Nationalists win in two republics
YUGOSLAVIA We are prepared to defend economic sovereignty by all means. But if we can rely on an agreement within Yugoslavia, then such extreme means would not be decisive. We don't think that there should be a border in Europe or that one is necessary in Yugoslavia. We believe that in any civilized unit, economic solutions can easily be agreed on."
THE FIRST FREE ELECTIONS in two of the republics of
Yugoslavia, Slovenia and Croatia, have resulted in decisive victories for nationalist forces. The victory of the nationalists was particularly striking in Croatia, where according to still partial results in the second round, the Croatian Democratic
Bloc is already assured of 158 out of 356 seats in the three houses of the republic parliament. The local Communist Party
(which adopted the name "the Party of Democratic Change")
has so far gotten only 42 on its own, and 13 in alliance with the
Socialists.
A more moderate nationalist formation, the Coalition of
National Agreement, was brushed aside, and will probably get only a handful of seats.
GERRY FOLEY
HE CROATIAN DEMOCRAT-
IC BLOC, dominated by the
Croatian
Democratic
Union
(HDZ) led by Dr. Franjo Tudjman, was reportedly heading for a two thirds majority in the parliament in the second-round elections of May 6. Tudjman is a well-known nationalist leader, who served nine years in prison for his
"nationalist activities" and "hostile propaganda" in the 1970s and 1980s. He is also a former Communist Party member, and was a leader in the nationalist movement associated with the leadership of the Croatian Communist Party in the early 1970s.
The nationalist CP leadership's reign
"Prague Spring,"
was likened to the because it involved a certain liberalization. For example, selected works of Trotsky were published in Croatia in this period. The Croatian leadership was removed bureaucratically by Tito, and a general turn toward repression followed.
Along with this, Tito offered the minority nationalities a number of concessions, such as autonomy for the Kosovo Albanians, that have been largely taken away by the Serbian nationalist strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
Thatcher, Bush, Kohl - and
Tudjman?
In the official Yugoslav press and to an extent in the international press as well,
Tudjman has been described as a rightist and an extreme nationalist.
During the campaign, he made a statement now often quoted that "If Thatcher, George Bush and
Helmut Kohl are right wing, then we are right wing too." However,
Danas, the main Croatian news magazine (dominated by the CP) noted that Tudjman characterized his formation as "centrist." In the aftermath of the second round elections, Tudjman proposed including "some Communists who have accepted the reform road" in the government to be formed by the Croatian Democratic Bloc.
As regards economic policy, the Communist Party claimed to be a more consistent exponent of free enterprise than the nationalists. One of its spokesmen, Mato Crkvenac was quoted in Danas of April 17 as saying: "Talk about a nation controlling its own income is deeply conservative and anti-market. At the heart of our program is not authority and control exercised by the state, even a national state, but the autonomy and freedom of the enterprises to determine the type and quantity of their production.
Sovereignty of economic
Factors
"In the world today there is only sovereignty of consumers, producers, industrial actors. To rely on some economic sovereignty of a state or a nation leads to anti-market measures, closing Croatia to the worldwide processes of transformation and world capital flows."
Danas quoted Ivica Gazi to explain the HDZ's position: "Before the war, we had a stock market and free enterprise. But we did not have control of our labor and our money. A clear outflow of capital from Croatia emerged. Development was set back and the economy was impoverished." Asked whether the HDZ wanted a Croatian currency and tariffs, Gazi said: "We haven't really thought about that.
On the question of relations between the Yugoslav republics, the HDZ, which proclaimed itself the "most Croatian of parties, called for a confederation in which "basic Croatian sovereignty respected." The CP leader Ivica Racan called for "a democratic federal Yugoslavia." And the National Accord Coalition argued that "Yugoslavia should be based on an agreement among all democratically elected, legal and legitimate representaYugoslavia." It declared that it was neither "for or against Yugoslavia a priori."
Tudjman, on the other hand, called for a greater Croatia, a Croatia that would include as nearly as possible the entire Croatian population, that is, including a Herzegovina: "At a time when the Yugodestroyed, and plans are being hatched for a greater Serbia," it was necessary remember that "the Croatian people is not only within the borders of the Croatian Socialist Republic." This claim on part of Bosnia-Herzegovina would raise the question of the Slavic Muslim minority centered there, which was recognized as a nationality in the context of Tito's reforms after the crushing of the Croatian Spring.
Opposition coalition in Slovenia
In the second round of the Slovenian elections on April 22, the DEMOS coalition won 126 out of the 204 seats in parliament. This is a coalition of seven parties, Tanging from Democrats to Greens. It is for a confederal Yugoslavia, but reportedly sees this as a stage towards Slovenian independence.
The Communist Party leader, Milan Kucan, won the presidency over the DEMOS candidate, Joze Pucik. Kucan is identified with the constitutional amendments adopted in September 1989 that give the Slovenian parliament the power to secede unilaterally from the Yugoslav federation. He has been the pole of opposition within the federation to the policies of Milosevic, which involve "recentralizing" Yugoslavia around a "reunited" Serbia.
Apparently, as a result of its oppositional stance within the federation, the Slovenian CP came out of the elections in a much stronger position than the Croatian CP. The latter, the product of the "normalization" that followed the crushing of the Opposing Miose has slayeda weak role in 3 opposing Milosevic's projects. * May 21, 1990• #185 International Viewpoint