aboutbulgaria.net

Chapter 4

All About my Unfortunate Parents; 'No Love for their Communist Baby'; Marx Gloating in Cahoots with Stalin over a Stray Commission's Decision; Did Comrade Pishmanov Really get a F*** on a Chairlift, or Not? A Second Suicide Unfortunately Failed.

In the mean time, the mayas unfailingly worked to help my maternal grandmother overcome every new round of unexpected communist challenges. When her two daughters were denied access to college, a helping hand came from her maid, a peasant girl from the nearby village.

Instead of getting pregnant by an unknown soldier and vanishing back home to slave away in the fields, as used to be the fate of pretty house maids before the Communist revolution, my grandmother’s kitchen help, a rose-cheeked cheerful maiden, a hick from the Rose Valley, was offered a chance to study and realize her human potential. The Party trusted her, but not the daughters of the ex-Prison Director, my aunt and my mother, because their family background was murky.

Access to higher education was strictly controlled in those years, because knowledge is power. The newly powerful people had to be good reliable cadres to further the communist ideology and strengthen the grip of the Party for the benefit of the country. To enroll, prospective university students needed a note of approval, an endorsement from their local Communist organization confirming their reliable worker’s or peasant’s origin, good character and devotion to the Party. Some cases were easy, my grandmother’s maid instantly qualified, others had to go through a commission which would normally be held in the neighborhood communist club under the hammer and sickle, the red star, and the vigilant glare of Lenin.