Collectivization in Yugoslavia

Abstract

IKE all communist governments, the Yugoslav government undertook the collectivization of agricultural land. This collectivization is important for two reasons. First, it is the first communist collectivization program which suffered a major defeat. The Yugoslav government has had to accept the dissolution of many Peasant Work Cooperatives (PWC). The number of PWCs fell from 7,012 in 1950, to 1,258 in 1954, to 688 in 1955. Second, there has been widespread opinion in the West that collectivization in Yugoslavia was organized before 1948, and that collectivization collapsed thanks to the pro-Western position of the Yugoslav government after the so-called rupture between the Yugoslav communists and the Soviet Union. In reality, collectivization in Yugoslavia began in 1949, after the split with Moscow. Six months before this split there were 779 PWCs. Ten months later, in May 1949, there were 4,250 PWCs in Yugoslavia. However, the principal reason why collectivization in Yugoslavia is of current interest may be found in President Tito's statement of November 27, 1955, that the communist leaders had not renounced collectivization: . for a socialist country there cannot be two production systems, socialist and capitalist-if they wish to realize socialism in full. Will there now be a new offensive on the part of Yugoslav communists against the peasants and their agricultural property? Will there be a new drive for complete collectivization in Yugoslavia?