yugoslavias implosion

The party organization is constantly trying to isolate the Praxis group,
keeping it away from all mass media. It has not, however, succeeded in
isolating it from students.
Throughout Yugoslavia the reforms brought to the surface a
new political generation but as Vlado Gotovac, a Croatian writer,
pointed out, this was a “generation without credit, without proof
of loyalty earned in battle, without the discipline” of their elders.
The attempt of this new generation to put the liberties proclaimed
by Socialism to the test was frustrated by the war generation, which
derived its legitimacy from its heroic struggle. Thus “life in all its
spheres remained the purview of one generation,” which, instead
of “immediately devolving its historic responsibility on the youth,
strove to preserve its elasticity.” 39
THE DECENTRALIZATION OF YUGOSLAVIA AND
THE RISE OF SERBIAN NATIONALISM
Constitutional Reform
For more than three quarters of a century, the Yugoslav people
searched for a formula that would guarantee the equality and integration
of all. Yet the attempt to define Yugoslavia through a federal
structure without ensuring political democracy and economic liberties
was the cause of the country’s ultimate disintegration.
The decisions made by avnoj led to the 1946 Constitution, which
called for a federal organization based on the right to self-determination
for the six constituent republics and was modeled on the
Soviet Constitution of 1936. The subsequent constitutions (1953, 1963,
and 1974) and their amendments (1967, 1968, 1971, and 1981) further
refined the concept of “self-management” to reflect changing sociopolitical
and politico-cultural developments.
39 Vlado Gotovac, Moj slučaj (My case), Cankarjeva zalozba Ljubljana-Zagreb, 1989, p . 9 .
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