ANOTHER FACE OF TOTALITARIANISM (Inna twarz totalitaryzmu)

• Authors: Stys Hubert
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The 1948-1953 period witnessed a distinct differentiation within the communist bloc. While the vassals of the USSR were involved in conducting purges of the local communist parties, Yugoslavia, which opposed Stalin's wishes, initiated an attempt at building its own road to socialism. This process involved also other phenomena: a rapprochement with the West, a resignation from collectivisation, and a liberalisation of the system, whose apogee came at the time of the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (November 1952). One of the most ardent supporters of liberalisation proved to be Milovan Djilas. After the Cominform resolution, this exemplary Stalinist turned into a fervent opponent of the Soviet Union and the policy pursued by Stalin. Josip Broz Tito did not react enthusiastically to the liberalisation of Yugoslavia. A reversal from the new line took place already several months after the Sixth Congress, and met with Djilas' resistance. In October 1953 'Borba' started publishing his articles about assorted elements of the communist system, indicating the need to search for a suitable path towards its development and victory. The texts met with an extraordinary reaction among the Party ranks. Ultimately, Tito was compelled to restrain the unruly Montenegrin. Despite the fact that he was appointed chairman of the parliament, Djilas did not intend to abandon his views. Tito and his loyal Party leaders decided to tackle the question of Djilas. A Plenum of the Central Committee held in January 1954 accused Djilas of heresy and a betrayal of his comrades. With the sole exception of Vladimir Dedijer and his wife, Mitra Mitrovic, more than a hundred 'red cardinals' decided to 'burn the heretic at the stake'. Ultimately, he confessed to his errorsand was ousted from the Central Committee and deprived of all higher functions, but he was not forced to name his supposed collaborators or Western masters. It is difficult to unambiguously define the motives of Djilas' 'desertion'. Undoubtedly, as a highly ambitious activist he wished to gain greater impact on the form of a system that was shaped exclusively by Tito. On the other hand, after the experiences of 1948, Djilas wrote about the sort of communism in which he actually believed, and created a conception of adapting the system to an idea proclaiming a state of welfare and justice. One of the elements of this conception was the supreme idea of freedom. Djilas created an ideological current, which tried to reform a people's democracy state and abolish all limitations of freedom of speech, and believed in the possibility of an unlimited discussion within the Communist Party. The Tito regime did not permit Djilas to continue criticising the Yugoslav system. He was tried upon four occasions and spent a total of nine years in Tito's prisons (1956-1961 and 1962-1966). In the West, from the time of the publication of his The New Class, Milovan Djilas was treated as a fighter for freedom, and enjoyed respect and recognition. The ban on his publications was finally lifted by the autocrat Slobodan Milosevic in 1989.

Keywords

EN

COMMUNIST BLOC; COMMUNIST PARTY OF YUGOSLAVIA.; MILOVAN DJILAS; TOTALITARIANISM; YUGOSLAVIA OF MILOVAN DJILAS

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla PAN w Warszawie
• Journal: Dzieje Najnowsze
• Year: 2009
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 67-92
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Stys Hubert

• Hubert Stys, Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika w Toruniu, Instytut Stosunków Miedzynarodowych, pl. Teatralny 2a, 87-100 Torun, Poland.

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

10PLAAAA072220