Entangled Paths Toward Modernity: Contextualizing Socialism and Nationalism in the Balkans

20. Legacies of radicalism

20. Legacies of Radicalism It was this legacy that the Independent Radicals would claim in their schismatic dissent in 1901. The split in the radical ranks was triggered by the Radical Party’s willingness to accept the more regressive constitution imposed by Aleksander Obrenović in 1901. This acquiescence to compromise on the constitutional issue (the new constitution envisioned the creation of a second house, a senate), the abandonment of the demands for universal suffrage, self-government and a popular army, and the prospect of entering into coalition with the Progressives, were perceived as a betrayal of programmatic radicalism, and provoked the critique of a younger generation of radical intellectuals who demanded a return to the true principles of the party. Moreover, they rejected the burgeoning tendency to personify the Radical Party solemnly as Pašić’s will.178 In 1904, the dissident group organized into a separate political entity, designating themselves “Independent Radicals.” The “Independent Radicals” kept to the original program of 1881, indicative of the popularity and the echo that this retained as a programmatic document. In wrestling for a share of the radical legacy, the Independents were indicative of the organic bonds achieved between the party and the people and of the “proven efficacy of its legitimizing code.”179 Contrary to the Old Radicals, who drew their popularity from a canonized legacy, the Independents insisted on the necessity to demarcate the contours of the party within a modern ideological profile . Based on the “principles of radical democracy,” the Independents sought “the comprehensive promotion and advancement of the Serbian people towards greater personal freedom, strengthened social morals, the dissemination of knowledge in all social strata, fuller economic and civil equality, so that the people may materialize their national and social ideals.” In “moral terms,” this program translated into the necessity to educate the people towards “a higher public moral,” the development of social and moral feelings and the intensification of social solidarity and its civil values. In “intellectual terms,” it envisioned the broad- 143 20. Legacies of Radicalism est possible dissemination of knowledge, so that even the members of the weakest social classes could develop their intellectual capacities. The Independents also placed a greater emphasis on vocational education . In “political terms,” they demanded the introduction of selfgovernment throughout the state, universal suffrage, secret voting and a proportional electoral system, the guaranteeing of the freedom of the press and association, and the popular right to elect the civil servants. Finally, in “economic terms,” they promulgated the need to develop and fortify the productive forces of the country, to ameliorate hygienic conditions and public health, to protect the peasantry, the workers and the weak social classes exposed to the process of economic development , while simultaneously strengthening local industry. Economic frugality in state expenses went hand in hand with the need to create the “best possible conditions for the full economic independence of the people and the state.”180 In foreign policy, the Independents demanded strong protection for the political and economic interests of the Serbian people and the state, the fostering of good neighboring relations, the political and economic union of the Balkan people under the premise of “the Balkans for the Balkan people,” the fostering of the spirit of a Yugoslav union, and support for the unredeemed Serbs in order to unite the fragmented Serbian people.181 The Independents demanded radical change in the bureaucratic apparatus: the simplification of the administration, strict self-government , a people’s army, the amelioration of conditions in agriculture and the creation of credit institutions for peasants, social legislation for workers, tax reform, free and equal elementary education (including the abolition of tuition fees), general universal suffrage and even more trenchant democratic measures like plebiscites.182 The core idea of the Independents’ social program was the necessity for active state intervention in the regulation of social and economic relationships as a means of achieving greater social equality and solidarity. The Independents translated radical democracy “in the terms of the modern European left,” understanding democracy not solely in political, but also in social terms. This was manifest in their quest for enforced social rights, whereby the state, through active participation, had the duty to intervene in the relationship between the social classes.183 The following statement by Jovan M. Žujović is illustrative: 144 III. The Ambiguities of Modernity Radical democracy emphasizes the principle of mutuality or solidarity as one of the most important principles...