Todorov, Stanko

Born Dec. 10, 1920, in Klenovik (present-day Kolosh, Pernik District). Political and state figure in the People’s Republic of Bulgaria.

The son of a miner, Todorov worked in dressmaking workshops in Sofia from 1936 to 1941. He was active in the progressive youth movement. In 1941 he was conscripted into the army, but he deserted in 1943. He joined the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) in 1943 and helped prepare and conduct the September People’s Armed Uprising of 1944. From late 1944 to 1947, Todorov served on the Sofia district committee and the central committee of the League of Young Workers; from 1947 to 1950 he was secretary of the league’s central committee. In 1950 he became secretary of the Sofia district committee of the BCP, and from 1950 to 1952 he served as first secretary of the Burgas district committee of the BCP.

Todorov became a member of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party in 1954. He was a candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the BCP from December 1959 to November 1961, when he became a full member. From 1957 to 1959 and from 1966 to 1971, he was secretary of the Central Committee of the BCP. He has served as a deputy to the National Assembly since 1952. Todorov was minister of agriculture from 1952 to 1957 and vice-chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1959 to 1966; from 1959 to 1962 he also served as chairman of the State Planning Committee. In July 1971 he became chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria.

Todorov has twice been awarded the Order of Georgii Dimitrov (1959 and 1970).