… the BCP, unwilling to stray from the Soviet party line, also condemns the cult of personality (and, implicitly, Chervenkov's authoritarianism), advocating instead collective leadership and inner-party democracy.

In his 1956 report to party leaders, Zhivkov expresses this condemnation and promises that the party will make amends for past injustices—a clear reference to the fate of Kostov and Chervenkov's other purge victims in the party.

Having had his entire regime repudiated by the party leader, Chervenkov resigns.

Zhivkov, who has thus far remained below Chervenkov in actual party power, now assumes the full powers of his party first secretary position.

The 1956 April Plenum will become the official date of Bulgarian de-Stalinization in party mythology; after this event, the atmosphere of BCP politics changes significantly.

There is some relaxation of censorship, and the victims of the Kostovite trials, including Kostov himself (posthumously), begin to be rehabilitated.