The Buzludzha Congress () was the constituent assembly of the

Bulgarian Social Democratic Party The Bulgarian Social Democratic Party ( bg, Българска социалдемократическа партия, ''Balgarska Sotsialdemokraticheska Partiya'', BSDP) is a social democratic political party in Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, ...

(). It began on August 2, 1891 on Buzludzha peak on the initiative of

Dimitar Blagoev Dimitar Blagoev Nikolov (, mk, Димитар Благоев Николов; 14 June 1856 – 7 May 1924) was a Bulgarian political leader and philosopher. He was the founder of the Bulgarian left-wing political movement and of the first social- ...

. Around 20 members of the

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

party from

Tarnovo Veliko Tarnovo ( bg, Велико Търново, Veliko Tărnovo, ; "Great Tarnovo") is a town in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred as the "''City of the Tsars''", Veliko Tarnovo ...

Gabrovo Gabrovo ( bg, Габрово ) is a town in central northern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Gabrovo Province. It is situated at the foot of the central Balkan Mountains, in the valley of the Yantra River, and is known as an internationa ...

Dryanovo Dryanovo ( bg, Дряново, ) is a Bulgarian town situated at the northern foot of the Balkan Mountains in Gabrovo Province; amphitheatrically along the two banks of Dryanovo River, a tributary to the Yantra River. The town is a centre of t ...

Sliven Sliven ( bg, Сливен ) is the eighth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and industrial centre of Sliven Province and municipality in Northern Thrace. Sliven is famous for its heroic Haiduts who fought against the Ottoman Turk ...

Kazanlak Kazanlak ( bg, Казанлък , Thracian and Greek Σευθόπολις (''Seuthopolis''), tr, Kazanlık) is a Bulgarian town in Stara Zagora Province, located in the middle of the plain of the same name, at the foot of the Balkan mountain ...

Stara Zagora Stara Zagora ( bg, Стара Загора, ) is the sixth-largest city in Bulgaria, and the administrative capital of the homonymous Stara Zagora Province. Name The name comes from the Slavic root ''star'' ("old") and the name of the medieva ...

and other cities took part in the Congress. The Congress marked the end of the beginning phase of the Socialist movement in Bulgaria, and the beginning of organized party activity for the uniting of Socialism with the worker's movement. The Bulgarian Social Democratic Party took

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

as its ideology.

Preparation

The conference was held, from May 3 to May 5 in 1891, in Veliko Tarnovo under the leadership of

Attendance

The members in the meeting were: * Dimitar Blagoev, * Nikola Hr. Gabrovski, * and Dragomir Gerganov, from Veliko Tarnovo. * Mihail Ivanov, * Mihail Boichinov, * Mihail Radev, * and Panayot Venkov, from Dryanovo. * Unknown member, from Gabrovo. * Sava Mutafov, from Sevlievo. * Konstantin Bozveliev, from Kazanlak. The main question in the meeting would be if they were to be shown to the public as a social-democratic party, and what their character would be. With no exceptions but the members from Sevlievo and Kazanlak, they decided to create a party, and that it did not have to be a worker's movement. Furthermore, they decided to lay the groundwork for the party on July 20, 1891, in the same Congress.

Meetings

The meeting was conducted in secrecy, because Stefan Stambolov's government strongly controlled freedom of association in Bulgaria. Buzludzha and the time of the meeting were chosen due to the fact that at the same place and time, massive celebrations of the anniversary of the death of

Hadzhi Dimitar Dimitar Nikolov Asenov ( bg, Димитър Николов Асенов ; 10 May 1840 – 10 August 1868), better known as Hadzhi Dimitar ( ), was one of the most prominent Bulgarian voivode and revolutionaries working for the Liberation of Bulg ...

were being held. Because of this, the small group remained unknown and held its meeting. The Congress decided on an agenda and other matters for the Bulgarian Social Democratic party. The agenda, which was written like the French and Belgian workers' parties, contained the basis of Marxism. It stated that Bulgaria had (temporarily) gone down the path of

Capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...

and that the Bulgarian socialists must collaborate and merge into a single party to await the oncoming Socialist "coup" and to organize and enlighten them. The members of the BSDP also approved the decentralized structure of the party and the autonomy of the smaller associations within it. A General Soviet for the party to guide it was headquartered in Tarnovo. It decided that it was necessary to produce a weekly digest of the party and a series of brochures, which comprised the "Bulgarian Socialdemocratic Library" (), whose first piece of literature was Dimitar Blagoev's book ''What is Socialism and is it Starting in Us?''. For Socialist propaganda the party used Yanko Sakazov's edited newspaper "Day."

References

{{Reflist 1891 in Bulgaria 1891 in politics Politics of Bulgaria