Stamboliski, Aleksandr Stoimenov

(also Aleksandur Stamboliiski). Born Mar. 1, 1879, in Slavovitsa, Pazardzhik District; died there June 14, 1923. Bulgarian state and political figure.

Of peasant origin, Stamboliski was educated in Germany. In 1902 he became one of the leaders of the Bulgarian Agrarian Popular Union (BAPU). In 1908 he became a deputy to the National Assembly, and in 1911 to the Grand National Assembly. In 1915, as punishment for agitating against the Germanophile policies of the Bulgarian government and the Bulgarian king Ferdinand, Stamboliski was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was freed in September 1918 in order to “placate the army.”

After taking part in the Vladaia revolt of 1918, Stamboliski joined the coalition government in January 1919 and was head of the government for the periods 1919–20 and 1920–23. Between 1920 and 1922, Stamboliski’s government implemented certain democratic reforms, including agrarian reforms, and made attempts to establish diplomatic relations with Soviet Russia. Stamboliski advanced a proposal to form a “Green International” to unite the petit bourgeois agrarian parties of the European countries. On June 9, 1923, Stamboliski’s government was overthrown by a fascist coup. Stamboliski himself was seized and brutally killed.