Bulgaria's Communist leader Todor Zhivkov at a traditional parade on the day of the Cyrillic alphabet and Bulgarian culture in Sofia, 24 May 1982.
Carefully rehearsed and meticulously orchestrated, the parades in front of the embalmed body of the ex-Communist leader Georgi Dimitrov were also an indicator of the place in the hierarchy of each member of the party nomenclatura. While teachers, pupils and students waved obediently at Number One and his lieutenants, others were trying to spot who was in and who was out on the tribune.
There were several of these parades each year, all the way to the end 1989. Even the day dedicated to letters and culture was no exception from the military discipline of marching past Sofia's Mausoleum.
Converted from 16 mm film.
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