Grassroots Yugoslavism

• In Event: Yugoslav (Re)Visions I: Comparative anti-Yugoslavism

Abstract

In my talk, I will analyse the curious pro-Yugoslavian slogans of Albanian-speaking miners and workers in the late 1980s. In contrast to the Milošević-backed position of the Serbian nationalist movement in Kosovo, which claimed that "a stronger Yugoslavia is a weaker Serbia", the Albanian miners at Trepça demanded "brotherhood and unity", "Tito's path" and "KPJ's programme". I will argue that the workers, unlike the ethno-nationalists and liberal intellectuals (including the philosophers of the Praxis group), correctly analysed the political conjuncture of the late 1980s: a stronger Yugoslavia is a weaker authoritarianism.I will discuss this by referring to the writings of Shkëlzen Maliqi and Gani Bobi, and by using the archives of the Prishtina section of UJDI [Udruženje za jugoslovensku demokratsku inicijativu, the Association for the Yugoslav Democratic Initiative].

Author

• Sezgin Boynik, Rab-Rab Press