The Last Revolution

WE do revolutions more tidily than we used to. A million people took to the Belgrade streets, flag-waving and blowing whistles. They stormed and set fire to the parliament and the television station, but virtually nobody was hurt. Duly and properly elected, the new president, Vojislav Kostunica, opened his address to the nation with the words, “Good evening, liberated Serbia.” This new president is a rather trim constitutional lawyer, and he had a record as an anti-Communist at a time when it mattered. Evidently he belongs to the human race. Away with sanctions and out with checkbooks. Democracy triumphs. What has happened in the former Yugoslavia completes the dramas of a decade ago in the old Soviet Union and its satellites, and—formally at least-—-it brings old-style Communism to a close in Europe.

A shadow defaces the projected happy ending, and it is the shadow of Slobodan Milosevic, who brought this revolution down on himself. With his podgy passionless features, and his tightly buttoned gray suits, he looks exactly like the veteran Communist that he is, and not quite a member of the human race. Going to war four times, he has destroyed the Yugoslavia he claimed to be saving. Tens of thousands are dead, hundreds of thousands displaced. Historic towns and monuments are flattened. During his 13 years in power, he has stolen a fortune variously estimated at between $145 million and $300 million. He has allowed his wife and son and chosen colleagues to embezzle public money on a comparable scale. His secret police have murdered his opponents. Finally, The Kaufmann Fund®

About the Author

David Pryce-Jones

David Pryce-Jones (1936–2025) was a British author and commentator and served as a senior editor of National Review.

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WE do revolutions more tidily than we used to. A million people took to the Belgrade streets, flag-waving and blowing whistles. They stormed and set fire to the parliament and the television station, but virtually nobody was hurt. Duly and properly elected, the new president, Vojislav Kostunica, opened his address to the nation with the words, “Good evening, liberated Serbia.” This new president is a rather trim constitutional lawyer, and he had a record as an anti-Communist at a time when it mattered. Evidently he belongs to the human race. Away with sanctions and out with checkbooks. Democracy triumphs. What has happened in the former Yugoslavia completes the dramas of a decade ago in the old Soviet Union and its satellites, and—formally at least-—-it brings old-style Communism to a close in Europe.

A shadow defaces the projected happy ending, and it is the shadow of Slobodan Milosevic, who brought this revolution down on himself. With his podgy passionless features, and his tightly buttoned gray suits, he looks exactly like the veteran Communist that he is, and not quite a member of the human race. Going to war four times, he has destroyed the Yugoslavia he claimed to be saving. Tens of thousands are dead, hundreds of thousands displaced. Historic towns and monuments are flattened. During his 13 years in power, he has stolen a fortune variously estimated at between $145 million and $300 million. He has allowed his wife and son and chosen colleagues to embezzle public money on a comparable scale. His secret police have murdered his opponents. Finally, The Kaufmann Fund®