Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1996 14:36:41 -0500
To: marxism-AT-jefferson.village.virginia.edu
From: godenas-AT-edgenet.net (Louis R. Godena)
Subject: Milosevic's long march to Socialism


By Laura Silber (Belgrade)

Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic is nothing if not flexible.  Having 
played the card of Serb nationalism, then presented himself as a peacemaker 
in Bosnia, he has now donned another mantle from his past--the ideological 
socialist.

Aided by his wife Mirjana Markovic, who never abandoned the Marxist camp, 
Belgrade's strongman is renouncing the "nationalist excesses" of the past 
and praising China as a model of authoritarian Socialism.  And to judge by 
the latest signals from the shadowy world of Serbian politics, this tactic 
seems, so far, to be working.


This month has seen two of the biggest and noisiest political events in 
Belgrade since the collapse of Communist Yugoslavia: a congress of Serbia's 
ruling Socialist party, and the first serious anti-government rally since 
1992.  While holding any protest in this toughly policed state demands 
boldness and ingenuity, observers were struck by the smallness of the 
crowd--little match for the confident mood of the Socialist congress a week 
earlier.  About 15,000 people, chanting slogans like "red bandits" and 
"Slobo, Saddam" took part in last weekend's demonstration while riot police 
stood by.

This compared with crowds of 70,000 for anti-Milosevic rallies four years ago.

The president, by contrast, seemed more confident than ever at the Socialist 
congress, where he ensured that about two-thirds of the party's leading 
posts changed hands--with communists ousting nationalists.

In style as well as content, the gaudy and lavish congress--entitled "Serbia 
2000"--a step into the new century--was intended to celebrate the 
president's journey back to the future.  Instead of playing the Serbian 
patriotic songs he once favored, Mr Milosevic and his flock stood to 
attention for the Communist hymn, the Internationale

Ms Markovic laid the ground for her husband's about-turn.  She is leader of 
the Yugoslav United Left (JUL) movement, a curious but powerful mixture of 
Communist industrial managers, sanctions busters and fellow Marxist 
professors.  JUL does not have a single seat in parliament but has provided 
more than half the ministers in government.

Opposition parties hold nearly half the 250 seats in parliament, but have 
been marginalised by the regime's control of the media and business.  The 
most popular regime in the slanted state press is Beijing.  This new 
authoritarianism has dashed any hope among Belgrade liberals that peace in 
Bosnia, and the lifting of UN sanctions, would pave the way for their 
country's re-entry into the European mainstream.

Mr Vuk Draskovic, one of the more credible figures in Serbia's struggling 
opposition, summed up the feelings of his liberal compatriots when he told 
last weekend's rally: "We want the Serbian flag flying in front of the 
European Parliament, not the Chinese flag in Belgrade."  For now, the former 
seems even less likely than the latter.

                                            Financial Times 3/14/96    





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