Privileges and „Patronage“ instead of Social Care: "Fighters Against Fascism" in the Social Policies in Communist Bulgaria, 1944–1951

Abstract

This article analyses the formation and institutionalisation of the system of privileges in communist Bulgaria. Right after September 1944, the establishment of a system of privileges was initiated, a system that created special categories of citizens opposed in this way to the rest of society. From 1944 on, former partisans became part of the rul-ing elite and granted themselves and their relatives many privileges, transforming themselves into a specially privileged caste. The analysis is based on the archive doc-uments of the Union of the People’s Guerrilla Fighters and the Union of the Fighters against Fascism – institutions existing in the period 1945–1951. The activities of the ‘fighters’ were aimed at substituting in very short terms after the take over the vectors of the public memory in order to legitimize the new power resources. The social system of total control and caste privileges discredited the idea of modern society, social freedom and equality. The author analyses both legislation as well as the ways in which privileges were constructed in social policies in communist Bulgaria.