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The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the end of World War II (1945) until it disintegrated in the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. It was a socialist state that comprised the area of the present-day independent states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. Formed from the remains of the pre-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the country was proclaimed in 1943 and named Democratic Federal Yugoslavia in 1946. In when?, it became the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia and in 1963 the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. During the Cold War, it became one of the three founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement.
History Democratic Federative Yugoslavia was constituted at the AVNOJ (Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia) conference in Jajce, Bosnia-Herzegovina (November 29 - December 4 1943) while negotiations with the royal government in exile continued. On November 29 1945 the Federative People's Republic of Yugoslavia was established as a socialist state during the first meeting of democratically established but Communist-led Parliament in Belgrade. On January 31, 1946, the new constitution of FPR Yugoslavia selected the six constituent republics. The first president was Ivan Ribar and prime minister Josip Broz Tito. In 1953, Tito was elected as president and later in 1974 named "President for life". Like the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that preceded it, the SFRY bordered Italy and Austria to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Romania and Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, Albania to the southwest, and the Adriatic Sea to the west. Yugoslavia, unlike other Eastern and Central European communist countries, chose a course independent of the Soviet Union (see Informbiro), and was not a member of the Warsaw pact nor NATO. Yugoslavia was subsequently expelled from the World Communist League by the Soviet Union for its refusal to follow Moscow's lead. Because of Yugoslav designs on her territory, this expulsion prompted Albania to align itself with Moscow, on the theory "my enemy's enemy is my friend." Subsequent thawing of relations between Moscow and Belgrade in the years after the death of Josef Stalin, combined with the break in relations between the U.S.S.R. and China, led Albania to realign itself in 1961 with Beijing. That same year, Yugoslavia became a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement (established in 1961), and, alongside countries like Indonesia, one of its central-left influences that promoted a non-confrontational policy towards the U.S. The most significant change to the borders of the SFRY occurred in 1954, when the adjacent Free Territory of Trieste was dissolved by the Treaty of Osimo. The Yugoslav Zone B, which covered 515.5 km², became part of the SFRY. Zone B was already occupied by the Yugoslav National Army. In 1974, a new federal constitution was ratified that gave more autonomy to the individual republics, thereby basically fulfilling the main goals of the 1971 Croatian Spring movement. One of the provisions of the new constitution was that each republic officially had the option to declare independence from the federation. After Tito's death in 1980, tensions between the various peoples grew. In June 1991, Slovenia and Croatia seceded from the federation, followed by the republics of Macedonia in September of 1991 and Bosnia and Herzegovina in March of 1992. After the start of the Yugoslav wars, the SFRY ended in 1992 when the remainder of Yugoslavia, now having only two republics, Serbia and Montenegro, formed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). The FRY was reformed and renamed Serbia and Montenegro in 2003. In June 2006 it was split into the two independent countries when Montenegro seceded after a vote. Administrative divisions
Demographics SFRY recognised "nations" (narodi) and "nationalities" (narodnosti) separately; the former including the constituent Slavic peoples, and the latter other Slavic and non-Slavic ethnic groups, including the Hungarians and the Albanians. The country consisted of six republics, with their appropriate constitutional nations: Also, there was an ethnic designation of "declared as Yugoslavs", for the people who did not wish to express specific ethnic designation, being of mixed ancestry or for other reasons. Their number on censuses varied, but never exceeded 6%. The diversity of nations was a major factor for the dissolution of the federation. Nationalism during Tito's rule was cracked down upon wherever it sprung up. Nationalism had sprung up with the Memorandum of Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in mid 1980's. Tito's successors chose a different way towards the nationalists, instead promoting their ideas and taking their side on some issues, claiming they will defend them and fight, even war, for their cause. Nationalists from other ethnic groups responded with arguments such as "During your Tito's rule, our culture had been cracked down upon, our people oppressed ... but now you won't anymore" and so forth, initiating hatred towards the different nationalities. Economy Despite common origins, the economy of socialist Yugoslavia was much different from economies of the Soviet Union and other Eastern European socialist countries, especially after the Yugoslav-Soviet break-up of 1948. Rather than being owned by the state, companies were socially owned and managed with workers' self-management. The occupation and liberation struggle in World War II left Yugoslavia's infrastructure devastated. Even the most developed parts of the country were largely rural and the little industry the country had was largely damaged or destroyed. With the exception of a recession in mid-1960s, the country's economy prospered formidably. Unemployment was low and the education level of the work force steadily increased. Due to Yugoslavia's neutrality and a leading role in the Non-aligned Movement, Yugoslav companies exported to both Western and Eastern markets. Yugoslav companies carried out construction of numerous major infrastructural and industrial projects in Africa, Europe and Asia. The fact that Yugoslavs were allowed to emigrate freely from 1960s onwards prompted many to find work in Western Europe, notably Germany. This contributed to keeping unemployment in check and also acted as a source of capital and foreign currency. In 1970s, the economy was reorganized according to Edvard Kardelj's theory of associated labour, in which the right to decision making and a share in profits of socially owned companies is based on the investment of labour. All companies were transformed into organizations of associated labour. The smallest, basic organizations of associated labour, roughly corresponded to a small company or a department in a large company. These were organized into enterprises which in turn associated into composite organizations of associated labour, which could be large companies or even whole industry branches in a certain area. Most executive decision making was based in enterprises, so that these continued to compete to an extent even when they were part of a same composite organization. The appointment of managers and strategic policy of composite organizations were, depending on their size and importance, in practice often subject to political and personal influence-peddling. In order to give all employees the same access to decision making, the basic organisations of associated labour were also introduced into public services, including health and education. The basic organizations were usually made up of no more than a few dozen people and had their own workers councils, whose assent was needed for strategic decisions and appointment of managers in enterprises or public institutions. The Yugoslav wars, consequent loss of market, as well as mismanagement and/or non-transparent privatization brought further economic trouble for all former republics of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Only Slovenia's economy grew steadily after the initial shock and slump. Croatia reached its 1990 GDP in 2003, a feat yet to be accomplished by other former Yugoslav republics. The currency of the SFRY was the Yugoslav dinar. Military Much like the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that preceded it, the socialist Yugoslavia maintained a strong military force. Unofficially Yugoslavia was often considered a "second tier" power in Europe, meaning that it was only behind the traditional Big Three (Soviet Union, France, Britain) in military power. The Yugoslav People's Army or JNA/JLA was the main organization of the military forces. It was composed of the ground army, navy and aviation. The regular army mostly originated from the Yugoslav Partisans of the Second World War. Each of the six Republics had their own "territorial defense", a National Guard of sorts, which were established in the frame of a new doctrine called “general people’s resistance” as an answer to the brutal end of the Prague Spring by the Warsaw Pact in Czechoslovakia. Politics The defining document of the state was the Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which was amended in 1963 and 1974. The Communist Party of Yugoslavia had won the first elections, and remained in power throughout the state's existence. It was also called League of Communists of Yugoslavia, and it was composed of individual parties from each constituent republic. The primary political leader of the state was Josip Broz Tito, but there were several other important politicians, particularly after Tito's death: see the list of leaders of communist Yugoslavia. When the individual republics organized multi-party elections in the 1990s, the Communist Parties mostly failed to win re-election. Miscellaneous See also | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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