Valko Velyov Chervenkov () (6 September 1900 – 21 October 1980) was a Bulgarian communist politician. He served as leader of the Communist Party between 1949 and 1954, and Prime Minister between 1950 and 1956. His rule was marked by the consolidation of the Stalinist model, rapid industrialisation, collectivisation and large-scale persecution of political opponents. Biography Early life and career in the Soviet Union Chervenkov was born in Zlatitsa, Bulgaria in to a peasant family. He became a member of the Communist Party in 1919 and participated in communist youth group activities and newspaper editing. He took part in the failed 1923 September Uprising and was sentenced to death, but was allowed to emigrate to the Soviet Union. In 1925, Chervenkov fled to the Soviet Union. He attended the Marx-Lenin school in Moscow and eventually became its director. He became a supporter of the governing style of Joseph Stalin and was known for his high wit and knowledge of Marxism–Leninism. He was recruited as an agent in the NKVD under the alias "Spartak". In 1941, Chervenkov became the director of a radio station which sent anti-nazi and pro-communist messages to the Bulgarian nation. In Bulgaria In 1944, Chervenkov returned to Bulgaria on a mission for his brother-in-law, Georgi Dimitrov. Chervenkov became a member of the government which took office soon after the end of World War II in 1945 which quickly came to be controlled by Communists. He became minister of culture in 1947, and became deputy prime minister in 1949. Shortly afterwards, Bulgarian leader Georgi Dimitrov died and Bulgaria temporarily adopted a model of collective leadership. Chervenkov succeeded Dimitrov as general secretary of the party, and Vasil Kolarov took Dimitrov's other post of prime minister. This only lasted a year before Kolarov died in 1950. At that time, Chervenkov became prime minister as well, combining the two most powerful posts in Bulgaria in his hands with full Soviet approval. Chervenkov's policies closely resembled those of the Soviet Union at the time, which earned him the nickname "Little Stalin". His rule featured harsh repression of all deviation from the party line, arbitrary suppression of culture and the arts along the lines of Socialist realism, and an isolationist foreign policy. He also became the object of a personality cult. In 1950, a collectivization campaign was launched. By early 1951, Chervenkov had expelled one in five party members, including many high officials,