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The Yugoslav Commune

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2011

Jack C. Fisher
Jack C. Fisher
Affiliation:
Cornell University
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Extract

The emergence of the Yugoslav commune is a significant aspect JL of the distinctive political system that has been developing in Yugoslavia since 1950. The Serbian term opština—općina in Croatian—historically referred to a specific area, defined by the collectivity or commonalty of the land and the inhabitants' use thereof. In the prewar period the term lost this meaning and signified only an administrative unit, such as a borough, district, municipality, or community.

Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , April 1964 , pp. 418 - 441
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1964

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References

1 Djordjević, Jovan and Pasić, Najdan, “The Communal Self-Government System in Yugoslavia,” International Social Science Journal, XIII, No. 3 (1961), 390Google Scholar; see also Bjeličić, Sreten, Communal System in Yugoslavia (Belgrade 1961), 10.Google Scholar

2 A valuable introduction to the formation of Yugoslavia is now available in Lederer, Ivo J., Yugoslavia at the Paris Peace Conference (New Haven 1963).Google Scholar

3 For a detailed discussion of the impact of the varying political policies of one of the foreign cultural regions — Central European — on the development of an urban complex, see Fisher, Jack C., “Urban Analysis: A Regional Approach — A Case Study of Zagreb, Yugoslavia,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, LIII (September 1963), 266–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 Petrović, Rude, Prostorna Determinacija Teritorijalnth Jedinica u Komunalnotn Sistemu Jugoslavije [The Spatial Determination of Territorial Units in the Communal System of Yugoslavia] (Sarajevo 1962), 20, 21.Google Scholar

5 Dimitrov, Evgeni, “Position of the Republics in the Federal System of Yugoslavia,” Selected Problems of Social Sciences and Humanities, Papers from the Yugoslav-American Colloquium Ohrid, August 27-September 2, 1962 (Skopje 1963), 113–24.Google Scholar

6 Jelić, Borivoj, System Planiranja u ]ugoslovenskoj Privredi [The System of Planning in the Yugoslav Economy] (Belgrade 1962)Google Scholar, part 2.

7 Bjeličić, Communal System in Yugoslavia, 12.

8 Kavčič, Stane, Self-Government in Yugoslavia (Belgrade 1961), 9.Google Scholar

9 Službeni List Federativne Narodne Republike Jugoslavije [Official Gazette of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia], No. 22 of 1952.Google Scholar

10 Ibid., No. 26 of 1955.

11 VII Kongress SKJ [Seventh Congress of the League of the Communists of Yugoslavia] (Belgrade 1958), 146.Google Scholar Cited in Materijali o Statutima Opstina [Material on the Statutes of Opstine] (Belgrade 1962), 89.Google Scholar

12 The decline in the importance of the srez was strikingly underlined by their elimination in the Republic of Montenegro and the Autonomous Province of Kosovo-Metohija, : Službeni list N.R. Crne Gore, No. 27 of 1957Google Scholar; Službeni list N.R. Srbije, No. 50 of 1959.Google Scholar Contrary to the current Belgrade position, a representative from Montenegro at a national congress quite frankly stated: “In Montenegro, districts have not existed for almost four years. Districts in Montenegro, during this very short time, have been completely forgotten. … After the elimination of the districts, there began a significant growth in the incentive of the commune in solving economic, communal, cultural, health, and other problems.” Samoupravljanje u Komuni [Self-Government in the Commune], Materijali sa Godišnje Skupstine Stalne Konferencije Gradova Jugoslavije, Nis, 30 Oktobar-i Novembar, 1961 (Belgrade 1961), 152.Google Scholar

13 Petrović, Prostorna Determinacija Teritorijalnih fedinica, 28.

14 International Labour Office, Workers' Management in Yugoslavia (Geneva 1962), 8.Google Scholar

15 Kokole, Vladimir, Komuna kao Urbanistička Pojava [The Commune as a Planning Phenomenon], Annual Congress at Lake Bled, 1963: Savez Urbanističkih Drustava Jugoslavije (Belgrade 1963), 8.Google Scholar

16 Teritorijalna Podela Jugoslavije na opštine i srezove sa oznacenjem Sedišta redovnih i privrednih sudova [Territorial Divisions of Yugoslavia into opštine and districts with indications of the Seats of regular and economic courts] (Belgrade 1963), 16, 18.Google Scholar

17 Kardelj, Edvard, “Komuna i Prednacrt Našeg Novog Ustava” [The Commune and the Draft of Our New Constitution], Opština u Novom Ustavnom Sistemu, Materijali sa Godišnje Skupštine Stalne Konferencije Gradova Jugoslavije, Titograd, 1–3 XI 1962 (Belgrade 1961), 11.Google Scholar

18 Jugoslovenski Pregled [Yugoslav Survey], No. 6 (1963), 247.Google Scholar

19 Petrović, Prostorna Detertninacija Teritorijalnih Jednica, 60.

20 Two excellent statistical publications are recommended to those interested in general Yugoslav economic development and especially in a quantitative approach to the subject: Privredno Statistički Presek Komuna Jugoslavije u 1960 god. [Economic and Statistical Pattern of the Communes in Yugoslavia, 1960] (Belgrade 1962)Google Scholar, and Privredno Statistički Presek Komuna Jugoslavije u 1961 godini (Belgrade 1963).Google Scholar These two publications provide an annual comparison of communal development, the volume and structure of material production, purchasing power of the population, and opportunities for each commune to finance its own public services.

21 Privredno Statistički Presek Kotnuna Jugoslavije u 1961, 58–59.

22 Ibid., 62–63.

23 “In regard to the socialist federal community and the placing of the word 'socialist‘before the word ‘federal’ in the Constitution, it was desired in this way to attract the common interest of all working people and all the nations of Yugoslavia to the further development of socialist relations within the various nations and in the entire Federation,” Vlahović, Veljko, “Položaj i Uloga Gradjana” [The Position and Role of the Citizen], O Ustavnom Sistemu Socijalističke Federativne Republike Jugoslav!je (Belgrade 1963), 91.Google Scholar

24 “The Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,” Socialist Thought and Practice (June 1963), 47.

25 Ibid., 58.

26 VII Kongress SKJ, 1011; cited in Materijali o Statutima Opština, 138.

27 “Nova Uloga Države u Razvoju Socijalističkih Odnosa i Uspostavljanje Osnove za Razvoj Samoupravljanja” [The New Role of the State in the Development of Socialist Relations and the Reestablished Principles for the Development of Self-Government], Politika (Belgrade), October 26, 1961.Google Scholar

28 Kardelj, “Komuna i Prednacrt Našeg Novog Ustava,” 16.

29 “The Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic,” 59.

30 Report on Local Government in Yugoslavia, issued by the Ministry of Community Development and Co-operation, Government of India (Jaipur 1960), 19.Google Scholar This is an excellent account of the formal character of local government prior to the new Constitution.

31 Kosovac, Dragutin, “Uvodno Izlaganje” [Introductory Exposition], Samoupravljanje u Komuni (Belgrade 1961), 62–63.Google Scholar

32 Organizacija Opštinske Skupštine u Statutima Opština [The Organization of the Communal Assembly in the Statutes of the Communes], Stalna Konferencija Gradova Jugoslavije (Belgrade, June 1963), 1.Google Scholar

33 For an outline of a model communal statute, see Materijali o Statutima Opština, 3–56.

34 Društveno-Ekonomski Odnosi u Statutima Opština [Social-Economic Relations in the Statutes of the Communes], Stalna Konferencija Gradova Jugoslavije (Belgrade, June 1963), 1.Google Scholar

35 Prednacrt Statuta Opštine Novi Sad [The Draft Statute of the Opština of Novi Sad] (Novi Sad, April 1963), 14.Google Scholar

36 Ibid., 18.

37 For a description of their activities, see ibid., 26, 27.

38 Ibid., 16.

39 The reader desiring detailed information on the legal operation of the apartment house councils and all matters relating to apartment occupancy are referred to Zbirka Propisa iz Stambene Oblasti [Selected Regulations from the Housing Area], Službeni List (Belgrade 1962)Google Scholar, and Petković, Svetomir, Komentar Zakona o Stambenim Odnosima [A Commentary on the Laws about Housing Relations] (Belgrade 1962).Google Scholar

40 Mesne Zajednice u Komunalnom Sistemu i Zadaci Socijalističkog Saveza [The Local Community in the Communal System and the Goals of the Socialist Alliance] (Subotica, December 1962), 1.Google Scholar

41 Edvard Kardelj, Samoupravljanje u Komuni, 19. For the implications of the mesna zajednica in city planning, see Fisher, Jack C., “Planning the City of Socialist Man,” Journal of the American Institute of Planners, XXVIII (November 1962), 251–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

42 Kardclj, Samoupravljanje u Kotnuni, 51.

43 Edvard Kardelj, “Iz Exspozea na Sednici Savezne Narodne Skupstine od 28 Maja 1962 godine” [From an Exposition on the Session of the Federal Parliament], Materijali o Statutima Opština, 105.

44 Kardelj, “Komuna i Prednacrt Našeg Novog Ustava,” 20.

45 For an example of the most recent political crisis, in which opposing positions were expressed through republican Parties, see Fisher, Jack C., “The Reconstruction of Skopje,” Journal of the American Institute of Planners, XXX (February 1964), 46–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

46 Ćemerlić, Hamdija, “Relations Between the Federation and Its Constituent Units in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,” Third Yugoslav-American Seminar (Zadar 1963), 21, 23.Google Scholar