hree-stage system is also used for training newly inducted
Communists as well as youth groups. It was reported during the
conference that approximately 900 of the best party propagandists have
been sent to Komsomol organizations to train youth in the party school
system. Within the Komsomol there is evident need for considerable
changes in the training of youth in the system of political education,
designed to bring the youth closer to the practice of the principles of
Marxism-Leninism.

CHAPTER 10

FOREIGN RELATIONS

Throughout the communist era in Bulgaria, that is, since World War II,
the foreign policy of the country has mirrored that of the Soviet Union.
In addition to the close relationship resulting from bilateral
agreements between the two countries, Bulgaria was also a charter member
of both the Soviet-dominated Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
(COMECON--see Glossary) and the Warsaw Treaty Organization (Warsaw Pact)
military alliance. Bulgaria's loyalty to the Soviet Union throughout the
period is always a starting point in political writings on Eastern
European affairs.

The successive leaders of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BKP--see
Glossary) have consistently maintained that their country's fortunes
would rise with those of the Soviet Union. To the Bulgarian Communists,
such loyalty was not only natural from an ideological point of view but
was also the pragmatic course, given the factors of world power politics
in the postwar era. Todor Zhivkov, the BKP leader since 1954, and still
in office in 1973, continued to adhere to a policy of close alignment
with the Soviet Union and used the relationship as the foundation of his
regime. The nature of the relationship has developed along two parallel
lines: the BKP has maintained close ties with the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union at the same time that government-to-government affairs have
become increasingly intertwined.

As is true with other countries in which the communist party has become
the dominant political force, in Bulgaria the formulation of foreign
policy takes place at the highest party level--the Politburo. After the
party has announced the basic policy, the administration of foreign
affairs is handled by government ministries. The government has
repeatedly dedicated itself to the goals of the world communist movement
and, particularly, to the goal of solidarity among socialist states,
always acknowledging Soviet leadership.