yugoslavias implosion

THE RISE OF MILOŠEVIĆ
The prewar period was characterized by two phases: attempts
to preserve the old system and the crystallization of concepts for
resolving the crisis. In the first phase, shortly after Tito’s death, the
political and intellectual establishments strove to preserve their positions
without making much effort to resolve the crisis by systemic
reform, for any bold move threatened to alter the correlation of
forces and upset the balance established by Tito. The second phase
was marked by the advent of Slobodan Milošević, the first politician
to step forward with a concept for overcoming the Yugoslav crisis by
reinforcing federal institutions and the central government with a
dominant role for Serbia.
Milošević came to power as a Titoist bent on invigorating Yugoslavia.
He was a staunch supporter of Socialism because, he said, “the
idea of Socialism and self-management, regardless of all the difficulties
it is encountering in practice, represents the ideal of small peoples
and all oppressed people all over the world. These are the sources
of all the energy we need to rid ourselves of our problems and to be
able to live better.” 93 He lauded “democratic Socialism as a rich and
democratic society.” 94 Milošević strengthened his standing with the
dogmatist circles in the party by accusing the reformers of “washing
their hands of Socialism.” His advice to them was to “get out of the
League of Communists and its forums.” 95
Early on, Milošević avoided commenting on nationalist manifestations
and eschewed publicly criticizing the sanu Memorandum,
although its first part reflects his idea of how Yugoslavia should
be recentralized. Mihajlo Marković and Kosta Mihajlović, members
of the committee that framed the Memorandum, later became
93 Slobodan Milošević, Godine raspleta (The years of denouement), from a speech
on the occasion of Veterans’ Day in 1985, BIGZ, Belgrade, 1989, p . 56 .
94 Politika, May 11, 1990 .
95 Slobodan Milošević, Godine raspleta, BIGZ, Beograd 1989 .
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