Yugoslavia

Jan Pelikán, Ondřej Vojtěchovský - In Anticipation of Fading: Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia in the Initial Months of the Normalisation Era
Abstract

The study maps the period from the spring of 1969 to the early 1970 as Husák’s suite established itself at the helm of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) and the state. Its stance towards Yugoslavia was ambiguous. The conservative and dogmatist members of the new regime considered the Yugoslav “revisionists” to be the inspiration for and the supporters of the Prague Spring. A part of the normalisation suite including Gustáv Husák himself wished to renew good relations with Belgrade and obtain a gesture of recognition from it to boost its own legitimacy. The Yugoslav leaders insisted on condemning the Soviet invasion in August 1968 while accepting the new status quo. They tried to avoid accusations of actively interfering with Czechoslovakia’s internal matters since Yugoslavia’s own foreign policy strategy was based on the principle of non‑interference. Czechoslovak‑Yugoslav relations were influenced by the Soviet Union, which normalised its relations with Yugoslavia for pragmatic reasons again after a brief period of deterioration. However, both Soviets and Yugoslavs used the Czechoslovak platform to present more critical and offensive stances than they would show to each other. In effect, Czechoslovak‑Yugoslav relations remained markedly more reserved than Soviet‑Yugoslav relations of the period. The arrival of new power structures in Prague did not affect the practical level of the relations, in particular in economic terms, since both sides were extremely interested in cooperation. The study also analyses the Slovak aspect of relations to Yugoslavia and the impact of political matters on social phenomena such as tourism and travel.

Martin Previšić - Tito–Stalin Conflict and the Yugoslav Secret Police (UDBA) in 1948–1956
Abstract

The paper deals with the Yugoslav secret police (Uprava državne bezbednosti, UDBA) during the Tito–Stalin split. From its beginnings, the Yugoslav secret police organization was one of the pillars of the newly established communist rule in Yugoslavia. Among other things, it played a crucial role in the fight against World War II’s remaining enemies. In addition, the UDBA had an essential role in the “class struggle” and sovietization of Yugoslavia. With the Tito–Stalin split in 1948, the UDBA served as the principal force for quelling Stalin supporters (ibeovci) and running and establishing a prison and labour camp system used for the incarceration of ibeovci. Labour camps, run by the UDBA, become notorious since systematic beatings and torture were used as the primary method in so‑called “political re‑education” of Stalin supporters. As many as 15,700 were imprisoned in one of the many labour camps (Goli Otok was the biggest). After the end of the Tito–Stalin split, the UDBA’s power grew even more until it was reorganized in 1966.

Aleš Gabrič - Communist State Security’s Role in the Persecution of “The Old Communists” in Slovenia
Abstract

Immediately after the end of World War II, State Security bodies in Yugoslavia (and Slovenia) focused on the persecution of people who had collaborated with the occupiers during the war. However, State Security soon started monitoring the actions of those who were seen as potential opponents of the regime. This contribution describes the fates of three leftist intellectuals and members of the Communist Party, who had still enjoyed the privileges of the new authorities for a few years after the war but eventually became critical of the ruling communist elite due to their disagreement with its politics. Two of them were imprisoned and interrogated by State Security and sent to concentration/labour camps. They were put on the list of “Cominform supporters” although they had been arrested before the correspondence between the Soviet and Yugoslav leaderships was published.