Aleksandr Stambolisky

Aleksandr Stambolisky (1879-1923), Bulgarian politician and Prime Minister of Bulgaria (1919-1923). Stambolisky was born near the garrison town of Radomir into a peasant family. He studied agriculture in Germany before returning to Bulgaria where he built up the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union (BANU), which represented the interests of the country’s peasants. He was an outspoken critic of Bulgaria’s participation in World War I, a position that resulted in his imprisonment by the government of Tsar Ferdinand I, despite widespread opposition among Bulgarians to the war.

The collapse of the war effort led to Stambolisky’s release from prison in September 1918. He emerged as the leader of a revolt of disgruntled conscripts centred on Radomir. The revolt resulted in the abdication of Ferdinand and his replacement by Boris III. Stambolisky re-emerged as leader of BANU, and represented Bulgaria at the Versailles peace conference. He signed the Treaty of Neuilly in November 1919, intended to settle nationality questions in the Balkans, and by the terms of which Bulgaria reduced the size of its military and agreed to forgo claims to most of Macedonia. The treaty was unpopular with the Bulgarian army and with IMRO (the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization), which sought to annex Macedonia to Bulgaria.

Stambolisky became prime minister of Bulgaria in October 1919 after elections that saw BANU become the first mass peasant party in the Balkans to form a government. He took action to break up a Communist-inspired general strike, and implemented policies that would assist the rural majority of the country at the expense of the urban population. In this he was assisted by the Orange Guard, a paramilitary organization that increasingly eclipsed the power of the army. This, combined with the prospect of increased BANU power after the 1923 elections, prompted a coup d’état led by army officers and IMRO. Stambolisky was executed by members of IMRO in the town of Pazardzhik.