yugoslavias implosion

historian: “In 1972 in Serbia, and in Serbia alone, this silence was part
of a drive to cleanse the Communist movement of internal differences
in order to prove that its integral nationalism had no alternative.
This, after all, has been the fate of liberal traditions in Serbia
from the nineteenth century to the present day.” 34
The new dynamic of Yugoslav society was manifested most
strikingly in the sphere of culture. The authorities refrained from
prescribing what ought and what ought not to be done and intervened
only when a political taboo was being broken. In such an
atmosphere of tolerance, “ideological judgments and interventions
did not strike at the roots of creative work.” 35 Individualization and
creative endeavor were permitted.
Amid recession, economists debated what road to choose, the
prevailing opinion being that a free market would increase the gap
between rich and poor. Serbian economists were particularly worried
by a tendency toward modifying the relationship between the
Yugoslav Federation and the republics. While the philosopher Ljuba
Tadić tried to prove that the establishment of “market-oriented
Socialism” was impossible, Croat and Slovene economists and politicians
believed that decentralization would give greater freedom to
economic initiative.
Accumulating problems, especially economic ones, amid the
relaxation of party control led to demands for substantial change.
Student demonstrations became particularly important. Student
protests in Yugoslavia were strongly influenced by trends abroad,
especially in France, the United States, Italy, and Germany. Students
revolted in response to economic problems, above all unemployment,
and demanded the democratization of political life. They
criticized social inequalities and society’s stratification, as well as
34 Ivo Banac, Raspad Jugoslavije, (The Dissolution of Yugoslavia) (Zagreb: Durieux, 2001) p . 30 .
35 Nebojša Popov, Sukobi, društveni sukobi/Izazov sociologiji (Conflicts, social
conflicts/a challenge to sociology) (Belgrade: Centarfdt, 1990), 114 .
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