yugoslavias implosion

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ChApter 1
Serbia itself, both within the Communist movement and outside it.
The conflict revolved around the attitude of the League of Communists
to democracy, the national question, and the character of the
Yugoslav state.
Although the demand for changes in the federation seemed
almost universal—the major exception being the nationalistic
Serbs—reforms, especially comprehensive reforms, quickly ran
into obstacles such as personal empowerment, the lcy’s political
monopoly, the ideological strength of social egalitarianism, and state
centralism.
Attempts at Reform: 1968–74
In the aftermath of the Brioni Plenum, the sense of national
self-identity surged in Yugoslavia. The relaxation of repression in
Kosovo led to Albanian student demonstrations in support of republican
status for the province in Pristina in 1968. The demonstrations
spread to other towns in Kosovo and Macedonia. A result of the
changing worldview was the acknowledgement of the ethnic Albanian
majority in Kosovo, which was reflected in the composition of
the government (the percentage of ethnic Albanians increased from
61 percent in 1961 to 73.7 percent in 1971). Ethnic Albanian party members
educated in the Albanian language in schools opened after the
war began to appear on the scene and Kosovo Albanians’ ties with
Albania intensified. Their dialect was standardized to conform
to literary Albanian in use in Tirana, and their collective name—
Shqiptar—was changed to “Albanian” in official Yugoslav use. In
1968, special organs of the League of Communists of Serbia were
established for Vojvodina and Kosovo. These changes in the cultural
sphere were reflected in the 1974 Constitution, which affirmed the
autonomy of Vojvodina and Kosovo, the latter’s name being changed
from Kosovo and Metohija.