The theory and practice of communism; The Yugoslav Way to Socialism

On the contrary Tito declared in the same speech the role of the party is growing and will long continue to grow. It must grow until we raise the consciousness of ordinary citizens to such a degree that there will be no need for it to be guided by the Communists. The current formula then calls for the perpetuation of communism but not necessarily of the party. It is envisage that while the party's influence will increase its power will decrease. At the fifth plenum of the Central Committee held on October 4th 1966. The then secretary of the League of communists called the daughter of each explained. And this is a rather long quotation. By ceasing to act directly as a factor of power the league of communists by that very fact strengthens and asserts the socialist democratic mechanism as a whole as the fighter and the leading India logical political force combating bureaucracy ism and monopolistic of all kinds. The League of communists must not itself instead of the brain

associated working people occupy the social positions from which the state has been ousted or retained some such or similar all positions. It used to occupy. This holds true for the league of Communists of Yugoslavia as a whole and for all its parts and bodies all the way down to its basic organisations. In other words the league of communists must at Federal Republic and communal levels leave it completely to the assemblies of the communities themselves to consider and decide independently in a sovereign way and with full responsibility to the working people. In like manner in a work organisation. All questions of economic policy and economic decision making. Falling within the jurisdiction of the working community and its bodies of self-government must be directly dealt with by all the workers and their common agencies of self-government. End of quote.

Not if the communist leadership of Yugoslavia is really serious about giving full independence and sovereignty to what they call the socio political communities from top to bottom. Then why have a Communist Party at all. Apparently the same question is being asked by many communists in Yugoslavia though hardly with the same idealistic motives that prompted us to ask it over a decade ago. It is a fact a delegate to the six plenum reported last January that the democratization of socio political life has to a certain degree demoralized a certain number of communists and it is all too evident from it to anyone who has been following the Yugoslav press since beyond me that many communists have been thrown into confusion. Some hardened bureaucrats apparently refused to take democratization seriously and some of them are being quietly asked to leave. Many more Communists have on the other hand taken the command from above for more

democratization to seriously. Much to the discomfort of the leaders. Communists have chosen to remain perfectly passive. Presumably for fear of being condemned as meddling old style bureaucrats. One may read in the communist press of Yugoslavia various patients concerning the problem of passive members the silent ones as they are known are the ballast. Moreover during the last two years the BOL Uma voluntary resignations from the Communist Party not only by individuals but whole groups has given the leaders real concern. For example the Control Commission of the Central Committee of the league in Serbia reported that between January 1st 1965 and June 30th 1966 some 3600 communists resigned from the league in Serbia alone. The present theory is that while the communist league's political power will diminish its India

logical influence will grow. Tito has made the distinction between two kinds of leadership both of which he sees as being necessary. The first is called Virginia management which involves technical competence and the second is simply vote Genya leadership which implies the ideological direction. While both the technical and the illogical direction are expected to same have the same goals. Each is supposed to have its own sphere and methods. The Yugoslav Communists then are being admonished not to rule not to command but to persuade and to enlighten. To be pacemakers. To show the way the league of Communists cannot command anybody anywhere its secretary to daughter which reminded the fifth plane and then added It is responsible for the consistent socialist development of our society and quote. What kind of responsibility is it that has no power.

The confident answer of the Yugoslav communist leadership is it illogical farce. Only the US it is claimed Can the communists attain truly independent creative idea logical and political work in action. As Tito told a meeting of communists in Prishtina last March. I have already said that we Communists cannot command if a communist cannot act without commanding it means that he is not sufficiently equipped to be a logically and that he is not in a position to be a fighter in the front ranks of building socialism where he must explain the process of our development. With perseverance and patience. End of quote. Secretary to the Autumn Veatch told the fifth Planum that the league of communists would act I'm quoting him. To put it more precisely as a creative critic of practice and as the guiding it be a logical force the initiator of public discussion and. This role of the League of communists is to be accompanied by a corresponding

internal democratization of the entire organizational setup of the League of communists for the heart of each asserted must increasingly develop as an open organisation from the bottom upwards. Party committees will certainly lose their character of headquarters commanding posts and gradually turn into centers providing initiative into centers rallying and uniting creative forces on the India logical plain and theoretical plain end of quote. Meanwhile it is the declared aim of the party leadership to democratize all levels of the party by I'm quoting abandoning even the appearance of dogmatic unity in code while still insisting on the principle of democratic centralism within the party which calls for the minority to support any majority decision once it has been reached. The leaders assert the true unity and the party can be achieved only through democratic

discussion. On the face of it one might almost conclude that the Yugoslav league of Communists was aspiring to be like the American League of Women Voters. Tito consoled a rally of communists in pitch last March. It is nonsense to reproach us with having abandoned our role. Our communists are both in the Assembly and all the other communist government agencies. They create both the foreign and the internal policy. How then can it be said we have abandoned our role. End of quote. Yet it was proclaimed again recently at a meeting of the central committee's commission for the development and reorganization of the party which met in April 967 that the new policy would call for separation between party and government functions and personnel. If the political power of the Communists is to depend entirely on their ability to get elected to various government positions then the character of the elections becomes

a matter of great importance. It is of course far too soon to predict the effects and workings of the Communist league's reorganization. Meanwhile it seems prudent to assume that what is going on is not an abdication of power but rather a change in style and in the channels through which the power is exerted. Yet whatever the ultimate purposes of the reorganization may be the recent changes may well lend more flexibility to both the political and the economic machinery of Yugoslavia by giving it a wider range of independent choices and decision making without centralized party or state control. And the reason the reason behind it is not so much paternal benevolence as the realisation that the result will be greater efficiency and higher productivity. This is not to suggest that the communist leaders are averse to being benevolent to their own people. However neither are they

idealistic romantics as Marxist materialists. They know that the success of socialism in Yugoslavia will depend not so much on the correctness of their beliefs or the use of their coercive powers but on their ability to construct a viable socio economic system based on material and intellectual well-being and growth. It may not be amiss in this connection to end it with a talk by me live on the last who was released from prison only recently and to whom much of what is being said and written about the changes we have discussed must sound very familiar to those observers who are puzzled by these changes. Their motivations and possible consequences may do well to ponder the last sentence in JE loss's book. The new class let me quote it. The power of reality and the power of life have always been stronger than any kind of brute force and more real than

any theory. And if. Gee let's have still another sentence in that conclusion which deserves special thought in connection with our topic and let me quote it. Certainly if the Communists interpreted the world realistically they might lose but they would gain as human beings as part of the human race. You've been listening to Professor Michael B Petrovich of the University of Wisconsin Department of History as he delivered the second of a two part lecture on the Yugoslav way to socialism. Next week we bring you a lecture by a guest speaker Professor Eugene Boardman a specialist in far eastern history at the University of Wisconsin. Professor Boardman will talk on the way of Mao Tse-Tung These lectures are drawn from the 1967 Wisconsin Alumni seminar on the theory and practice of communism and I arranged for radio by W. A.J. of the

University of Wisconsin. Again most speaking this is the national educational radio network.