Another divisive force that is frequently posed by the media is national
patriotism versus proletarian internationalism. Although
internationalism is viewed as predominant, citizens are warned against
feelings of bourgeois nationalism, since the "unity between
internationalism and patriotism is of a relative character, and there is
always the real possibility of dissension between them; they may even be
placed into a position of mutual opposition." Somehow the conflict,
according to the journal _Filosofska Misal_, is perceived as being
resolved through a higher form of patriotism that is inextricably linked
with love of the Soviet Union. Socialist patriotism is seen as a
"qualitatively new, higher form of patriotism" as expressed in "love and
gratitude toward the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union organically linked with love for Bulgaria."
In accordance with the media's constant expression of admiration for,
and solidarity with, the Soviet Union, any issue that raises the
question of conflicting loyalties between the People's Republic of China
(PRC) and the Soviet Union is summarily dismissed with the reiteration
of support for the Soviet Union. One journal warned the people of the
dangers from the left in the form of the people of the PRC as well as
from the right in the form of capitalist societies: "Contrary to all
healthy logic, for years on end, the Chinese leadership has been waging
hostile propaganda campaigns against the Soviet Union ... which are in
no way inferior to the most malicious fabrications of bourgeois
anti-Sovietism."
When the troops of the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in August
1968, Bulgaria once again rose to the Soviet Union's defense in complete
justification of the invasion. The BTA cited a long list of workers,
peasants, and intellectuals who were allegedly in favor of the action.
Major newspapers such as _Rabotnichesko Delo_ interpreted the event as
symbolic of proletarian internationalism, and _Zemedelsko Zname_ stated
that "it is our supreme duty to resist the common enemy and not to allow
anyone ever to tear away even one link from the chain of the socialist
community." The Czechoslovak uprising itself, as reported by the
Bulgarian press some months later, was interpreted as nationalistic and
counterrevolutionary.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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