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, Комунистичка партија на Југославија, Komunistička partija na Jugoslavija was the founding and ruling party of
SFR Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...
. It was formed in 1919 as the main
communist
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 s ...
opposition party
Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...
in the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
and after its initial successes in the
elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...
, it was proscribed by the royal government and was at times harshly and violently suppressed. It remained an illegal underground group until
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 ...
when, after the
invasion of Yugoslavia
The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, or ''Projekt 25'' was a German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was p ...
in 1941, the military arm of the party, the
Yugoslav Partisans
The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...
, became embroiled in a bloody
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
and defeated the
Axis powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
and their local auxiliaries. After the liberation from foreign occupation in 1945, the party consolidated its power and established a
one-party state
A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...
, which existed until the 1990
breakup of Yugoslavia
The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
.
The party, which was led 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 ...
from 1937 to 1980, was the first communist party in power in the history of the
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
that openly opposed the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
and thus was expelled from the
Cominform
The Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties (), commonly known as Cominform (), was a co-ordination body of Marxist-Leninist communist parties in Europe during the early Cold War that was formed in part as a replacement of the ...
in 1948 in what is known as the
Tito–Stalin split
The Tito–Stalin split or the Yugoslav–Soviet split was the culmination of a conflict between the political leaderships of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, under Josip Broz Tito and Joseph Stalin, respectively, in the years following World W ...
. After internal purges of pro-Soviet members, the party renamed itself the League of Communists in 1952 and adopted the politics of
workers' self-management
Workers' self-management, also referred to as labor management and organizational self-management, is a form of organizational management based on self-directed work processes on the part of an organization's workforce. Self-management is a def ...
and an independent path to communism, known as
Titoism
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 ...
.
Opposition party
Establishment
![Vote for Filip Filipovic](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Vote_for_Filip_Filipovic.jpg)
The
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
(later renamed Yugoslavia) was established in late 1918 at the end of the
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
Socialist movement
The history of socialism has its origins in the 1789 French Revolution and the changes which it brought, although it has precedents in earlier movements and ideas. ''The Communist Manifesto'' was written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1847-4 ...
in the territory of the new state reflected political divisions existing before the war. For example, in what was then
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
, the
Social Democratic Party of Croatia and Slavonia
The Social Democratic Party of Croatia and Slavonia ( hr, Socijaldemokratska stranka Hrvatske i Slavonije or 'SDSHiS') was a social-democratic political party in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. The party was active from 1894 until 1916.
Histor ...
(SDPCS) came into existence in 1894, two years before the
Yugoslav Social-Democratic Party
Yugoslav Social-Democratic Party ( sl, Jugoslovanska socialdemokratska stranka, hr, Jugoslavenska socijaldemokratska stranka) or JSDS was a socialist political party in Slovenia and Istria during the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom of ...
(, JSDS) was set up in
Slovene lands
The Slovene lands or Slovenian lands ( sl, Slovenske dežele or in short ) is the historical denomination for the territories in Central and Southern Europe where people primarily spoke Slovene. The Slovene lands were part of the Illyrian provinc ...
. The
Serbian Social Democratic Party (SSDP) was founded in 1903. In
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
, the
Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Bosnian: ''Socijaldemokratska partija Bosne i Hercegovine'' (SDP BiH) / Социјалдемократска партија Босне и Херцеговине), also simply known as the S ...
(SDPBH) was established in 1909.
The SSDP deemed it natural to serve, as the largest social-democratic party in the new state, to unify like-minded political groups in the country. The SDPBH formally proposed a merger of such parties, but the SDPCS, the JSDS, and Serbian–
Bunjevac
Bunjevci ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Bunjevci, Буњевци, ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=, separator=" / ", Bunjevac, Буњевац, sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=, separator=" / ", Bunjevka, Буњевка) are a South Slavic sub-ethnic group living ...
social-democrats from
Vojvodina
Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...
declined. In turn, only the SSDP and the SDPBH formally agreed to a merger by January 1919. A minority group on the left wing of the SDPCS split from the party as the Action Committee of the Left () and opted for the unified social-democratic party with the SSDP and the SDPBH. Soon afterwards, the Vojvodina social-democrats reversed their decision. The Unification congress of the Socialist Labor Party of Yugoslavia (Communists) (, SRPJ(k)) was held in
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
on 20–23 April 1919 as consolidation on the left of the political spectrum. The new party was joined by the SSDP en masse, and by independent leftists who splintered away from various nationalist youth organisations and social democratic parties. The Labour Socialist Party of Slovenia () split from the JSDS and joined the SRPJ(k) on 13 April 1920.
Clashes continued within the party between leftists and centrists – the latter favouring pursuit of reforms through a parliamentary system. The leftist faction prevailed at the second congress held in
Vukovar
Vukovar () ( sr-Cyrl, Вуковар, hu, Vukovár, german: Wukowar) is a city in Croatia, in the eastern region of Slavonia. It contains Croatia's largest river port, located at the confluence of the Vuka and the Danube. Vukovar is the seat of ...
on 20–24 June 1920 and adopted a new statute. That aligned the party entirely with the
Communist International
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by a ...
(Comintern), implementing all instructions received from the Comintern. Furthermore, the party was renamed the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (, KPJ) to allow its membership in the Comintern.
Filip Filipović and
Sima Marković
Sima Marković (8 November 1888 in Kragujevac, Kingdom of Serbia – 19 April 1939 in Moscow, USSR) was a Serbian mathematician, communist and socialist politician and philosopher, known as one of the founders and first leaders of the Communist ...
, both former SSDP activists, were elected to lead the KPJ. By May 1920, the KPJ had about 50,000 members, and numerous sympathisers largely drawn from among 300,000 members of trade unions and youth organisations.
1920 Elections and ban
In the
1920 Constitutional Assembly election, the KPJ won 58 out of 419 seats. The best results were achieved in large cities, in
Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = M ...
and
Macedonia as a result of protest votes against the regime on account of past or expected actions coming from unemployed urban voters and from voters in regions having no other attractive national or regional opposition parties found in the Slovene lands,
Croatia-Slavonia
The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia ( hr, Kraljevina Hrvatska i Slavonija; hu, Horvát-Szlavónország or ; de-AT, Königreich Kroatien und Slawonien) was a nominally autonomous kingdom and constitutionally defined separate political nation with ...
, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In light of difficult economic and social circumstances, the regime viewed the KPJ as the main threat to the system of government. In response to the KPJ's electoral success at the local and regional level including Belgrade and
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 ...
earlier that year in March–August, and at the national level the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
and the
People's Radical Party
The People's Radical Party ( sr, Народна радикална странка, Narodna radikalna stranka, abbr. НРС or NRS) was the dominant ruling party of Kingdom of Serbia and later Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from the la ...
advocated prohibition of communist activity. The regime saw the KPJ as the greatest impediment to realisation of views held by
King Peter I on resolution of Serbian
national question
''National question'' is a term used for a variety of issues related to nationalism. It is seen especially often in socialist thought and doctrine.
In socialism
* ''Social Democracy and the National Question'' by Vladimir Medem in 1904
* ''So ...
.
![Crvena pravda](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Crvena_pravda.jpg)
In December 1920, KPJ-led miner strikes in Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina led to suppression by the
royal army and restrictions on
communist propaganda
Communist propaganda is the artistic and social promotion of the ideology of communism, communist worldview, communist society, and interests of the communist movement. While it tends to carry a negative connotation in the Western world, the t ...
. The violence served as a pretext for prosecution of the KPJ. On 30 December, the government issued a Proclamation () outlawing the KPJ. A faction of the KPJ named Red Justice () attempted to assassinate the
Regent Alexander on 28 June, and then killed former Interior Minister
Milorad Drašković
Milorad Drašković ( sr-cyr, Милорад Драшковић; 10 April 1873 – 21 July 1921) was a Serbian politician who was the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
Death
On 21 July 1921 Alija Alijagi ...
on 21 July. This led to proclamation of the Law on the Protection of the Realm turning the KPJ ban into legislation on 2 August, annulment of the KPJ seats in the national assembly two days later, and numerous covert police agents infiltrating the KPJ.
Move abroad and underground
Despite the electoral success, the ban and KPJ's consequent move to covert operation took a heavy toll on the party in the next decade and a half when, faced with factional struggle, it would increasingly look to the Comintern for guidance. By 1924, the KPJ membership was reduced to 688. Additionally, some members emigrated abroad – most to
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, but also to
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
,
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, and
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. Indeed, the KPJ held a land conference in Vienna in 1922, where the party leadership moved the year before.
In the early 1920s, KPJ saw more factional struggle between its right wing led by Marković and Belgrade-based trade union leaders Lazar Stefanović and Života Milojković advocating work through legal means to regain government approval, and leftists, including Đuro Cvijić,
Vladimir Ćopić
Vladimir "Senjko" Ćopić (8 March 1891 – 19 April 1939) was a Yugoslav revolutionary, politician, journalist and communist leader of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia from April 1919 to August 1920.
Biography
Born into a family of mixed Croat a ...
, Triša Kaclerović, Rajko Jovanović, and
Kosta Novaković
Kosta Novaković (Serbian Cyrillic: Коста Новаковић; 3 June 1886 in Čačak – 1939 in Moscow, USSR) was a Serbian and Yugoslav socialist politician, journalist and professor and one of the most prominent in the Serbian left-wing po ...
, favouring
Leninist
Leninism is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary vanguard party as the political prelude to the establishme ...
undercover struggle. The leftists also supported a federalisation of the state, while the others pushed for limited regional autonomy only.
The leftists prevailed at the January 1924 Third Land Conference held covertly in Belgrade where the KPJ proclaimed the right of each nation to secede and form its national state. In June, the Comintern instructed the KPJ that self-determination should take shape of independent Slovenian, Croatian, and Macedonian republics. The stance taken by the Cominform was influenced by Moscow visit by
Stjepan Radić
Stjepan Radić (11 June 1871 – 8 August 1928) was a Croat politician and founder of the Croatian People's Peasant Party (HPSS), active in Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
He is credited with galvanizing Cro ...
, the leader of the
Croatian Peasant Party
The Croatian Peasant Party ( hr, Hrvatska seljačka stranka, HSS) is an agrarian political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The Brothers Radić believed that t ...
(, HSS) when Radić added the HSS to the
Peasant International (Krestintern) – itself an agency of the Cominform.
Furthermore, the Comintern criticised the factional clashes in the KPJ over the national question in its 1924 Resolution of National Question which linked social emancipation to national one in strategic considerations. In response, Milojković was expelled, but Marković remained a part of KPJ leadership. This changed in 1925 when he was denounced by the leader of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
personally before Yugoslav commission of the Comintern insisting that the KPJ must harness national movements for revolutionary aims. Regardless, the factional struggle continued. In 1927, the seat of the KPJ central committee in Yugoslavia was moved from Belgrade to Zagreb.
Leftists prevail
In February 1928,
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 ...
and
Andrija Hebrang, seeking to stir the existing situation into resolution of the conflict, persuaded the delegates to conference of the Zagreb KPJ organisation to adopt a resolution seeking the Comintern to intervene and end the factional struggle in the KPJ entirely. The KPJ also led some of street protests in Croatia over assassination of Radić later that year. The
Comintern Sixth World Congress held that year sought to increase revolutionary struggle and the strategy was accepted by the KPJ at its
Fourth Congress held in
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
in October 1928. The appeal made at the initiative of Tito and Hebrang was accepted: Marković was expelled and his allies demoted, while new leadership was installed. Tito and Hebrang were bypassed because they were just imprisoned in Yugoslavia, and
Đuro Salaj, Žika Pecarski, and
Đuro Đaković
Đuro Đaković (30 November 1886 – 25 April 1929) was a Yugoslav metal worker, communist and revolutionary. Đaković was the organizational secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, from April 1928 to Apri ...
were appointed instead as entirely Comintern-trained leadership.
![Sekretari Skoja](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Sekretari_Skoja.jpg)
In 1929, the new KPJ leadership put the Comintern's call to violence into practice, but instead of all-out revolt, the efforts were consisted of leaflets and several shoot-outs with the police. KPJ losses were heavy and included death of several significant leaders including Đaković and imprisonment of its most active members by specially convened antisubversive tribunals. In turn, the
Sremska Mitrovica Prison became a makeshift KPJ training school as the prison allowed grouping of political prisoners.
On instructions from the Comintern, non-
Serb
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
members of the KPJ were to advocate breakup of Yugoslavia as a construct of the Western Powers. However at the time, most of their efforts were invested in struggle against the JSDS and debating revolutionary merits of literature written by
Miroslav Krleža
Miroslav Krleža (; 7 July 1893 – 29 December 1981) was a Yugoslav and Croatian writer who is widely considered to be the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century. He wrote notable works in all the literary genres, including poetry (''Ba ...
. By 1932, membership dwindled to less than 500, the KPJ maintained its leadership divided in at least two locations at all times in 1928–1935, including at least one abroad in Moscow, Prague, Vienna, or Paris.
Also acting on Comintern July 1932 instructions to promote and aid national revolt in Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, and Macedonia, the KPJ sought to establish ties with the
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
-based
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; bg, Вътрешна Македонска Революционна Организация (ВМРО), translit=Vatrešna Makedonska Revoljucionna Organizacija (VMRO); mk, Внатр ...
, but the organisation was suffering from its internal weaknesses and suppressed by 1934. There were also overtures towards
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
-based
Ustaše
The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...
as a Croatian secessionist organisation. KPJ leaders praised the Ustaše-initiated
Lika uprising in 1932, hoping to steer Ustaše to the political left. Even though support for Ustaše efforts in Lika and
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
was declared through ''Proleter'' newspapers in December 1932, the bulk of contact with them was limited to contact with fellow prison inmates trying to engage them over the shared goal of breakup of Yugoslavia.
Gorkić and turn to popular front
The
ultra-leftist line pursued since 1928 was abandoned in 1933 when
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
came to power in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. Instead, the KPJ turned the idea of forming a
popular front
A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault".
More generally, it is "a coalition ...
together with other
anti-fascist organisations. The strategy aimed to attract broad coalition of allies since it was no longer thought feasible to achieve quick introduction of communist rule. The popular front strategy coincided with assignment of
Milan Gorkić
Milan Gorkić ( cyrl, Милан Горкић), born as Josef Čižinský ( sr-cyrl, Јосип Чижински, Josip Čižinski; 19 February 1904 – 1 November 1937), was a high-ranking and prominent Yugoslav communist politician and activist ...
to the KPJ leadership from his posting at the Comintern in 1932. Gorkić set about to introduce discipline to the KPJ top ranks and establish ties with the JSDS, the HSS, the
Montenegrin Federalist Party
The Montenegrin Federalist Party (, , CFS), sometimes known simply as the Montenegrin Party, was a Montenegrin political party in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which stood for preservation of Montenegrin autonomy and a decentralized federalised Yug ...
, the Slovene Christian Socialists, and pro-Russian right wing organisations in
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 ...
with Moscow now advocating Yugoslav unity. This placed the KPJ at odds with the Comintern which continued to advocate breakup of Yugoslavia until signing of the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
, long_name = Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
, image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H27337, Moskau, Stalin und Ribbentrop im Kreml.jpg
, image_width = 200
, caption = Stalin and Ribbentrop shaking ...
in August 1939. Still, Gorkić largely stayed out of Yugoslavia. In 1934, he appointed Tito, just released from jail, to organise secret KPJ congress in
Ljubljana
Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center.
During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...
later that year. Gorkić was appointed the general secretary of the KPJ in 1936, with
Sreten Žujović
Sreten Žujović ( sr-cyr, Сретен Жујовић; 24 June 1899 – 11 June 1976) was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and veteran of World War I and long-time communist.
Biography
He was born into a wealthy family, and was a Serb by natio ...
and
Rodoljub Čolaković
Rodoljub "Roćko" Čolaković ( sr-cyr, Родољуб Чолаковић; 7 June 1900 – 30 March 1983) was a Yugoslav politician and writer who served as the 1st Prime Minister of PR Bosnia and Herzegovina and as the Minister for PR Bosnia ...
as
central committee
Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...
members. Tito was appointed by the Comintern as the organisational secretary of the KPJ in Moscow in September of the same year and he moved to Vienna a month later.
In July 1937, Gorkić was summoned from his Paris base to Moscow where he was arrested. In addition to him, there were about 900 communists of Yugoslav origin or their supporters in the Soviet Union who fell victim to the Stalin's
Great Purge
The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Nikolay Yezhov, Yezhov'), was General ...
as did 50 other KPJ officials posted in Moscow including Cvijić, Ćopić, Filipović, Marković, and Novaković. The Soviet subsidy to the KPJ was suspended. The move left Tito in de facto control of the KPJ as his position was ranked second only to the one held by Gorkić.
Tito assumes power
![Josip Broz Tito 1949](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Josip_Broz_Tito_1949.jpg)
Tito spent 1937 and early 1938 in Yugoslavia organising the KPJ there as a disciplined covert organisation drawing new members loyal to the communist ideas and Tito personally from all nations within Yugoslavia, except
Macedonians. During this period, Tito intervened in conflict among groups of KPJ members incarcerated in Sremska Mitrovica. The conflict centred on the popular front strategy advocated by Hebrang and supported by
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 ...
,
Josip Kraš
Josip Kraš (26 March 1900 – 18 October 1941) was a Croatian communist and Partisans (Yugoslavia), partisan who died in World War II and was proclaimed a People's Hero of Yugoslavia.
Kraš was born in the village of Vuglovec (near Ivanec and ...
, and
Đuro Pucar
Đurađ "Đuro" Pucar "Stari" ( sr-cyr, Ђурађ Ђуро Пуцар, ; 13 December 1899 – 12 April 1979) was a Yugoslav and Bosnian politician.
During World War II he was a member of the Yugoslav Partisans and was later decorated with the Or ...
and denounced by Petko Miletić backed by
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
Aleksandar Ranković
Aleksandar Ranković ( nom de guerre Marko; sr-Cyrl, Александар Ранковић Лека; 28 November 1909 – 19 August 1983) was a Yugoslav communist politician, considered to be the third most powerful man in Yugoslavia after Jo ...
– the latter labelled
Wahhabites
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, ...
by Pijade because of their radicalism. The conflict escalated to an attempt to kill Hebrang. Tito worked with Pijade to arrange a compromise by including Đilas and Ranković in the temporary KPJ leadership along with Croatian moderate popular front supporters Kraš and Andrija Žaja as well as Soviet-educated
Slovene 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. ...
.
In 1937, the Comintern compelled the KPJ to formally establish the
Communist Party of Croatia
League of Communists of Croatia ( sh, Savez komunista Hrvatske or SKH) was the Croatian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ). It came into power in 1945. Until 1952, it was known as Communist Party of Croatia (''Komunistička ...
(, KPH) and the
Communist Party of Slovenia
The League of Communists of Slovenia ( sl, Zveza komunistov Slovenije, ZKS; sh, Savez komunista Slovenije) was the Slovenian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole legal party of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1989. It was establis ...
(). The two parties were nominally independent, but actually within the KPJ. This was later the precedent for establishment of communist parties in other parts of Yugoslavia. Still the KPH leadership headed by Kraš and Žaja came into conflict with Tito in 1938 when the KPH supported the HSS instead of the Party of the Working People as the KPJ front founded for participation in
1938 parliamentary elections.
The temporary leadership put together by Tito remained largely unchanged when Tito received the Comintern mandate to lead the KPJ in 1939. Miletić was released from prison that year and sought to replace Tito. Months later he disappeared after he was summoned to Moscow and arrested by the
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
as a victim of a series of purges in the KPJ in 1937–1940 which strengthened Tito's position.
In 1940, the KPJ successfully completed the campaign to diminish influence of Krleža and his literary adherents who were advocating
Marxist ideas and opposed
Stalinisation
Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...
fearing
totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...
. Also, Tito removed Kraš and Žaja from the leading positions in the KPH and replaced them by
Rade Končar
Rade Končar ( sr-cyr, Раде Кончар; 6 August or 28 October 1911 – 22 May 1942) was a Serbs of Croatia, Croatian Serb politician and leader of the Yugoslav Partisans in the Independent State of Croatia and Governorate of Dalmatia, D ...
.
In October 1940, the Fifth Land Conference of the KPJ was held covertly in Zagreb, as the final act of Tito's campaign to assume full control of the party. The conference represented a full takeover of now organisationally stronger, centralized, disciplined, and
bolshevized, but politically isolated KPJ by Tito in full alignment with the leftist line pursued by the Comintern at the time. The national question was placed at the centre of the KPJ policy at the conference where Tito criticised long gone Marković and Gorkić for lack of understanding of the issue. As Tito consolidated his control, the KPJ membership grew to 6,000 in 1939 and to 8,000 by 1941, with many more other supporters.
The final months of 1940 were marked by militarisation of politics in Yugoslavia leading to incidents such as the armed clash between the KPJ and the far-right
Yugoslav National Movement
The Yugoslav National Movement ( sh, Jugoslavenski narodni pokret / Југословенски народни покрет), also known as the United Militant Labour Organization (''Združena borbena organizacija rada'' / ''Здружена бор ...
in October leaving five dead and 120 wounded. The structural changes of the KPJ, strategic use of the national question and social emancipation to mobilise supporters made the party ideologically and operationally ready for armed resistance in the approaching war.
Armed resistance
Setting up the Partisan force
![Stjepan Stevo Filipović](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Stjepan_Stevo_Filipovi%C4%87.jpg)
During brief resistance of the Royal Yugoslav Army against the
Axis invasion of the country, Tito was in Zagreb. Two days after outbreak of hostilities, the KPJ and the KPH requested arms from the
4th Army headquarters to help defend the city, but they were denied. With the Yugoslav defeat imminent, the KPJ instructed its 8,000 members to stockpile weapons in anticipation of armed resistance, which would spread, by the end of 1941 to all areas of the country except Macedonia.
Building on its experience in clandestine operation across the country, the KPJ proceeded to organise the
Yugoslav Partisans
The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...
, as resistance fighters led by Tito. The KPJ assessed that the
German invasion of 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 ...
had created favourable conditions for an uprising and its
politburo
A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states.
Names
The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...
founded the
Supreme Headquarters of the National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia () with Tito as commander in chief on 27 June 1941.
In terms of military training, the Partisans relied on those among its ranks who had completed the mandatory national service in the Royal Yugoslav Army or fought in the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
. Many KPJ members were veterans of that conflict, and would go on to assume commanding positions in the Partisan ranks. In addition to military training, political training was given increasing importance as the war progressed. It was provided by
political commissars based on the Soviet model. The commissaries were a part of the detachment staff, units originally ranging in size from 50 to 500 or even 1,000. A commissar's cap badge was made distinct from other Partisans. Namely, the red star on their cap was
defaced with the
hammer and sickle
The hammer and sickle (Unicode: "☭") zh, s=锤子和镰刀, p=Chuízi hé liándāo or zh, s=镰刀锤子, p=Liándāo chuízi, labels=no is a symbol meant to represent proletarian solidarity, a union between agricultural and industri ...
. The move drew criticism from the
Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation
The Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation ( sl, Osvobodilna fronta slovenskega naroda), or simply Liberation Front (''Osvobodilna fronta'', OF), originally called the Anti-Imperialist Front (''Protiimperialistična fronta'', PIF), was a Slovene ...
(, OF) civil resistance organisation – which accused the KPJ of creating its own army. In response,
Slovene Partisan
The Slovene Partisans, formally the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Slovenia, (NOV in POS) were part of Europe's most effective anti-Nazi resistance movement Jeffreys-Jones, R. (2013): ''In Spies We Trust: The Story of Western ...
commissars' caps were adorned with red stars defaced with letters "OF" instead. By 1942, typically 30–50 percent of Partisan unit personnel declared themselves as communists. Selection of personnel deemed the best for 14 Proletarian Brigades increased this share in those units – to more than 60 percent in some instances. According to Yugoslav sources, the Partisan forces grew to 800,000 by 1945 through volunteers, conscription of men aged 17–50, and defections of enemy troops promised amnesty.
Leftist errors
KPJ's strategic approach was complex because of pressures from the Comintern prioritising social struggle competing with the national liberation in substantially regionally uneven circumstances resulting from Axis partitioning of Yugoslavia, especially from creation of Axis-satellite of the
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...
(, NDH).
In Macedonia, the regional organisation led by
Metodi Shatorov
Metodi Tasev Shatorov - Sharlo ( bg, Методи Шаторов - Шарло; mk, Методиja Шаторов - Шарло) (January 10, 1897, Prilep, Manastir Vilayet, Ottoman Empire – September 12, 1944 near Velingrad, Bulgaria) was a Bul ...
switched allegiance from the KPJ to the
Bulgarian Communist Party
The Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP; bg, Българска Комунистическа Партия (БКП), Balgarska komunisticheska partiya (BKP)) was the founding and ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria from 1946 until 198 ...
, practically recognising Bulgarian annexation of the area. Collapse of
Užice Republic, a Partisan-controlled territory in
occupied Serbia in 1941 during a
German and Chetnik offensive was, in part, helped by views of local peasants who viewed
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 ...
propaganda more favourably than communist social radicalism in light of preservation of their property.
Following the
German defeat at Moscow in late 1941, the KPJ leadership thought that the war was nearly over and went to ensure full control by the KPJ in the country. In the period until spring of 1942, this policy was generally confined to Montenegro and eastern
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 in a lesser draconian form to the area of present-day
Vojvodina
Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...
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 ...
. It largely consisted of killing of
class enemies
The term enemy of the people or enemy of the nation, is a designation for the political or class opponents of the subgroup in power within a larger group. The term implies that by opposing the ruling subgroup, the "enemies" in question are ac ...
where individual Partisan units were given quotas of required executions. It also meant forced labour for peasants deemed idle or even untidy. The targeted populations were driven to support Chetniks or other Axis forces, and the policy thus undermined the overall struggle – in turn causing the KPJ to criticise the perpetrators ignoring the role of its Central Committee in formulation of the policy. Similarly, the KPJ penalised
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
Miro or Miró may refer to:
Companies
* Miro Company, a French game manufacturer
* Miro Technologies, a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) software supplier from California
* Pinnacle Systems, Miro Video series of the video capture cards
* Me ...
as proponents of the policy, but ignored similar roles played by 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 ...
. In spring of 1942, the policy known as the
Leftist errors
Leftist errors ( sh, leva/lijeva skretanja) was a term used by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) to describe radical policies and strategies – described as the Red Terror (''Crveni Teror'') by others – pursued by self-described Left-wi ...
was abandoned.
Conflict of policy in Croatia
Policies employed by the NDH, enforced by the Ustaše against Serbs and ceding of Dalmatia to Italy through the
Treaties of Rome
The Treaty of Rome, or EEC Treaty (officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community), brought about the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), the best known of the European Communities (EC). The treaty was sig ...
created a natural base for Partisan recruitment among the Serbs, and
Croats
The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, G ...
(particularly in Dalmatia) respectively. Furthermore, establishment of the NDH fractured the HSS into three groups – one supporting the armed resistance, another supporting the NDH, and an indecisive group around HSS leader
Vladko Maček
Vladimir Maček (20 June 1879 – 15 May 1964) was a politician in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As a leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) following the 1928 assassination of Stjepan Radić, Maček had been a leading Croatian political fig ...
employing a waiting tactic. In February 1942, the KPH leadership under Hebrang saw this as an opportunity for the
Croatian Partisans
The Croatian Partisans, officially the National Liberation Movement in Croatia ( hr, Narodnooslobodilački pokret u Hrvatskoj; NOP), were part of the anti-fascist National Liberational Movement in the Axis-occupied Yugoslavia which was the most ...
to wrest the position of the central patriotic force among Croats from the HSS.
In effect, Hebrang thus pursued a policy close to the wartime Soviet coalitionist views, supporting a certain level of involvement of the former members of the HSS, and the
Independent Democratic Party, as well as representatives of associations and trade unions in the political life as a form of a "mass movement", including in the work of the
as the top tier political body intended to grow into the future
People's Parliament of Croatia.
Furthermore, Hebrang declared support for more moderate social policies, and advocated Croatia's autonomy within the Yugoslav federation. He argued that
Serbs of Croatia
The Serbs of Croatia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Срби у Хрватској, Srbi u Hrvatskoj) or Croatian Serbs ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", хрватски Срби, hrvatski Srbi) constitute the largest national minority in Croa ...
should be primarily loyal to the Croatian federal unit which would ensure their political representation and preservation of their culture. Nonetheless, the increased Croatian character of the KPH caused anxiety among the Serbs. The independent policy pursued by the KPH brought Tito and Hebrang into conflict with pursuit of nationalist policy as the principal charge against the KPH. Due Hebrang's popularity, the KPJ wanted to avoid antagonising Croats during the wartime struggle and instead, just two weeks before the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
and the Partisans
took the capital from Germans, reassigned Hebrang to Belgrade to become the minister of industry and filled the leading role in the KPH with
Vladimir Bakarić
Vladimir Bakarić (; 8 March 1912 – 16 January 1983) was a Yugoslav and Croatian communist revolutionary and a politician.
Bakarić helped to organise the partisan resistance in the Independent State of Croatia during World War II. From 1948 ...
.
Proclamation of new government
In November 1942, the Partisans captured the town of
Bihać
Bihać ( cyrl, Бихаћ) is a city and the administrative centre of Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of river Una in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina ...
and secured control over a large part of western Bosnia, Dalmatia and Lika they named the
Bihać Republic. In the town, a pan-Yugoslav assembly – the
(, AVNOJ) – was established in the town at the initiative of Tito and the KPJ later that month. At its founding meeting, the AVNOJ adopted the principle of federal state as the solution for future. In the wake of the Bihać meeting, there were land councils established as political bodies representative of individual parts of the future federation.
The AVNOJ convened for the second time in
Jajce
Jajce (Јајце) is a town and municipality located in the Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the 2013 census, the town has a population of 7,172 inhabitants, with ...
in November 1943, declaring itself as the future parliament of the new Yugoslav state, affirmed commitment to forming a democratic federation without specifying any details of such federation. It also denied authority of the
Yugoslav government-in-exile
The Government of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in Exile ( sh, Vlada Kraljevine Jugoslavije u egzilu / Влада Краљевине Југославије у егзилу) was an official government of Yugoslavia, headed by King Peter II. It evacu ...
and forbade the
King Peter II return to the country. A month before the Jajce meeting, the central committee of the KPJ created the
National Committee for the Liberation of Yugoslavia
The National Committee for the Liberation of Yugoslavia ( sh, Nacionalni komitet oslobođenja Jugoslavije, sl, Nacionalni komite osvoboditve Jugoslavije, NKOJ), also known as the Yugoslav Committee of National Liberation, was the World War II pro ...
as the new Yugoslav government, and the AVNOJ confirmed its composition – including Tito as its president. Tito's position was reinforced through the
Tito–Šubašić Agreements
The Tito–Šubašić Agreements ( sh, sporazumi Tito-Šubašić) are the result of a series of negotiations conducted by the leader of the Yugoslav Partisans, Josip Broz Tito, and the prime minister of the Yugoslav government-in-exile, Ivan ...
he concluded with the government-in-exile in the second half of 1944 and early 1945. On the basis of those agreements, the government-in-exile was replaced with the
Provisional Government of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia
The Provisional Government of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia () was Democratic Federal Yugoslavia's temporary national government formed through the merger of the Yugoslav government-in-exile and the National Committee for the Liberation of ...
with Tito as the
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
on 7 March 1945.
During the war, the KPJ added new organisations based on foreseen federal units. In 1943, it established the
Communist Party of Macedonia () and, in the final days of the war in May 1945, the KPJ founded the
Communist Party of Serbia
, logo =
, colorcode =
, leader = President of the League of Communists of Serbia
, predecessor = Provincial Committee for Serbia of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia
, merged =
, successor = SPS
, ...
( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Komunistička partija Srbije, Комунистичка партија Србије, label=none). By the end of the war, the KPJ's membership reached just over 141,000.
Post-war consolidation of power
Drift to the one-party system
![Josip Broz Tito uniform portrait](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Josip_Broz_Tito_uniform_portrait.jpg)
In 1945, the KPJ worked to broaden its support, and discredit its political opponents. Since the politicians included in the government-in-exile only returned to Yugoslavia in March 1945, and Vladko Maček remained abroad, there was no well-organised political opposition to the KPJ. The People's Front of Yugoslavia (, NFJ) was established in autumn of 1945, nominally a coalition of nearly all political parties in the country. A notable exception was Milan Grol's Democratic Party which was charged with the Serbian nationalism. Besides the KPJ, the NFJ included weak and poorly organised bourgeois parties: the Yugoslav Republican Party, the Independent Democratic Party, the Agriculturalist's Union, the Socialist Party of Yugoslavia, Socialist Party, the JSDS, the Croatian Republican Peasant Party (1945), Croatian Republican Peasant Party (, HRSS), and a group of politicians organised as the Forward () group. While non-communist parties in the NFJ hoped for equality, Tito primary saw the NFJ as a tool for neutralization of political opposition by allying them with the KPJ. Due to weakness of the non-communist parties in the NFJ, the KPJ dominated the group.
In preparation of the 1945 elections, the AVNOJ was expanded by addition of pre-war members of parliament deemed not compromised by cooperation with the Axis powers. In effect, this meant addition of liberal and left-leaning politicians who could not be accused of collaborating with the Axis. Civil rights were curbed in the summer of 1945 when new legislation on crimes against the people and the state, curtailing the rights of assembly and freedom of the press. Middle and lower levels of bureaucracy were filled with the ranks of former Partisans.
Following a boycott proclamation by the Grol's Democrats, the elections were carried out like a referendum–voting for the NFJ and against it. The NFJ slate received the highest approval in Croatia where the HRSS was aligned with the KPJ (81%), followed by Slovenia (78%) despite non-participation by the pre-war parties in the NFJ slate there, and the lowest support in Serbia (67%). This result is attributed to monarchism and the boycott. Ultimately, 88,43% of the electorate voted, and the NFJ was supported by 88,69% of the votes cast. The suffrage was universal for everyone over the age of 18 (including women for the first time), except those charged with Axis collaboration. Former Partisans could vote even if under 18. The KPJ received 404 representatives of 524 (77%) in the bicameral Constituent Assembly.
According to Đilas and Vladimir Velebit, the KPJ expected to win a majority of 60–65% even if the election were to guarantee fair competition. They based the opinion on the belief that the KPJ offered the opportunity to live in peace, an agrarian reform, and on post-war euphoria. In 1946, the parliament adopted 1946 Yugoslav Constitution, a new Constitution implementing the ethnic federalism as the KPJ's solution for the national question, modelled on the Soviet Union. By 1947, the KPJ declared that its programme was the NFJ's programme and that the KPJ is in the forefront of the NFJ. Tito linked the collapse of the pre-war Yugoslavia with the multi-party system of government, justifying suppression of political opposition parties in the post-war context–calling the multi-party system incompatible with the socialist order and unnecessary. In October 1948, the four existing republican communist parties were complemented by two more: the Communist Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Communist Party of Montenegro.
Break with the Soviet Union
Objectives of the Soviet foreign policy gradually brought the USSR in conflict with the KPJ. Their relationship was complicated as the KPJ led armed resistance against the Axis while the Soviet foreign relations were initially constrained by provisions of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, and then with alliance with the Western Allies who supported the Yugoslav government-in exile until shortly after the initial Tito–Šubašić Agreement. As Yugoslavia was not fully in the Soviet post-war sphere of influence, Tito pursued a foreign policy course seeking to integrate People's Socialist Republic of Albania, Albania into the Yugoslav federation, support the Democratic Army of Greece, Greek communist guerrillas, and broaden ties between Yugoslavia and People's Republic of Bulgaria, Bulgaria–potentially unifying the countries. Conclusion of the Bled agreement (1947), 1947 Bled Agreement seeking closer ties with Bulgaria, and imminent deployment of Yugoslav Army to Albania prompted a political confrontation with the USSR. The clash culminated in the
Tito–Stalin split
The Tito–Stalin split or the Yugoslav–Soviet split was the culmination of a conflict between the political leaderships of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, under Josip Broz Tito and Joseph Stalin, respectively, in the years following World W ...
and the KPJ was expelled from the
Cominform
The Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties (), commonly known as Cominform (), was a co-ordination body of Marxist-Leninist communist parties in Europe during the early Cold War that was formed in part as a replacement of the ...
in 1948. For political reasons, the rift was presented as ideological rather than geopolitical one. The KPJ initially reacted to Stalin's criticism by adopting corrective measures in the field of collectivisation described as more Stalinist than those employed by Stalin himself.
The KPJ saw purges of real or perceived Stalin supporters and other political opponents of the regime. In 1948–1951 period, more than 50,000 KPJ members (nearly 20% of its membership) were registered as political opponents and ejected, but the party expanded its ranks by more than half a million members in the same time frame. Virtually all parties within the NFJ or otherwise were dismantled following the Stalin letters in which the Soviet leader accused the KPJ of being diluted by the NFJ. The only exception was the HRSS, which was temporarily allowed to continue operating.
The exact number of those arrested remains uncertain, but in 1983, Radovan Radonjić stated that 16,288 were arrested and convicted, including 2,616 belonging to various levels of the KPJ leadership. According to Ranković, 51,000 people were killed, imprisoned or sentence to forced labour, a majority of them without trial. Prisoners were held at numerous sites, including a special-purpose prison camp built on the uninhabited Adriatic islands of Goli Otok and Sveti Grgur in 1949.
In view of the circumstances and the ideological aspect of the Yugoslav–Soviet split, the KPJ found it necessary to differentiate the Yugoslav political system from the Soviet one. Since the KPJ labelled the USSR undemocratic, it was necessary to devise and highlight KPJ's innovative approach to communist rule. This was pursued through
workers' self-management
Workers' self-management, also referred to as labor management and organizational self-management, is a form of organizational management based on self-directed work processes on the part of an organization's workforce. Self-management is a def ...
legislation introduced in 1950, as well as through opposition to Stalinism and Interwar period, inter-war Yugoslav Political unitarism, unitarism. The approach led to a period of ideological Revisionism (Marxism), revisionism in which established doctrines could be questioned.
Reform and conflict with Đilas
Even though Soviet and Cominform propaganda drew attention to inequalities in the economic development of various parts of Yugoslavia, alleging restoration of capitalism, and national oppression of the underdeveloped nations, the clash between strict centralisation and decentralisation appeared as a conflict between political principle and economic priorities. In 1950, Yugoslav authorities sought to combat unsustainable labour practices and improve production efficiency through introduction of workers' councils and the system which later became known as "socialist self-management".
However, the 1946 Yugoslav constitution followed the model of the Soviet federation in which the federal parliament legislates laws applicable to the federal units and has the power to overrule the units' legislation. In 1952, Kardelj drafted constitutional amendments to reflect the reality of the reforms of 1950–1951. This led to codification of the reforms as 1953 Yugoslav constitutional amendments seeking to reflect the economic power of each constituent republic, while ensuring equal representation of each federal unit in the assembly to counterbalance this.
The KPJ proclaimed shift from party monopolising power to the ideological leader of the society, decentralised its structure, and rebranded itself (and correspondingly its republican organisations) as the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (, SKJ) at 6th Congress of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, its sixth congress held in Zagreb in 1952. The name was inspired by the 1847–1852 Communist League. The constitutional amendments, adopted in January 1953, were only the second step in a series of five constitutional reforms reflecting the social development of Communist-ruled Yugoslavia, but the principles introduced in 1953 were retained in all subsequent Yugoslav constitutions.
After the Yugoslav rapprochement with the USSR, Đilas feared Yugoslavia would switch to full control of the society by the central government. He thought that was possible due to influence of Ranković–the Đilas's primary competitor as a potential successor to Tito. Đilas wrote a series of articles for Borba (newspaper), ''Borba'' criticising bureaucratism and Communist exclusive claim to power. He took the criticism further in a compilation of essays, accusing the KPJ of elitism and enjoying privileges. In response, Đilas was removed from the KPJ central committee in January 1954 and soon he left the KPJ. In a subsequent ''The New York Times'' interview, he called for a multi-party system in Yugoslavia – and this led to his imprisonment. Đilas was pardoned in 1966.
Yugoslavism campaign
At the 7th Congress of the SKJ held in 1958, the party became more centralised. This was achieved by largely revoking decision-making powers previously given to republican branches of the SKJ. The party programme published at the Congress praised emerging Yugoslav consciousness and a series of articles was published advocating creation of unified Yugoslav culture. This decision built on introduction of the option of declaring one's ethnicity as Yugoslavs, Yugoslav in the 1953 census, and the régime-sponsored 1954 Novi Sad Agreement on the single Serbo-Croatian language. Thus launched Yugoslavism campaign sought to replace federalism with unitarism. Ranković became the most prominent advocate of the campaign. He sought support from the League of Communists of Bosnia and Herzegovina (, SKBiH) and from the League of Communists of Montenegro (, SKCG) – with some success in the latter. In 1963, Socialist Republic of Serbia, Serbia and Socialist Republic of Montenegro, Montenegro concluded several agreements on strengthening economic and cultural ties, including construction of the Belgrade–Bar railway.
The campaign was publicly criticised through an exchange of letters published in ''Borba''. The proponents of the campaign, largely ethnic Serbs, were accused of scheming to abolish republics and resurrect Greater Serbian chauvinism. Particular opposition came from the League of Communists of Croatia (, SKH) and the League of Communists of Macedonia (, SKM). They were joined in an informal national-liberal coalition by the League of Communists of Slovenia (, ZKS) and, in a less prominent role, by the leadership of Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Vojvodina. In early 1963, Tito was compelled to publicly warn about chauvinism and reassure non-Serbs that merger of nations was not contemplated while defending the concept of Yugoslavism. Finally, at the 8th Congress of the SKJ held in 1964, Tito and Kardelj gave speeches criticising those thinking about merging nations of Yugoslavia as proponents of bureaucratic centralisation, unitarism and hegemony. There was no further mention of Yugoslavism at the Congress and the republican branches of the SKJ were given back their decision-making powers to reflect specificities and national character of the republics. The 8th Congress thus abandoned Yugoslavism in favour of decentralisation.
The SKJ promoted the notion of "Yugoslav socialist patriotism". The concept was described by its advocates as the feeling or awareness and love of the socialist self-management community. According to the SKJ, the concept was unrelated to nationalism and ethnicity. The notion was also claimed to support values and traditions of ethnic groups living in Yugoslavia.
Rise and fall of liberalism
Political factories
The 1950s workers' self-management-based reforms created a distorted socialist market economy where prices were regulated, and regulations often changed. The policy allowed municipal-level authorities to establish and protect enterprises against market forces. Tito said that those enterprises, dubbed "political factories", were only capable of producing losses. They competed for funding provided by federal investment funds – often through lobbying by republican-level officials - making the republics compete for limited resources.
In 1958, a miners' strike in Trbovlje fed into overall discontent in Slovenia regarding Yugoslav economic policy, and especially the management of federal investment funds. The event marked the first sign of growing divisions over economic development of the country and the political framework of the economic system. By 1961–62, the Yugoslav economy was in recession. The situation prompted small-scale economic reforms, which were quickly cancelled thereafter but led to a debate on economic issues. The debate coincided with adoption of the 1963 constitution expanding powers of the republics, and the 8th SKJ Congress expanding powers of the SKJ branches in 1964.
As a form of concession to the conservative factions within the SKJ, two new offices were created under the new constitution, taken by Ranković and Petar Stambolić. The former became the Vice-President, and the latter the federal Prime Minister - as the position was separated from that of the President.
Competing economic models
Republican leaderships advocated different economic development models. The ZKS in Slovenia and the SKH in Croatia favoured decentralisation and reduction of investment subsidies, and criticised the so-called political factories in Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, Kosovo. The SKM leadership in Macedonia favoured decentralisation because they feared Serbian domination more than the loss of federal funding.
Author Sabrina Ramet described the competing factions in the SKJ at the federal and republican levels in the 1962–87 period as "liberals" and "conservatives," based on whether they supported or opposed calls for decentralisation. Those holding the middle ground were termed "brokers" and included Tito, Bakarić, and Stambolić.
An opposing camp was formed by the League of Communists of Serbia (, SKS), the SKBiH in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the SKCG in Montenegro, who advocated continuing existing economic practices. In March 1966, the reformist group prevailed in the central committee of the SKJ, which supported economic reforms.
These coalitions varied as particular interests shifted. By the end of the decade, Vojvodina no longer supported Socialist Republic of Croatia, Croatian and Socialist Republic of Slovenia, Slovenian positions, but on the other hand the SKCG in Montenegro was no longer in full alignment with the Serbian SKS, while Croatia's SKH sought support from Kosovo's communists.
The reform debate was initially confined to economists, but by 1964 it was taken up in political forums and media, where opposing factions accused each other of exploiting one another. These allegations built upon mutual resentments. Non-Serb population saw Serbs (and Montenegrins) as overrepresented at all levels of federal SKJ offices, in the security services, and in the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) officer corps.
In addition, the growing development gap between Slovenia, Croatia, and Vojvodina on one hand and the rest of the country on the other was also a source of tensions. According to US consul to Zagreb, Helene Batjer, during the mid-1960s nationalism had increased as the result of years of economic austerity, political oppression, unprofitable investments in underdeveloped regions, and the failure of political leaders to deliver on their promises. It was also a form of protest against the dominant role of federal officials who were generally considered in Slovenia and Croatia to represent Serbia's interests. According to Batjer, about 50% of members of ZKS in Slovenia and SKH in Croatia espoused nationalist views by then.
In 1965, the pro-reform campaign was presented as a push against inefficient economic practices. It led to a transfer of economic authority from the federal level to the republics, and to the abolition of the federally controlled general investment fund. Its assets were transferred to three federal Belgrade-based banks, while the republican-level communist party officials increased their influence over economies of their respective republics.
Ranković affair
By early 1966, it was evident that the economic reform did not produce the desired results. The SKJ discussed the failure and blamed the Serbian leadership for resistance to the reform. In the spring of 1966, Kardelj persuaded Tito to remove
Aleksandar Ranković
Aleksandar Ranković ( nom de guerre Marko; sr-Cyrl, Александар Ранковић Лека; 28 November 1909 – 19 August 1983) was a Yugoslav communist politician, considered to be the third most powerful man in Yugoslavia after Jo ...
from the SKJ central committee and the position of the vice president of Yugoslavia. He was accused of plotting to seize power disregarding the decisions of the 8th Congress of the SKJ on decentralisation, and abuse of the State Security Administration (Yugoslavia), State Security Administration directly or through allies. Specifically, he was accused of illegally wire-tapping SKJ leadership, including Tito.
The investigation of the Ranković affair was handled by a six-member commission with one member drawn from each republic. It was chaired by Krste Crvenkovski (Macedonia) and its members were
Đuro Pucar
Đurađ "Đuro" Pucar "Stari" ( sr-cyr, Ђурађ Ђуро Пуцар, ; 13 December 1899 – 12 April 1979) was a Yugoslav and Bosnian politician.
During World War II he was a member of the Yugoslav Partisans and was later decorated with the Or ...
(Bosnia), Blažo Jovanović (Montenegro), Dobrivoje Radosavljević (Serbia), Miko Tripalo (Croatia), and France Popit (Slovenia). Even though they were not members of the commission, the investigation was directed by Kardelj, Bakarić, and Stambolić who controlled the commission through influence exerted on its members. Ranković was not informed of the accusations and the investigation until shortly before the plenum held on Brijuni Islands on 1 July 1966.
Ranković was eventually removed from all his offices and expelled from the central committee. His allies and successors as federal ministers of the interior, Svetislav Stefanović and Vojin Lukić, were also dismissed and expelled from the SKJ. On the initiative of SKJ's Kosovo organisation, supported by the SKCG, the SKBiH, and the SKM, Ranković was also expelled from the SKJ. Even though the SKJ took care to replace Ranković in all his former federal posts with ethnic Serbs, his ouster was perceived in Serbia and elsewhere in Yugoslavia as a Serbian defeat or even humiliation, resulting in Serb resentment.
Shortly after the fall of Ranković, the SKM of Macedonia called for political reforms. They proposed even greater decentralisation of the SKJ and giving veto powers to republican branches at federal-level decision-making by the SKJ. The plan was opposed by the SKS in Serbia but was supported to various degrees by others. While the debate was ongoing, the SKS leadership was replaced by liberal-leaning anti-nationalists Marko Nikezić and Latinka Perović who were made president of the central committee and the secretary of the executive committee respectively.
While Nikezić and Perović did not support the economic aspects of the reform advocated by the SKH in Croatia, they welcomed the call for greater liberalisation of media and politics. In 1969, the 9th Congress remained silent on the veto rights, but granted the branches the right to appoint federal-level officials and adopt their own statutes.
Provincial SKJ organisations in Kosovo and Vojvodina were raised to the level of provincial communist parties in 1968. Thus were formed the League of Communists of Vojvodina (, SKV) and the League of Communists of Kosovo (, SKK), which were simultaneously part of the Serbian SKS and the federal SKJ. This left only the party organisation in the JNA under direct control of the federal-level SKJ.
Croatian Spring and purge of reformists
In the atmosphere of the inter-republican disagreement on reform of banking and trade, the conflict assumed increasingly nationalist rhetoric. In 1967 and 1968, the Yugoslav constitution was amended once again, further reducing federal authority in favour of the constituent republics. The reformist forces grew in November 1968 when Marko Nikezić and Latinka Perović took helm of the SKS and advocated development through introduction of market economy practices and non-interference in other republics' affairs. The 9th Congress of the SKJ was held in March 1969, marking the peak of the reformist coalition. It pushed for decentralisation of all aspects of society. In the late 1960s, the relations between Slovenia's ZKS and Croatia's SKH became more strained, but the SKH and the Macedonian SKM successfully pressured the federal SKJ to adopt the principle of unanimity in decision-making, thus obtaining veto power for the republican branches of the SKJ in April 1970.
In the late 1960s, Croatia saw a Croatian Spring, resurgence of the national sentiment and Croatian nationalism primarily through the cultural organisation Matica hrvatska, in response to instances of actual or perceived Serbian dominance. The SKH had no official position regarding Matica hrvatska until late 1969 or early 1970. Then a reformist faction of the SKH led by Savka Dabčević-Kučar and Miko Tripalo gained control of the party and aligned themselves with Matica hrvatska to secure wider support in an intra-SKH power-struggle with a conservative faction.
For the SKH, grievances included economic issues such as rate of retention of hard currency earnings by Croatia-based companies, but the complaints were expanded to include various political demands seeking increased autonomy and opposition to over-representation of Serbs of Croatia, ethnic Serbs in security services, politics, and elsewhere. A particular point of contention was the matter of distinguishing Croatian language from Serbo-Croatian language, Serbo-Croatian.
On 1 December 1971, Tito convened the 21st session of the SKJ presidium as a joint meeting with the SKH leaders where the SKH leadership was roundly criticised and told to regain control over nationalists. Within days, Dabčević-Kučar and Tripalo resigned, and tens of thousands of members were expelled from the SKH. Even as thousands were persecuted for political crimes, Tito sought to undercut nationalist support by granting economic reform demands.
In January 1972, the SKJ adopted a programme of an ongoing fight against nationalism. In the process, reformist forces were targeted – Stane Kavčič was forced to resign in Slovenia, and the SKM faction of Krste Crvenkovski was ousted in Macedonia. In Serbia, Nikezić and Perović were accused of pursuing economic practices incompatible with socialism and forced to resign. Their replacements were obedient but mediocre politicians.
Namely, 1971 constitutional amendments transferred significant powers away from the federation to the republics, and the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution, new constitution adopted in 1974 preserved the 1971 reforms nearly completely. It even expanded republican economic powers by putting into law the reformist demands in the sectors of banking, commerce, and foreign currency. The purges of early 1970s drove many reformist communists and the social-democratic-minded away from politics in the final decades of Yugoslavia.
Decline and dissolution
After Tito's death in 1980 the party adopted a collective leadership model, with the party presidency rotating annually. The party's influence declined and the party moved to a federal structure giving more power to party branches in Yugoslavia's constituent republics. Party membership continued to grow reaching two million in the mid-1980s but membership was considered less prestigious than in the past.
Slobodan Milošević became President of the League of Communists of Serbia in 1987 and combined certain Serbian nationalism, Serbian nationalist ideologies with Anti-liberalism, opposition to liberal reforms. The growing rift among the branches of the Communist Party and their respective republics came to a head at the SKJ's 14th (extraordinary) Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, 14th Congress, held in January 1990. The SKJ renounced its vanguard party, monopoly of power and agreed to allow opposition parties to take part in elections. However, rifts between Serbian and Slovenian Communists led the SKJ to dissolve into different parties for each republic.
The Communist associations in each republic soon adopted the "socialist" or "social-democratic" monikers, transforming into movements which were left-oriented, but no longer strictly communist.
* the League of Communists of Slovenia (ZKS) became the Social Democrats (Slovenia), Party of Democratic Reforms of Slovenia in February 1990 (which merged in 1993 with several smaller parties to form the United List of Social Democrats, which in 2005 adopted their present-day form of Social Democrats (Slovenia), Social Democrats)
* the League of Communists of Serbia (SKS) became the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) in July 1990
* the League of Communists of Croatia (SKH) became the Social Democratic Party of Croatia, Party of Democratic Changes (SDP) in November 1990 (which later merged with the much smaller Social Democrats of Croatia in 1994 and was renamed Social Democratic Party of Croatia, Social Democratic Party)
* the League of Communists of Macedonia (SKM) became the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) in April 1991
* the League of Communists of Montenegro (SKCG) became the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro (DPS) in June 1991
* the League of Communists of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SKBiH) became the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SDP BiH) in December 1992
See also
* President of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia – list of party leaders
* League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia – youth organization until 1948
* League of Socialist Youth of Yugoslavia – youth organization from 1948
* Praxis School — a Marxist Humanism, Marxist humanist movement critical of implemented self-management
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