Book Reviews ∵

southeastern europe 41 (2017) 231-245

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Book Reviews ∵

Josip Manolić Politika i domovina: Moja borba za suverenu i socijalnu Hrvatsku (Zagreb, Croatia: Golden Marketing, 2015) 406 pp., isbn 978-953-212-454-5.

The 1990s may be receding into history, but recent events in the Balkans sometimes make it seem like the dreadful decade never ended. Throughout the former Yugoslavia, new memoirs written by major actors in the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the wars of Yugoslav succession are being published regular- ly. One of these is Politics and Homeland: My Struggle for a Sovereign and Social Croatia by Josip Manolić, the second prime minister of Croatia from August 1990 to July 1991. Manolić’s short tenure in this post belies his influence. He belongs to the old guard of the Croatian political elite, with a career going back to the Partisan movement during the Second World War, and subsequent posts in the state security service (ozna/udba) and the public security service. In the mid-1960s, Manolić shifted to politics but then subsequently fell from power as one of the many casualties of the purges that followed the Croatian Spring. At the end of the 1980s, Manolić became involved in the establishment of the Croatian Democratic Union (Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, hdz). In the early 1990s, he also for a time supervised the work of the Croatian security services. Given his long and eventful life - Manolić was born in 1920 near Đurđevac – the reader of these memoirs may justifiably expect some interesting tales. There are indeed some noteworthy revelations to be found, but generally speaking this volume is a dry read that will discourage all but the keenest students of Croatian history and politics. It is very much an insider’s account that takes for granted that people will already be familiar with the numerous persons, places and events that appear in these pages. It is best read critically together with other similar memoirs such as those of Josip Boljkovac, Vladimir Šeks and others. This volume certainly has a lot in common with the others, not least in its pronounced tendency to take credit for everything good that occurred and to minimize or elide any responsibility for mistakes or for deeds that some regard

232 book reviews as criminal. While this tendency is perhaps understandable, it sits so heavily that it detracts significantly from the credibility of the memoirs. The book generally proceeds chronologically, though it does at times jump around a bit, making it even more challenging for novice readers. Like Boljko- vac's memoirs, Manolić spends very little time on the period prior to 1989. Only approximately one-fifth of the book treats the period from 1945 to 1989. There is very, very little of note regarding Manolić’s many years in the service of socialist Croatia and socialist Yugoslavia. This bias cannot be coincidental. Manolić seems to have decided that his early career would not fit well into an account of his “struggle for a sovereign and social Croatia.” This is a shame, because he undoubtedly could provide interesting information about the inner work- ings of the party-state in the period from 1945 until the late 1960s. Manolić may have also downplayed this period because of recurring allegations that he committed crimes during this period. Thus, he has little to say about his activities and responsibilities during the critical late war and postw ar period (1944–1946) when the communists imprisoned and executed large numbers of real and alleged collaborators without trial. Manolić claims to have condemned these crimes at the time, but he offers no evidence to support this claim. It is any case unlikely that he would have been able to continue to rise in his career had he indeed done so. More credible is Manolić’s memorable quote from the Croatian television documentary series “The Yugoslav Secret Services” (2012), where he brushed aside such accusations by saying that the communists had not exactly been fighting sparrows during the Second World War. Perhaps the most noteworthy sections of the book involve the ambivalent relationship between the Croatian State Security Service (Služba državne sig- urnosti, sds) and the politicians of the hdz. Despite the fact that the sds had spent decades pursuing – and in some cases assassinating – Croat emigres, top officials of the sds assisted the return of emigres to Croatia in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Manolić recounts how these unlikely bedfellows cooper- ated but also clashed as they both prioritized the creation and defense of an independent Croatian state over lustration or any other measures to confront the wrongs of the communist period. The tensions suppressed during the early 1990s still inform many contemporary political conflicts in Croatia. Two vignettes from the book deserve mention here. Manolić recounts with palpable frustration the arrest of Željko Ražnatović “Arkan” by the Croatian authorities in November 1990. The relatively quick release of Ražnatović, who went on to lead one of the most notorious paramilitary groups which committed countless crimes in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, raised eyebrows throughout the region. Manolić plausibly argues that Ražnatović’s release was effected because of earlier cooperation between the Croatian State

southeastern europe 41 (2017)231-245