yugoslavias implosion

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ChApter 1
a supranational substitute for all the national identities that had
inflicted such deep wounds on one another in the recent past. The
Communists sought to abolish the separate national myths and create
a new one of “Brotherhood and Unity,” a slogan that had tremendous
appeal in a country ravaged by war and that focused the
people’s attention on the reconstruction of the country. The World
War II defeat of the Chetnik movement was only a temporary setback
for Serbian nationalism, however. The Serbian national identity
found expression in Yugoslavism—albeit a Yugoslavism that the
Serbs insisted should be dominated by the Serbian code.
Although Yugoslavia’s constitution of 1946 established a federal
organization of six republics, the ideological and one-party character
of Yugoslavia imposed in practice a state centralism that gave rise
to a “supranational hegemonic bureaucracy that sought to establish
its foothold in the most numerous nation.” 18 The constitution was
modeled after the Soviet Constitution—that is, a one-party state with
a strong central government that relied on the Army as the mainstay
of its legitimacy as well as the guarantor of its survival. The Army
became so powerful that it was commonly referred to as the “seventh
republic.” Its importance and role as arbiter in domestic affairs were
enhanced by Yugoslavia’s unique position in the international arena.
Determined to find its own path to Socialism, in 1948 Yugoslavia
officially broke with the Soviet Union. 19 This split dealt a serious
blow to the monolithic Communist bloc, the first visible sign that the
system was not functioning, and causing the West to view Yugoslavia
18 Latinka Perović, Zatvaranje kruga – ishod rascepa 1970/71 (The
closing of the circle), Svijetlost, Sarajevo, 1991 .
19 On June 28, 1948, the Comintern adopted a resolution in Bucharest condemning the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia in the name of European Communist parties led by the
Communist Party of the USSR . The conflict was about prestige and ideology, namely,
whether the Comintern and Stalin himself would dictate the foreign and domestic policies
of all countries belonging to the Socialist camp and whether Yugoslavia was entitled to
its own “national road to socialism .” The clash was triggered by Tito’s aspiration to chart
an independent foreign course especially vis-à-vis the “Balkan peoples’ democracies .”