“With a kind word and a soft tread…” – the administration of Andrey Lyapchev

Listen

Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.

Prominent Bulgarian statesman Andrey Lyapchev died on 6, November 80 years ago. Lyapchev played a key role in two very dramatic periods in the history of Bulgaria. This role can be put into one single word – peace – both at home and abroad.

Andrey Lyapchev was born in 1866 in the town of Ressen, now in the Republic of Macedonia, but at the time part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1884 he moved to Plovdiv. One year later he took part in the preparations for the Re-unification of Northern with Southern Bulgaria and in the defensive Serbo-Bulgarian war, after which the unification of the Bulgarian lands was internationally acknowledged. In the 1888-1894 period Lyapchev studied economy and history in Zurich, Berlin and Paris. After his return to Bulgaria he joined in the struggles for the liberation of Macedonia. By the century’s end he had become friends with Petko Karavelov and had joined his Democratic Party. For a time he worked as a journalist for the party’s newspaper Pryaporets or Banner.

His first major contribution in domestic policy was his stand against the restored tithe paid in kind – a tax imposed since feudal times which peasants had been rebelling against and with good reason. As a journalist Lyapchev wrote a series of articles against the tithe. When Petko Karvelov headed the cabinet in 1901 Lyapchev, who at the time was working at the Ministry of Finance, initiated the abolition of the much-hated tax. As a prominent activist of the Democratic Party Lyapchev was elected Member of Parliament, cabinet minister and became part of the party’s leadership. In 1908 Bulgaria was proclaimed a kingdom, independent of the Ottoman Empire (until that time the country was formally a tributary state to the Empire). Afterwards, over a period of six months Lyapchev headed the delegation to Istanbul which settled the complicated financial disputes between Bulgaria and the Sublime Porte.

Andrey Lyapchev reached the peak of his political career in 1918. The new Democratic Party government with Prime Minister Alexander Malinov was elected on June 21; in this cabinet Lyapchev was Minister of Finance. Bulgaria initiated negotiations for the country’s withdrawing from World War I. At a time when Bulgaria seemed to be falling apart and each hour was invaluable, he came to head the Bulgarian delegation conducting armistice talks with the Entente command in Thessaloniki. The well-versed politician invited as his associates prominent military officers and diplomats, connected with his own past in France. At Lyapchev’s proposal the delegation included US consul in Sofia Dominic Murphy. On the night of September 29 Lyapchev succeeded in achieving a truce, under terms which were advantageous for Bulgaria. The allies declined to occupy the country. What they wanted was a free corridor and garrisons at some strategic points, though not in the capital Sofia. Troops from the neighbouring countries – Serbia, Greece and Romania – did not enter Bulgaria.

Just like Germany, after the war, vanquished Bulgaria was rent asunder by political instability and violent struggles. At the time of the left-wing agrarian administration that ran to authoritarianism, Andrey Lyapchev spent several months in jail. The former World War I cabinet ministers were to be tried by a special court. In 1923 the agrarian government was overthrown by a military coup and the cabinet of Alexander Tsankov and his Democratic Alliance came to power. Having been released from prison, Lyapchev joined the party and became head of its parliamentary faction. However, he remained a moderate politician and soon came to head the party opposition against Prime Minister Alexander Tsankov.

The situation in the country grew more and more dramatic. The Communist Party was out to organize a Soviet-type revolution. After the failed 1923 September uprising, the communists launched a clandestine struggle. On its part the rule of Tsankov’s government was authoritarian and resorted to any means to crush the opposition, including assassinations. In April 1925, Communist Party activists organized a bomb attack on the St. Nedelya church, killing 150. In the wave of terror that ensued hundreds of left-wing activists, including prominent intellectuals were killed without trial or sentence. Bulgaria stood on the brink of a never-ending civil war. Several members of the Democratic Alliance, headed by Andrey Lyapchev decided to take a stand against this grim prospect. They had the support of Tsar Boris III and influential army officers. On January 4, 1926 Premier Tsankov was forced to hand in his resignation and on January 5, the government of Andrey Lyapchev was formed. He remained Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior until June 1931, when the Democratic Alliance lost the elections and an Agrarian-dominated coalition came to power.

As Prime Minister, Lyapchev’s career was characterized by his pursuit of domestic peace and an economic revival for the country. In February 1926 a partial amnesty was declared and more than 1,000 political prisoners were released; 70 people, most of them Communist Party activists who had been sentenced to death, were pardoned. The government afforded trade unions and the communists – who set up a legal political wing, the Workers Party –an opportunity to resume their activities. In 1927 the communists called off their course towards an armed uprising. Thus the covert civil war came to an end and the threat of a fascist dictatorship was averted.
Andrey Lyapchev’s government succeeded in taking out two large external debts at advantageous for the country conditions: for the integration of the refugees who had come to Bulgaria after the defeat in the war and for economic stabilization. He also concluded an agreement for alleviating the reparations Bulgaria was paying to its neighbours after its participation in the world conflict. Lyapchev’s economic policy was a combination of liberalization and judicious state intervention. These steps resulted in a revival of Bulgaria that was to place the country alongside those least affected by the Great Depression of 1929-1932.

In 1931 Lyapchev gradually withdrew from politics, mostly for health reasons; on November 6, 1933 he died of cancer. His contemporaries describe him as a highly-responsible person dedicated to his duty. “He knew not how to hate, he knew not what revenge was, he knew not how to persecute, he had no foes in his mind,” that was how prominent banker Atanas Burov describes him. As with many other politicians, rumours circulated that Lyapchev had amassed millions while he was in power. However, this has never been corroborated by facts. It was only at the age of 67 that he acquired a home of his own which he left to the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Lyapchev will be remembered for a very popular catchphrase – that governance should be accomplished “with a kind word and a soft tread”. As a matter of fact the phrase was coined by Lyapchev’s friend, journalist Grigor Vassilev who, in January 1926 wrote an article about the policy of the new government. According to some, Lyapchev extended the phrase, so that it went “With a kind word and a soft tread… and with a bit of a thrashing”. In point of fact this phrase has remained within the realm of political folklore; nonetheless it is extremely popular in Bulgaria to this day.

English version: Milena Daynova

Share

“With a kind word and a soft tread…” – the administration of Andrey Lyapchev

More from category

There is just one church in Sofia named after Saints Peter and Paul

An international forum on the Cyrillic alphabet to oppose the distortion of Bulgaria's past

The dervishes in the Bulgarian lands – legends and mysteries from Bivolyane village

An international forum on the Cyrillic alphabet to oppose the distortion of Bulgaria's past

There is just one church in Sofia named after Saints Peter and Paul