Through Bosnian Eyes: The Political Memoirs of a Bosnian Serb

I On the Eve of Political Pluralism

M. Pejanovic, THROUGH BOSNIAN EYES I. ON THE EVE OF POLITICAL PLURALISM Elections for the new President of Bosnia's Socialist Alliance were held in March 1990, just when the organization's electoral process was undergoing alignment with contemporary democratic practice. This meant that several candidates - five including myself - presented their programs at the Conference of the Alliance, while the elections.themselves were held by secret ballot. Thus I became President of the Socialist Alliance of Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the time of my election, signs of the shattering changes to come were multiplying fast. But while Yugoslav society was obviously in its final crisis, the election of Ante Markovic as Prime Minister of the Yugoslav federal government, had brought hope to many.1 It was a time of widespread speculation on what route the reform of Yugoslav society would follow - and whether this route would lead to the break-up of the Socialist Federated Republic of Yugoslavia. My election to the leadership of Bosnia's Socialist Alliance rapidly became the League's moment to face its own future. It had to decide whether to undergo radical reforms and become a party, or to cease functioning altogether. The Socialist Alliance involved by definition the free initiatives of civic organizations, based in the communities where their members lived, combined with the 1 Ante Markovic was selected as Prime Minister ofYugoslavia in March 1989. By implementing a comprehensive economic program, he was successful for a time in reducing inflation and introducing some reforms. After facing widespread popular opposition and being undermined by Milosevic and other political leaders, he resigned from that position in December 1991. John P. Lampe, Yugoslavia as History (Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 347-9. 13 M. Pejanovic, THROUGH BOSNIAN EYES characteristics of a front, a broad association of political movements and parties within the socio-political system. We, the Alliance's leaders, decided our policy would be to offer to its highest body, the Conference of the Socialist Alliance, a concept for transforming the Alliance into a party. This concept had three components. The first was to change the name from Socialist Alliance to Democratic Socialist Alliance (DSS - Demokratski socijalistic'ki savez); the second was a proposal for party goals and programs; and the third was.a proposal for party statutes and member recruitment procedures. All three components were discussed extensively in allmunicipal committees of the Socialist Alliance, and were finally adopted in May and June 1990. Our idea was to simultaneously preserve and develop the popular-based social-democratic traditions already in place: we hoped to build a plural society and multi-party system from· the structure of the Alliance. This was a transitional phase, as we worked to turn the Socialist Alliance into a democratic party that would foster a strong feeling of popular involvement in local issues. This built upon the developments of the previous three decades, during which the Alliance had stressed mobilizing civic initiatives to build communal infrastructures. We also found ourselves compelled to ask what kind of social model would the party born from the Socialist Alliance endorse. This party, it must be said, consisted chiefly of a tight inner circle composed of the Alliance's current activists. Its members were, by and large, mostly of the older generation,and the party relied heavily on the likelihood that rural areas would lend their support, as they had always done in the past. This likelihood was as much as we could guess from the popular mood. I vividly remember a public rally in Milica-Gaj, near Bosanska Dubica: the size of the crowds, and their enthusiastic response to every word from the Alliance's speakers. As President I gave the opening speech at this meeting, which was held on the 27th of July 1990 to celebrate the Day of Uprising. A Partisan woman from Potkozarje told me afterwards, "We must not let national hatred spread among the people." Of course, this re-examination of the Alliance's role began in the context of widespread turmoil in Bosnia and throughout Yugoslavia, 14 M. Pejanovic, THROUGH BOSNIAN EYES particularly within the League of Communists as it sought a road·to reform. There was upheaval inmost social organizations, and a universal obsession with creating new formulas for new political parties. At this time the League of Communists, like the Socialist Alliance, underwent an accelerated transformation and was reborn as the League of Communists - Social...