BZS members were also praised as good
machine operators in factories and as "innovators and frontrankers in
field brigades and livestock farms."

Internationally, the BZS maintains contacts with dozens of agrarian and
related organizations in various countries. As diplomats, national
officials among the BZS leaders had demonstrated exceptional ability in
foreign relations, especially where the regular high-ranking BKP
representatives had been found less acceptable.

MASS ORGANIZATIONS

Mass organizations are auxiliaries of the BKP through which the party
hierarchy exerts control over the bulk of the population. Established to
serve the immediate interests of a particular class of workers or
professionals, mass organizations work as transmission belts for the
administration of party policies and the achievement of party goals.
Most, if not all, of their chairmen are trusted and loyal BKP members.

The right to form organizations for any purpose not contrary to public
law and national security is guaranteed in the constitution. These
organizations may be political, professional, cultural, artistic,
scientific, religious, or athletic. Furthermore, unions and other
associations may be formed within public organizations and cooperatives.
In all cases the guidelines set by the BKP for the development of a
socialist state impose limitations on the operations of mass
organizations. Recognition of the BKP as the leading political party and
the subservience of all other organizations is clearly understood. The
most important mass organizations are the Fatherland Front, the Central
Council of Trade Unions, and the Komsomol and its affiliate Pioneer
organization.

Fatherland Front

The Fatherland Front grew out of the internal dissension between the
government and various political parties, in particular, the pro-Soviet
elements who objected to the alliance with Nazi Germany. In March 1942
the government launched repressive measures in an attempt to immobilize
communist activities. Working with a group of exiled Bulgarian leaders
in Moscow, Georgi Dimitrov, former secretary-general of the Communist
International (Comintern), urged action against the country's rulers,
"who have sold themselves to Hitler." As conceived by Dimitrov, the
program of the Fatherland Front aimed not only to bring down the
"Hitlerite" regime and consequently establish a "true Bulgarian national
regime" but also to declare Bulgaria neutral and dis