Suchergebnisse

Recent reinterpretations of the history of socialist Yugoslavia, which broke up at the time of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe (1989–1991), have revived old and opened new controversies concerning the character and policy of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ) at the time of the establishment of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FNRJ) following the Second World War. One of them credits the "absolutization" of Josip Broz Tito's charisma for the establishment and functioning of KPJ rule. The main aim of this article is to challenge such claims by providing an analytical account of the formative years of socialist Yugoslavia based upon primary archival sources. These sources illustrate that rather than Tito's omnipotence, the decisive factor in the functioning of KPJ power was the clientelistic structure of hierarchical party and state organization. This paper argues that the establishment of clientelistic group-rational behavioral patterns in the KPJ structure and state organization drove the institutionalization of loyalty between the patron, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the KPJ (KPJ CC Politburo), and the client, the communist nomenklatura, an organized social network of party cadres occupying all significant functions in the society. The social origin of the members of the nomenklatura, that is, the new worker-peasant class organized at the level of federal units, was the basis for the legitimacy and functioning of KPJ power from 1945 through 1952. The revolutionary authority of the KPJ, which had been won through the partisan anti-fascist people's liberation struggle during the Second World War, legitimized itself in this period through clientelistic structural dynamics in the political system of a "people's democracy." In order to explore these arguments, this article applies a generic-structural historical analysis to the dynamics of the social and political KPJ structures in 1945–1952 Yugoslavia.

This article explores the relationship between the European identity of the organized working class and its class power in Serbian society. We understand the collective European identity of the organized working class in Serbia to primarily mean adherence to the European social model embodied in collective bargaining, that is, in a social dialogue among social partners: the trade unions, employers, and the state. The European identity of the organized working class in Serbia is also reflected in its support for the values of human rights, private property, the market economy, and multi-party parliamentary democracy. We understand "trade union power" to mean the extent of its capacity to achieve set goals. That is, how much the commitment and the efforts of the representative trade unions in Serbia: The Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia (SSSS/CATUS) and The Trade Union Confederation (UGS/TUC) "Nezavisnost" ("Independence") to join the European trade union movement and become members of the European Trade Union Confederation, the only representative European trade union organization and the recognized social partner at the level of the European Union, contributed to the more prominent role and a more remarkable power of these trade unions in Serbia. Our research is based on the critical discourse analysis (CDA) – discourse-historical approach (DHA), and economic history context.

Purpose – The study aim is an analyze of the war crimes of forced labour as a part of the German war economy, especially in Serbia under the Milan Nedic's quisling regimes in the period from 1941 to 1944, on the ground of approach of historiography using the model of scientific description. Design / methodology / approach – An inpretative historical reconstruction of the war crimes involving the forced mobilization of civilian labour from the occupied population for engagement in the German war economy on the territory of the Reich as well as on the territory of occupied Serbia carried out by Nedic's quisling administration. Findings – The main military –political goal of the establishment of Milan Nedic's quisling regime by the German occupation system during the Second World War was the exploatation of Serbia's entire economic resources, industry, energy resources and manpower for the requirements of Nazi German's war industry. Research limitations/ implications – The research is a contribution in the field of the historical evidence that challenge revisionist naratives which deny the quisling nature of Nedic's administration in Serbia during the Second World War. Originality / value – Result of this research is establishment of historical facts that the forced exploatation of manpower was an integral part of Germany's occupation of Serbia. The apparatus of Nedic's quisling administration in occupied Serbia was included in the policy of the "total mobilization" manpower for the German war economy with the goal of contributing to the Nazi war effort. His administration was a direct participant in the implementation of the measures enforced by Germany's occupation system in Serbia during the Second World War, including those which reffered to forced labour.

There is a widespread opinion in different sources, ranging from popular to scientific, that the project of the Petrovaradin Fortress was conceived under the influence of the most important European military engineer and innovator of the time, Sebastien de Vauban. By examining the historical context as well as by comparing Vauban's geometrical methods for determination of the fortification master line (la ligne magistrale) with Austrian plans and the actual state of the Petrovaradin fortress, especially its Wasserstadt part, we have examined how well-founded this claim is.