Leftist errors ( sh, leva/lijeva skretanja) was a term used by the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia
The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, mk, Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na komunistite na Jugoslavija known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, sl, Komunistična partija Jugoslavije mk ...
(CPY) to describe radical policies and strategies – described as the Red Terror (''Crveni Teror'') by others – pursued by self-described
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
elements among the party and
partisan units during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, mostly in
Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = M ...
,
Herzegovina
Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geogra ...
and
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
, as well as to a lesser extent in
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
and
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
.
From 1941-42, these areas saw mass executions, burning of villages and confiscation of property,
motivated both by partisan fears of a "
fifth column
A fifth column is any group of people who undermine a larger group or nation from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or another nation. According to Harris Mylonas and Scott Radnitz, "fifth columns" are “domestic actors who work to un ...
" and
class conflict
Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor.
The forms ...
. As a result of these actions by the communists, many villagers from Montenegro and eastern Herzegovina joined
Chetnik
The Chetniks ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Четници, Četnici, ; sl, Četniki), formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationa ...
forces en masse. The Communist Party of Yugoslavia condemned actions undertaken during the period and punished several local commanders.
Name
This policy was also referred to as Leftist deviation or Left-wing deviation,
Left Errors or sectarian deviations. In
Titoist
Titoism is a political philosophy most closely associated with Josip Broz Tito during the Cold War. It is characterized by a broad Yugoslav identity, workers' self-management, a political separation from the Soviet Union, and leadership in the ...
dogma
Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam ...
after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, this policy was referred to as the "Mistakes of the left"
or "left deviations" while the others referred to it as "Red Terror". This policy is sometimes referred to as the "Second Stage".
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
believed that revolution has two stages: bourgeois-democratic and
proletarian
The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marxist philoso ...
. He believed that in the second stage the proletarian revolution has to turn against its allies from the first stage.
Background
Tito
Tito may refer to:
People Mononyms
* Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980), commonly known mononymously as Tito, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman
* Roberto Arias (1918–1989), aka Tito, Panamanian international lawyer, diplomat, and journ ...
was the main protagonist of the leftist deviations. His formal appointment as general secretary of the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia
The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, mk, Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na komunistite na Jugoslavija known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, sl, Komunistična partija Jugoslavije mk ...
(CPY) was confirmed in October 1940, during the Fifth Land Conference of the CPY in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...
. At this conference, Tito formulated the leftist strategy of the CPY as focused on revolutionary seizure of power in the country in order to organize
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
-style administrative organization in
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
.
In July 1941, after the
German attack on the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...
, the Communist Politburo adopted a strategy insisting that the Partisans should aim to create "liberated territories", cleared of enemies. According to the instructions of the Politburo, such territories were to be administered by the Communists in a state-like manner, so that the local population would be exposed to the ideas and practices of
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
. In the territories that came under their control, the Communists implemented many radical policies. This antagonized many peasants in Serbia, Montenegro, and Herzegovina. Laziness was punished as desertion, and peasants were punished with high taxes or
forced labor
Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...
if their houses were not tidy or if they got
lice
Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a result o ...
. The Yugoslav communists suspended the instructions not to reach the second stage (the revolution) given by the
Comintern
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...
in June 1941. They ignored instructions from Moscow to find a modus vivendi with the other resistance movement,
Mihailović Mihailović ( sr, Михаиловић) is a Serbian surname, a patronymic derived from the masculine name ''Mihailo'' ( Michael). There is also the spelling variant '' Mihajlović''. It may refer to:
*Doksim Mihailović (1883–1912), military com ...
's
Chetniks
The Chetniks ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Четници, Četnici, ; sl, Četniki), formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationa ...
, because they thought doing so could put communist revolutionary action in danger. That is why Tito rejected Soviet pleas to cooperate with the Chetniks and insisted on carrying on with the communist revolution.
Montenegro
![Moša Pijade](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Mo%C5%A1a_Pijade.jpg)
In June 1941, the Regional Committee of the CPY for Montenegro, Boka and Sandžak issued a proclamation inviting people to join the "final liquidation of the capitalist system".
The ''Leftist errors'' policy was pursued in Montenegro beginning in August, and its intensity increased after September 1941.
This extremist policy was pursued by the Partisans in Montenegro under the influence of
Milovan Đilas
Milovan Djilas (; , ; 12 June 1911 – 30 April 1995) was a Yugoslav communist politician, theorist and author. He was a key figure in the Partisan movement during World War II, as well as in the post-war government. A self-identified democrat ...
and
Moša Pijade
Moša Pijade ( sr-Cyrl, Мoшa Пијаде; he, משה פיאדה; alternate English transliteration Moshe Piade; 4 January 1890 – 15 March 1957), nicknamed Čiča Janko (, lit. "Old Man Janko") was a Serbian and Yugoslav communist of J ...
.
After the initial success of the
Uprising in Montenegro, the Communists seized control of almost all the territory of Montenegro and began to fight against their class enemies. A substantial percentage of the population of Montenegro supported the Chetniks because they were afraid of the "Red Terror".
Despite instructions to minimize the revolutionary side of their policies, the leaders of the Montenegrin Partisans introduced "Soviet elements" in the summer of 1941, during the Uprising in Montenegro, because they perceived the uprising as the first stage of the communist revolution. On 27 July 1941, the Communist command for Montenegro issued an order for the establishment of courts-martial aimed against those who they perceived as
fifth columnists
A fifth column is any group of people who undermine a larger group or nation from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or another nation. According to Harris Mylonas and Scott Radnitz, "fifth columns" are “domestic actors who work to un ...
ending their order with the proclamation "Patriots, destroy the fifth column and victory is ours!".
In mid-August 1941, Đilas wrote a letter to the Regional Committee of Yugoslav Communist Party for Montenegro, Boka and Sandžak and recommended an isolation and destruction of the
fifth column
A fifth column is any group of people who undermine a larger group or nation from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or another nation. According to Harris Mylonas and Scott Radnitz, "fifth columns" are “domestic actors who work to un ...
. He emphasized that tolerance and inactivity of communists toward spies is a crime equal to treason. At the end of August 1941 the Regional Committee issued a directive which followed the recommendations of Đilas and insists on cleansing of the villages from the fifth column. In another directive issued in October the Regional Committee repeated similar instructions insisting on the destruction of those who disturb the mobilization of insurgents even by saying ''"wait, it's not the right moment yet"''. Đilas himself wrote how retreating Partisans, who only punished their opponents in July, arbitrarily executed them following the Italian counteroffensive of August 1941.
From September 1941 onward, Communist Party program documents began to mention courts authorized to prescribe the death penalty. This was immediately put into practice. Since October 1941, the headquarters of Partisan forces in Montenegro, Boka and Sandžak published lists of executed "enemies of the people, including spies and traitors" with a note - ''"to be continued..."''.
During the first year the victims included women who "flirted" with Italians.
Most of the people killed by the communists in 1941 were military and administrative officers of former
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...
before the war.
According to professor
Jozo Tomasevich
Josip "Jozo" Tomasevich (March 16, 1908 – October 15, 1994; hr, Josip Jozo Tomašević) was an American economist and military historian. He was professor emeritus at San Francisco State University.
Education and career
Tomašević was born ...
, during the period of "leftist deviation" from circa December 1941 through May 1942, the Partisans, especially in Herzegovina and Montenegro, used terror against people who were not collaborating, but were potential class enemies.
The Partisans occupied
Kolašin
Kolašin (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Колашин, ) is a town in northern Montenegro. It has a population of 2,989 (2003 census). Kolašin is the centre of Kolašin Municipality (population 9,949) and an unofficial centre of Morača region, named af ...
in January and February 1942, and turned against all real and potential opposition, killing about 300 people and throwing their mangled corpses into pits they called the "dogs' cemetery". Due to this and other examples of communist terror, a part of Montenegrin population turned against the Partisans. According to ''Zbornik za istoriju'', "
land without Chetniks was suddenly overwhelmed by Chetniks", largely due to the policies of Left Deviations.
Communist executions of notable tribal chieftains in Montenegro caused additional animosity of middle class peasants towards communists.
Đurišić soon recaptured Kolašin and held it as a
Chetnik
The Chetniks ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Четници, Četnici, ; sl, Četniki), formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationa ...
bastion until May 1943. His rule was marked by terrorizing Partisan supporters. A large number of captured Partisans and sympathizers were executed in following weeks, including lieutenant colonel Radisav Radević, major Batrić Zečević, captains Đuro Radosavljević, Mileta Lakićević and Tomica Jojić, and former member of Yugoslav Parliament Blagota Selić, none of which were members of the Communist Party. Đurišić formed a Chetnik prison in Kolašin, in which some 2,000 opponents were incarcerated and/or tortured. Many were handed over to the Italians.
In March 1942, communists from
Nikšić
Nikšić ( cnr, Никшић, italic=no, sr-cyrl, Никшић, italic=no; ), is the second largest city in Montenegro, with a total population of 56,970 located in the west of the country, in the centre of the spacious Nikšić field at the foot ...
burned the villages of
Ozrinići
Ozrinići ( sr-Cyrl, Озринићи) is a village in the municipality of Nikšić, Montenegro.
History
The village was founded by five families of the Ozrinići tribe in 1597. Apart from the Ozrinići descendants, from the 18th century onwar ...
and Zagarač. According to some sources this was ordered by Đilas and
Sava Kovačević
Sava Kovačević ( sr-cyrl, Сава Ковачевић; 25 January 1905 – 13 June 1943) was a Yugoslav Partisan divisional commander during World War II, and one of the heroes of the communist Partisan movement.
Early life
Kovačević was ...
.
Between the onset of the
Uprising in Montenegro and the middle of 1942, communists killed between 500 and 624 people in Montenegro, most of them during armed conflict.
Serbia
In September 1941, Serb Partisans established the
Republic of Užice
The Republic of Užice ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Užička republika, Ужичка република) was a short-lived liberated Yugoslav territory and the first liberated territory in World War II Europe, organized as a military mini ...
, a short-lived military mini-state with its administrative center in Užice. At the end of November 1941 Partisans were defeated and had to retreat from Serbia. The policy of leftist errors pursued by
Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...
substantially contributed to Partisan defeat in the Republic of Užice. Because of the repression of the communists and their intention to carry on with communist revolution the population of Serbia also turned against the uprising and communist insurgents. At the beginning of December 1941
the communists moved from Serbia to Bosnia (nominally NDH) and joined their comrades who had already left Montenegro.
Herzegovina
In January and February 1942 alone,
Partisans executed 250 people in
Eastern Herzegovina
East Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Istočna Hercegovina, Источна Херцеговина) is the eastern part of the historical Herzegovina region in Bosnia and Herzegovina, east of the Neretva river, part of the Republika Srpska entity. Maj ...
because they were accused of belonging to "fifth column". In Herzegovina alone the total number of civilians murdered by communists in 1941–42 was probably around 500.
Owing to "leftist errors" the Partisans were chased out of Herzegovina during the summer of 1942, not by the Axis forces but by its population.
Consequences
The policy of leftist deviation proved counterproductive.
Leftist deviation gave a real meaningful sense to the policy of those nationalists who found a way out of the difficult situation in collaboration with occupying and quisling forces. "Red terror" antagonized most of the peasantry and angered the Soviet Union.
As a result of the communist actions, villagers from Eastern Herzegovina and Montenegro, who were far from being collaborators or
kulak
Kulak (; russian: кула́к, r=kulák, p=kʊˈlak, a=Ru-кулак.ogg; plural: кулаки́, ''kulakí'', 'fist' or 'tight-fisted'), also kurkul () or golchomag (, plural: ), was the term which was used to describe peasants who owned ove ...
s, joined Chetnik forces en masse.
In February 2018 a pit called Jama Kotor with allegedly about 300 corpses of victims of red terror was examined in Gornje Polje village near Nikšić. Many human bones were found together with remaining parts of clothes. This was reported to the police that announced official investigation.
Propaganda
The songs and mottoes were composed to promote the policy of leftist deviations. The verse of one of them was: "Partisans, prepare machine guns, to greet the king and Englishmen"( sh, Партизани, спремите митраљезе да чекамо краља и Енглезе / ). The Partisan slogan "
Death to fascism, freedom to the people", a new greeting "Red Army is with us – the victory is ours!"
Major proponents
![Milovan Đilas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Milovan_%C4%90ilas.jpg)
Major proponents of this policy included Milovan Đilas,
Ivan Milutinović
Ivan Milutinović (nickname Milutin; sr-cyr, Иван Милутиновић; 27 September 1901 – 23 October 1944) was a Yugoslav Partisan general and an eminent military commander who participated in World War II.
Before the war
In October ...
and
Boris Kidrič
Boris Kidrič (10 April 1912 – 11 April 1953) was a Slovene politician and revolutionary who was one of the chief organizers of the Slovene Partisans, the Slovene resistance against occupation by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy after Operatio ...
. The Communist Party of Yugoslavia later publicly condemned this policy and punished (by warning them) several local commanders (
Petar Drapšin
Petar Drapšin ( sr-Cyrl, Петар Драпшин; 15 November 1914 – 2 November 1945) was a Yugoslav Partisan commander.
Early life and education
Drapšin was born to a family of poor peasant farmers in the village of Turija near Srbobran ...
and Miro Popara in Herzegovina and several Montenegrin party leaders). Petar Drapšin was stripped of his rank, removed from all functions in the communist party and its membership.
Moša Pijade
Moša Pijade ( sr-Cyrl, Мoшa Пијаде; he, משה פיאדה; alternate English transliteration Moshe Piade; 4 January 1890 – 15 March 1957), nicknamed Čiča Janko (, lit. "Old Man Janko") was a Serbian and Yugoslav communist of J ...
was held responsible for the adoption of brutal extremist policy of the CPY.
On 22 October or in November 1941,
Tito dismissed Milovan Đilas from the command of Partisan forces in Montenegro because of his mistakes during the uprising, including his "Leftist Errors".
Tito claimed Đilas made mistakes because he organized a frontal struggle of armies against a much stronger enemy instead of connecting the Partisan struggle with the people's uprising and adopting the partisan methods of resistance. Đilas was appointed as editor of the paper ''
Borba'', the Party's main propaganda organ. While Tito repeatedly accused other communist officials from Montenegro for "
sectarianism
Sectarianism is a political or cultural conflict between two groups which are often related to the form of government which they live under. Prejudice, discrimination, or hatred can arise in these conflicts, depending on the political status quo ...
",
Edvard Kardelj
Edvard Kardelj (; 27 January 1910 – 10 February 1979), also known by the pseudonyms Bevc, Sperans and Krištof, was a Yugoslav politician and economist. He was one of the leading members of the Communist Party of Slovenia before World War II. ...
admitted to Đilas that ''"grave sectarian errors were made in Serbia in 1941"'' (under Tito's administration).
In literature
In his 1997 work titled ''Zlotvori'', Serbian writer and member of
Serbian Academy
The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Serbica, sr-Cyr, Српска академија наука и уметности, САНУ, Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti, SANU) is a national academy and the ...
Dragoslav Mihailović
Dragoslav Mihailović (Serbian Cyrillic: Драгослав Михаиловић; born 17 November 1930) is a Serbian writer.
Life
He graduated in Yugoslav literature from the University of Belgrade in 1957 and is a member of the Serbian Academy ...
also mentioned leftist errors as mass murder of notable people such as army veterans, teachers and priests.
Svetozar Vukmanović
Svetozar Vukmanović - Tempo ( sh-Cyrl, Светозар Вукмановић - Темпо; 3 August 1912 – 6 December 2000) was a leading Montenegrin communist and member of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. D ...
who was a member of
Partisan Supreme Headquarters
The Supreme Headquarters was created in June 1941 by the Central Committee of the Yugoslav Communist Party after the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia of 6 April 1941. It was the main command and staff body of the Yugoslav Partisans, with ...
in his 1998 work explained that murders of class enemies by communists in
Crmnica
Crmnica ( Serbian and Montenegrin: Црмница, ) is a historical region in southern Montenegro, one of the communes of the municipality of Bar. It is one of the four sub-regions of Old Montenegro.
Geography & Demographics
Crmnica is located ...
reached massive proportions at the beginning of 1942, a day after the Orthodox Christmas. Vukmanović underlined that the Communist leadership in Montenegro pursued the policy of massive murders in whole Montenegro since that period. Yugoslav writer
Mirko Kovač published in 2008 a literature work ''Pisanje ili nostalgija'' in which he ridiculed some texts about leftist errors stating that every Montenegrin personally saw when Milovan Đilas killed his political enemies.
In 2017 a book authored by historians Bošković and Vojinović was published under title ''The Communist crimes in Montenegro and Herzegovina 1941—1942'' in which the authors presented full names of 1,839 victims of red terror in Montenegro and 522 in Herzegovina.
See also
*
Mass killings under Communist regimes
*
Communist purges in Serbia in 1944–45
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...
*
Bleiburg repatriations
The Bleiburg repatriations ( see terminology) occurred in May 1945, after the end of World War II in Europe, during which Yugoslavia had been occupied by the Axis powers, when tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians associated with the Axis ...
*
Foibe massacres
The foibe massacres (; ; ), or simply the foibe, refers to mass killings both during and after World War II, mainly committed by Yugoslav Partisans and OZNA in the Italian Empire, then-Italian territories of Julian March (Karst Region and Istria ...
*
Kočevski Rog massacre
The Kočevski Rog massacre was a series of massacres near Kočevski Rog in late May 1945 in which thousands of members of the Nazi Germany–allied Slovene Home Guard were executed, without formal charges or trial, by special units of the Yugoslav ...
*
Communist massacre of Cetinje civilians
References
Books
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Further reading
*
External links
Dragutin Papović: “LIJEVE GREŠKE” – DRUGO IME ZA ZLOČIN ("Left Mistakes" – Another Name for Crime)YouTube – Preventive liquidations – 1/8Veselin B. Pavlićević “Lijeve greške” Milovana Đilasa ili partijski silogizam – online text on author's websiteHurem, Rasim (1972). Kriza narodnooslobodilačkog pokreta u Bosni i Hercegovini krajem 1941. i početkom 1942. godine. Svjetlost– online text
{{Use dmy dates, date=March 2017
Yugoslav Partisan war crimes in World War II
Political and cultural purges
Politicides