Chapter 3: Social movements between demands for social change, justice and nationalism
3.1. The emergence of student movements in the 1960s
3.1.2. In search of a better communism
Even though the student movements in Belgrade did not have the countercultural character of those in western countries, they are still important because they represent the first public criticism of self-management socialism. According to some of the organizers of and participants in these protests, students who demonstrated in Belgrade had their own unique justifications. On the 47th anniversary of the 1968 student protests in Belgrade, International Radio Serbia77 reported that at the time of the showdown with political opponents, differences within society had come to be increasingly manifest, the unemployment rate was increasing, and, as dissatisfaction began to mount, many citizens migrated abroad. Migration was indeed allowed by the government, which saw this phenomenon as temporary (Dimova 2013: 31).
An interesting scholarly opinion about the reasons which influenced student movements in Belgrade is given by Croatian philosopher Branko Despot. He argued that the 1968 student movement was also triggered by an increased interest in philosophy, which was reflected in the high number of students enrolled in philosophy courses and studies.
This argument should not be dismissed, particularly taking into consideration the fact that in Belgrade, as the main center of resistance, the largest meetings were held at the Faculty
77 Accessible at; http://voiceofserbia.org/ru/ [Last accessed on 10/02/2019]
63 of Philosophy. Eight professors who were later punished were from this faculty.78 In Zagreb and Sarajevo, as well as in Prishtina, the movement began at the Faculty of Philosophy and continued to spread to other places around the country.79 Popov, in contrast, claims that the SFRY student movements were triggered by the protests in the United States and Europe.
The protests were not only a result of political and social emancipation but were also shaped by a quest for human universal emancipation from all types of dependencies: technology, economy, governance, and ideologies. According to him, different social movements can collide depending on the type of emancipation that is sought (youth, workers, women, etc.).
The main reason behind the 1968 student movements in SFRY, however, was the political monopolization which excluded "others" from participation in the political scene, thereby producing a lack of democracy (Popov 2008). Arguably, the student protests in SFRY also marked the end of the economic reforms begun between 1964 and 1967, with the Assembly's focus on reducing the role of the state in economic management and creating the legislative foundation of market socialism. Reforms also included external trade measures: SFRY devalued its currency, obtained foreign loans, and joined the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.80 However, this view may be only partially true. Even when discussing the Belgrade movements in isolation, undoubtedly, the central motivation of the protests was to make a difference. The student demands, which were later framed into a long and definitive document, were mostly social and centered on a critique of the bureaucratization of the Party. The students’ main demands were the following: an end to growing unemployment, economic emigration, social inequalities, privileges for selected state officials, and corruption, and implementation of the students' demands for the democratization of political life, especially in the Party, as well as the application of
self-78 Eight professors of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade (Dragoljub Mićunović, Mihajlo Marković, Ljuba Tadić, Zagorka Golubović, Dragan Životić, Svetozar Stojanović, Nebojša Popov and Trivo Inđić) paid a high price for the 1968 student demonstrations. The sentence came seven years later – excluding them from the University.
Also as a result, Aleksander Kron, assistant professor of philosophy, was expelled from the Party, and Jadran Ferlugai, professor of history, and Alija Hodžić, a sociology student, were seriously censured. Notwithstanding the "price paid," during one of the anniversaries of the student protests organized in Belgrade, academician Mihajlo Marković, a key participant in the 1968 student protests, stated that he was “proud of events that took place in 1968.”
79 Hrvoje Klasić’s interview about the book he authored, “Jugoslavija i svijet 1968: Šezdeset i osma najbolji je Titov spin or (Yugoslavia and the world 1968": ‘68 is Tito's best spin)." Published by Novo list, available at;
http://www.novilist.hr/Vijesti/Hrvatska/Hrvoje-Klasic-autor-knjige-Jugoslavija-i-svijet-1968-Sezdeset-i-osma-najbolji-je-Titov-spin [Last accessed on 10/02/2019]
80 See Yugoslavia” s Country Data for Reforms of the 1960s, available at: http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-14789.html [Last accessed on 10/02/2019]
64
management (which was already official policy) at all levels, etc.81 While talking about the student demonstrations in Belgrade, Azem Vllasi mentioned one of the slogans which he found very contradictory: "The University of Belgrade to be named ‘Karl Marx'" (Vllasi:
October 2015). However, it is debatable whether the final version of the student demands was in line with the original motivation for the protests, which, according to some authors, was for "better communism."
Differences between the student movements in the West and the East were significant. Unlike their counterparts in Western Europe, the students in SFRY were concerned with their problems as students. Student discontent and protest were directed against the negative effects of the system, and even though the students' demands differed in their nature, student protests in this part of Europe were influenced by the wave of demonstrations that swept many countries in 1968 (Jandrić, 2002), and yet, in the SFRY demonstrations, there was a clear distinction that in none of them was criticism directed at Tito. Radoja insists that student demonstrations in Belgrade were primarily affected by the economic situation in the country, inter-republican and international relations, as well as the role of Josip Broz Tito, whom Radoja considers to have been a very skilled manipulator and the main "winner" in this process (Radoja, 2008). While agreeing with Radoja's arguments about Tito’s being the main "winner," Popović also maintains that while in the West students rebelled against the existing state of things, seeking liberation of the individual, more personal and sexual freedom, students in Belgrade were fighting for "better communism." He even claims that the students took to the streets chanting "We are Tito, Tito is Ours" and singing "Comrade Tito, we swear never to stray away from your path"
right after Tito's statement on June 8, 1968. The next day, major global publications proclaimed that Tito was the only politician in the world who gave rights to youth (Popović, 2008).
The situation was strictly controlled by the SFRY government. The regime prevented reaction, and repression limited the power and the effect of the students' rebellion.
Besides punishing the professors, the police also used violence against students, however, they either denied it or the use of force by the police was not publicly discussed. Želimir
81 This list of demands is detached from the International Socialism Survey. November/December 1970. Yugoslav Student Struggles. From International Socialism, No.45, November/December 1970, pp.8-11. Transcribed &
marked up by Einde O” Callaghan for ETOL. Available at;
https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/isj/1970/no045/survey4.htm [Last accessed on 10/02/2019]
65 Žilnik's documentary on the 1968 student demonstrations in Belgrade, entitled "Lipanjska Gibanja" (June Turmoil),82 reaffirms that the police resorted to violence to stop the demonstrations. In this documentary, students talk about the agreements they reached with the police. Further, they discuss the requests of the regime for the students to return to the university and drop their demands. This video clearly shows that student protests in Belgrade were considered to be pro-Yugoslav, inasmuch as the Belgrade students articulated demands within the framework of the official ideology, indicating unequaled ideals of freedom and emancipation in SFRY society. However, some of the protestors' slogans, such as: "Workers and Students," "We want Jobs," "Down with the Socialist Bourgeoisie," "They were shooting at us," "We are the Children of the Working people,"
etc., uniformly pointed at police violence, growing unemployment, social inequalities, privileges bestowed upon selected state officials, etc. Nebojša Popov, a Serbian sociologist who approached this topic both as a researcher and a participant and wrote about this field,83 confirms that violence was used and argues that both students rushing to join the protests and fights with the police started soon after the protests began.