Yugoslavia: Oblique Insights and Observations

Defying Stalin and his brand of communism, Tito’s Yugoslavia developed a unique kind of socialism that combined one-party rule with an economic system of workers’ self-management that aroused intense interest throughout the Cold War. As a member of the American Universities Field Staff, Dennison Rusinow became a long-time resident and frequent visitor to Yugoslavia. This volume presents the most significant of his refreshingly immediate and well-informed reports on life in Yugoslavia and the country’s major political developments.

Rusinow’s essays explore such diverse topics as the first American-style supermarket and its challenge to traditional outdoor markets; the lessons of a Serbian holiday feast (Slava); the resignation of vice president Rankovic; the Croatian Spring of 1971; ethnic divides and the rise of nationalism throughout the country; the tension between conservative and liberal forces in Yugoslav politics; and the student revolt at Belgrade University in 1968. Rusinow’s final report in 1991 examines the serious challenges to the nation’s future even as it collapsed.