Authors

Igor Vukadinović¹;  ¹ institute for Balkan Studies, Serbian Academy of Scirnce and Arts, Serbia

Discussion

The aim of this paper is to shed light on the true status of national minorities in federal Yugoslavia after World War II and to assess how effectively the communist regime's propaganda slogans on the national question were put into practice. The claim that the communist regime ensured national equality in Yugoslavia was embedded in the state constitutions, referenced in legal provisions and school textbooks, and emphasized in the speeches of party officials, becoming firmly ingrained in the collective memory of the people. At the same time, a one-party dictatorship was established in the country, with all political parties except the Communist Party banned. The regime persecuted, arrested, and executed the remaining activists of opposition political parties. As a result, the citizens of Yugoslavia lost the ability to politically organize in defense of their national interests and instead became subjects of the national policies dictated by the Communist regime. The realization of national rights in Yugoslavia after World War II was further hindered by the absence of the rule of law. In the one-party system, the parliament, judiciary, and other state institutions lost their significance and were reduced to mere tools for implementing party policies. Research shows that the Communist Party of Yugoslavia engaged in many of the same practices it had criticized the Kingdom of Yugoslavia authorities for—autocratically imposing its national policy, disregarding the will of the people, and persecuting citizens who expressed national ideas different from those of the regime.