yugoslavias implosion

52
ChApter 1
Given the ingrained view within the Serbian population that Yugoslavia
was primarily the state of the Serb nation, and given that the forces
of centralism had always looked to Serbia for support, we believed that
it was necessary continuously to offer proofs to the other nations that
there was another conception of Yugoslavia in Serbia. This was not a
question of our generosity, but of our own democratic need. It was necessary
to persuade the Serbian population that centralism was contrary
also to Serb national interests, and that equal responsibility of
all nations for common affairs was a condition for the existence of both
socialist democracy and Yugoslavia’s unity. This is why the central
committee of the Serbian League of Communists agreed on 26 December
1968 to support the constitutional changes. 31
The process of decentralization that the liberals promoted was
to culminate in the far-reaching changes to Yugoslavia’s constitution
adopted in 1974. But the liberals were no longer in positions
of power when those changes occurred. In 1972, liberal leaderships
throughout Yugoslavia—including in Serbia—were ousted by a variety
of conservative and nationalistic forces, including the Army,
the Communist Party, students, and intellectuals. Conservatives in
Serbia rejected the liberals’ national program, opening the way for
organized intellectual circles that called for an all-Serbian policy as
the only alternative. Paradoxically, with the constitutional change
in 1974, the liberals’ fate was sealed—under liberal auspices and in
the atmosphere of freedom, the Serbian nationalistic agenda was
consolidated. 32
After their removal from the political scene, the liberals were
passed over in silence. In the words of Ivo Banac, 33 a Croatian
31 Ibid. p .93
32 Olga Popović-Obradović, Srpski liberali 1969–1972 (Serbian Liberals
1969 – 1972) na Okruglom stolu lista Ekonomis (Round Table organized
by the weekly magazine Economist), www .heslinki .org .rs
33 Widely known for his book, The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins,
History, Politics . Ithaca, N .Y .: Cornell University Press (1984)