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IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE ! Political Represion in Serbia 1944 - 1953 ,

Author : Srdjan Cvetkovic

Publisher : Evro Giunti Belgrade

Year : 2014

Mr. Srdjan Cvetkovic is a longtime scientific associate of the Institute for Modern History and a former Secretary of the State Commission for the study of secret graves of people killed after the December 11th 1944.

 

He is the author of the project “In the name of the people!” dedicated to the political repression that the communist regime implemented in Serbia in the period from 1944 until 1953.

 

Political repression occurring in Serbia during the period of 1944-1953 was preconditioned by a series of complex social, historical and ideological-political factors. As in other countries of Eastern Europe, victory of the revolutionary forces after WW2 initiated an emulation of Soviet experiences related to the development of a socialist society, which were based on the combination of ideology and repression carried out by a Party state through institutions modelled after those of the first country of Socialism. On the other hand, each country was a case for itself, and the conflict between a globally imposed revolutionary model and local particularities gave birth to a variegated set of transitional people's democracies.

 

Political violence thus occurred in cycles. Initially, during 1944-1946, people's enemies were eliminated having been accused of collaboration and war crimes - firstly without previous judicial proceedings (the wild cleansings), and then judicially before the courts of honour, military and civilian courts. After the elections of November 1945 which were carried out under a set of most undemocratic circumstances, there ensued a period (1946-1948) when the so called companions of the revolution were targeted, these being yesterday's allies of the communists who were now accused of espionage and being eliminated throughout Eastern Europe under the personal directive of Stalin. Finally, from 1948 to 1953, it was the turn of the intra-party enemies (the so called IBs) to suffer, and they were interned in concentration camps and tortured. During the campaign designed to demonstrate devotion of the Communist Party leadership to the Stalinist dogma, the so called kulaks were persecuted in the coun-tryside (as part of the state imposed campaign of mandatory buyout and agricultural collectivization), together with the remaining members of the middle-class opposition in the cities.

English , good condition ,  paperback , size 21 x 26,5 cm , illustrated , 160 pages