Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

16
the SKJ adopt such an attitude,
then it would also be incorporated
into the Federal Constitution. By
doing so, they were saying,
Yugoslavia would no longer be a
federal state, but it would rather
move towards a federation of
states. It would thus become a sort
of confederation. Those who advocated
for the principle of one person-one
vote, were motivated by
the fact that Serbs comprised more
that half of the total population of
Yugoslavia at that time.
Our (Macedonian) attitude was
articulated by the author of these
lines. And we believed that we
could not allow over voting on
issues of vital interest for the
Republics. That, perhaps was the
most unexpected blow to the
Serbian understanding of relations
within post-Tito Yugoslavia. Once
I took that position, I was overwhelmed
with attention and an
unveiled interest in what might be
expected from me.
After many meetings, the
Presidency of the CK SKJ adopted
a position that at the 14th congress
(the early), there would not be over
voting on issues which the republican
delegations consider to be of
vital interest for their nationalities,
and their republics respectively.
However, during the congress several
delegates created an over-voting
stampede: from Serbia and
Serbian delegates from the
autonomous provinces, the delegates
from Bosnia and
Herzegovina as well as from
Montenegro. The glass was overflowing
because an amendment
submitted by Slovenian communists
was rejected. It required the
condemnation of the economic
blockade on Slovenia, previously
organized by S. Miloshevich, as
revenge against Slovenians
because they held a different position
towards Kosovo.
Immediately upon the rejection
of the proposed amendment, the
Slovenian delegation left the congress.
Croatian communists also
decided to leave. I called upon the
Macedonian delegates and suggested
we return to Skopje and
review the situation peacefully.
Except for muttered whisperings of
the few who disagreed with this
suggestion, the majority of the delegates
reached an understanding
and were agreeable. This act, in
fact, marked the break-up of the
SKJ and the beginning of the dissolution
of the SFRY.
After the return to Skopje, the
most difficult and the most exciting
period of my political life
began. Pressures were multiplying
from all sides: some supported us
going to Belgrade for the continuation
of the interrupted congress
without the Slovenians and the
Croatians, but others thought that
we should not even consider it. The
top military of the JNA (Yugoslav
People's Army) pressured me especially.
Several times the top military
people from the JNA came,
several times military delegations
came to have special meetings with
me, led by Admiral S. Bunchich
and Admiral Grubjeshich, General
Jovanovich, Colonel Baucan and
others. At each meeting they openly
threatened: "We will not sit still
with our hands folded!" Then they
started establishing their party, the
SK Movement for Yugoslavia. I
asked them: "Why are you doing
this?" They frankly replied: "Just
in case!" As a matter of fact, they
were preparing for a military
strike, which fortunately, the for
reasons already known, they did
not carry out. However, secret lists
for arrests were already prepared.
There were also efforts to organize
pressure on me by our opposing
forces. During the 4th session of
the CK SKM (after the interrupted
Yugoslav Congress) M.
Panchevski's and M. Danev's
group planned my replacement.
However, even at the beginning of
the session they saw that they did
not have the strength for it. Later,
on another occasion, someone had
sent me a group of top Macedonian
officers who served in Belgrade
and Skopje in order to be
"informed" about our views on
events in the SFRY. They
expressed a great concern about
the possible break-up of
Yugoslavia. The public is
acquainted with the reactions of
the former Kumanovo party organization,
that directly accused me,
and I was proclaimed a "destroyer"
of Yugoslavia. Along those lines,
there were also some smaller
groups of people from Kichevo
and from some other organizations,
but they were not in a position
to do more.
We held the position that the
SKJ would cease to exist should
even a single republic leave it, that
Yugoslavia could not survive if
even a single republic left, and that
if one of the republics would do so
(at that time it was about Slovenia
and Croatia, connected vessels),
then Macedonia would also seek
its own independent path.
Therefore, in the program for the
1990 elections we wrote that we
would not remain in any abbreviated
federation and we wasted a lot
of energy proving that should that
happen, Macedonia had the
strength to develop as an independent
state.
Before every 8 September, citizens
can once more recall the
events following the 1990 elections.
(The author is a Member of
Parliament)
Ten years of pluralism, December 2000