Democratic Stirrings in Bulgaria

Bands of roughly dressed country folk were marching—or sliding—along the icy streets of Sofia with the Bulgarian tricolor in their hands. Their placards denounced the “decision of December 29,” called for a general strike, and demanded a referendum on “the national question.”

I was confused. I had flown into Sofia January 5 expecting to find the country gripped in a struggle to democratize the forty-five-year-old Stalinist dictatorship. Instead, thousands we...