The Antibureaucratic Revolution and its Enemies

Abstract

Between September 1988 and March 1989 the eastern part of socialist Yugoslavia experienced high levels of mobilization, which rarely occur under authoritarianism. Public meetings, large street rallies, strikes, marches and demonstrations abounded, with a few hunger strikes, and even violence by the end of March. Only in December were there no major non-institutional events. The antibureaucratic revolution started in September and ended in January, while the parallel mobilization of Kosovo Albanians and protests over the Serb-Slovene conflict unfolded between November and March (see Chapter 6). The antibureaucratic revolution featured the protests of Kosovo Serb activists and their supporters, industrial workers, students and other groups, but also included broad unorganized popular participation. The participants insisted on changes to the constitutional status of Serbia’s autonomous provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo, demanded higher wages and subsidies for their failing state enterprises, called for the accountability of high officials and demanded the official recognition of popular participation in politics. Facing large demonstrations and mounting disorder, high officials of Vojvodina and Montenegro resigned, as did hundreds of local officials across Serbia and Montenegro who either opposed the tide or lacked enthusiasm when supporting it.