Give the Bulgarian power and watch his back, my grandmother used to say. That's how it is government after government, generation after generation: as if everyone gets proud and forgets themselves. Exceptions are rare. Why? By Evgeniy Dainov.
I avoided looking at and listening to the new rulers, but around their hundredth day I looked and listened. Almost every one (and every one) of them reminded me of a general summary of my grandmother: "Give the Bulgarian power and watch his back".
That's how it is - year after year, government after government, generation after generation. As if everyone gets proud and forgets themselves in their complacency. Exceptions are rare and long-lasting.
Why is all this?
I can think of two main reasons. The first: unlike the established European nations, the Bulgarians are not the heirs of an established social-class structure that is perceived as legitimate. The second: while the established nations added to this class structure a new social structure based on "meritocracy" - i.e. on achieving prosperity under equal conditions and in a fair environment as a result of one's own competences and efforts, the Bulgarians were locked into "real socialism".
Let's look at things one by one.
Before the middle class became the main engine of social and ideological development, Europeans lived in a social-class structure based on honor. Each upper class is obliged to demonstrate to the lower ones a greater degree of honor in its behavior. When social mobility appeared in Europe, somewhere around the middle of the 19th century, each upwardly mobile individual was surprised to discover that by falling into a higher class he acquired not only greater well-being, but also a greater duty to set a personal example of behavior based on honor. The expansion of material opportunities goes hand in hand with the narrowing of opportunities for irresponsible personal behavior. For those who do not accept this, there are powerful social sanctions. At one time, the London "Times" played the role of a kind of public court: on its pages information about indecent behavior, announcements of bankruptcies, divorces, exclusions from clubs was published.
Towards the middle of the 20th century, the structure of individual achievements - meritocracy - was superimposed on this social structure. The success of each individual is accepted as his personal achievement, based on skills and work. However, society does not break up into individuals competing for their success, because: after all, the old construction of honor continues to operate and it is clear that the higher you rise, the more you have to set a personal example of decency; and the individuals rising in the new structure have not forgotten that they are citizens. Therefore, they do not kick other citizens in the knuckles, but work together with them for the common good. And the greater their personal wealth, the more they are expected to contribute to the common good.
None of the processes described in this way shapes the appearance of modern Bulgarians. They start their life as an independent nation in a position of complete equality. The Ottoman social hierarchy is considered hostile and, therefore, any hierarchy is perceived as "against the people". After World War II, the social structuring that began was interrupted by the invasion of communist power, which brought a new leveling. But this leveling did not produce a meritocratic structure, since it did not create the conditions for fair competition on equal terms in a fair environment. But it did not create a truly feudal structure based on honor. On the contrary. By the 1970s, the communists created a vulgar version of feudalism, in which success was not achieved through one's own efforts, but with the help of "uncle bishop", with "connections". Towards the end of the regime, the communists looked with suspicion at anyone who simply worked for their success. They called such people "careerists", accused them of "splitting away from the collective" (which did nothing so that the bosses would not look at them askance). By 1989, no one was doing anything anymore, because everyone rushed to "settle" in a clerical, party, or informant position. They had recognized without fail that this was the only way they could "rise".
This is our heritage and it is evident at every step. Every time a feudal structure based on dependencies is proposed to the Bulgarian masses, as Boyko Borisov did - the masses happily join in. Success is always attributed to "connections" and that is why, when they see someone doing something, journalists immediately ask "who is behind this person"? The idea that you can make your own decisions, turn them into your own actions and achieve your own results - this idea continues to be a foreign body in the Bulgarian mentality.
Someone became, say, a minister. Good. But he knows very well that he is not a minister because of any special talents of his own. No - he was "elevated" by someone higher up. And while he "licks up", however, he "tramples down". This is how he shows that he is someone, since he knows that otherwise he is nobody and no one will recognize him as someone. Having not inherited behavior based on honor, the Bulgarian ruler has not inherited the culture in which everyone is a citizen and, no matter how successful he is, works with other citizens for the common good. The Bulgarian ruler is a separate boss who owes nothing to anyone (except to his boss), is not in solidarity with anyone and sees no reason to even have decent personal behavior.
Change can come, but very slowly
The result is the following: quite a few representatives of the Bulgarian political environment consider themselves the bosses of everyone. And they forget themselves in their complacency. And the road from here to failure is short. As well as entering the "seir" regime ("Give the Bulgarian power and watch his show").
This is not a temporary phenomenon or a limited deficiency of the system. This is a common reality. That is why when knowledgeable, capable, cooperative and polite people appear in power, the mass Bulgarian immediately declares them "genders". They are too meek, clean, knowledgeable. They do not look like real bosses.
Change, of course, can come. But it happens terribly slowly, millimeter by millimeter. And the reason is the chaos we have inherited in the social-class structure of society.
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This text expresses the author's opinion and may not coincide with the positions of the Bulgarian editorial office and the State News Agency as a whole.