The mass movement known as the Croatian Spring began with the Socialist Republic of Croatia's ruling Communist party, led by a new generation of party leaders who sought greater economic and political autonomy from Yugoslavia's federal government. It quickly grew outside of the party, particularly among students and intellectuals, and led to a strike in Zagreb in late 1971. Despite his initial support for the party's reforms, Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito ultimately sided with its more conservative factions to suppress the movement. An Uncertain Spring draws on extensive primary source materials, including interviews, memoirs, and archival documents, to examine this mass movement and the domestic factors that made it possible. Author Mila Dragojevic argues that, far from homogenous, the Croatian Spring consisted of several different interest groups not only within the Communist party but also within Croatian society. While reformist leaders were committed to the inclusion of different perspectives, transparency, and crucial changes to modernize the obsolete system, their discussions of Croatian national identity stoked fears of marginalization among ethnic Serbs and other minorities, and their use of political jargon created distrust among the student-led activists. By mobilizing the trust and support of Croatia's Serbian population as well as the Yugoslav federal government, the party's conservatives removed their reformist opponents from power and maintained political order, but they also lost political legitimacy among the general populace. Offering many valuable lessons to students and scholars of democratization and nationalism, An Uncertain Spring invites readers to consider the roles that political leaders in culturally diverse societies can and should play during major economic and political reforms.
Mila Dragojevic is Professor and Chair of Politics at Sewanee, the University of the South. She is author of The Politics of Social Ties: Immigrants in an Ethnic Homeland and Amoral Communities: Collective Crimes in Time of War.
Foreword Introduction: Reforms Incite a Mass Movement 1. Divisions in the Ruling Party 2. Students and Intellectuals Popularize the Movement 3. Cultural Claims Take Center Stage 4. Power in a Multinational State 5. Reforms Continue Without Reformists Conclusion: Leading Reforms in Diverse States Bibliography Index
"This book is an incredibly important contribution to a number of literatures. Its in-depth analysis of the Croatian Spring, relying on the range of primary sources, provides a level of detail and understanding of these events that has not been seen before; it also is an important contribution to understanding many of the dynamics that led to the wars in Yugoslavia 18-20 years later."-Chip Gagnon,author of The Myth of Ethnic War: Serbia and Croatia in the 1990s "This book offers a novel perspective to the understanding of the 1971 Croatian mass movement and liberal and reformist currents in the Yugoslav political leadership, contributing to the broader context of history of Yugoslavia."-Jelena Dureinovic, author of The Politics of Memory of the Second World War in Contemporary Serbia: Collaboration, Resistance and Retribution
