Political System

Moravska was a one-party state. The constitution of 1971 named the Supreme Worker-Maritime Party (SWMP) as "the leading force of the state and the society".

The party decides. The state administers. The plan sets the numbers.

The three bodies [edit]

The CEC holds the real power. It has 11 ministries and 4 state committees under it.

How the party works [edit]

The party has 118,000 members. That is 4 percent of the population. Membership is a career step, not a belief test.

Three rules govern the party.

1. Democratic centralism. The lower body obeys the higher body. A debate ends at the vote.
2. The nomenklatura. Every senior post sits on a list. The party approves each name on the list.
3. The party group. Every workplace has a party group. The group meets each week.

See The Kray for the strongest group in the state.

Elections [edit]

An election happens every 4 years. One list stands for each seat. The voter takes a paper and puts it in a box.

About 99.6 percent of voters take part in 1975. About 99.2 percent approve the list. The count is public. The choice is not.

A voter can cross out a name. A crossed name is legal and it is noticed. The party reads the paper, not the box.

The plan [edit]

The plan is the main instrument of power. It sets a number for every plant, farm, and port.

The fifth five-year plan runs from 1971 to 1975. The sixth plan starts in 1976. See Economy 1976.

A plan target has three parts.

• The output target. Tonnes, metres, hectolitres.
• The input limit. Power, fuel, labour.
• The delivery date. A quarter, sometimes a month.

A manager who misses the output target loses the bonus. A manager who misses the input limit hides the fact.

The party and the family [edit]

The party competes with the family for loyalty. It wins in public and loses at the table.

The party offers four things that the family cannot.

• A flat.
• A place in a resort.
• A car after 8 years on a list.
• A school place for a child.

The family offers three things that the party cannot.

• A place in a funeral.
• A loan with no paper.
• Silence.

Local power [edit]

The local committee runs the town. It has 9 to 15 paid officers.

The committee controls five things.

1. The housing list.
2. The trade shop stock.
3. The school place.
4. The building permit.
5. The travel permit for a private visit.

A citizen who needs any of the five goes to the committee. A citizen with a kinsman in the committee goes first.

Weak points [edit]

• The plan rewards quantity, not quality. A cable plant makes heavy cable and thin cable badly.
• The party cannot count the informal trade. See Prestizh and the Black Market.
• The CEC is old. The mean age in 1976 is 63.
• The coast and the interior send different people to the committee. See Regional Divides.

The end [edit]

The system ended in 1990. The party gave up its leading role in January. The transitional National Assembly dissolved the state in December and Bulgaria accepted the territory. See Balkan breakup.