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Yugoslavia Launching Self-Management
The aim of the Yugoslav shift from Stalinist economics was to
redefine the party as a source of ideological guidance,
eliminating its political power over the economy. This would
follow the true spirit of Marxism by giving the people control
over their economic destiny. "The factories to the workers" was
the slogan of the decade.
In 1950 the Basic Law on the Management of State Economic
Enterprises by Working Collectives was introduced to establish
workers' participation in the management of their own
enterprises. The basic law decentralized planning, turning it
over to local communes and workers' councils and incorporated the
principles of self-management into all aspects of public life.
Central authorities outlined only general economic guidelines
rather than imposing mandatory targets from a centralized command
structure. The state retained control over the appointment of
enterprise directors and the allocation of investment resources,
however, thereby retaining considerable de facto control over the
economy.
In agriculture, the failure of collectivization led to
abandonment of that experiment in 1952. By that date, one-fifth
of the 7,000 agricultural collectives already had been dissolved.
In March 1953, peasants were officially allowed to leave the
collectives, and most of them did so. Later the same year, the
state ended compulsory delivery of agricultural products to state
enterprises. Peasants were left to produce what they could and to
sell surpluses on the open market.
Data as of December 1990
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