/ world today news/ In the critical times for humanity today, when the world is changing irreversibly, we have the duty, the privilege and the dignity to celebrate the 140th anniversary of the birth of the remarkable Bulgarian Georgi Dimitrov – one of the brightest, most heroic, popular personalities in the new and most recent history of Bulgaria and of humanity. A man with a rare destiny, a great character, a creator of history in one of the most dramatic periods of the 20th century, a leader of the world anti-fascist struggle, a hero of his time and of the future.
Never after his death has Georgi Dimitrov been so necessary and relevant, and the world so much the same against whom he majestically stands. Today, Bulgaria and the world have a great need for individuals with such innovative ideas and opportunities for solving problems and crises, because he goes beyond the borders of Bulgaria and the Balkans, and his ideas become universal in the fight against fascism. Even more so now, with the complete failure of the last attempts of world capitalism to continue its dominance through neoliberalism and globalization imposed more than three decades ago. And they actually gave rise to disintegration, terrorism and neo-fascism and deepened and exacerbated poverty in societies, led to brutal changes in culture and values, morality and spirituality of man. Today, undisputed scientists and authorities are categorical that the world is no longer in the conditions of a structural but a systemic crisis of capitalism. We are contemporaries of the dramatic change of different epochs in human history. At this turning point in the history of humanity, with the total collapse of the patterns that have prevailed until now, with the expanding fascism, the return to the ideas, assessments, to the historical experience and achievements of Georgi Dimitrov, gives us answers that are especially necessary and relevant for the left and the anti-fascist part of humanity and its future. Moreover, a few years ago, Umberto Eco also warned: “Primary fascism can return under the most innocent guises.” It is our duty to reveal it and point the finger at it in each of its manifestations – every day, in every part of the world.” According to official data from 2018, “…in the European Union there are over 500 neo-Nazi and national radical groups, often youth. They have more than 7 million people as members.” This information is even more startling and alarming against the background of the absence of international rules, the collapsed security system, the degree of nazification of society in Ukraine and in many countries in Europe and the world and of the fact that Nazism is an integral part of Western culture, albeit in a latent form at times. The revival of fascism (renazification) became possible after the collapse of socialism and the collapse of the USSR, and with it the system of containment of fascism. It is necessary to recall that after the Second World War the process of denazification in Europe and the world was not really completed.
Modern capitalism and humanity in many respects and indicators returned then, and in the last decade have only one way out in the face of fascism. Democratic procedures and institutions have been largely discredited, financial capital has for decades dominated and dictated the conditions and mechanisms everywhere and in everything solely in its own interest, and the principles and politics of neoliberalism are not only unable to fight the nascent fascism, rather, they engender and stimulate it.
Any return to the bright personality and work of Georgi Dimitrov strongly highlights his extraordinary contribution, his ideas for social justice, the fierce class and political battles in which he participated throughout his life, the values and morals, patriotism and his inseparable connection with the people, workers and the working people, and at the same time the huge need for his majestic presence and example as a politician and statesman, as a moral pillar and an internationally recognized actor. The neo-Nazi atrocities and outbursts in Ukraine have been a warning for years and show what values we should uphold, namely the anti-fascist and humane ideas of Georgi Dimitrov.
This significant anniversary gives us an occasion in these difficult times to turn to one of Georgi Dimitrov’s testaments: that “…our best teacher for the present and the future is history correctly understood and the use of its rich treasury of valuable lessons. We need our own Marxist philosophy of our history like bread and air,” says G. Dimitrov. In his activity and creativity, he constantly gives examples of how he himself learns from history, from the historical past, from historical experience, traditions, events and folk-psychological features of peoples. A good knowledge of history gives Georgi Dimitrov the opportunity to predict and explain what is happening, to draw the future, to always have an answer for ongoing events, because, as history has proven, something uniquely new and previously non-existent within at a certain historical time. That is why it is so necessary to have the knowledge and the opportunity to analyze and make sense of the past. It is known that everything starts with education, with knowledge, and especially in critical times, with historical knowledge. The break with historical memory and historical knowledge, the tendentious rewriting of history leads to profound and sometimes fatal mistakes, to the transformation of history into a lie. This amnesia was imposed by neoliberalism in recent decades, and in its scheme and construction “for the end of history” the person and work of Georgi Dimitrov, as well as his comrades and associates from the entire twentieth century, is excluded and erased. This is how the false idea emerged that the Bulgarian people, rich in history, tormented by defeats from the politics of monarchism and bourgeois governments, had their own heroes and achievements only until the Liberation (and even those, as we see, are highly schematized and limited). All, absolutely all notable and beloved actors of social and revolutionary struggles and anti-fascist resistance were rejected and crossed out. They were first on the list after 1989 of the madness called decommunization, the denial of historical truth, the destruction of national memory and monuments, the change of values and people’s consciousness. Thus, the national and international hero Georgi Dimitrov turned out to be much more famous and popular in a number of other countries than in our own homeland. This was confirmed five years ago (when we celebrated its 135th anniversary) by the numerous foreign guests who respected the person and the event. For the majority of the people of Bulgaria, I am convinced, the personality and work of Georgi Dimitrov should not be explained in detail, because we feel it and it is part of the people’s memory and respect.
And something else very important and essential for the current understanding and interpretation of the ideas and work of Georgi Dimitrov today, is his own attitude towards his own, towards the Bulgarian people. In all his speeches, reports, greetings, etc., the frequent use of the expression “our people” or the “Bulgarian people” (in the closing speech of the Leipzig trial), the deep affection for him and his problems and desires impresses. He knows very well from the many years of sharp struggles in defense of the social and political rights of the working class, of working people, that any detachment from the needs, ideas and spirit of the people, dooms ideas, politics, politicians, statesmen to failure, oblivion or complete failure or intellectual guides. Therefore, in the people’s memory, and not in the invented and rewritten history of recent decades, those who are connected with the Bulgarian people, those dedicated to their well-being and the prosperity of the state, the creators, remain, because the strong is the one who is with his people. That is why in the people’s memory even today, along with the famous phrases of Botev and Levski, there are also those of Georgi Dimitrov. And this has been passed down from generation to generation, for decades, despite…
Today, when at the state level we lack national ideals, the right direction for development and for the future, when we are experiencing related events and processes known from the last century, the modern understanding of the contributions and role of Georgi Dimitrov in the history of Bulgaria and the international movement is especially necessary for freedom, justice and anti-fascism.
And so… Despite efforts to denigrate, deny or remain silent in Bulgaria, the life, work, ideas, morals of Georgi Dimitrov have long defined his place and authority as a notable actor of the Bulgarian and international labor, trade union, socialist and communist movement; leader of the memorable and landmark September anti-fascist uprising of 1923. He is the hero of the Leipzig trial, the political, moral and judicial victor in the battle against fascism and the Third Reich. Georgi Dimitrov is the ideologist of the united and popular fronts in the fight against fascism; one of the main organizers of the anti-fascist struggle during the Second World War; and finally the first builder of the first socialist, modern and prosperous People’s Republic of Bulgaria, an actor with an outstanding role in world history in the first half of the twentieth century; a person with a great creative mind. In addition, Georgi Dimitrov is an ideal of morality and ethics, of self-sacrificing dedication to the values of freedom, social justice, national independence, cultural wealth and national prosperity. The personality of Georgi Dimitrov is multifaceted, the events in his political and personal biography are complex and dramatic. Throughout his life, Georgi Dimitrov, endowed with extraordinary courage, physical and moral strength, with a sharp mind and intellect, remained true to his ideas and essence – a professional revolutionary, theoretician, brilliant publicist, organizer, tribune, municipal councilor, deputy, strategist of the left-wing socialist project for Bulgaria and its modernization, actor and leader of the international communist and anti-fascist movement, comrade, friend, loving son, husband and father. It is our irrevocable duty to preserve the historical truth about Georgi Dimitrov, to promote and pass on to the next generations his life, work, ideas and morals in the context of the time in which he lived and fought, but also in our modern times. Because he was formed as a person, politician and revolutionary in his time and in a complex, new era for humanity, which must be known and understood.
Any break in the memory of the past and history is dangerous and leads to the repetition of old mistakes and trials. The denial and denigration of Georgi Dimitrov’s personality cannot last forever, it is usually only a period, an episode in human history, when it temporarily defeats restoration and destruction. The task is unchanging, and the time that is coming will inevitably return Georgi Dimitrov to his deserved place in Bulgarian and world history. And not only him, but also the entire pleiad of bright personalities, his comrades, co-thinkers, like-minded people and heroes of our history from the end of the 19th century and part of the 20th. It is our duty to fight and stand for this, not to be weak-minded, divided and disorganized.
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