Political Power and Economic Change in Yugoslavia


Author(s): Benjamin Ward

 


Today discussion of Eastern Europe centers around the stalling of the reforms, the strong tendencies everywhere to postpone decisions on reorganization, or to eliminate the more radical proposals. The vision of developing market socialist economies throughout this area, including the Soviet Union, seems to be fading, and the reasons are everywhere the same: not so much fears that the reforms won't work or the in ability of reformers to agree on a program, but rather fears that the political consequences of reforming may be unacceptable to the present leadership, that in some fundamental way markets and Communist parties don't mix. Of course, because the stalling seems to have such a strong political component, it is subject to change without much notice (as of March notice may have been served in Czechoslovakia), but such at least are the trends of the moment.

 

For some fifteen years now Yugoslavia has been operating an economic system that has been widely hailed as market socialist. In casting a rather opinionated and speculative glance over the course of institutional change in Yugoslavia in this essay we will bear in mind the economic reform issues that are now on the surface in Eastern Europe: price control, industrial organization, the control of labor, instruments for indirect economic control. But our main concern will be with the interaction of political power and economic change and the configuration of power that has resulted. In particular we seek to answer the question: in retrospect should the party have feared economic decentralization?

 

Danas se diskusija o Istočnoj Evropi usredsređuje na odugovlačenje reformi, svuda jake tendencije da se odluke o reorganizaciji odlažu ili da se eliminišu radikalniji predlozi. Izgleda da vizija razvoja tržišnih socijalističkih ekonomija širom ovog područja, uključujući Sovjetski Savez, bledi, a razlozi su svuda isti: ne toliko strah da reforme neće uspeti ili sposobnost reformatora da se dogovore oko program, već strahuje da političke posledice reformi mogu biti neprihvatljive za sadašnje rukovodstvo, da se na neki fundamentalan način tržišta i komunističke partije ne mešaju. Naravno, pošto se čini da odugovlačenje ima tako jaku političku komponentu, ono je podložno promeni bez mnogo najave (od marta obaveštenje je možda dostavljeno u Čehoslovačkoj), ali takvi su barem trendovi u ovom trenutku.

 

Već nekih 15 godina Jugoslavija je sprovodila privredni sistem koji je bio naširoko pozdravljen kao tržišno socijalistički. Bacajući prilično tvrdoglav i spekulativan pogled na tok institucionalnih promjena u Jugoslaviji, u ovom eseju ćemo imati u vidu probleme ekonomskih promena koje su danas na površini u Istočnoj Evropi: kontrola cena, industrijska organizacija, kontrola rada, instrumenti posredne ekonomske kontrole. Ali naš osnovni interes biće interakcija političke moći i ekonomske promene i konfiguracija moći koja je rezultirala. Posebno, tražimo odgovor na pitanje: retrospektivno, da li je partija trebalo da se plaši ekonomske decentralizacije?

 

Key words: authors/Benjamin Ward, language/English, countries/ Eastern Europe, Yugoslavia, Soviet Union, reform, market socialism, Communist party, labor, price control, decentralization

 

ključne reči: autori / Benjamin Ward, jezik / engleski, zemlje / Istočna Evropa, Jugoslavija, Sovjetski savez, reforma, tržišni socijalizam, Komunistička partija, rad, kontrola cena, decentralizacija

 

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