Georgi (Grisha) Stanchev Filipov ( bg, Георги (Гриша) Станчев Филипов) (July 13, 1919 – November 2, 1994) 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 ...

Biography

He was born in the small town of Kadievka,

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, to a family of Bulgarian immigrants. In 1936, he and his family returned to Bulgaria, where Filipov studied at

Lovech Lovech ( bg, Ловеч, Lovech, ) is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, city in north-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the Lovech Province and of the subordinate Lovech Municipality. The city is located about northeast f ...

High School. Although he spoke the

Bulgarian language Bulgarian (, ; bg, label=none, български, bălgarski, ) is an Eastern South Slavic language spoken in Southeastern Europe, primarily in Bulgaria. It is the language of the Bulgarians. Along with the closely related Macedonian la ...

fluently he did so with a heavy

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n accent, a fact that would make him somewhat unpopular amongst the wider Bulgarian population in later years. From 1938 to 1940 he was a student at

Sofia University Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...

. He became a member of the

in 1940 and took an active part in the anti-fascist struggle of the Bulgarian students, for which he was arrested in 1942 and sentenced first to 12 and then to 15 years in prison. After the fall of fascism in 1944 he held politically sensitive posts and graduated in industrial economy and trade in

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 million ...

(1951). He became a member of the Central Committee of the BCP in 1966, and in 1974, a member of the Politburo. From 1971 to 1981 and from 1986 to 1989 he was a member of the State Council of Bulgaria. Filipov became recognised as a leading economic expert in the Bulgarian government and became associated with the tendency that was sympathetic towards economic liberalisation. Filipov was very close to

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 ...

and was regularly touted as a potential successor. A leading member of the

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...

, he formed the 77th Bulgarian government on 16 June 1981 following elections to the National Assembly. He held the post until 21 March 1986 when Zhivkov replaced him with Georgi Atanasov. The move, which took place against the backdrop of reforms being brought in by

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

, was characterised as a cosmetic gesture aimed to create the illusion of change rather than a Bulgarian version of

glasnost ''Glasnost'' (; russian: link=no, гласность, ) has several general and specific meanings – a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information, the inadmissibility of hushing up problems, ...

and

perestroika ''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...

. After the fall of the socialist system in 1989 he was removed from all political posts and on 24 April 1990 he was expelled from the BCP. On 14 July 1992, Filipov was arrested on charges of misappropriation of state funds, but was released a short time later on health grounds. He died in 1994 before he could be brought to trial.A Bulgarian prime minister vanishes on Vitosha
''24 Chasa'', 10.07.2009, accessed on 11.08.2013

References

Bibliography

* Tashev, T. ''Министрите на България 1879 - 1999'' (''Ministers in Bulgaria 1879 - 1999''). Marin Drinov Academic Publishing House, 1999. * Tsurakov, A. ''Енциклопедия Правителствата на България 1879 - 2005'' (''Encyclopedia of Bulgarian Ministers, 1879 - 2005''). Petr Beron, 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Filipov, Grisha 1919 births 1994 deaths People from Stakhanov, Ukraine Ukrainian people of Bulgarian descent Soviet emigrants to Bulgaria Bulgarian Communist Party politicians Prime Ministers of Bulgaria Bulgarian resistance members Heads of government who were later imprisoned