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Yugoslavia Montenegro
In the divisive late 1980s, the political position of
Montenegro remained closer to that of Serbia than did that of any
other republic. This was because of a close ethnic connection
between the Serbs and the Montenegrin majority of the population,
and because Montenegrins were the second Slavic minority
"persecuted" in Kosovo--giving them an anti-Albanian nationalist
cause similar to that of the Serbs. Montenegro's relatively weak
economy made it dependent on the continued strength of the
federation. Like Serbia, Montenegro was independent through most
of the nineteenth century, a factor that influenced the
Montenegrin view of nationalism in the twentieth century.
Montenegro was a strong supporter of Serbian constitutional
amendments limiting provincial autonomy in 1989, and party
speakers consistently criticized Slovenia's independent stance
and its position on Kosovo. Internally, some progressive movement
occurred in Montenegrin politics at the end of the 1980s. A
traditionally conservative government was ousted in 1988,
following mass protests of economic and political conditions by
workers and students, who received strong support from the
Montenegran Youth Organization. Six months later the entire
Central Committee of the League of Communists of Montenegro was
forced to resign, and a new Central Committee was named following
a second wave of demonstrations against government inaction. The
average age of the new Central Committee was forty, and the party
filled many positions with former protest leaders. This removed
the remaining members of the Tito generation from power in
Montenegro. Nenad Bucin, elected by referendum as Montenegrin
representative to the State Presidency in 1989, advocated
government participation by noncommunists. Alternative groups
were nominally legalized in 1989, but did not immediately receive
status or public access equal to that of the Montenegrin
communists.
Data as of December 1990
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