Four years before 'Bulgaria’s Stalin' Valko Tchervenkov was toppled, we see his successor Todor Zhivkov boarding a plane with an official Bulgarian delegation on its way to Warsaw. 39-years old and already a rising star, Zhivkov is only a few months away from a full Politburo membership. Promoted by the Kremlin, particularly due to his loyalty, on this occasion Zhivkov is off to Warsaw for the 'World Peace Congress',
The Soviet-sponsored World Peace Council first planned to stage its Congress in Sheffield but the organisers ran into all sorts of difficulties, typical of the early stages of the 'Cold War', including a British relay runner, who had started in Bulgaria and was unable to reach Sheffield. In the end he was charged in London of 'insulting behaviour' and participating in an 'unauthorised political march'.
Then Warsaw stepped in quickly as a venue and the Congress took place there between 16 - 22 November 1950. Key speaker was the Soviet writer and party apparatchik Alexander Fadeyev. The instructions from Warsaw back home were clear: the world is irreconcilably divided between 'the peace-loving progressive forces', championed by the Soviet Union, and the 'warmongering capitalist' rest.