Революция на пролетариата vs. революция на технокрацията
Revolution of the Proletariat vs. Revolution of Technocracy

Summary/Abstract: The Bulgarian communist Politburo was quick to notice the growing technological gap with the West. However, despite all its efforts, it was unable to achieve a successful technological advancement of the Bulgarian economy. As a result, the Bulgarian Communist Party was unable to avoid the growing economic crisis and guarantee its monopoly on power. This essay will try to address the failure of technological modernization in terms of the interests (or, as it happened, the lack of interest) of all potential actors, including the communist political, scientific and business elites. The new bi-nuclear economic model (IT sector plus ‘military production complex’) that was put in place in the late 1960s compensated only partly for the timidity and sluggishness of Bulgarian reforms. It was able only to postpone but not avert the deepening economic and political crisis that eventually brought an end to the regime.

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