Bosnia & Herzegovina became a republic too, with roughly the same borders as the old Ottoman province of Bosnia. But Bosnians were not considered a constituent nation of Yugoslavia, unlike the majority ethnic groups in the other republics. Bosnia did not have a clear ethnic majority — it was made up of Serbs, Croats and Muslims; and Muslims were not considered a “nation.” The Partisans preferred ethnic to religious identity.

The federation was structured to prevent renewed Serbian domination of Yugoslavia, but it also left large Serb minorities in many of the new republics. To guard any vulnerability they might face, especially in Croatia, Serbs were allowed to dominate the army and the party — so long as they remained under Tito’s grip. The fact that Tito was Croat-Slovene, and his inner circle included a Slovene federalist and a Montenegrin devolutionist, made the arrangement palatable to other nationalities.

Map B.8: Yugoslavia, 1945-1991 (click to enlarge)

The rise to power of communist regimes in most of the Balkans states led many to consider the idea of a Balkans federation, but Yugoslavia and Bulgaria soon fell out over its structure. Tito’s plan was basically to add Romania and Bulgaria as new republics of Yugoslavia, already the most powerful country in the region. Bulgaria, in fear of Yugoslav domination, suggested a confederation.

Before the two sides could consider a compromise, Stalin shot down the idea of either federation or confederation. The U.S. and West Europe, he feared, might see the move as a Soviet violation of the Yalta pact.

Stalin had already begun to see Tito as a thorn in his side. Yugoslavia’s demand that the communist countries support the Greek communists, fighting to liberate Greece from its fascists, could again be construed as a violation of the Yalta Pact. Yugoslavia had successfully resisted Stalin’s attempts to subordinate the Yugoslav economy through joint-stock companies, and Yugoslav communists had opposed Soviet moves place their agents in other communist countries. Tito had a way of raising substantive issues when Stalin wished to consolidate power, and in 1948 the Soviet Union expelled Yugoslavia from the Cominform.

Expulsion proved to be a blessing in disguise. Yugoslavia was able to accept a regular flow of Western aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the U.S. Export-Import Bank, while it collectivized agriculture, and developed its urban and industrial infrastructure along socialist lines. But because Yugoslavia was socialist, it was denied access to the Marshall Plan or early membership in European fora.

The 1950s were marked by a string of foreign policy successes. In 1954, Yugoslavia signed a second Balkans defense pact, with Turkey, and Greece, and in 1955 Tito and Kruschev reestablished ties between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. In 1956 Tito, along with Egyptian President Gemal Abdul Nasser and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, founded the Non-Aligned Movement, a coalition of developing countries to maintain neutrality in the Cold War between the U.S. and Soviet superpowers.

Yugoslavia now had market access to most parts of the world, and a remarkable diplomatic reach to both superpowers as well as to the bloc of developing countries. By the 1960s, Yugoslav passport holders had greater freedom of movement than any one in the world: few countries demanded visas of them.

These privileges caused their own discontents. Mobility led to raised economic and political expectations at home. Cautious economic reforms, such as “workers’ self-management” and “market socialism,” which allowed workers a share of profits with the opportunity to diversify and privatized small businesses, could not prevent the economy from stagnating during the 1970s and 1980s, increasing the burden of foreign debt.

Though Yugoslavia ratified market liberalization and decentralized banking in 1963, the richer republics of Croatia and Slovenia continued to chafe at central controls, and by the late 1960s the Croatian communist party was dominated by nationalists whom Tito purged in 1968, along with reform minded socialists.

The 1968 purges were not the first or the last. The Ustasa and Partisans had committed massacres in 1944-5 — the latter in unofficially sanctioned revenge after the war ended — and both the 1963 and 1974 constitutional changes were accompanied by purges of the reformers who had pushed for the changes. Tito had become increasingly dependent on his Serbian security chiefs.

The Yugoslav communists fared even worse at political reforms. Yugoslavia passed a “Law on Religious Freedoms” in 1955, but religious practices continued to be frowned upon. In 1963 Muslims were finally accepted as a “constituent nation” in the federation, and in 1974 a new constitution devolved many of the powers that the center had controlled.

Highlights of 1974 Constitution Tito to be President for life After Tito’s death Presidency to be rotated between republics Kosovo and Vojvodina to have seats in Presidency and Constitutional Court No border or constitutional changes without consent of affected republics and autonomous provinces Centralized banks to be responsible only for monetary policy Workers’ self-management to be guiding principle of constitution Self-management organizations to be treated on par with political and social institutions and to have role in language and national cultural policies

The new constitution made Tito president for life, but devolved powers to a collective presidency, made up of the heads of the republics, after his death, and rotated the position of Yugoslav president between republics. The move threatened the primacy of Serbs in the party, and stirred Serbian insecurities, especially over the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina. Both were given seats in the presidency, and a veto power over border and constitutional changes.

The 1970s and 80s saw a steady migration of Serbs out of Kosovo; a similar migration but on a smaller scale had begun in Bosnia & Herzegovina in the 1960s, after Muslims were recognized as a constituent nation.

But the situation remained under control until Tito’s death in 1980, after which Yugoslavia slid gradually into protracted conflict.

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Chapter Contents
			The Balkans History
		·	The Ottoman Era
		·	Bosnia Between Empires
		·	Austria-Hungary
		·	World War I
		·	The Yugoslav Kingdom
		·	World War II
		·	Yugoslavia, 1945-90

Related Texts
·	Balkan Pact, August 9, 1954
·	Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia — Key Articles