Communist Yugoslavia Research Articles

Ekonomski i prosvetni preobražaj autonomije Kosova i Metohije (1958-1965)

Decision of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia to pay special attention to the development of the Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija has radically changed the economic structure of the region. This was reflected in the opening of new plants in the electrical, chemical, textile and food industries, which was followed by the high rates of economic growth. These changes were made possible by investments from the federal and republican levels, which accounted for over 70% of total investments in Kosovo and Metohija. Data on the economic boom of Kosovo and Metohija in the period 1957-1964. years deny the myth of the "oppression of Albanians" while Aleksandar Rankovic was in positions of power. The increase in professional engagement and material investments at the end of the fifties enabled school buildings in Kosovo and Metohija to meet modern urban, hygienic and pedagogical standards. In order to improve interethnic relations, Serbian, Albanian and Turkish students from the same places started attending schools in the same facilities, and the Albanian language was introduced as an elective subject for Serbian students. During the 1950s, Kosovo Albanians rarely chose to study at Yugoslav universities, driven by cultural, economic and political considerations. The situation changed after 1958, with the establishment of the Higher Education School in Pristina. The faculty network expanded in the following years, so that in the early 1960s, Kosovo and Metohija had four towns that housed higher education institutions. Pristina has become the cultural, economic and educational center of this part of Yugoslavia.

«At night VChK arrested comrade head of the Bureau»: liquidation of the Central Yugoslavian Bureau under the Central Committee of the RCP(b) in 1921

The article examines the activities of the Central Yugoslavian Bureau under the Central Committee of the RCP(b) at the final stage of the Civil War. According to the Soviet and Yugoslav historiography of the socialist period, the Yugoslavian communist organizations in 1920-1921 were mainly engaged in facilitating the returnof the Yugoslavs ‒ former Austro-Hungarian subjects who participated in the Civil War on both sides – to their homeland. The documents chosen for the article make it possible to assert that these organizations did not contribute to the repatriation of compatriots as much as they tried to «appropriate» part of the powers executed by the Bolshevik punitive organs. Namely, the right to decide at own will who of the Yugoslavians is a «proletarian element» and, thus, can count on return, and who is subject to imprisonment in a concentration camp so that the hostages can be later chosen from them. In conclusion, the author gives his vision of the reasons for the closure of the mentioned organizations of the Yugoslav communists.

Subotić , Jelena Yellow Star, Red Star: Holocaust Remembrance after Communism (review)

REVIEWS 187 Subotić, Jelena. Yellow Star, Red Star: Holocaust Remembrance after Communism. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY and London, 2019. xx + 241 pp. Maps. Illustrations. Notes. Index. £24.99: $29.99. Seventy-five years since the liberation of Auschwitz, Holocaust memory still remains the topic of fervent debate in Eastern European and post-Communist historiography. In Yellow Star, Red Star: Holocaust Remembrance after Communism, Jelena Subotić, professor of political science at Georgia State University, develops a framework for understanding how political memories shape the contemporary identities of ‘ontologically insecure’ states. By focusing on Serbia, Croatia and Lithuania as primary case studies, Subotić also illuminates the history of the Holocaust and its remembrance in states which have remained largely marginal in Holocaust studies. The author contends that post-Communist states are of particular interest because they are dealing with multiple sources of ontological insecurity: insecurities about their European and national identities, their status in the international community and their newly independent states’ relationships with international organizations. One of the strategies to overcome these insecurities is what Subotić has termed Holocaust ‘memory appropriation’, which entails using the Holocaust ‘to memorialize a different kind of suffering, such as suffering under communism, or suffering from ethnic violence perpetrated by other groups’ (p. 9). This is dangerous because it not only erases the suffering and banalizes the genocide of Europe’s Jewish population, but it also asserts a false equivalency between fascism and communism. In the first chapter of the book, Subotić outlines the importance of Holocaust memory to European and liberal conceptualizations of modernity. In fact, the need for continuous reflection on dishonourable legacies such as the Holocaust is a constitutive element of Europeanness; it is a crucial element in the process of ascension of post-Communist states to the European political and moral community (Dace Dzenovska, School of Europeanness, Ithaca, NY 2018). In this chapter, the author argues that Serbia has adopted ‘memory inversion’, which is reminiscent of what Marko Živković has termed ‘the wish to be a Jew’ (‘The Wish to be a Jew: The Power of the Jewish Trope in the Yugoslav Conflict’, Cahiers de l’Urmis, 6, 2000, pp. 69–84); the worn-out national narrative which frames the Serbian nation as a righteous victim in the hopes of earning pity in the West. In this strategy of Holocaust memory appropriation, the discourse and imagery of the Holocaust is appropriated to illuminate Communist crimes against Serbs. Interestingly, Subotić accuses Croatia of ‘memory divergence’, where the blame for the triple genocide against the Serb, Jewish and Roma communities is laid entirely on German Nazis, thus absolving the local fascists. In the final move, the author argues that Lithuania has adopted ‘memory SEER, 99, 1, JANUARY 2021 188 conflation’, in which narratives on the Holocaust are combined and equated with Stalinism. However, there is overlap in the appropriation strategies used; for instance, all three seem to engage in memory divergence by blaming the Germans for atrocities committed by locals. The following three chapters each deal with one of the three case studies, aiming to compare the Soviet and Yugoslav Communist experiences, as well as the experiences of members and aspiring members of the European Union. The first section of each chapter outlines the timeline of the Holocaust in these states, particularly emphasizing local collaboration with the occupiers and participation in the genocide of the Jews. Subotić engages in critical discourse analysis and compares state remembrance rituals, speeches and memorials during the Communist and post-Communist periods. Subotić concludes each case study with a brief discussion on the contemporary lives of the devastated Jewish communities through interviews with community representatives and Shoah survivors. The final chapter of the book reiterates the fact that these state machinations with historical revisionism have resulted in the rehabilitation of local Holocaust architects and collaborators, contributing to the proliferation of neo-fascism and right-wing nationalism in Europe. Subotić closes her book with a memorable call for ‘memory solidarity’, arguing that ‘feeling and expressing accountability for all this violent history makes our histories more balanced and complete and our societies more just’ (p. 228). The impact of these revisionist remembrance practices on communities victimized by the Holocaust is...

Break-up of the Yugoslav political elite, 1962-1972

The break-up of the Yugoslav communist elite, which came about in the period 1962-1972, is considered. The break-up came about under the elite?s disappointment due to the failure to achieve economic objectives it set for itself, bringing about internal dubiety and mutual suspicion, the political system moving towards consociation also contributed to fracturing. However, this is not sufficient as explanation. Cultural elites also contributed in the same direction. Economic growth was significant, considering the entire period 1945-1991, but it was always clouded by imbalances. Certain issues and discussions were indicative of the break-up. Political unity and communism was gradually replaced as objective by ?resolving the national question?, also a legitimate Marxist concern. It can be considered that by the break-up, a normalization of elite pattern came about, comparable to elites in the greatest number of European states, although the elites kept on being ?ideocratic?. Whereas elites may have become ?normal?, the functioning of the political system became ever more difficult. The ascending national communist elites never undertook steps at the direct dissolution of the Yugoslav state, although they entered into ceaseless disputes and finally paved the way to ethnic entrepreneurs and counter-elites to implement the dissolution. By the elite break-up a relation between elite and nation similar to the one existing in the great majority of European countries was achieved.

Društveni i simbolički položaj boraca Narodnooslobodilačkog rata nakon oslobođenja u Federativnoj Narodnoj Republici Jugoslaviji

The paper deals with the attitude of the newly formed state government in Yugoslavia, after the Second World War, towards war veterans, in the period between the enactment of the first and second constitutions of the Communist Yugoslavia, the period of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (1946-1963). On the example of social protection of the fighters and their symbolic representation, especially through sculpture as the most suggestive and the most communicative medium for transmitting symbolic messages, the aim of the paper is to establish what the social position of the war veterans was in that historical period, and also to point to the important knowledge that the social protection of veterans, war invalids, as well as the families of the fallen soldiers was at an enviable level and that the new government immediately saw the importance of the symbolic representation of valuable ideals through the medium of sculpture also. In the newly formed Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPRY, 1945-1963), nurturing the revolutionary tradition and the legacy of the People's Liberation War were priority social tasks.

Outside of Memories We Belong, Women of Yugoslavia

This article addresses the issues surrounding the Yugoslav Civil War by offering my personal narrative in relation to loss and disappearance resulting from the exposure to war and sanctions in the nineties and the “Merciful Angel“ operation of the bombing of Serbia by NATO in 1999. It thus focuses on the female interpretation of people, ways of life, buildings and human artifacts belonging to the historical period of communist Yugoslavia which once were, yet no longer remain. The work with archives, especially the photographs which originate from my personal family possession, brings closer these ghosts of the past times to the present moment. At the same time, photography is a means to investigate the position and treatment of women during and after the period of Yugoslavia, their efforts and struggles for emancipation. The usage of photography as a visual narrative allows an insight into the lives of women during communism through the lens of my closest female family members. The article tackles different issues concerning women in communist Yugoslavia, and follows certain steps in their history, from the emancipation following the Second World War and participation of women in battle as combatants and nurses, their efforts in rebuilding the country and subsequent reestablishment of patriarchal values which occurred at the start of Yugoslav Civil war and conflicts that marked it. Autoethnography as a research method combined with personal narrative allows a deeper understanding of culture and values of Yugoslav society and their subsequent clash. In addition to this, it celebrates the importance of female voice and activism in the constant battle against patriarchy and women who chose to defy it by acknowledging responsibility and the patriarchal nature of war. Photographic practice-based research allows an insight into individual stories which form a deeper understanding of the pre- and post- war Yugoslav society and political circumstances surrounding it. Author(s): Ivana Mancic Title (English): Outside of Memories We Belong, Women of Yugoslavia Journal Reference: Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, Vol. 17, No. 2-3 (Winter 2020) Publisher: Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities - Skopje Page Range: 82-88 Page Count: 7 Citation (English): Ivana Mancic, “Outside of Memories We Belong, Women of Yugoslavia,” Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, Vol. 17, No. 2-3 (Winter 2020): 82-88. Author Biography Ivana Mancic, Nottingham Trent University Ivana Mancic is a Ph.D, researcher in Fine Art, School of Art and Design at Nottingham Trent University, U.K., with the focus on art practice aimed at the production of multi-disciplinary artworks, videos and installations, the purpose of which is to display the personal narrative to address the issues of war, loss and belonging, related to the specificity of the ex-Yugoslav context in order to contribute to the developing of the female voice of artists and pacifists in contemporary art. The personal narrative is presented in the written form through artworks, texts, essays and reflections on war experiences and current world crises through intersections between the present and the past.

Polityka historyczna Partii Akcji Demokratycznej w Bośni i Hercegowinie na przełomie XX i XXI wieku – zarys problemu

The aim of this paper is to make an overarching evaluation by looking at historical policy of the Party of Democratic Action (Stranka demokratske akcije, SDA) in Bosnia and Herzegowina at the turn of the 20th and 21st century and trying to (analytically) examine the main directions of this policy. Therefore paper will try to focus on the major historical figures and trying to analytically to indicate the reasons of the revival the Ottoman traditions in the public life of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Considering this issue I wonder what events and historical figures were promoted and which were censored by Bosnian politicians. What role in Bosnian historical politics was played by Srebrenica and the leader of Bosnian Muslims, Alija Izetbegović. The results of these studies indicate that it was primarily the conflict in Yugoslavia that contributed to the revival of Ottoman traditions among Bosnian Muslims. Only after the war did the historical policy gain institutional support and help the ruling party mobilize the electorate. Since then, the pillar of historical policy has become the martyrdom of the nation, the Ottoman past as well as the cult of the leader of Bosnian Muslims, Alija Izetbegović. Also, the authorities aimed to convince the inhabitants of Bosnia that in their lives the period of communist Yugoslavia brought many negative consequences. This pejorative image was supported in the mass media and education.

The Development of Muslim Nation in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The main goal of this article is to show the conditions and circumstances of the formation of Muslim nation in communist Yugoslavia and the increase of its significance during and after the civil war 1992-1995. Furthermore, author presents the characteristics of contemporary nationalism, and distinguishes specific Balkan nationalism, which is often chauvinistic, ahistorical, militant and exclusive, of ethnocultural character. The identity of Bosnian Muslims originated from belief that their origin, language and culture related to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which makes them different from the Turks and other Islamic nations living in the Ottoman Empire. The genesis of forming Muslim nation in Yugoslavia is interpreted in various ways by the researchers. There is a hypothesis that it has been developed thanks to activity of young people who convinced Josip Broz Tito that such decision would reduce tensions between the Serbs and Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the Author, Muslim inhabitants of Bosnia and Herzegovina can’t be a separate nation, above all, since the followers of Islam were nationally indifferent, and their cultural legacy is completely different than Serbian and Croatian legacy.

(Re)discovering the Self through an ‘Other’: reflections on the spiritual education of the actor in the remnants of Yugoslavia

This article considers the undercurrents of spirituality in Professor Bajčetić’s approach to Stanislavski-based actor education in the apparently secular environment of communist Yugoslavia. It concentrates on the first year of the four-year programme of actor education in which students worked on themselves, exploring the question – ‘Who am I?’ as an actor, as a character and as a human being. Bajčetić worked for 45 years as a professor of acting at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, during which time he taught generations of more than 300 students from all over the former Yugoslavia, as well as several generations of students in Norway, where he taught for ten years. The article is written from my perspective as a member of Bajčetić’s last class, and based on the research I did twelve years after his retirement in 2001. I surveyed a number of his former students and interviewed Bajčetić directly in 2014. In the process of (re)discovering the Self through the construction and performance of an Other, Bajčetić insisted his students connect to the spiritual without naming it as such, in ways that could liberate both actors and audiences – as much off-stage and on.

The Yugoslav National Idea Under Socialism: What Happens When a Soft Nation-Building Project Is Abandoned?

AbstractFollowing Stalin’s interpretations of the Lenin’s thesis on the merging of the nations, the Yugoslav communists first needed to “push” all nations to the same level of development. After the Tito-Stalin split in 1948, the soft Yugoslav nation-building project was accelerated. During the 1950s, national Yugoslavism was stimulated in a latent way through language, culture, censuses, and changes in the constitutional and socialist system. By the end of the 1950s, the Yugoslav socialist national idea reached its peak with the 1958 Party Congress. Nevertheless, with the economic crisis in the early 1960s, and the famous Ćosić-Pirjevec debate on Yugoslavism, the Yugoslav national idea declined. This was evident on the level of the personal, national identifications of the Party members, but also in the ideological shift of the Party’s chief ideologue Edvard Kardelj. Yet, the concept of Yugoslavism was redefined in the second half of the 1960s without ethnic or national connotations. Two Yugoslavisms were created: a socialist one propagated by the Party and a national one that lived among the population in small proportions. Although the Yugoslavs were never recognized as a nation, that did not stop them from publicly advocating for their national rights.

Was Tito's Yugoslavia not totalitarian?

This paper is a response to an article “Was Tito’s Yugoslavia totalitarian?” published in the journal Communist and Post-Communist Studies 47 (2014). The two authors indicate the inadequate theoretical framework and untenable interpretations made by Flere and Klanjšek, who provided a distorted picture of former Yugoslav society and the position of an individual in it. Their reduced theory of totalitarianism combined with their simplified interpretations served their aim of proving that the system established by the Yugoslav communists was not totalitarian nor did it strive to become one. Flere and Klanjšek’s main argument for the absence of totalitarianism is that of a federal state concept of Yugoslavia, which is not in correlation with contemporary understanding of totalitarianism. By deconstructing their arguments, this article argues for a more elaborated and up-to-date conceptual understanding of Tito’s Yugoslavia and its relation to the concept of totalitarianism.

<i>Hamlet</i> Between the Characters of Bukara and Učitelj/Teacher: On the Most Famous Play by Ivo Brešan

The paper discusses the most famous play written by the Croatian playwright Ivo Brešan /1936 – 2017/, which is based on <i>Hamlet</i>. The issue of representation, even defence of literary, aesthetic and ethical values comes up quite often in Brešan's plays on the grounds of an equal mechanism: between primitivism and brutality on the one side (following Hegel: Brešan's "Antithesis") and enlightenment and idealism on the other ("Thesis") there is a literary text as an extension of the Thesis; it is a template with a purpose to build up a new dramatic storytelling, which will be adjusted to spatial, social and philosophical circumstances to which the author belongs. A literary text in Brešan's plays functions as a mediator (be it Shakespeare's <i>Hamlet</i> or another play) and enters the zone of "popularization"; it has the role of an "arbiter" (Souriau) that emphasizes the values of the Thesis (the transfer between the scope of "serious" literature and reality) presented as a structure that should be made accessible to a wider audience, regardless of whether the receiver has recognized the mediator text or not. From the conscience of such a construction arise the questions on stratifications and goals of a transfer or "borrowing" from classic literature. We can conclude that the mediator text, in this case Shakespeare's <i>Hamlet</i>, with the <i>milieu</i> associated to it (Antithesis) together make Brešan’s Synthesis, which turns into a new potential Thesis. A classic text that was meant for Elizabethan people throughout the centuries turned into an elitist canon of the educated and grew distant from its roots and its primary purpose of folk entertainment. In the 20^th century the same text receives a role of a highly valuable work of art, and the performance based upon it turns into an aesthetic event meant for the educated. Created and represented this way in Croatian playwriting during the 1960s and 1970s (in SFRY, i.e. former, communist Yugoslavia) – Shakespeare's text was used as a foundation for the construction of a new text, and this new text (as a reaction to the repression in the social system) – Brešan's <i>The Stage Play of Hamlet in the Village of Mrduša Donja</i> (today considered a classic play in Croatian literature) – is to be used by a future playwright for creating a new literary work, i.e. for a new intertextuality.

Sjećanja na rad - radnici "Čajaveca" nakon privatizacije

The working class was, at least formally, a formative basis of the former Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). The transformation of the system from the Communist to the capitalistic one led to its alienation, poverty, and social exclusion. This transformation, as part of the neoliberal globalisation, occurred through the introduction of the so-called 'shock therapy' measures: liberalisation, privatisation, and stabilisation. Large industrial complexes and leading stateowned companies in the SFRY were the subject of, often dubious, privatisation processes. Through such processes, workers, who were once owners and motors of companies they worked at, are now stripped of the ownership and the opportunity to work at the same companies. The majority of research on postCommunist economic transformation focuses on changes to the system, on economic aspects of privatisation processes, and on introduction of market economy. Yet, there are few research focusing on the privatisation and transformation from a workers' perspective. This paper attempts to fill in this gap by providing a different angle to the current studies of transformation of the SFRY and its successor states. Through interviews with former workers of privatised and/or closed factories and industrial complexes (using the local company of 'Rudi Čajavec' as an example), the research presented in this paper analyses workers' attitudes and sentiments towards the labour in the Communist Yugoslavia and the labour today, as well as towards the privatisation processes accompanying the latter.The research gives a voice to the workers, and, by looking at the past, gives a worker-centred approach to imagining labour in the future.

Bosanski Muslimani i Srbi - razlozi nesporazuma od 1918. do danas

The paper provides an analysis of political relations of Bosnian Muslims (officially Bosniaks since 1993) and Serbs, lasting for almost a century. Firstly, the author deals with their relations in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 1918 to 1941, all the way through World War II from 1941 to 1945, then in the Communist Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1990, followed bythe period after the break-up of Socialist Federal Republic Yugoslavia, when Bosnia and Herzegovina became sovereign state, and, finally,with their current relations We believe that the main cause of the dispute is that Bosnian Muslims historically always abandoned Serbs at critical times and sought the support of other states and nations for their state-building goals. In wars, they supported their enemies, often forming alliances with other states or nations. As religious idea among the Bosnian Muslims grew from 1918, so did their numbers as well as their aspirations for Serbian territories. Similarly, as the number of Bosnian Muslims grew, so did the interest of great powers and political parties as well as their military support. Most importantly, with the rise of numbers of Bosnian Muslims, their policies and their stance towards the state changed. Hence, when they became majority in Bosnia and Herzegovina, they wanted to turn the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina into their national state.

Masovne demonstracije i pad režima SAP Vojvodine 1988. godine

The main cause of demonstrations was Vojvodina leadership's persistent refusal to accept changes to the Constitution that would confirm the sovereignty of Serbia in its autonomous provinces. After Slobodan Milosevic rose to power, the Serbian authorities developed two different policies regarding autonomous provinces. In case of Vojvodina, the main emphasis was on using the lack of democratic capacity and legitimacy of the leadership in Vojvodina, while leadership of Kosovo was the subject of party pressure through the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. Leadership of Vojvodina, which has been decisively and confidently rejecting any thought in which Vojvodina could be politically subordinated to the Republic, was confused by the July and August demonstrations. In absence of finding an adequate response to the new situation, leadership remained passive, which ultimately led to complete paralysis of Vojvodina government. The confusion and passiveness of the main Vojvodina communists during the summer and autumn of 1988. indicates that demonstrations hit their weakest point - democratic capacity. It turned out that the stern attitude of Vojvodina Communists towards Serbia was not supported by the population of Vojvodina, and that the province government policy was not legitimate.. Second key factor in the Anti-bureaucratic revolution in Vojvodina was the influence of media, which was controlled by the Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic. The anti-bureaucratic revolution in Vojvodina represents a historical phenomenon of a unique kind, which at the same time contains the elements of the Revolutions of 1989, in which Eastern European regimes were down due to the lack of their own legitimacy and under the burst of the popular rebellion, as well as elements of the "Cultural Revolution" in China, when the most powerful man of the party used and manipulated national dissatisfaction in order to remove political opponents and reduce the influence of competitive fractions in the party.

Reflection on my 37 years of practice as a neuropathologist: Home alone.

I was born 70 years ago in the small town of Sinj, Dalmatia, Croatia, Yugoslavia. When I was 5 months old, my father was sent to prison for two years on Goli otok (Bare Island), an ill-famed prison for politically inappropriate people at that time. At 24 years old, he could not understand that Stalin, who was an idol for young Communists, had become an enemy overnight after the Informbiro Resolution, by which the Yugoslav Communist party was expelled from the international Communist party led by Stalin. It was a price for living free on the outer side of the Iron Curtain, between East and West, where Yugoslavia remained until the end of 1990, when the Balkan wars started. My father has stuck with Communist ideas until today, almost 95 years old. Under his influence, I entered the Communist party in high school, but very quickly realized that politics is not something I would like to practice.

Odlazak Ivana Stambolića u Kosovo Polje 6. aprila 1986. godine

The Serbian resistance movement, centered in Kosovo Polje, was a new factor in the complicated political relations of Communist Yugoslavia. In the spring of 1986, this grassroots movement was becoming a formidable political force and a possible source of wider social unrest. The most influential politician in the Serbian leadership, Ivan Stamoblić, came to Kosovo Polje on April 6, 1986. During a short visit, he missed an opportunity to gain the movement's support and showed a lack of understanding of the deep changes in Yugoslav society.

Intellectual history of a textbook: Radomir Lukić's introduction to law between Marx and Kelsen

Radomir Lukic’s Introduction to Law was a model textbook in Communist Yugoslavia for nearly fifty years. Still in use as a learning source in present-day Serbia, it combines Marxist theory of law with Kelsen’s normativism in order to explain the legal rule as a social fact without denying its normative dimension. In order to discern the reasons for and patterns of this synthesis, the paper compares the first five consecutive editions of Lukic’s textbook, as milestones of the author’s intellectual evolution. The initial hypothesis is that Lukic’s teaching was no more than a reinterpretation of his Parisian doctoral thesis from the late 1930s. Inspired by French theory of social law and despite being Marxist, his teaching was not of Marxist origin. As such, it facilitates understanding of the Communist theory of law, especially Marxist perception and reception of Kelsenian normativism.

An overview of historiographical editions published by Matica Hrvatska (1918-1996)

This article focuses on the historiographical editions published by Matica Hrvatska from 1918 to the first half of the 1990s, which influenced the formation of Croatia’s intellectual and cultural identity over a period of almost a century. Historiographical editions have been chronologically divided into three significant periods of their publication, which correspond to important historical and political epochs: the first period being from the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the entry of the Croatian people into the first Yugoslav state in 1918 to the collapse of the Independent State of Croatia in 1945; the second from the establishment of the second Yugoslavia until its disintegration, from 1945 to 1989; and the third from the beginning of the democratic changes in 1990 and the creation of the present Croatian state. The article shows that the works published by Matica mirrored in many ways the political aspirations of each epoch, as has been amply documented in this article. The historiographical editions published by Matica Hrvatska during the 20th century undoubtedly reflect various political and social changes that influenced the publishing policy of this oldest Croatian cultural institution. Its publishing activity experienced a particular boom during the presidency of Filip Lukas between 1928 and 1945, which is certainly one of the most productive periods in the history of Matica in terms of publishing and of cultural promotion. Unlike the socialist period, when national themes were suppressed and avoided in a certain way, and there were almost no publications on local history, in the said period Matica not only focused on national history, but also printed numerous editions dealing with the local histories of individual Croatian cities and regions. The most serious crisis in Matica’s history came after World War II, when its publishing activities were suppressed, primarily because of its previous role in promoting Croatian nationalism. Its membership had given strong support to the establishment of the Croatian state in 1941, which in no way coincided with the overall direction of the cultural policy of the post-war communist regime. In this regard, the pinnacle was the eventual ban on Matica’s work, which came in 1972 because of its prominent role in the Croatian Spring during the 1960s, until the dismissal of the Croatian communist leadership in Karađorđevo in 1971. In such circumstances, Matica’s publishing activity barely managed to survive in the framework of Matica Hrvatska’s Publishing House. This institute pursued particularly extensive publishing activity in the years when the Yugoslav communist system began to disintegrate, in 1989-1990, when it also published the works of the former dissident and future Croatian President, Franjo Tuđman. In the aftermath of the establishment of a democratic Croatian state and with the renewal of Matica’s work, its publishing activity experienced a resurgence towards the end of the 20th century, when topics from national and local history were again in its focus, as well as the previously banned books of the emigration, now published in new, Croatian editions.

"BALKAN HEADQUARTER" IN THE OPTIC OF ALBANIAN COMMUNISTS IN THE 1939-1944 YEARS

This paper aims to present the features of the Balkan cooperation of the left political forces during the years of World War II, respectively the project of the Balkan Headquarters, in the view of the Albanian communists. The idea of Balkan co-operation spread to all communist movements in the Balkan countries, the most active was the Yugoslav Communist Party, which aimed to create a "Balkan Headquarter" under the conditions of war and a "Balkan Federation" after its end. At the end of 1942, the Yugoslav Communist leadership established contacts with the Communist Parties of Bulgaria, Greece and Albania to coordinate actions in the fight against Nazi fascist forces. Taking in consideration that the Albanian communists had the orientation compass in those years the Yugoslavs, under their influence, tried to achieve the objectives of this project as far as possible. Thus within the anti-fascist alliance but also under the Yugoslav directives, especially during the German occupation, the links and cooperation between the Albanian national liberation movement and the liberation movements of Yugoslavia and Greece intensified, especially in the border areas. With the EAM and the National Liberation Army of Greece (ELAS), an important area of cooperation was the Konispol region and generally Cameria. Pursuant to the agreement reached between the General Council of the Albanian National Liberation Army and the Greek National Liberation Front, they were sent to these representative areas on both sides to propagate the common war goals in the population and to mobilize them in the mutual partisan formations. But it should be noted that the Albanian National Liberation Army combative co-operation with ELAS was limited. Within the framework of cooperation with the Yugoslav National Liberation Army, several joint operations have been undertaken, especially in border areas. The fact that Kosovo Albanians are engaged in the national liberation movement, which has contributed to the increase of cooperation in these areas, should be considered. Cooperation between the two liberation movements has been more visible in Macedonia's area.This paper aims to present the features of the Balkan cooperation of the left political forces during the years of World War II, respectively the project of the Balkan Headquarters, in the view of the Albanian communists. The idea of Balkan co-operation spread to all communist movements in the Balkan countries, the most active was the Yugoslav Communist Party, which aimed to create a "Balkan Headquarter" under the conditions of war and a "Balkan Federation" after its end. At the end of 1942, the Yugoslav Communist leadership established contacts with the Communist Parties of Bulgaria, Greece and Albania to coordinate actions in the fight against Nazi fascist forces. Taking in consideration that the Albanian communists had the orientation compass in those years the Yugoslavs, under their influence, tried to achieve the objectives of this project as far as possible. Thus within the anti-fascist alliance but also under the Yugoslav directives, especially during the German occupation, the links and cooperation between the Albanian national liberation movement and the liberation movements of Yugoslavia and Greece intensified, especially in the border areas. With the EAM and the National Liberation Army of Greece (ELAS), an important area of cooperation was the Konispol region and generally Cameria. Pursuant to the agreement reached between the General Council of the Albanian National Liberation Army and the Greek National Liberation Front, they were sent to these representative areas on both sides to propagate the common war goals in the population and to mobilize them in the mutual partisan formations. But it should be noted that the Albanian National Liberation Army combative co-operation with ELAS was limited. Within the framework of cooperation with the Yugoslav National Liberation Army, several joint operations have been undertaken, especially in border areas. The fact that Kosovo Albanians are engaged in the national liberation movement, which has contributed to the increase of cooperation in these areas, should be considered. Cooperation between the two liberation movements has been more visible in Macedonia's area.As would be seen from the subsequent actions of the Yugoslav leadership, during the Nazi-occupation period it prepared the ground for the post-war devastation of Albania within the Yugoslav Federal Republics, despite their failure to achieve this objective. During the research work of this case study, the qualitative method was generally applied by conducting a research: collecting, descriptive and explanatory, based mostly on historical facts and literature analysis.