Georgi Dimitrov

Leader of the Bulgarian Communist Party, General Secretary of Comintern, and Prime Minister after World War II. He became a typesetter's apprentice at the age of 12, and was elected Secretary of the Printing Workers' Union in 1901. The following year he joined the Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party, but when the party split, he joined the left wing (narrow faction) of the party, which would later be reorganized as the Communist Party, and in 1909 he became a member of the Central Committee. In 1918 he was imprisoned for opposing the war policy of the government at the time, but even after World War I he actively participated in the revolutionary movement, such as leading a transport strike. In 1921 he attended the Third Congress of Comintern, and in 1923 he participated in leading the "September Uprising" against the right wing of the Communist Party and the military regime of Tsankov, but the uprising failed and he went into exile abroad. He was sentenced to death in absentia. During his exile he continued his activities as a member of the Foreign Office of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party. In 1933, he was arrested for his involvement in the Nazi-orchestrated "Reichstag Fire" in Germany, but he was exonerated in court and instead attacked the Nazis. After being acquitted the following year, he went to the Soviet Union, where he obtained Soviet citizenship.

Dimitrov served as General Secretary of Comintern from 1935 until 1943, where he worked to organize the anti-fascist movement. In particular, his report at the 7th Congress of Comintern in 1935 played a major role in establishing the Popular Front policy. During World War II, he continued to organize the anti-fascist movement in Bulgaria from the Soviet Union, and when the Fatherland Front seized power, he returned to Bulgaria in 1945, becoming Prime Minister the following year and eliminating oppositionists, and pushing for socialism. He died on July 2, 1949, while recuperating near Moscow.

[Kenji Terashima]

"The Selected Works of Georgi Dimitrov, edited and translated by the Dimitrov Anthology Editorial Committee, 3 volumes (1972, Otsuki Shoten)" ▽ "The Anti-Fascist United Front, by Dimitrov, translated by Nobuyoshi Sakai and Yoichi Murata (Otsuki Shoten, Kokumin Bunko)" ▽ "Georgi Dimitrov, by Stella Blagoeva, translated by Goichi Kusano (1970, Kobunsha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ブルガリア共産党指導者、コミンテルン書記長、第二次世界大戦後首相。12歳で植字工徒弟となり、1901年印刷労組の書記に選出される。翌年ブルガリア労働者社会民主党に入党し、同党が分裂すると、のちに共産党に改組される同党左派（狭義派）に加わり、09年、中央委員会委員となる。18年には時の政府の戦争政策に反対して投獄されたが、第一次大戦後も交通ストを指導するなど積極的に革命運動に参加した。21年にコミンテルン第3回大会に出席し、23年には共産党の右翼、軍部のツァンコフ政権に対する「9月蜂起(ほうき)」の指導に参加したが、蜂起が失敗に終わり国外に亡命。欠席裁判で死刑判決を受けた。亡命中はブルガリア共産党中央委員会国外事務局の委員となって活動を続けた。33年、ナチスの仕組んだドイツの「国会議事堂放火事件」に連座して逮捕されたが、裁判で冤罪(えんざい)を晴らし、逆にナチスを攻撃した。翌34年に無罪釈放されるとソ連へ行き、ここでソ連の市民権を得た。

　ディミトロフは、1935年以来43年までコミンテルン書記長として反ファシズム運動の組織化に努めた。とくに、35年のコミンテルン第7回大会における彼の報告は、人民戦線政策確定のうえで大きな役割を果たした。第二次大戦中は、ソ連にあってブルガリアの反ファシズム運動の組織化を進め、「祖国戦線」が権力を掌握すると45年ブルガリアに戻り、翌年首相となって反対派を一掃し、社会主義化を推し進めた。49年7月2日、療養先のモスクワ近郊で客死した。

［寺島憲治］

『ディミトロフ選集編集委員会編・訳『ゲオルギイ・ディミトロフ選集』全3巻（1972・大月書店）』▽『ディミトロフ著、坂井信義・村田陽一訳『反ファシズム統一戦線』（大月書店・国民文庫）』▽『ステラ・ブラゴエワ著、草野悟一訳『ゲオルギ・ディミトロフ』（1970・恒文社）』

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