Zveno
1927–1949 Bulgarian nationalist military and political organisation
title: "Zveno" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1927-establishments-in-bulgaria", "nationalist-parties-in-bulgaria", "parties-of-one-party-systems", "political-parties-established-in-1927", "political-parties-disestablished-in-1949", "defunct-political-parties-in-bulgaria", "bulgaria–yugoslavia-relations", "pan-slavism", "formerly-banned-far-right-parties", "1949-disestablishments-in-bulgaria", "para-fascist-parties"] description: "1927–1949 Bulgarian nationalist military and political organisation" topic_path: "politics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zveno" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary 1927–1949 Bulgarian nationalist military and political organisation ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox political party"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Political Circle "Zveno" |
| native_name | Политически кръг "Звено" |
| colorcode | |
| logo | Logo of the People's Union "Zveno".png |
| logo_size | 150px |
| leader1_title | Leaders |
| leader1_name | Kimon Georgiev |
| Damyan Velchev | |
| Dimo Kazasov | |
| founded | |
| dissolved | |
| youth_wing | Youth Union "Zveno" |
| wing1_title | Publications |
| wing1 | |
| predecessor | |
| successor | People's Union "Zveno" |
| headquarters | Sofia, Bulgaria |
| ideology | Technocratic oligarchy |
| Anti-parliamentarism | |
| Authoritarian conservatism | |
| Corporate statism | |
| editor1-last | Badie |
| editor1-first | Bertrand |
| editor1-link | Bertrand Badie |
| editor2-last | Berg-Schlosser |
| editor2-first | Dirk |
| editor2-link | Dirk Berg-Schlosser |
| editor3-last | Morlino |
| editor3-first | Leonardo |
| editor3-link | Leonardo Morlino |
| title | International Encyclopedia of Political Science |
| date | 2011 |
| url | https://books.google.com/books?id=Vn2iCQAAQBAJ |
| publisher | Sage Publications |
| isbn | 9781483305394 |
| access-date | 9 September 2020 |
| quote | [...] fascist Italy [...] developed a state structure known as the corporate state with the ruling party acting as a mediator between 'corporations' making up the body of the nation. Similar designs were quite popular elsewhere in the 1930s. The most prominent examples were Estado Novo in Portugal (1932–1968) and Brazil (1937–1945), the Austrian Standestaat (1933–1938), and authoritarian experiments in Estonia, Romania, and some other countries of East and East-Central Europe. |
| country | Bulgaria |
| position | Right-wing |
| affiliation1_title | Political alliance |
| affiliation1 | Fatherland Front (from 1943) |
| :: |
| name = Political Circle "Zveno" | native_name = Политически кръг "Звено" | colorcode = | logo = Logo of the People's Union "Zveno".png | logo_size = 150px | leader1_title = Leaders | leader1_name = Kimon Georgiev Damyan Velchev Dimo Kazasov | founded = | dissolved = | youth_wing = Youth Union "Zveno" | wing1_title = Publications | wing1 = | predecessor = | successor = People's Union "Zveno" | headquarters = Sofia, Bulgaria | ideology = Technocratic oligarchy Anti-parliamentarism Authoritarian conservatism Corporate statism | editor1-last = Badie | editor1-first = Bertrand | editor1-link = Bertrand Badie | editor2-last = Berg-Schlosser | editor2-first = Dirk | editor2-link = Dirk Berg-Schlosser | editor3-last = Morlino | editor3-first = Leonardo | editor3-link = Leonardo Morlino | title = International Encyclopedia of Political Science | date = 2011 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Vn2iCQAAQBAJ | publisher = Sage Publications | page = | isbn = 9781483305394 | access-date = 9 September 2020 | quote = [...] fascist Italy [...] developed a state structure known as the corporate state with the ruling party acting as a mediator between 'corporations' making up the body of the nation. Similar designs were quite popular elsewhere in the 1930s. The most prominent examples were Estado Novo in Portugal (1932–1968) and Brazil (1937–1945), the Austrian Standestaat (1933–1938), and authoritarian experiments in Estonia, Romania, and some other countries of East and East-Central Europe.
Yugoslav irredentism | country = Bulgaria | position = Right-wing | affiliation1_title = Political alliance | affiliation1 = Fatherland Front (from 1943) Zveno (), Politicheski krag "Zveno", officially Political Circle "Zveno" was a Bulgarian political organization that was founded in 1930 by Bulgarian politicians, intellectuals and Bulgarian Army officers and was associated with a newspaper with the same name.
As a palingenetic nationalist movement, Zveno advocated for the rationalization of Bulgaria's economic and political institutions under a dictatorship that would be independent of both the Soviet Union and the Axis powers. It strongly opposed the Bulgarian party system, which it saw as dysfunctional, and the terror of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), the liberation movement of the Bulgarian Macedonians. Zveno was also closely linked to the so-called Military League, the organisation behind a coup in 1923 that was responsible for killing Prime Minister Aleksandar Stamboliyski.
In 1934, officers supporting Zveno like Colonel Damyan Velchev and Colonel Kimon Georgiev seized power. Georgiev became prime minister. They dissolved all parties, political organizations and trade unions and openly attacked the IMRO. As a political organization itself, Zveno dissolved itself. The new government introduced a corporatist economy similar to that of Benito Mussolini's Italy. As a nationalist organization, Zveno changed many of the Ottoman-era Turkish place names of villages and towns in Bulgaria to Bulgarian ones. King Boris III, an opponent of Zveno, orchestrated a coup through a monarchist Zveno member, General Pencho Zlatev, who became Prime Minister (January 1935). In April 1935, he was replaced by a civilian, Andrey Toshev, also a monarchist. After participating in the Bulgarian coup d'état of 1934, Zveno supporters declared their intention to immediately form an alliance with France.
In 1943, Zveno joined the anti-Axis resistance movement, the Fatherland Front. In September 1944, the Fatherland Front engineered a coup d'état. Georgiev became prime minister and Velchev defence minister, and they managed to sign a ceasefire agreement with the Soviet Union.
In 1946, Velchev resigned in protest against communist actions, while Georgiev was succeeded by the communist leader, Georgi Dimitrov, and Bulgaria became a People's Republic. Georgiev remained in government until 1962, but Zveno was disbanded as an autonomous organization in 1949. Zveno continued to exist within the Fatherland Front but by then was only a puppet organization.
References
References
- Crampton, R. J.. (1997). "A Concise History of Bulgaria". Cambridge University Press.
- Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2007). ''[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zveno-Group Zveno Group]''. [[Encyclopedia Britannica]]. "[...] Founded in 1930, the Zveno Group was led by Col. Kimon Georgiev and was composed primarily of radical civilians, who had become disillusioned with a government hampered by military domination, irresponsible political parties, and uncontrolled terrorist activities. [...]"
- (from 3 May 1946)
- Недев, Недю. (2007). "Три държавни преврата или Кимон Георгиев и неговото време". „Сиела“.
- Иванчев, Димитър. (1962). "Български периодичен печат 1844–1944. Анотиран библиографски указател, том 1 А–М". Български библиографски институт „Елин Пелин“, „Наука и изкуство“.
- 978-1-61069-030-0.
- Недев, Недю. (2007). "Три държавни преврата или Кимон Георгиев и неговото време". „Сиела“.
- Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2007, February 2). ''[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zveno-Group Zveno Group]''. [[Encyclopedia Britannica]]. "[...] It imposed strict censorship on newspapers, prohibited trade unions, and reorganized the educational system to stimulate the training of more technicians and scientists and to discourage the formation of a large intelligentsia. [...]"
- (2009). [http://ipr.ihist.bas.bg/resumees/2009_12/IPr_2009_1-2_112.pdf The Circle “Zveno“ and Its Ideology (Summary)] {{Webarchive. link. (2023-03-16 pp. 1–2. {{ISSN). 0323-9748.
- Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2007). ''[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zveno-Group Zveno Group]''. [[Encyclopedia Britannica]]. "[...] The Zveno government, advised by Velchev, assumed a dictatorial character, dissolved Parliament, and abolished all political parties. [...]"
- Недев, Недю. (2007). "Три държавни преврата или Кимон Георгиев и неговото време". „Сиела“.
- Khristo Angelov Khristov. ''Bulgaria, 1300 years''. Sofia, Bulgaria: Sofia Press, 1980. p. 192.
- Plamen S. Tsvetkov. ''A history of the Balkans: a regional overview from a Bulgarian perspective''. EM Text, 1993. p. 195.
- Sygkelos, Yanis. (2011). "Nationalism from the Left". Brill.
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