Communism, Dalmatian Style

In the annals of discovery, visiting a Communist country nowadays doesn’t quite rate with Dr. Livingstone’s search for the sources of the Nile, but I had never been in one before this spring, and a Yugoslav fortnight was, for me, rather like a first live concert after years of listening to records and radio.

We all know that Yugoslav Communism is different. Yugoslavia is not a captive member of the Soviet bloc and has adopted certain modifications of once orthodox practice, especially in economic matters. Nevertheless, Yugoslavia continues to define its social, economic, and political structures as “Marxist-Leninist” and “Communist.” The Communist Party’holds a monopoly of political power. Its Tenth Congress was held while we were there, and the Soviet representative was all smiles as Tito boasted about the tens of thousands of members purged from the ranks since 1969 for opportunist or nationalist deviations from Marxism-Leninism. It is fair, then, to assume that what I was observing this spring was a variety of Communism, even though it is not the only form that Communism has taken or can take.

JB

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James Burnham

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In the annals of discovery, visiting a Communist country nowadays doesn’t quite rate with Dr. Livingstone’s search for the sources of the Nile, but I had never been in one before this spring, and a Yugoslav fortnight was, for me, rather like a first live concert after years of listening to records and radio.

We all know that Yugoslav Communism is different. Yugoslavia is not a captive member of the Soviet bloc and has adopted certain modifications of once orthodox practice, especially in economic matters. Nevertheless, Yugoslavia continues to define its social, economic, and political structures as “Marxist-Leninist” and “Communist.” The Communist Party’holds a monopoly of political power. Its Tenth Congress was held while we were there, and the Soviet representative was all smiles as Tito boasted about the tens of thousands of members purged from the ranks since 1969 for opportunist or nationalist deviations from Marxism-Leninism. It is fair, then, to assume that what I was observing this spring was a variety of Communism, even though it is not the only form that Communism has taken or can take.