Yugoslavs keen to-maintain their unity

Press, 28 May 1981, Page 16

Yugoslavs keen to-maintain their unity

By

LAJOS LEDERER

My first visit to Yugoslavia since Tito’s death coincided with the first serious signs of strain in the federal structure of that land of six republics, two autonomous provinces and some 18 nationalities: the 2, violent disturbances in Kosovo, where the predominantly Albanian and Muslim population w were demanding that their au- || tonomous province within the Serb republic should be transformed into a, republic of !/i its own. ' ’ Some Western - observers ’& were convinced that this < upheaval was the precursor to $ other more critical ones; that traditional rivalries and separatist movements would & reassert themselves in the absence of Tito's firm hand. But ® there were few signs of apprehension among the people ® of Belgrade, basking in the g sunshine of an unusually early spring. On the face bf' it, the B people in the streets had not a

care in the world. Most of ® them, especially the women, > looked a good deal smarter ® even than a year ago. ' The shops in the Avenue S Marshal Tito were .crowded S and their windows displayed S hitherto unobtainable. goods, mostly imported from the & West. There was hardly room.®, to walk on the pavements, which were jammed with jb parked cars in the eccentric sg Belgrade manner, some very If new indeed. ® For more than 30 years, often more than twice a year, I g had watched the Yugoslavs a? ; pulling themselves, under Tito's leadership, from the < bleakest depths of deprivation, f , and it was fascinating to see

the improvement continuing even after Tito had gone. The universal theme was national unity. I talked to as many individuals as I could — in addition to innumerable old friends: students and university ' professors, party officials — peasants, too, among those who were flocking into Belgrade in : their national costumes, some of them walking immense dis- ■ tances, decked out with broad black ribbons, to visit Tito’s grave. Even among those students and dons who were in ; revolt in the past against aspects of Tito’s regime, I found ’ many who had suspended their hostility to the regime for the sake of national unity. .. ; The bloody disturbances in Kosovo, which were swiftly, and harshly put down by Tito's heirs, far from signalling a series of revolts against the central Government, seemed rather to have brought home, with a shock the need to sink any differences which might be exploited from outside the country. Poland is a daily reminder of the fearful hazard’s of existence in the shadow of the Soviet Union. j r That does not mean there are not elements among nationalist extremists who might themselves seek to use the Russians to help them break up the centralised State. And the Russians could well be feeling they have only to wait patiently until Yugoslavia, no longer held together by a strong and charismatic leader, falls apart of its own accord — or with a small push here and a small pull there. Mutual distrust, in some

cases bitter hatred, still exists ; between some of the nationali--7 ties. Serbo-Croat rivalry is ready to spring into damaging life, as it did in the days when r it tore the new State apart. J Westernised and efficient Slo- <■ venes still resent the compul- | siori to suffer a lower standard of living than they could easily S achieve themselves in order to help backward areas like Ma-, cedonia and Montenegro. v 4 An economy which has never W been strong has during the past gj year been hit by floods and S- earthquakes, a bad harvest and £ world recession. Inflation is on $ the march — 30 to 40 per cent &>' a year, and said to be rapidly Jt. increasing. Unemployment is 15 per cent. .£?■ And yet the men in charge, the collective Government set ]S up by Tito to ensure that no part of the realm should ever, be able to dominate the conn-, .£? try as a whole, has ridden out this most difficult year with ; the appearances of ease, while 1?’ slashing Yugoslavia’s debts and abandoning a number of gran--7 diose projects. If these men can go on working together, reaching fe some sort of a working agreeS ment on what they mean by Communism and on how far I* they can afford to tolerate, or even encourage, initiative outg side the party hierarchy, they g may yet weather what are bound to be some nasty storms g — and the peoples of Yugoslaf; via may finally discover that divided they can only fall: a 'V new and greater patriotism ¥ will have been born.—Copyright, London Observer Service. ,