Authors

Discussion

During the Second World War, the Yugoslav National Liberation Movement was one of the most successful resistance movements throughout Europe. However, in the first year of fascist occupation, the Partisans and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia confronted a practical dilemma: popular anti-fascism or socialist revolution? The latter outweighed the former from late 1941 to mid-1942, but its catastrophic consequences and Comintern’s intervention resulted in the abandonment of this radical approach. The ‘leftist errors’, as this period is known, marked a cycle of serious defeats and setbacks for the Partisan Army, especially in Montenegro and Herzegovina, and, afterwards, it was considered to be “the most sensitive, most complex and most taboo historical period in the eyes of the Yugoslav socialist regime.” The confiscation of properties, burning of villages, and executions of existing or potential enemies were the manifestations of this policy, which aimed for the socialist transformation of Yugoslavia as part of the liberation struggle.

This paper will examine the roots behind the CPY’s decision to adopt the ‘errors’ as the official party line in December 1941 and the aims of this direction. Following that, we will try to trace the reasons why Montenegro and Herzegovina were the regions where the ‘leftist errors’ manifested themselves to such a degree. Finally, we will study the Comintern’s role in abandoning this radical policy in the spring of 1942.