Being on the losing side in the war and because of her close historical ties with Russia, Bulgaria was strongly influenced by the Great October Socialist Revolution. The national disaster brought in its wake economic collapse, ruin of the national ideals and moral dejection. The prestige of the bourgeois parties which had brought about the national catastrophe was zero, while the influence and popularity of the two popular political organizations – the Bulgarian Communist Party and the Bulgarian Agrarian Party — were enhanced beyond comparison. The Soldiers' Mutiny, which formed part of the revolutionary developments that had shaken Europe after the triumph of the October Revolution in Russia, marked only the beginning of the sharp social clashes which were to take place and which put at stake the very existence of the bourgeois order in Bulgaria.
On May 21, 1920 the Bulgarian Agrarian Party won the parliamentary elections and formed an independent government of its own, with Alexander Stamboliiski at the head. This government adopted a number of reforms in favour of the peasant masses and the working people in general, which impaired considerably the interests of big capital. Alexander Stamboliiski made no secret of his republican views and substantially limited the role played by Ferdinand's son Boris III in the country's administration.
Democratic principles
The foreign policy of the agrarian government, based on peace-loving and democratic principles, was aimed at the maintenance of friendly relations with all countries, and particularly the neighbouring ones. The units of the Russian White Army, stationed in the country, were dis-armed and contacts with representatives of the Soviet government were established. In spite of the heavy inter-national isolation of the country Stamboliiski was doing his best to defend the national interests. In the spring of 1923, he signed an agreement in Nis with the Serbo- Croatian-Slovenian Kingdom (Yugoslavia since 1929) and was on his way to make a breakthrough in the country's hostile encirclement, for which he was making systematic efforts.
The policy of the Agrarian government embittered and alarmed the reactionary forces. The referendum held in 1922 for bringing to court those guilty of the national catastrophes and the parliamentary elections in the spring of 1923 showed that these forces were hopelessly isolated from the people and had no chances of coming to power via democratic parliamentary elections.
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