Milovan Djilas' Open Letter to Tito in defense of Mihajlo Mihajlov (20 March 1967) is another testimony to the indomitability of the human spirit, written shortly after Djilas' own releasefrom prison ...(31 December 1966). In his inimitable, direct style, Djilas reminds Tito, a former comrade-in-arms, that the detention and prosecution of a young, talented writer like Mihajlov only damages the country's reputation and the prospects for democratization. Djilas suggests amnesty for Mihajlov, which in fact became reality, but only a decade later, on the eve of the 1977 Helsinki follow-up conference scheduled for Belgrade. In the meantime, Tito asked Djilas not to contact him in this manner again.
The crisis of communism is intensifying in most communist states, but in different ways in each of them. Despite the fact that communist states differ from each other and even internally, they are ...all related in that not one of them can be an exception or escape the fate of the monopolistic link between power, property, and ideology.
Milovan Djilas, a founding member of the International Advisory Committee of the Journal of Democracy, died Apr 20th, 1995. Excerpts from a 1993 interview with Djilas are included.
Milovan Djilas was one of the leaders of the World War II Yugoslav Partisan struggle and Communist revolution. Between 1945 and 1954 he was at various times a member of Tito's Cabinet, vice-president ...of Yugoslavia, and president of the federal assembly. In 1954 he was stripped of his offices because of his advocacy of democratic reforms. He was imprisoned for a total of nine years by Tito, but his writings, published in the United States and smuggled back into Eastern Europe, were a source of inspiration to the next generation of dissidents. His best-known book, The New Class, published in 1957, was widely acclaimed in the West as a pioneering critical analysis of the Communist system by a former insider. Mr. Djilas, who lives in 1990, Belgrade, spoke with Margaret Smith of The Fletcher Forum on May 19, in New York City. He authorized and updated the interview in October 1990.
Democracy without reality, or a democracy of pure doctrine inevitably loses when pitted against undemocratic forces, for undemocratic forces are more adaptable since they are more inconsiderate. The ...relationship between national identity and individual integrity is also discussed.
Djilas's argument is that the revolutions in Eastern Europe are vital for Western Europe in order to release the energies and creative powers of Europe as a whole.Consequently it is in the interests ...of the West to support these revolutions unconditionally, albeit they are taking place because the existing system of power is bankrupt. The revolution in Eastern Europe, by organizing itself around democracy, will put an end to the sterile controversy between the significance of capitalism and communism. The Soviet Union too is undergoing a democratic revolution:democratic freedom in Russia will only be possible with the independence of the non-Russian nations.
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