oe | |

Bulgaria
building

el eee ene ne AN A | LAL

—=— SS

ef

M9

é§

ig

@ @

‘

le

is

ft :

i

i 5

Kt :

sf, By WILLIAM STEWART a banner showing steel production had
a SOFIA increased from 6,000 tons in 1944 to
, yo September 9 1,461,000 tons in 1968. There were
i) Ugarig. ee; r 9, 1944 the people of thousands of people marching behind
it! *Pelleg the ie by the Red Army, anti-Vietnam war posters; illustration
| pT Soil and erman invaders from after illustration of the solidarity and
) “Public of B established the Socialist respect felt by the Bulgarian people
of) “TEdibjy ulgaria. Today in the in- for the Soviet Union.

tang; i beautiful city of Sofia they are
Stree "a veing and parading in the
livers) ration of their 25th

There were beautiful floats showing
the increases in productivity in agri-
culture and industry; others loaded
with sumptuous fruit grown in their
incomparable orchards. National cos-
tumes from different regions dotted the
parade, giving it a color which boggled
the viewers’ imagination.

But beyond all this, and completely

Mor
the eee 100,000 people filed past
tember gv it& Stand in Ninth of Sep-
Bima” where Todor Zhivkov,
Georgi me Party Secretary, President
an Rv ROY, members of th ePolit-
UssR Fedent Podgorny from the
Officials "a anked by other leading party
pend guests from fifteen frater-
Meander Parties watched. the
ak “a-half hour parade.

(33 z
Batig “ed a‘two-day holiday in Bul-
Ommeme aimed by the government to
Pitit of ee the occasion and the
\ Watchi, People was festive. Nobody
"it, Yo Ing the parade, everyone was
Parts of ay and old, people from all
rtchestra € country; there were bands,
throughos and every 30 or 40 feet
8ssion ut the seemingly endless pro-
the a; 8Oups of folk musicians filling

_

was the endless sea of red banners,
hammers and_ sickles, beautifully
screened huge pictures of Karl Marx,
Fredrick Engels, Lenin, Georgi Dimit-
rov; Todor Zhivkov, Dimiter Blagoev
(founder of the Bulgarian Party in
1891), and President Podgorny of the
Soviet Union. Banner after banner pro-
claiming the unity between the people,
the Communist Party, the Government,
the Soviet Union and the working class
movement of the world.

Old timers wearing medals won as

= SS ee SS OS eS SSS
=

alr w : tisans, and in the inst fas-
ti ith t partisans, and in war aga

aN fo} hae rich sounds of Bulga cism, (which the Bulgarian Republic
here : : entered as soon as it had expelled the
neers Were dance groups, young Germans), and in the course of social-

» Steelworkers marching under ist production, were the target of envi-

HEREF se

om *

°wds parade through Sofia during the 25th Anniversary celebrations.

dominating this people’s demonstration, -

ous admiration by youth and children —

alike. Veterans who had laid the fun-
dation for a socialist society, decked in
the traditional garb of their province,

marched hand in hand alternated with |

a Bulgarian child in a touching and
eloquent illustration of the unity of
the generations in the construction of
the new society.

Even the city itself is dressed for

- the occasion. Everywhere one looks

there are lighted signs saying “25—
1944-1969”, flags and bunting drape the
buildings. Slogans look down on you
from everywhere and loudspeakers
echo:music:in the squares while musi-
cians roam the streets entertaining the
holidayers with the tantalizing rythms
of Bulgarian dance music.

Adding romance to the whole occa-
sion is the decision of many young
Bulgarian couples to choose this day
for marriage. A steady flow of beauti-
ful brides in white bridal gowns and
proud young grooms enters and leaves
the marriage chambers directly across
the street from where this story is
being written. These young people were
born into socialism. They appear ex-
tremely proud of their country, at one
with its traditions and at the same
time eager to add their own dimension
to the expanding economic and cultural
horizons of Bulgarian life.

How fortunate they are to be born

today.
In a speech to the country on the
eve of the 25th Anniversary, Todor
Zhivkov, first secretary of the Bulgarian
Communist Party, outlined the giant
strides made in the 25-year period of
socialist construction.

When socialism was established in
1944, he said, Bulgaria was divided
into small farms the average of which
was one acre. It was an agricultural
appendage of Europe.

There were 1,200,000 fully or par-
tially unemployed in agriculture. There
were 500,000 wooden ploughs, ‘which
was the main farm tool.

Today the collectivization of agricul-
ture has been completed.

There are 85,000 tractors (averaged
at 15 hp), 15,000 combines, 12.5 million
acres of land under cultivation and
2.5 million of that, under irrigation.

Capital investment funds in agricul-
ture equal over $3 billion. Eighty per-
cent of the houses in the villages have
been built since 1944 and the standard
of living in the villages is almost equal
to that in the cities.

Turning to industry, Mr. Zhivkov

reminded Bulgarians that in 1944 their —

electrical generation was 42 k.w.h. per

capita—today it is 2,000 k.w.h. per
capita.

Iron ore was 6.5 Ibs. per capita—
today it is 800 lbs. In 1939 Bulgaria
produced 2 million tons of coal—today
it is 31 million tons.

Industrial production as a whole, he
said, has multiplied 39 times since 1939.
For example, the country produced in
the first half of 1969 an amount equal
to the total production of the years
1953-4-5 together.

Taken another way, he went on, a
1 percent growth in the economy now
means 70 million dollars. At the time
of the first five-year plan it meant 18
million dollars.

The real per capita income for Bul-
garians has gone up 300 percent since
1953. Average annual per capita con-
sumption has risen from $200 to $600.

Pension funds have increased ‘9.4
times. State expenditures on health and
welfare has increased from $17 in 1952
to $110 per person in 1968.

There are five operas, seven sym-
phonies, 4,500 reading houses, 11,000
libraries and 400,000 amateur artists
in the areas of music, art and theatre.

This is what the creative talent of
socialism has accomplished in 25 years.
After centuries of poverty for the many
and opulence for the few, national op-
pression and wars, foreign occupation
and misery, the Bulgarians have broken
through to the warm sunshine of
socialism. .

Here in this beautiful country,
nestled in the heart of the Balkans, the

‘eight million people of Bulgaria go

about the task of building their new

socialist society and creating the new

socialist man and woman with a quiet
dignity, a sense of humor and a confi-

dence which rubs off on everyone who

comes in contact with it.

As you have an opportunity to sip
of their hospitality, watch them at work
and at play, join with them, as much
as a visitor can in a strange country,
you find yourself raising your own
toast to the 25th Anniversary. Congrat-
ulations to the Bulgarian Communist
Party, to the Bulgarian government, to
the people of Bulgaria for the first 25
enormously productive years of Social-
ism which have banished poverty and
want from your land and turned its
rich resources and talents to use for
its entire people. May the combined
strength of the socialist community of
nations together with the working class
and peace forces throughout the world,
preserve world peace and ensure for
your beautiful land the chance to move
speedily forward towards the buildin,

of Communist society. :

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 3, 1969—Page9 .

S¢ & Ui-- Vee & ARAOTLUL =~ Ale VY