I HEAR OF AN extraordinarily revealing incident that recently took
place in Bulgaria. At a moun- tain villa of the Writers' Union to the south of Sofia, not far from Mount Stalin (formerly called Musala—the kiss of God), a number of authors were enjoying the amenities provided by the regime for its favourite cultural figures. One of them played a remarkable practical joke. He made a tape recording and then connected his recorder to the loudspeaker in the lounge. When switched on this began to play militant music of the type so often put out by Radio Sofia. But after a few minutes it was broken into by the supposed announcer saying, 'We interrupt our programme for an important official announce- - ment. The Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party has unanimously decided to withdraw from the government. The new pro- visional government has asked King Simeon to return to the country. A further statement will be issued shortly.' The effect on the assembled writers was remarkable. One of them, a former partisan, immediately declared that he had long since given up his Communist views and hoped he would be safe under the new regime. A woman writer said that she would be all right, as she had known the Queen. Finally, the man who had mounted the hoax, rather taken aback by his success, confessed what he had done. And at first the authors refused to believe him.
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