6th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia
FPR Yugoslavia | |
Type | political convention |
---|---|
Organised by | League of Communists of Yugoslavia |
The
New policies were adopted, while old policies were replaced. The congress was particularly critical of
Background
The
In 1948, the
Yugoslavia was compelled to ask the
Given the circumstances and the ideological aspect of the Yugoslav–Soviet split, the CPY found it necessary to differentiate the Yugoslav political system from the Soviet one. Since the CPY labelled the USSR undemocratic, it was necessary to devise a new communist approach to governing.[13] A unique communist project was started through several actions. In late 1949, workers' councils were introduced and complemented by workers' self-management in June 1950. Earlier insistence on the unitary state was questioned and criticised as a dangerous manifestation of Stalinism.[14] This approach led to ideological flexibility where even longstanding party dogmas were questioned.[15] In the early 1950s, the CPY introduced the concept of "struggle of opinions" to refer to such exchanges of ideas amid the liberalisation of the economy and administration.[16] Nonetheless, even though the self-management policy gave state-owned enterprises and their municipal-level CPY patrons the freedom to decide on enterprise-level economic matters, funding of those enterprises remained highly centralised.[17] By mid-1952, the CPY leadership wanted to reaffirm its commitment to workers' self-management and formally announce its intention to begin separating the CPY apparatus from the government offices.[18] According to Aleksandar Ranković, the principal objective of the upcoming CPY congress was to align the party with the reforms which took place in the preceding years.[19]
Decisions
Originally scheduled for 19 October 1952, the CPY 6th Congress convened on 2 November in
At the congress, the leadership declared its intention to change the party's role in society. The purpose was to change the party role from director to educator by influencing communists and everyday political and societal life. Another approved proposal was to reduce the central role played by the state bureaucracy.[13] Furthermore, bureaucratism was determined as a significant problem as a remnant of Stalinism. In pursuit of removing the party from the central role in the government, the Congress decided that party secretaries would no longer have corresponding positions in the government.[24] The congress declared that this would leave the central party apparatus to pursue the development of policies and ideology and act primarily through persuasion.[25]
The congress also endorsed the policy of workers' self-management,[26] and instructed the party members to control the workers' councils through persuasion instead of intimidation. At the same time, the congress took steps to restrict the investment decision-making autonomy of the workers' councils and make it more difficult to replace their company managers. These were responses to frequent replacements of company managers and instances of misappropriation of investment funds by the workers' councils manipulated by local party officials. On the other hand, the local-level basic party organisations were granted greater autonomy, although it was explicitly noted that the autonomy would not allow them full independence.[27] Their previous role as an administrative arm of the government was terminated as they were no longer expected to transmit government instructions on enterprise-level economic and administrative decisions. Instead, the basic organisations were given the educational role and told to reorganise so that their one basic party organisation would serve one electoral district.[28]
To make the change more apparent, the CPY changed its name. At the congress, Tito proposed to change the party name to "League of Communists of Yugoslavia" (Savez komunista Jugoslavije, SKJ). The name was inspired by the
The 6th Congress elected
The 6th Congress was the high point of liberalisation in Yugoslavia in the 1950s. The party charter was also amended at the congress, with decentralisation and socialist democracy reemphasised. However, the consensus reached by the 6th Congress would prove short-lived, and an ideological conflict would soon occur.[36] One camp, formed around Đilas, Pijade and possibly Blagoje Nešković, favoured a faster pace of decentralisation of the party and the country. Their opponents rallied around Kardelj, Ranković, Gošnjak, and Kidrič, who advocated a more cautious pace. At the time of the congress, Tito was correctly rumoured to favour the latter group's view. The 6th Congress also signalled a decline in critical discourse. Namely, as the SKJ viewed the adopted changes as a formalisation of the reforms leading up to the congress, its membership was cautioned to refrain from straying from the new party line.[20] Even though criticism of the SKJ was allowed, limits of the criticism were imposed.[27]
Aftermath
Within a year of the congress, complaints of improper implementation of adopted congress policies were made. Lower-ranking party officials continued to accept superior-level instructions without exchanging opinions. In other instances, party organisations interpreted the policy as a call for passivity and an opportunity to work less. Also, there were examples where lower-level party bodies interpreted the new policies as giving them the option of ignoring instructions from above, avoiding meetings, or performing their financial obligations.
The policy change also spurred a debate on the Yugoslav federal system – the role of constituent republics and the status of various peoples in Yugoslavia. The discussion was framed around the dilemma of achieving decentralisation and guaranteeing equality of different nations comprising the Yugoslav Federation and increasing Yugoslav unity on the other. The SKJ deemed the national question solved by establishing the Yugoslav Federation in 1945, and it did not anticipate conflict in relations among constituent republics stemming from the national question. Instead, the 6th Congress sought to promote further rapprochement between the nations. The SKJ portrayed the diverse national heritages of the peoples of Yugoslavia as components of a shared Yugoslav culture while avoiding all forms of forced assimilation.[26] While changes to the political system approved by the congress were formally enshrined in legislation through 1953 Yugoslav constitutional amendments,[24] by 1954, Kardelj held that the existing constitution was suffering from mechanical use of Soviet ideas on federalism.[39] While comparatively minor in importance at the time, the issues would be revisited in the late 1960s and early 1970s and lead to the adoption of a new Yugoslav constitution.[36]
Stalin's death in 1953 substantially reduced the Soviet threat to Yugoslavia, taking away a significant reason for the far-reaching extent of the reforms embraced by the SKJ. In particular, Tito was concerned about maintaining the leading position of the SKJ in society, fearing that adopting Western ideas might undermine the party's dominance. He was also suspicious of the Western intentions towards Yugoslavia as the Trieste Crisis remained unresolved.[40] In June 1953,[25] Tito and Ranković organised the 2nd Plenary Session of the Central Committee at the Brijuni Islands. There, the Central Committee instituted new rules virtually reversing many elements of the policy adopted at the 6th Congress.[36] Most significantly, the committee began to backtrack on the congress's plans for a reduction in the SKJ's role in government and for a gradual "withering away of the state". Furthermore, the group favouring a slower pace of reforms won Tito's favour and prevailed.[20]
Đilas, on the other hand, held that the resolutions of the 6th Congress did not go sufficiently far.[36] He wrote a series of articles for publication in the party newspaper Borba, effectively advocating the introduction of a multi-party system. The party leadership reacted by expelling him in January 1954. The removal of Đilas was interpreted as a prerequisite for improving relations with the USSR. Months later, the Yugoslav leadership commended Stalin's immediate successor Georgy Malenkov. In May 1955, when Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin visited Belgrade, Yugoslavia and the USSR agreed to rebuild their relations on new grounds, marking the end of the Informbiro period.[41]
Tito discovered he could maximise his negotiating power by keeping Yugoslavia neutral in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.[40] Therefore, regardless of the rapprochement with the Soviets, Yugoslavs informed the United States their policy towards the West would remain unchanged. In turn, the American officials were confident that Yugoslavia would not become allied with the Soviet Union.[42]
Footnotes
- ^ Banac 1988, pp. 46–51.
- ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 88.
- ^ Roberts 1973, pp. 316–317.
- ^ Flere & Klanjšek 2019, pp. 59–60.
- ^ Flere & Klanjšek 2019, pp. 61–62.
- ^ Ramet 2006, pp. 175–176.
- ^ Banac 1988, pp. 137–138.
- ^ Haug 2012, p. 134.
- ^ Banac 1988, p. 131.
- ^ Lees 1978, pp. 410–412.
- ^ Brands 1987, p. 41.
- ^ Brands 1987, pp. 46–47.
- ^ a b Haug 2012, p. 138.
- ^ Haug 2012, p. 137.
- ^ Banac 1988, p. 139.
- ^ Shoup 1959, pp. 334–335.
- ^ Rusinow 2007, p. 133.
- ^ Banac 1988, pp. 140–141.
- ^ Neal 1957, p. 91.
- ^ a b c Ramet 2006, p. 191.
- ^ Jandrić 1982, p. 133.
- ^ Korov 2013, p. 67.
- ^ a b Banac 2017, pp. 579–580.
- ^ a b McClellan 1969, p. 135.
- ^ a b Banac 1988, p. 141.
- ^ a b Haug 2012, pp. 140–141.
- ^ a b McClellan 1969, pp. 134–135.
- ^ Shoup 1959, pp. 335–337.
- ^ Štefančić 2007, p. 264.
- ^ Lilly 2001, p. 210.
- ^ Štefančić 2007, pp. 266–267.
- ^ Jandrić 1982, p. 135.
- ^ Štefančić 2007, p. 266.
- ^ Bećirović 2009, p. 119.
- ^ Haug 2012, p. 140.
- ^ a b c d Haug 2012, p. 139.
- ^ Lilly 2001, pp. 221–222.
- ^ Ramet 2006, pp. 191–192.
- ^ Frankel 1955, p. 422.
- ^ a b Haug 2012, pp. 139–140.
- ^ Banac 1988, pp. 141–142.
- ^ Lees 1997, pp. 135–136.
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