living declined appreciably
under Chervenkov's rule.

In foreign policy Bulgaria under Chervenkov continued to follow the
Soviet example. International communism dominated all Bulgaria's foreign
policies. In the early 1950s Bulgaria supported the abortive communist
uprising in Greece. Chervenkov attempted to rid the country of all
Western influence and severed diplomatic relations with the United
States in 1950. After Chervenkov's term relations were reestablished in
1960 and promoted from legation to embassy status in 1966. Again,
following the example of the Soviet Union, which was then on strained
terms with the nationalistic Yugoslavs, Chervenkov purged 100,000
nationalists from the party and executed Traicho Kostov, the deputy
premier, on the grounds that he was a Titoist. Because of Bulgaria's
antisocial behavior in the world community, the country was excluded
from the United Nations until 1955.

Although Stalin died in 1953, Chervenkov retained his office as premier
until 1956 but held only nominal powers. He was ultimately purged in
1962. Chervenkov, in the post-Stalin period, was openly charged with
supporting the personality cult policies of Stalin. After Stalin's death
there was a degree of political relaxation under a policy known as the
New Course. Police terrorism abated, and there was greater freedom of
movement in the society as a whole. Travel abroad was tolerated to a
greater degree, and an increased interest in the welfare of the people
was manifested. The government actively courted the peasants in order to
win them over to its policy of collectivization. The working classes,
office workers, and even artisans were given more latitude by the
government. On the foreign front, following the example of Nikita
Khrushchev, who sought reconciliation with Tito, and despite Bulgaria's
reluctance over the still-fiery Macedonian issue, Bulgaria made some
efforts at reconciliation with Yugoslavia. In order to establish better
relations both with the Yugoslavs and with the Bulgarian nationalists,
Kostov was posthumously rehabilitated in 1956.

In 1954 Chervenkov gave up his title as first secretary of the party,
thus setting a new precedent for separation of party and state posts and
dispelling the concept of one-man rule. Although Chervenkov retained his
title as premier temporarily, Todor Zhivkov became the first secretary.
Shortly thereafter, Chervenkov was replaced as premier by Anton Yugov.
As Zhivkov,