No.159 Dec 2020 SPECIAL PG 1 OF 16 Helsinki ISSUE HELSINKI COMMITTEE

bulletin FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN address: Kneza Miloša 4, , Serbia tel/fax. +381-11-3349-170; 3349-167; bulletin e-mail: office@helsinki org.rs No.159 // December 2020 http://www.helsinki.org.rs HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HELSINKI COMMITTEE Helsinki

Cei“ling of the Yugoslavia hall in the Federation Palace building, Belgrade YUGOSLAVIA AS AN EMANCIPATORY PROJECT

INTRODUCTION other hand, various, especially social structures, which strongly acted from within as the charac- In academic and public discourse, a clear di- teristics resisting revolutionary changes, have stinction is often made between the first and unambiguously remained and expressed as con- the second Yugoslavia. It is not necessary to tinuity. However, if emancipation, which is re- use quotation marks here, because the menti- ferred to here, is understood as a specific project oned distinction reflects the essential differen- of political elites, this distinction becomes even ces between the two historical creations, which more relevant. differed radically from each other, at least as much as the radical experience that separated When it comes to various aspects of emanci- them chronologically (World War II). On the pation, one should certainly not lose sight of No.159 certain steps taken in the first Yugoslavia. Howe- the rule of law and democracy, as those aspects Dec 2020 ver, emancipation alone did not perceive itself which make the liberal-bourgeois system more PG 2 OF 16 as an emancipatory project, except as an expre- politically and socially tolerable. ssion of liberation from foreign invaders and social emancipation in certain aspects (the aboli- The two Yugoslavias lasted about seventy years. tion of certain antiquarian social relations invol- Nevertheless, the internal division of that histo- bulletin ving part of the peasantry). It was unequivocally rical epoch has already made it chronologically seen as such by many intellectuals, some of necessary that in the “successor states of former whom were politically active, but was not poli- Yugoslavia” they speak much more about the HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HELSINKI COMMITTEE Helsinki tically clearly articulated. It can be said that the socialist period. In terms of the content, it was activities linked to various aspects of the eman- also richer, more diverse, more dynamic and cipation of the population were at a lower level more striking. It is impossible to fully impose than one would expect in a totally laissez faire the framework that represents regression with state. respect to the ideas of national, gender, social, educational and political emancipation on the Socialist Yugoslavia took an unequivocal turn in societies that emerged after the collapse of the this respect: it clearly defined itself as an eman- Yugoslav framework. Therefore, in the context cipatory project. The revolutionary essence of its of the current process of European integration, system was not politically exhausted; instead, the approach that has long been taken in the it penetrated deeply into the social structure. European administrative structures and pushes There was no segment of this structure without the socialist legacy into the “totalitarian” pa- being significantly or even substantively tran- radigm is especially questionable. Everything sformed. This process already started during the that makes European integration interesting, at National Liberation Struggle (NLS) (the affirma- least to a part of the societies in the states crea- tion of national equality, inclusion of women, ted after the collapse of socialism and Yugosla- educational activities, etc.) and continued as a via, consists precisely in the attitude of that part systemic commitment in the subsequent deca- towards the second Yugoslavia’s emancipatory des, with self-management being one of its most achievements. concrete expressions. It introduced into the un- derstanding of man an element of substantive In this bulletin, we publish the texts that present subjectivity which, in conceptual terms, far sur- some of the topics that their authors discussed passed the liberal concept of individualism rela- with the participants of the school organized by ted to the projected freedom of the individual. the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights from On the other hand, the constraints – inherent in 6 to 12 October 2020, with the topic “Yugoslavia the ruling political system and those originating As an Emancipatory Project”. The participants from the depths of the inherited social structure included students and PhD candidates from Bo- – set the firm limits to the development of self- snia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and management, just as they now, mutatis mu- Serbia. tandis, set up obstacles to the development of No.159 SRĐAN MILOŠEVIĆ: internal development made certain forms di- Dec 2020 SELF-MANAGEMENT AS sappear before they even come to life. In that PG 3 OF 16 AN EMANCIPATORY IDEA: sense, it is more interesting (though not only THE BEGINNINGS this) that peasants’ work cooperatives (PWC) were among the first systems into which self- There are two key dimensions that are essen- management was introduced, no matter how bulletin tial for understanding a historical period, that paradoxically it may seem at first glance. With a is, its socio-political system. On the one hand, shift to the economic account as well as due to it is a question as to what that system wanted to the constant transformation of this truly contro- HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HELSINKI COMMITTEE Helsinki be, how it defined itself and to what it aspired versial economic organization (PWC,) the ele- and, on the other hand – what the real practi- ments of self-management were first introdu- ces looked like, how much they coincided with ced into the system that simply could not func- the projected picture of reality, what deviations tion, with the intention to give it a new chance were observed and why they happened. In in- (however, it turned out to be the last one). In terpreting historical processes, everyone will that sense, Tito’s statement while explaining the inevitably take a certain theoretical, methodolo- Draft Law on the Management of State-Owned gical and ideological stand, but it seems absurd Enterprises in June 1950 is indicative: “Peasants to embark on this endeavour without a detailed in cooperatives, which they manage by themse- knowledge of the analyzed, that is, researched lves and workers in factories that will be ma- paradigm. This is much more demanding when naged by them from now on really have today it comes to a system of the ideas that are no lon- their destiny in their own hands.” ger a reality anywhere and belong to the past (or the projections of a new future). Contrary to some very ingrained and gene- ral critiques of socialism as a statist system in From a historical viewpoint, self-management which the state acts as the omnipotent master is one such past reality; it occupied an epochal of people’s destiny, the essence of self-manage- sequence (1950–1990) of Yugoslav history and ment socialism was precisely radical destati- was fully incorporated into it. Thus, from that zation. The most flagrant aspect of this relati- historical viewpoint, all ideas, all thoughts and onship is the concept of social property. It is of all objective reality of self-management socia- such significance that it represents the essen- lism were contained in those four decades. It is tial element of the definition of self-manage- a relatively short historical period, especially in ment for which it can be said that it is a socio- the context of the establishment of a fundamen- economic and political system based on social tally new social system, which had to permeate ownership of the means of production (coupled all aspects of activities within that society, from with the limited role of the state, which is not the steel to the entertainment industry, from the the title holder of these means) and manage- system’s highest-level institutions to pre-school ment by the working class and all working peo- institutions. This ambition alone makes it clear ple. What is specific for self-management soci- that the mentioned period was insufficient to alism is the idea that a certain action of market achieve this aim, especially when some impor- laws can be acceptable and even desirable under tant assumptions of the system were changed the conditions of social ownership. “on the way”. As for the political system of self-management Some facts about self-management already elu- socialism, it defined itself as the “dictatorship ded its contemporaries, while the dynamics of of the proletariat”, which eventually led to the No.159 division of the concept of sovereignty into the speaking, the function of a political party was Dec 2020 sovereignty of the people (as demos) and the much more performed by the SAWPY than the PG 4 OF 16 power of the working class and working peo- LCY, but even this would not represent an enti- ple. It was not possible to circumvent the gene- rely appropriate analogy. ral source of legitimacy of the state (people), but also to ignore the ideological postulate – wor- Thus, only some specifics are presented here. bulletin king-class power. Thus, a compromise solution This refers to the specifics that are often overloo- was found, which was novelty in constitutional ked and concern the theoretical assumptions of law practice. On the other hand, the very con- self-management, its self-definition. It is essen- HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HELSINKI COMMITTEE Helsinki cept of dictatorship is almost synonymous with tial that the way this system functions is seen in the notion of power and should not include that context and not (only) in the context where the meanings that imply terror and violence: the functionality benchmark is liberal-bourge- from the Marxist viewpoint, every power in the ois democracy and the only conceptual appara- class system is a dictatorship of the ruling class. tus – the apparatus of liberal political thought. It According to the classical Marxist conception, makes much more sense to perceive all the dis- the difference between bourgeois and workers’ functions of the system (which were numerous dictatorships lies in the fact that the latter do and probably even prevailed) within its own not pretend to be the systems that reflect the in- paradigm than compare them with an external terests of the working class. reference system, which is implicitly or explicitly considered the only legitimate one. Another important aspect that often remains obscured is the issue of political system. Ba- Such an approach makes it possible to fully sed on the concept of unity of power, socialism, comprehend the theoretical and ideological ten- including Yugoslav self-management one, im- dency towards the subjectivization of the indivi- plied that, given the impossibility of practicing dual in society and gain insight into the actually direct democracy, people’s representation was existing deviations. Consequently, they did not the highest body and the locus of election of exist in relation to liberal democracy (since it is every government. Thus, in the ideal-type sense, not a criterion), but in relation to the realization the idea is deeply democratic. On the other of a higher degree of democratic freedom, as gu- hand, defining the system as a single-party one aranteed by the self-management conception of is not quite precise. The League of Communists society. This conception was supposed to bring of Yugoslavia (LCY) was not a political party in far greater liberation to the individual, positi- the classical sense. According to the theoretical oning him as the decision maker in the areas assumptions of the system of self-management where he had been denied that freedom by all socialism, a single-party system is a variant of existing socio-political systems. Finally, the su- bourgeois parliamentarism. On the other hand, bjectivity that self-management was supposed to the LCY, for example, did not run in or partici- bring is a relational concept, far more complex pate in elections. As the successor of the People’s than the binarity of collectivism-individualism Front, the Socialist Alliance of Working People of into which self-management socialism often fits. Yugoslavia (SAWPY) ran in elections. So, roughly No.159 DR ALEKSANDAR R. MILETIĆ: development. Even in some domains of eman- Dec 2020 PATHS AND DETOURS OF THE cipation that are of strictly liberal provenance, PG 5 OF 16 PROCESS OF EMANCIPATION IN THE socialist Yugoslavia was more progressive than FIRST AND SECOND YUGOSLAVIA the kingdom. For example, the freedom of mo- vement of people and labour in socialist Yugo- There arise numerous methodological difficul- slavia reached such proportions from the 1960s bulletin ties in the attempt to speak about Yugoslavia, or onwards that the relevant policy of socialist one of the two Yugoslavias, as a kind of coherent Yugoslavia was more liberal than the nominally project in which the coordinates and trajectories liberal kingdom, which maintained extremely HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HELSINKI COMMITTEE Helsinki of development and modernization were set in rigid control over passport issuance and move- advance. Both Yugoslav states were created in ment of people. times of upheaval, and for the most part of their past their development strategies were forced As for women’s civil rights and equality, some upon by the current constellations of interna- progress in improving the inherited system of tional relations, or the country’s political and legal and social discrimination against women financial situation. In that sense, it is difficult was also made in the time of the Kingdom of to defend the thesis about Yugoslavia as a pre- Yugoslavia. However, the provisions of the in- planned emancipatory project. However, what herited civil codes maintaining substantive can be researched and what credible conclusions women’s inequality remained in force. It was can be drawn are the concrete outcomes of the only in socialist Yugoslavia that women be- development processes as well as moderniza- came both formally and substantively equal to tion and emancipatory achievements during the men thanks to the emancipation contents that existence of the Yugoslav state. As for the so- brought Yugoslav society closer to the women’s cial and economic context of emancipation and emancipation ideal in the West. The only issue development, and the process of political and in the context of gender rights which was not national emancipation, it is useful to establish improved in the first and second Yugoslavia con- diachronic comparisons between society and cerned sexual minorities; namely, homosexu- state organization in the interwar kingdom and ality was treated as a criminal offence in both socialist Yugoslavia. Yugoslavias.

When such a comparison is established in rela- In the comparison of different developmental tion to the development strategies and eman- policies, developmental stagnation in the time cipatory achievements of the first and second of the kingdom and accelerated development Yugoslavia, the inevitable conclusions point out in the time of socialist Yugoslavia should also that in all aspects of development and eman- be explained by the different context of the de- cipation the period of socialist Yugoslavia was velopment of the international economy, that much more intense and versatile than the chan- is, by an expansive monetary policy and neo- ges made during the period of the monarchy. Keynesian models of stimulating consumption For example, when we compare the achieved and investment in the post-World War II period, level of coverage of workers’ insurance, health which created much more favourable conditi- care, women’s civil rights and liberties and hou- ons for the overall development of the economy sing conditions, the situation in socialist Yugo- and society in the time of socialist Yugoslavia. In slavia was improved so much that it seems as this context, one should also look at the econo- if we are talking not about different countries, mic hardships that the Yugoslav society began to but about different centuries and civilizational face during the 1980s when, in addition to the No.159 global recession trends, Yugoslavia plunged into different extent, depending on the ethnic and Dec 2020 a debt crisis. This crisis period greatly compro- political criteria that exerted influence on state PG 6 OF 16 mised the enormous developmental and eman- policy. In the national sense, significant emanci- cipatory achievements of Yugoslav socialism, pation was achieved by the Slovene and Serbian contributing to the subsequent violent disinte- ethnic corpus, which was almost completely gration of the common state. united within its own nation state. In the poli- bulletin tical sense, parliamentarism under the Vidov- Within a range of issues concerning political dan Constitution, which nominally proclaimed and national emancipation at the individual the emancipatory ideas of equality and univer- HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HELSINKI COMMITTEE Helsinki and collective levels, in both Yugoslav states spe- sal voting rights, was followed by the regimes cial emphasis should be placed on the difference that set back and compromised the proclaimed between the nominal, that is, normative and su- standards to such an extent that one can speak bstantive exercise of those rights. Thus, in addi- about the annulment of the entire previous pro- tion to the proclaimed equality of the three con- ject of emancipation. The proclamation of uni- stituent peoples in the Kingdom of , Croats tary Yugoslavism further jeopardized the legi- and Slovenes, the factual majorization already timacy of the system that thus denied national became evident during the process of adopting specificity even to those ethnic groups which the Vidovdan (St Vitus Day) Constitution and very nationally recognized. such a trend continued. Further, although diffe- rent self-government systems were legally regu- Socialist Yugoslavia proclaimed and achieved a lated during the entire regime under the Vidov- significant measure of national emancipation dan Constitution and octroyed parliamentarism and affirmation of the hitherto nationally unre- later on, only district elections were held (1927); cognized national groups of Macedonians and county and banovina elections were not held. Montenegrins, as well as Muslims of Bosnia and Although the Constitution stipulated civil equ- Herzegovina and Sandžak later on. The status- ality, almost every aspect of state policy during legal and political context of the national eman- monarchic Yugoslavia was based on the ethnic cipation of Albanians reached high standards quotas. Thus, the ethnic criterion was applied in within the framework of their autonomy created determining almost completely the (confiden- in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija. In po- tial) administrative procedure in the area of mi- litical terms, however, there were no preconditi- gration policy, or the implementation of land re- ons for even the minimal concept of democracy form measures in the prewar kingdom. The state as formulated by Schumpter (voting rights and created without a substantive identity consensus free elections). Instead of representative de- also lacked political consensus, while even grea- mocracy, socialism inaugurated various forms ter problems stemmed from the non-implemen- of participative democracy, which included the tation of otherwise thin legislation that allowed mass and constant participation of a large num- for self-government or the provision of basic ber of people at the level of the work collective, civil rights. Ethnic frictions were so strong that local community and the like. This participa- even in the 1925 parliamentary debate on cu- tive democracy often had the character of mass stoms tariffs tribal and ethnic clashes precluded emancipation in the most direct political sense. any sober debate on the economic outcomes of The challenges of the system of national equa- implementing the proposed customs tariff. lity and the federal-confederal organization of the country came from the formal and informal Some advances were made in the area of civic, circles of the Serbian political and intellectual political and national emancipation, but to a elite, which perceived the realization of No.159 emancipation and equality of the Serbian peo- that it obtained planetary significance and re- Dec 2020 ple in resolving provincial issues and strengthe- sonance. The conflict between Yugoslavia and PG 7 OF 16 ning the powers of the federal state. When in the Soviet Union, personalized in irreconcilable the time of Slobodan Milošević Serbian re-cen- differences between the two concepts of socia- tralists tried to realize their aspirations through lism – Stalin’s and Tito’s – will make the Yugo- unilateral decisions and unsuccessful attempts slav state a global geopolitical actor. Brutal So- bulletin to practice re-voting at party forums and federal viet pressure and the wish to submit Yugoslavia institutions, the Yugoslav state embarked on the to Soviet imperial aspirations caused the most path of disintegration. difficult times for the ruling communists and HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HELSINKI COMMITTEE Helsinki the greatest danger to the Yugoslav state. Stalin’s military, political, economic, media and intelli- gence pressure on Yugoslavia made Tito realize MILIVOJ BEŠLIN: that the Moscow-Belgrade conflict should be YUGOSLAVIA AS EMANCIPATION: moved out of the party coordinates and be de- IDEAS AND CONTRADICTIONS alt with at the state level. Thus, the central issue OF THE SOCIALIST became the defence of the independence and INTEGRATION MODEL freedom of Yugoslavia. After the anti-fascist one, Yugoslavia also got the aura of a fighter against The period of socialist Yugoslavia (1945–1990) Stalinism. The boundaries of freedom reached was the longest period of peace and prosperity by Yugoslavia in the process of de-Stalinization for the Yugoslav peoples in modern times. That were unknown in the socialist world until then. is why this “maverick country”, as it was known Despite taking place at the time of imminent in Western diplomatic sources, was the most war danger, repression against the Stalinist part outstanding emancipatory project experienced of the CPY membership will remain a methodo- by its peoples in modern history. The liberating logically unacceptable episode in the historically character of Tito’s Yugoslavia did not refer only justified defence of Yugoslav society and its state to the national emancipation of all its peoples against constant Soviet attacks. and citizens, but also to their social emancipa- tion. And another precedent: only in that state In addition to anti-fascism and anti-Stalinism, the Yugoslav peoples lived in a medium-develo- the third cornerstone of Tito’s Yugoslavia was ped society and not in a poor one. In addition to the democratization of economic life. The con- the mentioned coordinates, socialist Yugoslavia flict with the Soviet Union and its character maintained the authoritarian political traditi- accelerated more profound social changes in ons, egalitarian-populist political course, repre- Yugoslavia, which were in line with its historical, ssive character of the system with a monopolistic national and economic specifics. In the search party and propensity for collective freedom at for an alternative, which were programmatically the expense of individual one. Due to the menti- defined by Tito at the Federal Assembly as early oned contradictions, its history has often moved as 1950, worker’s self-management was legitimi- between adoration and demonization, depen- zed as the Yugoslav road to socialism. In the se- ding on the ideological orientation of the domi- cond half of the 20th century, Yugoslav self-ma- nant social trends. nagement will be the reference point of the de- mocratic left in the whole world: how to achieve The Yugoslav antifascist and national liberation a balance between the world of labour and the uprising of 1941 had first-rate Balkan signifi- world of capital, between freedom and equality. cance, but it was not until the anti-Stalinist 1948 The pivotal and emancipatory year 1948 and the No.159 conflict with the Soviet Union were crucial for of national equality and social egalitarianism, Dec 2020 the development of a new model of socialism that is, national and social emancipation. The PG 8 OF 16 and its democratization within the concept of Yugoslav state concept implied that the national self-management and socialist democratization. question had also to be developed on the ba- sis of the unity and defence of general Yugoslav Yugoslav foreign policy, marked by the synta- and individual national interests. For Tito and bulletin gma of peaceful coexistence, was characterized the ruling communists, the Yugoslav state based by balancing between the two opposite and on the principles of AVNOJ (Anti-Fascist Council aggressive imperialisms: Soviet, socialist, and for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia) was HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HELSINKI COMMITTEE Helsinki American, capitalist. Between them there was the historical basis for the defence of freedom socialist Yugoslavia as the only European coun- and equality of all its peoples and nationalities. try and one of the three founders of the Non- Frequent constitutional and economic reforms aligned Movement constituted in Belgrade in testified about the constant search for a regu- 1961. After the death of Roosevelt, Stalin and latory formula that would improve the Yugo- Churchill, Tito held the unofficial title of the last slav socialist community. However, in 1971-72, great wartime leader in the world. He had a cru- the concept of more extensive reforms and de- cial role in shaping and directing Yugoslav fo- mocratization of Yugoslavia, thus preparing the reign policy. He developed a foreign policy con- country for the post-Titoist period and, in the cept, which was based on cooperation among all long run, post-socialist period, was rejected. countries on an equal footing, through the po- licy of non-alignment and global emancipatory Socialist Yugoslavia, anti-fascist, anti-Stalinist, movement. The Yugoslav diplomacy enjoyed an self-management and non-aligned, was stron- indisputable reputation in all countries, regar- gly marked by Tito’s statesmanship qualities dless of their political and ideological differen- and personal authority, as well as the politi- ces. Yugoslavia’s unique international reputation cal monopoly of CPY/LCY, was not ready for a and global emancipatory significance will bring democratic and institutional evolution due to to it the influence that far exceeded its real pro- which it was difficult for it to cope with all chall- portions and possibilities. enges after the death of its historical leader. Post-Yugoslav societies based on provincial and Anti-fascism, anti-Stalinism, self-management extreme nationalist ideologies, as well as histo- and non-alignment were the four emancipatory riographies based on such foundations, have fulcrums of Yugoslav state identity and the fra- not yet reached the level of maturity that would meworks of excellence that strengthened inter- enable an impartial and scientifically verifiable nal cohesion and the degree of legitimacy. In in- view of the historical complexity and emancipa- ternal relations, emphasis was laid on the policy tory achievements of socialist Yugoslavia. No.159 STANISLAVA BARAĆ: century onwards (such as ’s Smilje) and Dec 2020 (ANTI)EMANCIPATORY new children’s magazines locked in the tradi- PG 9 OF 16 DISCOURSES IN YUGOSLAV tion of Jovan Jovanović Zmaj (’s Dečje CHILDREN’S MAGAZINES novine), a completely different magazine was founded in Belgrade in 1920. It was Budućnost, Emancipatory ideas and emancipatory social “an entertainment and educational magazine bulletin practices represent one of the basic (conceptual) for the children of organized workers” (1920; threads stretching through the history (study) of 1923–1928). This magazine and the literary texts the two Yugoslavias. To be more precise, socia- printed on its pages stemmed from a new pro- HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HELSINKI COMMITTEE Helsinki list Yugoslavia arose from such ideas and prac- gressive education and were tied to the idea of tices in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slove- a new school. They, in turn, relied on trust in nes/Yugoslavia. Some of them were communist children’s critical ability and independent rea- ones and officially banned, thus shifting to the soning. In the case of this particular magazine, sphere of illegal activities already at the be- they also relied on the belief that children re- ginning of the Yugoslav state. Immediately af- aders would understand class inequalities and ter the proclamation of the Obznana (Decree) in injustices on which the modern capitalist world 1920. the Communist Party of Yugoslavia began was based. This is why children’s leftist wri- implementing the strategy of mimicrial discur- ters did not hesitate to thematize them in their sive action. It was best implemented through works at that time. This was partly due to the the press, especially the one not being officially fact that the mentioned literature and press also political, and became especially intensive from addressed to proletarian and peasant children 1935 onwards. One of the privileged sources for experiencing class injustice. Thus, new educa- the study of communist and emancipatory dis- tors saw no reason why they could not under- courses in general included women’s, children’s stand the social mechanisms that produced it. and guild periodicals. They are one of the sour- During the 1930s, Mate Lovrak also wrote such ces that show convincingly show how the pro- literature. His stories, published in Smilje, Ju- letarian counter-public was formed within the goslovenče and other magazines, and novels, hegemonic public thanks to which it is possible in particular, which encountered the most ma- to better understand why and how a new he- ssive reception in socialist Yugoslavia thanks gemony was created in socialist Yugoslavia. In to the revised editions and film adaptations other words, they point to the productivity of (“Vlak u snijegu” /A Train in the Snow/, “Družba the theories of the public and history of reading Pere Kvržice /Pero Kvržica’s Gang/), were mostly in historiographical research (on Yugoslavia). written during the time of the Great Depression and immediately thereafter, often thematizing As can be seen from a recent joint research and depicting its consequences for the lives of project (a collection of papers titled “Časopisi peasant and urban children (“Divlji dečak” /A za decu: jugoslovensko nasleđe (1918–1991)” Wild Boy/, “Neprijatelj br. 1” /Enemy No. 1/, (Children’s Magazines: Yugoslav Legacy /1918– “Anka Brazilijanka” /Anka the Brazilian/, “Srećna 1991/), edited by Tijana Tropin and S. Barać, In- zemlja” /A Happy Country/, “Prijatelji” /Friends/). stitute for Literature and Art, Belgrade), the hi- story of the youngest Yugoslavs’ reading began Lovrak’s novels, Jelena Bilbija’s stories, maga- with an emancipatory magazine. zines such as Budućnost and Aleksandar Vučo’s surrealistic literary exploits published in the Namely, apart from children’s magazines that children’s supplement of the daily newspa- were continuously published from the 19th per Politika during the 1930s show how leftist No.159 writers, having full confidence in children’s ae- allowed Smilje to continue publication, but also Dec 2020 sthetic and intellectual abilities, were building founded a new, official children’s magazine, PG 10 OF 16 their readership that should become part of a Ustaška uzdanica. The children for whom this new, more emancipated world in the future. As magazine was allegedly intended, including such literary endeavours called for revolutionary children from the territory of Bosnia and Herze- change and thus provoked state censorship, they govina, not only lived a hard life, but were also bulletin were softened by pseudonyms (Vučo as Asker- victims of mass killings and taken to concentra- land and Čika Aca /Uncle Aca/) banned (Buduć- tion camps. Many children became war orphans nost), or switched to private publishing. and joined partisan units. On the basis of their HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HELSINKI COMMITTEE Helsinki destinies, courier boys and girls, and little bom- On the other hand, in official state magazines, bers were largely depicted by children’s press having a privilege to be distributed to schools which, during the first post-war years, mostly as compulsory or recommended reading, such belonged to the pioneer organization evolved as Jugoslovenče (1931–1941), children were tre- during the war. ated as passive readers who should only accept the moral lesson conveyed to them through the During those years, the pioneer media were part teacher figure. Such a readership was shaped so of the cultural policy of the CPY agitprop, inclu- as to become an uncritical public later on or, in ding educational policy as well. These media ac- other words, the subjects of the state and the ru- tivated the social responsibility of the children’s ling dynasty. The status of girls and women, who readership and called on it to participate in the are not particularly dealt with in the articles reconstruction and construction of the country. from Jugoslovenče, fits into such a framework as As the society was recovering from war trauma, well. the party leaders and children’s press editors were regaining awareness that children should Consequently, women’s emancipation was also first and foremost be children. Children’s maga- encouraged or discouraged in women’s maga- zines were freeing themselves from direct party zines. In some of them, girls were both active politics at about the same time as the party dis- protagonists and authorial/readership figures tanced itself from Stalinism, but remained true (Little Zora /Mala Zora/ in Budućnost), while in to the ideas on which the new state was based. the time of the two Yugoslavias, especially in The ideas and values of social justice and soli- the socialist one, women were often the editors darity, brotherhood and unity of the Yugoslav of children’s magazines (Zorka Lazić, Jelena Bil- peoples and nationalities, antifascism and na- bija, Mira Alečković) and certainly their promi- tional liberation struggle were consistently and nent and regular contributors. continuously presented in literary and other magazine contributions, thus being inscribed in During the Second World War, on the territory the figure of the immanent reader. As time went of devastated Yugoslavia the new authorities on, this reader figure that embodied the socia- tried to create an illusion of normal life thro- list ideal of the child, included a carefree child ugh cultural “life”. In occupied Yugoslavia, all on an increasing scale, in addition to a hardwor- children’s magazines ceased publication. The king, diligent and honest one. quisling authorities failed to launch a special children’s magazine; instead, a few literary ar- In a certain sense, the literal emancipatory role ticles were published in the newspaper Novo was played by magazines which, at least during vreme in which the war and occupation were not the first years, were literally children’s, that is, mentioned. The Independent State of Croatia published exclusively children’s articles: Zagreb’s No.159 Djeca za djecu (1954–55) which will grow into VERA GUDAC DODIĆ: Dec 2020 a cult magazine for upper elementary school ACHIEVEMENTS AND LIMITATIONS PG 11 OF 16 students, Modra lasta, and Dečje novine from OF WOMEN’S EMANCIPATION Gornji Milanovac, which became a magazine IN SOCIALIST YUGOSLAVIA edited by adults after being a magazine made by students of higher elementary school gra- The emancipatory gender policies of socialist bulletin des (1957) with the assistance of teachers during Yugoslavia, based on egalitarian socialist legisla- literary-journalism club activities. The effect of tion, as well as public discourse and state procla- the earlier phase of these magazines was that mations about equality between women and men HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HELSINKI COMMITTEE Helsinki they automatically promoted children’s readers in all life segments, brought about numerous, into authors, which was partly fur to the broader sometimes dubious changes in the lives of wo- social emancipation trends in Yugoslavia during men. Advances in equality and the affirmation of the 1950s. diverse women’s rights in other periods and po- litical systems cannot be measured by the pro- The continuity of the promoted values and re- gress made in the period of socialism, despite its lated developmental phases (the breakthrough multi-layered and contradictory reality. However, of popular culture and commercial contents, the practice of socialism points to a discrepancy parallel with the decline of the topics about the between the proclaimed social values and the National Liberation War) can be followed using normative, on the one side, and Yugoslav reality, all long-running Yugoslav journals as an exam- on the other side. Formal changes often obscured ple (e.g. ’s Male novine and Vesela sve- the substantive continuities of patriarchal value ska, Novi Sad’s Jó Pajtás, Belgrade’s Poletarac). systems and their firm entrenchment in everyday The depoliticization of children’s magazines pro- life. Women’s experiences reveal various manife- bably had an ambivalent effect on emancipa- stations of women’s subordination in that period. tory processes in Yugoslavia. It is the (research) They can be observed and followed in numerous point that connects children’s culture with that segments of social life, including those thought of young people and requires an organized rese- to be successfully shaped by emancipatory values arch of youth periodicals in socialist Yugoslavia, and egalitarian ideals. considered precisely within the category of (co- unter)public. Laws and by-laws were the pillars of the process of women’s emancipation under socialism. The legal foundations of women’s emancipation, as a precondition for their general emancipation, were laid in the time of the early socialist state. Social progress, measured by women’s vested rights, was reflected in their political rights (the right to vote and be voted for), right to work and equal pay for equal work, law of succession and family law, rights in the field of social pro- tection, reproductive rights and the like. The contribution of socialism to women’s emanci- pation was pronounced just in this sphere.

Socialist society defined and understood women’s emancipation primarily through their No.159 legal equality and economic independence. employment in the sectors with a lower average Dec 2020 Schooling, mass employment and women’s pay, insufficient participation in management, PG 12 OF 16 work outside home were in line with the socie- etc.). tal expectations and encouraged behaviours. In these fields, the step towards gender equality The official ideology of egalitarianism and was the strongest, while changes in the social women’s emancipation was defied by the bulletin status of women were most pronounced. During everyday life of women in rural areas, which that period, thanks to the strength of the wel- was even more pronounced by the differences fare state, namely the provision of social rights in certain parts of Yugoslavia. Peasant women HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HELSINKI COMMITTEE Helsinki and security, significant progress was made and were socially marginalized, while the manifesta- women’s subordinate position was changed in tions of patriarchalism in gender relations were many life segments. especially evident in rural areas. During the se- cond part of the 20th century, the simultaneous The meeting of socialist gender policy and tra- existence of traditional and emancipatory va- ditional values used to limit women’s emanci- lues, norms and behavioural patterns had even pation which, in some aspects of everyday life, more distinct boundaries between urban and was more evident than in other ones. A number rural, for example. The experiences of peasant of social contradictions and cracks in the conqu- women, regardless of occasional moves forward, ered emancipatory space of women were redis- ranged within the limits of patriarchal culture covered, which obscured the image created since and inherited life patterns. the time of revolutionary women, war heroines and female shock workers. The emancipatory The processes of women’s emancipation in soci- policies of the socialist state did not undermine alist Yugoslavia were inextricably linked to the the strongly entrenched patriarchal family rela- activities of the largest women’s organization tions. Due to the constraints on the patriarchal ever to exist in this area – the Women’s Antifas- family and preservation of its traditional roles cist Front (AFŽ). Hundreds of thousands of wo- and norms, inequalities continued to shape its men were involved in various activities of this everyday life. The overburdening of working organization. Its involvement in various sphe- married women and mothers brought the con- res of social life in the first post-war years, and flict of roles and the problem of their reconci- its efforts to rally as many women as possible to liation to the fore. Women’s multiple workload take part in public activities and influence chan- remained a characteristic feature of women’s ges in their overall position, were invaluable in status under socialism. In addition to all other combatting various forms of women’s discrimi- women’s roles, their unpaid housework crea- nation and non-egalitarian practices. ted inequalities once again. Despite their vested rights and acquired freedoms, the extreme re- In the period of socialism, the continuity or dis- duction of their leisure time pointed once again continuity and withdrawal, that is, elimination to the unequal treatment of men and women. of discrimination against women were not the same in all spheres of life. When this complex In addition to women’s traditional roles in the issue is put in historical context, the view of the family, other constraints on their emancipa- preceding times and the times that followed is tion included inheritance practices, especially one of the factors defining and recognizing the in rural areas, and male dominance in politics, ultimate achievements of Yugoslavia’s gender- women’s experiences of employment inequality related emancipation policies in the socialist era. (assignment to lower paid jobs, predominant No.159 NENAD MAKULJEVIĆ: of capitalist systems, and the programmed ideo- Dec 2020 YUGOSLAVIA: THE SPACE logical art of social realism, characteristic of the PG 13 OF 16 OF CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC Soviet Union and other communist countries. EMANCIPATION The ideological framework of a new socialist art and respect for artistic freedom were best defi- The formation of the Yugoslav state contribu- ned by Miroslav Krleža in his speech delivered bulletin ted to artistic and cultural emancipation in the in in 1952. entire state space. After the Habsburg and Otto- man Empires, where there were restrictions for Artistic freedom in Yugoslavia resulted in the in- HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HELSINKI COMMITTEE Helsinki artists who did not belong to the ruling political tensive development of modern art. The artists community, the new state provided the space such as Petar Lubarda, Edo Murtić, Oton Gliha for the activities of all Yugoslav artists. The best and gained a place not only on the example of artists’ emancipation during the first domestic but also on the international art scene. Yugoslav state is Ivan Meštrović, who created The acceptance of modernism was also reflected numerous public monuments. Some of his most in the representative state buildings. The Palace significant works such as the Monument to the of the Federal Executive Council in Belgrade is Unknown Hero on Mount Avala, Monument of completely decorated with modernist artworks, Gratitude to France and Monument to Gregory while its most representative hall has the mo- of Nin were closely connected to the needs and numental abstract fresco painting “Journey to ideas of the new state. In the time of the first the Universe” by Petar Lubarda. Artistic freedom Yugoslav state, Yugoslav cultural heritage was came to the fore in monument culture. Public also emancipated, which was underestimated monuments were erected at the sites of civilian and unrecognized. casualties and significant partisan battles. They were designed according to humanistic ideals The new stage of cultural and artistic emanci- and aimed at symbolically depicting the events pation in Yugoslavia took place after 1945. The they memorialized. Their authors such as Mi- ideology of the new socialist state also included odrag Živković, Bogdan Bogdanović and Vojin the need to create a new art. After the break with Bakić created unique spatial and monument en- Stalinist politics in 1948, art in Yugoslavia was li- tities, as well as the visual identity of the SFRY. berated from both market politics, characteristic No.159 OLGA MANOJLOVIĆ PINTAR: “otherness” by analyzing the method of musea- Dec 2020 EMANCIPATORY ACHIEVEMENTS lization of Africa at the Museum of African Art in PG 14 OF 16 IN THE PUBLIC SPACE Belgrade, while the second study deals with the horrid World War II legacy by analyzing Bogdan Two Case Studies: Museum of African Art in Bogdanović’s work – both his design of memo- Belgrade as a Paradigm of the Policy of Non- rial monuments and his educational activity. bulletin Alignment and Bogdan Bogdanović’s Little Big School of Architecture The concept of the Yugoslav policy of non-ali- gnment as an important element of the speci- HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HELSINKI COMMITTEE Helsinki The Yugoslav emancipatory project, articula- ficity of socialist self-management Yugoslavia ted in the establishment of a unique solution can be perceived among other things through concerning (social) property relations, manage- an analysis of the way in which Africa was pre- ment of the economy based on the system of sented to Yugoslav citizens and the way in which (workers’) self-management and implementa- this presentation participated in the creation of tion of a unique foreign policy concept (non-ali- the social identity of the socialist community. gnment), was shaped and affirmed in the public As a substantive shift from the existing inter- space, including among other things various national relations, the policy of non-alignment forms of cultural practices. As a specific space for represented an alternative political and social constituting a social entity, those cultural practi- concept that transcended the divisions impo- ces were understood exclusively as a reflection of sed by the Cold War blocs reality. Connecting reality only in vulgar, simplified Marxist inter- Yugoslavia with a new group of states that came pretations. For Yugoslav communists, they re- into existence after the anti-colonial liberation presented important benchmarks for the social struggle was a key element of its foreign policy superstructure that had a decisive influence on and an important pillar of the domestic one. the realization of a unique ideological discourse. The basic principles of such an understanding of foreign policy were materialized in the public There are numerous paradigmatic examples that space through the Museum of African Art (MAA), reflect this complex process. Nevertheless, two opened in Belgrade in 1977. Unlike most muse- discourses dominated the public space, defined ums that created the image of Africa as a dark cultural policy and represented strong cohesive and mysterious geographical area inhabited by elements of the community throughout the 20th exotic tribes at a “pre-civilizational stage” of de- century: the invention of the “other” in relation velopment, the Yugoslav image of Africa was ba- to which the Yugoslav community was created sed on the affirmation of the idea about political (either by distancing from it or identifying itself and ideological pluralism of the international with it) and the designation and naming of the scene, while at the same time insisting on the “past” or, in other words, the interpretation of implicit equality of all actors who fought (or are the past that made historical narratives a con- still fighting) for their positions. Such an under- stituent part of the present. On this basis, diffe- standing provided a basis on which Belgrade’s rent narratives were shaped and merged into a museum was created as the first museum to unique, not always homogeneous yet consistent move African artifacts out of ethnographic social system. These two strongly intertwined collections and bring them into the world of art. discourses can be explained using two specific Otherwise, the MAA grew out of the Veda and Dr case studies and the example of socialist Yugo- Zdravko Pečar collection and although in some slavia and Belgrade as its representative cen- respects it followed the dominant stereotypes tre. The first study examines the discourse of concerning artifact presentation (such as the No.159 atemporality of the exhibition and anonymity During the pre-crisis period, Bogdan Dec 2020 of authors, as noted by Ana Sladojević), it sub- Bogdanović’s monuments had the role and PG 15 OF 16 stantively contributed to the deconstruction of power to transcend the legacy of the Second colonial discourse during the Cold War period. World War and produce a platform on which It affirmed the ideas of international solidarity the unity of the Yugoslav “peoples and nationa- and brotherhood and provided strong support lities” was achieved. And the same goes for his bulletin to all national anti-colonial movements, as well books. Although at first glance an unrestrained as the post-colonial and neo-colonial bounds. creative spirit at first glance, Bogdanović and his work were a fulcrum and a precondition for the HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HELSINKI COMMITTEE Helsinki The existence of an unchanged, permanent exhi- functioning of a complex Yugoslav mechanism, bition for more than four decades makes the while his achievements materialized the Yugo- Museum of African Art a specific time capsule, slav ideology of socialist self-management. He which has the potential to articulate a new, al- was the author of more than twenty monuments ternative political and ideological concept in the throughout Yugoslavia, the author of as many years to come. books, professor at the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade, mayor of Belgrade from 1983 to 1986, Bogdan Bogdanović’s works have almost the member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and same potential. Three decades after the disinte- Arts from which he came out in 1981, artist and gration of Yugoslavia, they are still its most reco- fierce opponent of the policy (of Slobodan Mi- gnizable symbols, and every new problematiza- lošević) that led to the bloody disintegration of tion of his works provides scope for the affirma- Yugoslavia. He had no rigid ideological views, tion of historical culture that nullifies totalizing but was uncompromising vis-à-vis any attempt ideological discourses. The attitude towards the to close and dogmatize society, and negate the past in the public space – overcoming the legacy other – regardless of the identity group to which of violence, genocide and the Holocaust in the he belonged. He contributed to the authenticity Second World War, was an important part of the of the Yugoslav ideological content by affirming Yugoslav ideology of “brotherhood and unity”. the archetypal symbols – not the implied, di- The basis of social togetherness understood in rect ones – with which he created a vision of the this way provided a clear picture of the Second uniqueness of Yugoslav self-management. World War, which was based on the division of the war participants in the war: fascist collabo- His entire work was based on the idea of inclu- rators, fighters against fascism, its victims and ding the local community in the life of monu- silent observers. By naming the war as the Nati- ments and thus creating the image of the past, onal Liberation Struggle and socialist revolution, not only in the organization of a number of historical interpretations have strengthened the commemorative and ceremonial events, but fundamental ideological postulates. With the also by participating in the processes of their advent of the economic crisis of the 1980s, the design and erection. It was in this way that principles of the Yugoslav self-management mo- Bogdanović’s monuments formed a community del were abandoned, while social contradictions identity based on the vision of the continuity intensified political tensions. For decades, the of authentic revolutionary contents and auto- dominant interpretations of the past have been nomous anti-fascist struggle, thus giving legiti- increasingly re-examined and rejected, while the macy to the Yugoslav leadership and distancing public space has been filled with nationalist pro- himself clearly from Soviet Stalinist practices. clamations and programmes. No.159 Bogdanović channelled his creative energy into brutal expulsion, that is, going into exile. Socra- Dec 2020 educational work. As a professor at the Faculty tes’ accusation of corrupting the youth was the PG 16 OF 16 of Architecture, he tried to introduce changes basis of his excommunication and the reason for in his work with students, but did not succeed. the brutal closure and plundering of the house After being forced to give up teaching reform at where the school was located. the Faculty of Architecture in 1971, Bogdano- bulletin vić (after receiving the Seventh of July Award in What was the need of contemporary soci- 1979), invested all funds in space improvement ety in Serbia (based on the same principles of in the small village of Popović near Belgrade exclusivity and dangerous obsession with the HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HELSINKI COMMITTEE Helsinki where he found space for his studio and multi- idea of expanding the state borders on which year school of philosophy and architecture, Milošević’s policy was also based) to erase every colloquially called “Mystery Under the Walnut trace of Bogdanović’s activities, and annul and Tree”. From generation to generation, Bogdano- suppress his legacy and that of socialist Yugosla- vić gathered students interested in discussing via, is best evidenced by the current appearance about symbolic representation, the meaning of of the school in Popović. It is devasted, while the the text, and architecture as a text and context house in which his studio was located has been of political and social changes. Throughout the preserved only because the Hunting Lodge has decade, he managed to keep the forum open moved into it. within which he encouraged dialogue and de- bate. Like his monuments and school in Popo- Bogdanović’s revolt was one of the few voices vić near Sopot, on the slopes of Mount Kosmaj, in the sea of orchestrated slogans and therefore it erased the boundaries between the artist and his defence remains an important segment of his work, united the participants in the creative any critical approach and analysis of the time in process and made dialogue a basis for his crea- which the deconstruction of the socialist Yugo- tive work. The product of this work is his proba- slav narrative was carried out. Even after archi- bly most important text “Mrtvouzice, mentalne tect Branko Stanojević raised this issue in his zamke staljinizma” (Dead Ends: Mental Traps of work “Slobodna škola je Slobodan prostor” (Free Stalinism) with which he threw the glove in the School Is Free Space), which represented Serbia face of the new speech and new political practice at the Biennale in 2018 (sic!), the essence that prevailed in Serbia at the end of the 1980s. of that idea is still strongly considered meanin- The mentioned text marked the beginning of gless in Serbian society. Bogdanović’s complete isolation, which ended in

This special issue of the Helsinki Bulletin is part of the larger programme “The Legacy Of Yugoslavia And The Future Of The Region” that is being realized with the assistance of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Belgrade