The coat of arms of Socialist Yugoslavia “Brotherhood and unity?” The relationship between nationalism and socialism in socialist Yugoslavia Master thesis Conflicts, Territories and Identities Chris van Gorp, MA, 0600636, [email protected] Thesis supervisor, dr. H.W. Bomert 1 Table of content Map of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia + the Yugoslavian timeline 3 List of terms and abbreviations 4 Introduction 5 (Ethno)-nationalism, communism and democratization: 16 a theoretical overview Origins of the term, historical overview of the term and ideas regarding it (primordialism, modernism, constructivism) and the theories of Gellner, Hobsbawm, Anderson & Brown. 1. Chapter 1: The ‘first’ Yugoslavia and its origins 27 2. Chapter 2: Historical background of Tito’s Socialist Yugoslavia, 1945-1973 38 1. Was there something like an official SFRY national identity and if so, what was it and why was was this problematic to some inhabitants? What was the Yugoslavian idea and where did it originate from? 2. How important were Tito and the Partisan legacy for the legitimization of the SFRY? 3. How did the SFRY deal with the past? 3. Chapter 3: Titoism and the new constitution, 1974-1986 56 1. What were the major changes in the 1974 constitution, what were the ideas behind it and how did they influence the development of nationalism? 2. What state was Yugoslavia in before Milošević rose to power? 4. Chapter 4: Nationalism and political legitimacy, 1986-1992 68 1. Why and when did ethno-nationalism become a feasible option for political legitimacy? Had this anything to do with the death of Tito, the fading memory of the second World War and the end of the Cold War or was it ultimately the transition to democracy that gave nationalism a good chance? Was the rising nationalism a reaction to the official communist policy of ‘brotherhood and unity’ or was it a reaction to things earlier in the past, for instance the Yugoslav kingdom or the Second World War? 2. Was it nationalism that ultimately lead to conflict, or was it conflict that lead to nationalism? 3. Was the rise of ethno nationalism a home grown product or was it promoted by Diaspora groups outside of Yugoslavia? 5. Conclusion 88 Can we compare the outbreak of nationalism in the SFRY and its disintegration with the theories of Gellner, Hobsbawm, Anderson regarding nationalism and is the SFRY a textbook example or the exception to the rule(s)? Used Literature 99 Used Images and Maps 106 Appendix A: statistics regarding nationalism and Yugoslavism in the 107 SFRY. Appendix B: Digital correspondence/interview with Vjeran Pavlaković 111 Appendix C: Digital correspondence/interview with Sabrina P. Ramet 112 Appendix D: the flags and coats of arms of the six Socialist Republics 113 Appendix E: Electronic recordings of the interviews with: 115 - Nikica Barić - Tvrtko Jakovina - Mario Jareb - Josip Mihaljević - Marko Zubak 2 Map of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Yugoslavia timeline *note the ‘Yugoslavia’ in Italic isn’t handled in this thesis due to research boundaries. 1918-1929 the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes 1929-1941 the Kingdom of Yugoslavia 1941-1945 Yugoslavia is divided up by the axis occupiers 1941-1945 ‘National War of Liberation’ (World War II) 1943-1946 Democratic Federal Yugoslavia 1946-1963 the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia 1963-1992 the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1992-2003 * Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro ) Since Yugoslavia had a couple of different names during its existence and I’ve used them together sometimes – for instance, when talking about Tito’s policy or pre World War II nationalism I’ve grouped the states during this time. I use the term ‘first Yugoslavia’ to refer to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The terms ‘socialist Yugoslavia’ or ‘second Yugoslavia’ I have used for the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, the Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. When using the term ‘both Yugoslavia’s’, I’m thus referring to both these states together when noticing and arguing about a parallel between both. 3 List of terms and abbreviations COMINFORM Abbreviation for the Communist Information Bureau, a Moscow controlled framework for communist parties founded in 1947 JNA Jugoslovensko Narodna Armija - Yugoslav People’s Army KPJ Komunistička partija Jugoslavije; Communist Party of Yugoslavia, 1919-1952 MASPOK Short for masovni pokret. A nationalist, reformmindend mass movement in Croatia in the early 1970s Matica Hvratska ‘the Croatian Centre’, one of the oldest and most influential Croatian cultural institutions NDH Nezavisna Drzava Hrvatska, the Independent State of Croatia, a fascist quisling regime ruled by the Ustaše between 1941-1945 OZNa/UDBa The communist secret police services in socialist Yugoslavia. Šahovnica The red and white chequered shield in the current Croatian flag. For Croat nationalists it’s a Croatian symbol, for non-Croats in the SFRY it was associated with the NDH SFRY Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia SKJ/LCY Savez komunista Jugoslavije ; League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the name of the KPJ after 1952 until 1990 Ustaše Ustaša - Hrvatski Revolucionarni Pokret in English: the Croatian Revolutionary Movement. A Croatian fascist movement that is responsible for killing King Alexander in 1934 and ruled the NDH 4 Introduction When I started thinking about a subject for this master thesis, there was one issue that I couldn’t wrap my mind around; how could some of the former Yugoslav republics that had been at war in the early to the mid-1990s in an effort to gain their national independence now apply for European Union membership? Currently Slovenia is already part of the EU and Croatia will join the EU on July, 1, 2013, if it meets the EU criteria on fighting crime and corruption. Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro, three other former member states of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, are recognized candidates for EU membership.1 The fact that these republics want to join the EU, seemed to me somewhat odd and bizarre; to give up the newly gained national sovereignty within 20 years after nationalism and war had torn up socialist Yugoslavia. During my stay in Zagreb in the summer of 2011 I did notice that I wasn’t the only one who thought about it like that; several people said basically the same thing to me without me even hinting at this thought. Although a lot of the government buildings had European Union flags next to the Croatian flag, the graffiti I saw on the streets of Zagreb told another story. Everyday when I rode the tram to the Hrvatski Institute za Povijest, I saw some graffiti at Vlaška street saying ‘ Euroslavija ’; a combination of the words Europe and ‘Jugoslavija’ , the Croatian word for Yugoslavia. Perhaps, or most likely, this was the work of nationalists, but it did signal to me that among a significant part of the Croatian population the upcoming European Union membership isn’t welcomed at all and that my initial ideas about giving up the newly gained sovereignty when starting this thesis were felt by others. The nationalism that tore up Yugoslavia still existed. Nationalism in former Yugoslavia, as most forms of nationalism elsewhere, is full of symbolism. For Serbian nationalists it is not a coincidence that Gavrilo Princip killed Habsburg archduke Franz Ferdinand on the same date Stalin ended the 1 Volkskrant , (2012a, 2012b) 5 relationship between the Soviet camp and communist Yugoslavia; which happened to be the same date of the battle of Kosovo Polje in 1389 when the Serb kingdom was lost to the Ottomans. All these historical events took place on June 28, coinciding with the Orthodox celebration of St. Vitus Day. 2 Croatian nationalism also thrives on symbolism. During my stay in Zagreb the statue of Josip Jelačić on a square named in his honor, proved to be a site of this type of nationalistic symbolism; at this square I saw veterans come together and other nat- ionalist rallies. The history of this statue says a lot about the sentiments it has for Croats. Josip Jelačić was the count who ended serfdom in Croatia and thus is seen as a national hero, even though he was employed by the Habsburg Empire which ruled Croatia at the time. A square in Zagreb was named after him in 1848 and a statue of him was placed there in 1866. It stood there until 1947 when the communists renamed the square to the Square of the Republic. The reason that the communist regime removed his statue was the fact that Karl Marx held Jelačić accountable for the suppression of the Hungarian republic of 1847-1849 and thus Jelačić was seen as an anti- communist – which made him all the more popular within Croatian nationalist circles, since he now was both pro- The statue of Josip Jelačić decorated with Croatia and anti-communist. In 1989 the some high ranking Croatian military figures statue returned to the square, now (including Ante Gotovina) who are indicted 3 by the International Criminal Tribunal for renamed as Trg ban Josip Jelačić. the former Yugoslavia. This symbolic act Someone I spoke with in Zagreb told me connects them with Jelačić and thus portrays that ‘now it seems not that important, these men also as national heroes. but in 1989 it was very important to us’. The aim of this thesis The aim of this thesis is to explain, based on academic theories, the nation building process in and disintegration of socialist Yugoslavia. I will analyze both these processes through the constructivist theory on nationalism as formulated by Gellner, Hobsbawm and Anderson and thereby not opting for oversimplified stereotypes about ‘the Balkans’.