25 Facts About Vasil Kolarov

Vasil Petrov Kolarov was a Bulgarian communist political leader and leading functionary in the Communist International.

In 1897, Vasil Kolarov joined the Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party.

Vasil Kolarov studied law in Aix-en-Provence, France, and at the University of Geneva.

From 1904 to 1912, Vasil Kolarov headed the local Tesniak organization in Plovdiv.

Vasil Kolarov was named a member of the organization's governing Central Committee in 1905.

On behalf of the Tesniak organization, Vasil Kolarov was a delegate to the congresses of the Second International at Stuttgart and Copenhagen.

In 1913, Vasil Kolarov was elected to the Bulgarian National Assembly.

Vasil Kolarov participated in the September 1915 Zimmerwald Conference but at the time he remained aloof from the revolutionary Zimmerwald Left.

Vasil Kolarov was the delegate of the Tesniak organization to the 1917 Socialist conference held in Stockholm.

In 1920, Vasil Kolarov was arrested in Romania and was thus unable to attend the 2nd World Congress of the Communist International, although he was able to attend the 3rd World Congress held in Moscow the following year as the representative of the Bulgarian Communist Party.

Vasil Kolarov was elected to the Executive Committee of the Communist International and became a key functionary in the Comintern.

In June 1923, Vasil Kolarov spoke at the 3rd Enlarged Plenum of ECCI in Moscow before returning secretly to Bulgaria at the end of the month.

Vasil Kolarov was a member of the revolutionary committee which launched the resulting September Uprising in 1923.

Vasil Kolarov remained in exile for more than two decades.

Vasil Kolarov remained a top official of the Communist International, presiding over the body's debates at the 5th World Congress of 1924.

Vasil Kolarov was re-elected to the ECCI and its governing Presidium at the 5th, 6th, and 7th Congresses.

Vasil Kolarov was President of the Executive Committee of the Peasant International from 1928 until its dissolution in 1939.

Vasil Kolarov served as director of the International Agrarian Institute in Moscow during this period.

In 1943, Vasil Kolarov signed the document formally dissolving the Communist International.

Vasil Kolarov returned to Bulgaria in 1945 during its occupation by the Soviet Union, and was elected to the National Assembly again.

Vasil Kolarov was reelected in 1946 and became provisional president of Bulgaria that year, amidst the growing domination of the communists.

Vasil Kolarov remained president until the formation of the government headed by Dimitrov in December 1947, which he entered as deputy prime minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

When Dimitrov died in July 1949, Vasil Kolarov was elected to Dimitrov's old post as prime minister.

Vasil Kolarov served until his own death a few months later.

Vasil Kolarov's funeral was held as a state funeral and his body was buried in the Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum.