Zveno (), ''Politicheski krag "Zveno"'', officially Political Circle "Zveno" was a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n political organization, founded in 1930 by Bulgarian politicians, intellectuals and

Bulgarian Army The Bulgarian Army (), also called Bulgarian Armed Forces, is the military of Bulgaria. The commander-in-chief is the president of Bulgaria. The Ministry of Defense is responsible for political leadership, while overall military command is in ...

officers. It was associated with a

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

of that name. As a palingenetic

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

movement, ''Zveno'' advocated for rationalization of Bulgaria's economic and political institutions under a

dictatorship A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...

that would be independent from both 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 ...

and the

Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

. They strongly opposed the Bulgarian

party system A party system is a concept in comparative political science concerning the system of government by political parties in a democratic country. The idea is that political parties have basic similarities: they control the government, have a stable ...

, which they saw as dysfunctional, and the terror of the

Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; ; ), was a secret revolutionary society founded in the Ottoman territories in Europe, that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1893 in Salonica, it initia ...

(IMRO), the

Bulgarian Macedonians Ethnic Macedonians in Bulgaria () are one of the ethnic communities in Bulgaria. They are concentrated within the Blagoevgrad Province and the capital Sofia. The issue surrounding this community is highly controversial while Bulgarian author ...

' liberation movement. ''Zveno'' was also closely linked to the so-called Military League, the organization behind a coup in 1923, responsible for killing

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Aleksandar Stamboliyski Aleksandar Stoimenov Stamboliyski (; 1 March 1879 – 14 June 1923) was a Bulgarian politician who served as the List of Prime Ministers of Bulgaria, Prime Minister of Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria from 1919 until 1923. Stamboliyski was a memb ...

. In 1934, pro-''Zveno'' officers like Colonel

Damyan Velchev Damyan Velchev or Velcev () (4 March 1883, Gabrovo – 25 January 1954, Paris) was a Bulgarian politician and general. From 1925 to 1935 he was the leader of the Military League (Bulgaria) (1919–1947), an organization of Bulgarian officers wh ...

and Colonel

Kimon Georgiev Kimon Georgiev Stoyanov (; August 11, 1882 – September 28, 1969) was a Bulgarian general who was the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bulgaria from 1934 to 1935 and again from 1944 to 1946. He was considered a "master in the art of coup d'etats. ...

seized power. Georgiev became prime minister. They dissolved all parties, political organizations and

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s and openly attacked the IMRO. As a political organization itself, Zveno dissolved itself. The new government introduced a

corporatist Corporatism is an ideology and political system of interest representation and policymaking whereby corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, come together and negotiate contracts ...

economy, similar to that of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. As a nationalist organization, Zveno changed many of the Ottoman-era Turkish place names of villages and towns in Bulgaria to Bulgarian ones.

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Boris III Boris III (; 28 August 1943), originally Boris Klemens Robert Maria Pius Ludwig Stanislaus Xaver (Boris Clement Robert Mary Pius Louis Stanislaus Xavier), was the Tsar of the Kingdom of Bulgaria from 1918 until his death in 1943. The eldest son ...

, an opponent of ''Zveno'', orchestrated a coup through a

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. C ...

''Zveno'' member, General

Pencho Zlatev Pencho Ivanov Zlatev (, 2 November 1881 – 24 July 1948), also known as Petko Ivanov Zlatev (), was a Bulgarian general and politician in the years before the Second World War. Biography Zlatev was born in Elena, Bulgaria. He became the Inspe ...

, who became Prime Minister (January 1935). In April 1935, he was replaced by a civilian,

Andrey Toshev Andrey Slavov Toshev (; 16 April 1867 – 10 January 1944) was Prime Minister of Bulgaria in 1935. He was also a Bulgarian scientist and a diplomat. Toshev was a professor of botany. Appointed by Tsar Boris III, Toshev was chosen for his unfl ...

, also a monarchist. After participating in the

Bulgarian coup d'état of 1934 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 ...

, Zveno supporters declared their intention to immediately form an alliance with

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and to seek the unification of Bulgaria into an Integral Yugoslavia. Zveno supported an Integral Yugoslavia that included Bulgaria as well as Albania within it.Plamen S. T︠S︡vetkov. ''A history of the Balkans: a regional overview from a Bulgarian perspective''. EM Text, 1993. p. 195. In 1943, ''Zveno'' joined the anti-Axis resistance movement, the Fatherland Front. In September 1944, the Fatherland Front engineered a coup d'état. Georgiev became prime minister and Velchev Minister of Defense, and they managed to sign a

ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce), also spelled cease-fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions often due to mediation by a third party. Ceasefires may b ...

agreement with the

. In 1946, Velchev resigned in protest against communist actions, while Georgiev was succeeded by communist leader

Georgi Dimitrov Georgi Dimitrov Mihaylov (; ) also known as Georgiy Mihaylovich Dimitrov (; 18 June 1882 – 2 July 1949), was a Bulgarian communist politician who served as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party from 1933 t ...

, after which Bulgaria became a People's Republic. Georgiev remained in government until 1962, but ''Zveno'' was disbanded as an autonomous organization in 1949. ''Zveno'' continued to exist within the Fatherland Front but was only a puppet organization by then.

References

External links

Bulgarizaedno

{{Bulgarian political parties 1927 establishments in Bulgaria Nationalist parties in Bulgaria Parties of one-party systems Political parties established in 1927 Political parties disestablished in 1949 Defunct political parties in Bulgaria Bulgaria–Yugoslavia relations Pan-Slavism Formerly banned far-right parties 1949 disestablishments in Bulgaria