engleski

Croatia

In the totalitarian postwar period, the Communist dictatorship succeeded in liquidating the majority of its political opponents, or at least eliminating them completely from public life. In the following years, the regime increasingly secured its authority via clientelist relationships and a 'social pact' that gave all large social strata increased prosperity and social security in exchange for the loss of political freedom, thereby integrating them successfully. Each stratum received its own privileges, so that all took on the character of classes in a sociological sense. Workers enjoyed, independent of party affiliation, the 'privilege' of a secure job, inexpensive sources of recreation, and free apartments that were managed by their companies. Blood relations and local connections played an extremely important role ; in some companies, the entire staff came from one and the same (distant) place. The technical intelligentsia was in a similar situation to that of the working class. Peasants lived outside of this system insofar as they did not enjoy the same social and political privileges as did workers. The regime offered them rewards for loyalty as well, however, namely effective protection from foreign competition by means of high import duties on agricultural products. In the post-totalitarian period, clientelism and the 'social pact' formed a central foundation of the stability of the system in the other State Socialist societies as well. In contrast to most other East European states, however, the Yugoslav system offered a certain pluralism, more openness towards the West, and a growing space for free-market activity. On the one hand, the conditions for opposition and protest were in this way made easier. On the other hand, political dissatisfaction was weakened in its effect, since the system offered discontents an exit option as well as a limited voice option. Thanks to this relative 'liberality', the Yugoslav social system enjoyed a greater acceptance than that of most other Communist regimes, both in the broader populace and among the intellectuals. This explains the fact that, for the majority of Croatian opposition members and dissidents, the 'national question' stood at the center of their conflict with the regime, and liberal-democratic values and human and civil rights were for them, in contrast to the Czechoslovakian and Hungarian oppositions, for example, only of secondary importance.

Croatia, Communism, Dissidence, Opposition, Resistance, 1945-1990

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