yugoslavias implosion

framework for the massive mobilization of labor and increases in
production. The key role the Yugoslav state played in the process of
accelerated industrialization reinforced its position in the new social
structure. Industrialization triggered migration from rural areas to
towns, first within republics and then toward the more developed
republics in the west of the country. 23
In 1963, the country officially changed its name to the Socialist
Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (sfry). Internal pressure in favor
of decentralization resulted in the adoption of a new constitution,
popularly referred to as the “self-management charter” because it
introduced self-management in all spheres and at all levels.
The issue of the interdependence of national and economic relations
came into sharp focus at the Eighth Congress of the lcy in
1964, which placed the intercommunal dynamic within the context
of economics. In view of the different levels of development in the
republics, the question of economic sovereignty was at the forefront
of the congress’s deliberations, bringing to the surface all the contradictions
between “a decentralized and democratic society and a centralist
party.” 24
The debate at the Eighth Congress yielded guidelines for economic
reform launched in the mid-sixties, the goals being changes
in the system of production and the convertibility of the dinar. The
reform soon encountered difficulties and provoked fears that the
Socialist model was being abandoned and that social differences
would deepen. The fact that the lcy both initiated every change and
stuck to its political monopoly nullified the attempted reforms. Even
Tito found it necessary to point out that some people were confusing
“the unity of the people with the liquidation of nations and the
23 In the 1960s, the growth rate fell and unemployment rose to about one million .
The unwillingness of Yugoslavia’s leaders to renounce the political monopoly of the
economy led to solutions that only temporarily mitigated the economic crisis, and
some three hundred thousand workers and experts emigrated to the West .
24 Latinka Perović, Zatvaranje kruga, p . 37 .
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ChApter 1