yugoslavias implosion

Because of increasing criticism, especially from Slovenia, the ypa
made some internal changes that were seen as a step toward depoliticization.
For instance, the ypa modified Article 13 of its regulations on
October 11, 1989. The sentence obliging persons serving in the armed
forces to actively participate in the implementation of the lcy’s policy
was replaced with a statement that persons serving the Army are
obliged to consistently interpret and implement the policy of the
highest state organs. 214
The League of Communists of Yugoslavia split at the Fourteenth
Congress in January 20–22, 1990, and all existing bodies of the lcy
were dissolved. The disintegration of the lcy meant that the Army
lost the most important maneuvering arena for its political activity—
lcy plenums. In practical terms, this dissolution appeared to set the
stage for the depoliticization of the ypa. Vjesnik, a Zagreb daily, commented
that before the Fourteenth Congress, the Army had been a
key political factor in Yugoslavia, 215 but that now the Army’s position
on Yugoslavia’s federal arrangements was under review. The conditions
were being created, or so it seemed, for transforming the ypa
into a nonpolitical and professional army.
Such a prospect quickly faded, however, when multiparty elections
were scheduled to be held in Slovenia and Croatia in the spring
of 1990 and plans were made for similar elections in other republics.
The Army may have disapproved of political pluralism, but
it was not about to stand idly by and see its political foes triumph
at the ballot box. The ypa had always had representatives in federal
assemblies; in the absence of the lcy, the Army faced the question
under the auspices of which party the Army’s cadres would
run as candidates. High-ranking active and retired officers sought
to answer the question by forming a new party: the League of Communists—Movement
for Yugoslavia, which soon became known as
214 “Army Drops Party From Regulations” Daily Report East Europe FBIS-EEU-90–031 p . 70 .
215 Vjesnik, June 5, 1990 .
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