My questions in [...]- Macdonald.
*******
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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 7, 2000
issue of Workers World newspaper
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EDITORIAL: GOOD NEWS FROM YUGOSLAVIA
It was the first good news out of Yugoslavia for anti-
imperialists since that unhappy day the U.S./NATO-backed
coup overthrew and burned the national assembly and national
TV last Oct. 5. A fight-back Socialist Party Congress of
2,600 delegates re-elected Slobodan Milosevic party leader
by 86 percent Nov. 25.
[I hope this optimism is accurate... but what basis is there for such optimism? Here is
a pessimistic angle. Milosevic and those around him are being primed by the new
"democrats" for the Hague. If there isn't any fight in the party, it goes down
easier...
and they could go on trial. The program of anti-Nato (which I agree is inherently
anti-imperialist, regardless of motivation) has been the bread and butter of the
party.
It cannot change now or become absolutely irrelevant.]
This doesn't guarantee the SPS will win the Dec. 23
elections for the Serbian Parliament. It doesn't mean it
will immediately win the loyalty of the working class.
[What we need to know is two things: how strong are their ties to those who didn't vote
or participate in thew coup against Milo, et al. Is there an independent SPS press that
has any real circulation? The interview posted by Jared paints a stark view of their
organizing ability. Are the people who stood aside the first time around considering
anything as per action now?]
But it does mean that the SPS leadership refuses to retreat.
It means that those who are identified with the defense of
Yugoslavia against the U.S./NATO war remain at the head of
the party. It means there is no SPS collapse.
[No total collapse. Indeed this might indicate that Milosevic had better motives than
we
thought, seeing as a number of party members did indeed recently quit now that the
party
is out of power. That does not mean the party can survive. As I said earlier, it can
also indicate this is a personal attempt at not being swallowed by the imperialist
"justice system".]
And it indicates that most of the party activists don't feel
they have to hide from the masses of the people.
[I have a hard time believing that they can walk freely. The counter-revolutionaries
haven't been noted for their fairness so far. The masses have been watching from the
sidelines from the best angle shown to us.]
As one
report out of Novi Sad put it, after price hikes of five to
15 times on basic goods, people are starting to say "Slobo
come back, all is forgiven."
The counter-revolutionary wave that overthrew the Eastern
European workers' states in 1989 also dissolved or disrupted
the ruling parties. Leaders resigned or changed into instant
"reformers" at that time. This is different. If you read
what Milosevic said--the little published in the imperialist
media--he's coming out swinging against the U.S., NATO and
their puppets inside Yugoslavia.
[This is partly true. It should be clear by now that there has been much in the way of
resistance from the Yugoslav state- but it should be remembered that other leaders died
defending the old states that were in 1989 too. Yeltsin had to kill thousands with his
assault on parliament. Milo has done "better" by establishing himself as the head of
the
new bourgeois state and then spending a decade fighting it out. This is ultimaely the
reason that "we" have had such a hard time seeing what Milosevic was.]
He said the October uprising was actually "a coup" backed by
"paid Western spies." This has been all but admitted in
earlier reports of the exploits of the mayor of Cacak
attacking parliament and the TV station with a gang of
mercenaries. The Nov. 26 New York Times Magazine exposed
U.S. manipulation of the opposition Otpor student
organization.
[But aren't they organizing strike committees? Sorry, couldn't resist...]
"The war against this country is now being led by money,"
the ruling Democratic Opposition of Serbia received a "major
bribe" and all the media are now in the hands of "foreign
secret services," he said. Equally true. One can expect a
stronger infusion of Western money as the Serbian election
approaches.
[Why bother? The imperialists would only serve to disrupt their chances that way. They
might untie a few "aid" packages one or two days before the polling, but they will not
funnel money into the state machinery led by DOS, or by opposition led by Otpor. That
would simply be overkill, and give the SPS (with whatever level of propaganda they can
get out to the population) a major publicity coup. The West will watch, and maybe (not
likely, but...) they will say "elect SPS and you cannot get heating fuel for the
winter...!"]
Yugoslavia's new "nationalist" president, Vojislav
Kostunica, bases his economic plans on getting $2.5 billion
in European Union aid over the next few years and his
military policy on getting help from NATO to stop the right-
wing Kosovo Liberation Army from taking more pieces of
Serbia. Can he be so foolish?
[It's actually perfect for him AND Nato. Smashing the KLA would "prove" to the world
that Nato was just trying to save innocent lives from that madman Milosevic, it would
also shore up nationalist power for Kostunica and get the economic situation firmly
under imperial designs. Now that the KLA is attacking a state that is "Nato approved"
it
is far more likely that we will see the little bush fires they have been lighting just
outside Kosovo put out. "Stability" will be the new catchword.]
On the other hand, the Yugoslav Army, with its roots in the
1945 socialist revolution, is still intact. Milosevic and
the SPS are defiant.
[This could be *the* question: what does the army think about the last two months in
Serbia/Yugoslavia? Asking Kostunica, he responds: "What? oh yeah..Oh yeah..." and
doesn't inspire what the West would call "confidence". I would like to know what they
feel about Milosevic, and more importantly, what they feel about taking orders from
Djindic.]
That means the struggle for Yugoslavia against U.S./NATO
imperialism is far from over.
[I hope but am skeptical as to whether or not this optimism is warranted.]
- END -
Macdonald Stainsby
