakalov was born on in Eski Zaara (now Stara Zagora), Ottoman Empire. He studied at the Plovdiv Boys' High School where he became chairman of the student society "Napredak". Bakalov was involved in a student protest in 1891, for which he was expelled from the high school. He later completed his studies in Geneva. In 1891 he joined the
Bulgarian Social Democratic Party
The Bulgarian Social Democratic Party (, ''Balgarska Sotsialdemokraticheska Partiya'', BSDP) is a social-democratic political party in Bulgaria.
History
The party was launched on 26 November 1989 under the name Bulgarian Social Democratic Work ...
(BSDP). During his studies in Geneva (1891–1893) he became close to
Georgi Plekhanov
Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov ( rus, Георгий Валентинович Плеханов, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj vəlʲɪnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ plʲɪˈxanəf, a=Ru-Georgi Plekhanov-JermyRei.ogg; – 30 May 1918) was a Russian revolutionary, ...
.
After returning to Bulgaria, he began printing in Sliven, where in 1893–1896 he published a number of pamphlets and his own translations of
Marx
Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
Second International
The Second International, also called the Socialist International, was a political international of Labour movement, socialist and labour parties and Trade union, trade unions which existed from 1889 to 1916. It included representatives from mo ...
. In 1897, he moved to Varna, where he founded a publishing house, translated and published the work ''
The Communist Manifesto
''The Communist Manifesto'' (), originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (), is a political pamphlet written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London in 1848. The ...
'' by Marx and Engels in Bulgarian.
In 1904, Bakalov again participated as a delegate to the Amsterdam Congress of the Second International. In 1905, he moved to Sofia and founded the publishing house "Knowledge". In 1920, he became a member of the newly founded Bulgarian Communist Party (TS).
Persecuted by the government of Alexander Tsankov, Bakalov became an emigrant to France in 1925 and then to the USSR in 1932, where he lived in Kharkiv and worked as an editor at the International Publishing House, Section of Bulgarian Writers. In the same year he was elected a corresponding member of the
Academy of Sciences of the USSR
The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991. It united the country's leading scientists and was subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (u ...
.
Later that year he returned to Bulgaria, where he edited left-wing publications until his death on July 14, 1939.