Guided by the anti-fascist struggle and the socialist revolution, Yugoslavia had become an important geopolitical subject and had offered the so far only substantial alternative to the historically dominant nationalism in this region – that was the thesis of historian Milivoj Bešlin in his lecture “Yugoslavia as emancipation – Identity characteristics as the basis of state and social exceptionalism”
Bešlin first gave an overview of the post-war rise of socialist Yugoslavia, which had a strong emancipatory character in many social and political spheres, encompassing all peoples and their identities. Building the state on the foundations of anti-fascism, anti-imperialism, anti-Stalinism, federalism, non-alignment and self-management, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia became the bearer of changes and ideas that marked one of the longest periods of peace and prosperity among the South Slavic peoples in modern times.
In the second part of the lecture, Bešlin highlighted the problems the country was facing, and of which its political elites were aware. Frequent constitutional and economic reforms testified to the constant search for a regulatory formula for the improvement of a specific socialist community, and increasingly frequent protests colored with nationalist themes pointed to the fragility of the supranational Yugoslav idea.
Finally, Bešlin referred to the stagnation of socialist Yugoslavia, its causes, as well as internal and external challenges in (unsuccessfully) overcoming the crisis. Socialist Yugoslavia, as he pointed out at the end, despite all its weaknesses, remains however a significant idea that offered an essential alternative to entrenched nationalism and political convergence in Southeastern Europe.
The lecture took place on 27 November, 2024 as part of the cycle Regional tea party “Yugoslavia”, organized by the Academic Network for Cooperation in Southeast Europe in collaboration with the Institute of Social Sciences.
