38
important role. In addition, the standard in Yugoslavia was at that time relatively high, and the
budgets had enough funds for various subsidies.
At the end of the sixties and the beginning of the seventies the Yugoslav historians were
openly at each other's throats; the disputes occurred mostly between the Croatian, Albanian
and Serbian historians, while the Bosnian ones chose sides according to their national
affiliation. Already after taking care of "liberalism" and the national movements in individual
republics at the beginning of the seventies (1972), four well-known Yugoslav historians Ivan
Božić, Sima Ćirković, Milorad Ekmečić and Vladimir Dedijer wrote a book entitled Istorija
Jugoslavije [History of Yugoslavia]. The way in which Ekmećić and Dedijer discussed the
national issue, particularly the Serbo-Croatian relations and the question of Yugoslavism,
provoked the sharpest polemics of Yugoslav historiography yet. The book triggered a deep
and never settled dispute between the Belgrade, Sarajevo and Zagreb historians; some writers
simply marked it as "a political pamphlet".36 This dispute was, nevertheless, more of an
exception than a rule in the seventies, since politics succeeded in temporarily suppressing
international disputes (also historiographic ones).
Eight Historiographies in the Eighties
"Engaged" Historiography or History as the Object of Political Struggles
Problems connected with the handling of the common past of the Yugoslav nations in the
eighties moved into almost pure politics. The political elites in individual republics tried to
consolidate their position and their vision of the reorganization of Yugoslav society by
evaluating the past. Everything that was connected to evaluating the past: works of art,
memories, feuilletonism or "real" historiographic works, became the object of polemics, thus
obscuring the line between professional historiography and the more lay genres, while the
historiographic discipline grew ever more politicized and closed off within the republican
borders.37 "Whenever an entire history tries to be written in Yugoslavia from determined,
36 Dušan Plenča: Povijest - znanost ili diverzija?, Vijesnik u sredu, 4.7. 1973, pp. 20/21.
37 Only rare Yugoslav historians dealt with the history of other nations in a research manner. This applies
particularly to Serbian historians, for which an obstacle had also been the unfamiliarity with the languages of
non-Serbian nations (although the situation, naturally, cannot be entirely generalized, since, for instance, the
Serbian historian Momčilo Zečević, Ph.D., also established himself by researching Slovene history, and there are
other examples as well). It was certainly a great surprise for the Serbian historians when in the seventies young
Albanian historiography broke through and (although often with a national romantic direction and also
39
mutually opposing positions, it becomes part of a political struggle", wrote the author of
Istorija SFRJ [History of the SFRY] Dušan Bilandžić, Ph.D., in 1985.38 The eighties in
Yugoslavia fought a battle for the interpretation of history ("we shall see what will happen in
the past" wrote the Serbian journalist Aleksandar Tijanić at that time). So many books, expert
discussions, publicistic works, newspaper articles, various round tables, radio, television and
other debates with historiographic content had not been issued or had not appeared in any of
the decades before, perhaps not even in all of them combined. 39 In that haste, the future was
practically forgotten and it is no wonder that none of the Yugoslav historians predicted the
disintegration of Yugoslavia.
The curve of the handling of historical topics began to rise a year or two after Tito's death.
Before that time there still reigned a sort of pietistic calm, a gathering of forces, and
afterwards it began to pour down and the "historiographic storm" turned into persistent and
continuous rain, which subsided only in the beginning of the nineties. The most intense were
the polemics from the middle of the eighties and until 1988, when the attitude of individual
nations towards the future of Yugoslavia was formed and national programs were created
(1986 the program Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts; in 1987 the
Slovene national program, published in Nova revija). After the first multi-party elections in
individual republics (1990), history lost its political function as regards Yugoslavia, however,
it still remained an important factor in the political struggles within individual republics.
Communication between Yugoslav historians was (with the exception of rare personal ties)
severed long ago. At least from 1988 onwards the thought of organizing an important all-
Yugoslav meeting was utter utopia. The Yugoslav Historians' Association quietly vanished
after the congress in Priština (1987) and was not followed by public polemics as had been the
disintegration of certain other federal institutions (e.g. Zveza književnikov Jugoslavije
[Yugoslav Writers' Association]).
Although there was a vast amount of controversial topics and these were very diverse and
covered different historical periods (yet with an emphasis on newer history), two "target"
withholding certain facts and emphasizing others) began to tear down the Serbian idea of Kosovo, and at the
same time tried to historically substantiate the right of Albanians in Kosovo to self-determination, including the
right to secession.
38 Dušan Bilandžić: Predrasude povijesti, Vjesnik 9.11. 1985, p. 6
39 A comprehensive review of all the Yugoslav newspaper and other historiographical production, which in the
eighties comprised hundreds of articles, cannot be formed due to the disintegration of the state and insufficient
documentation. To illustrate, when writing this contribution I have taken into consideration some 150 newspaper
and magazine articles (available in Slovenia) on the topics that were in the foreground of the polemics the most.
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