Revolutions of 1989 - Albania and Yugoslavia

Albania and Yugoslavia

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was not a part of the Warsaw Pact but pursued its own version of "Communism" under Josip Broz Tito. It was a multi-ethnic state which Tito was able to maintain through a doctrine of "Brotherhood and unity", but tensions between ethnicities began to escalate with the so-called Croatian Spring of 1970–71, a movement for greater Croatian autonomy, which was suppressed. In 1974 there followed constitutional changes devolving some of the federal powers to the constituent republics and provinces. After Tito's death in 1980 ethnic tensions grew, first in Albanian-majority Kosovo. In late 1980s Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević used the Kosovo crisis to stoke up Serb nationalism and attempt to consolidate and dominate the country, which alienated the other ethnic groups.

Parallel to the same process, Slovenia witnessed a policy of gradual liberalization since 1984, somewhat similar to the Soviet Perestroika. This provoked tensions between the League of Communists of Slovenia on one side, and the central Yugoslav Party and the Federal Army on the other side. By the late 1980s, many civil society groups were pushing towards democratization, while widening the space for cultural plurality. In 1987, a group of liberal intellectuals published a manifesto in the alternative Nova revija journal; in their so-called Contributions for the Slovenian National Program, they called for democratization and a greater independence for Slovenia. Some of the articles openly contemplated Slovenia's independence from Yugoslavia and the establishment of a full-fedged parliamentary democracy. The manifesto was condemned by the Communist authorities, but the authors did not suffer any direct repression, and the journal was not suppressed (although the editorial board was forced to resign). At the end of the same year, a massive strike broke out in the Litostroj manufacturing plant in Ljubljana, which led to the esbalishment of the first independent trade union in Yugoslavia. The leaders of the strike established an independent political organization, called the Social Democratic Union of Slovenia. Soon afterwards, in mid May 1988, an independent Peasant Union of Slovenia was organized. Later in the same month, the Yugoslav Army arrested four Slovenian journalists of the alternative magazine Mladina, accusing them of revealing state secrets. The so-called Ljubljana trial triggered mass protests in Ljubljana and other Slovenian cities. The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights was established as the platform of all major non-Communist political movements. All these events became known as the Slovenian Spring. By early 1989, several anti-Communist political parties were already openly functioning, challenging the hegemony of the Slovenian Communists. Soon, the Slovenian Communists, pressured by their own civil society, came into conflict with the Serbian Communist leadership.

In January 1990, an extraordinary Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia was called in order to settle the disputes among its constituent parties. Faced with being completely outnumbered, the Slovenian and Croatian Communists walked out of the Congress on 23 January 1990, thus effectively bringing to an end the Yugoslav Communist Party. Both parties of the two western republics negotiated free multi-party elections with their own opposition movements.

On 8 April 1990, the democratic and anti-Yugoslav DEMOS coalition won the elections in Slovenia, while on 24 April 1990 the Croatian elections witnessed the landslide victory of the nationalist Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) led by Franjo Tuđman. The results were much more balanced in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia in November 1990, while the parliamentary and presidential elections of December 1990 in Serbia and Montenegro consolidated the power of Milošević and his supporters. Free elections on the level of the federation were never carried out. Instead, the Slovenian and Croatian leaderships started preparing plans for secession from the federation. In the Slovenian independence referendum on 23 December 1990, 88.5% of residents voted for independence. In the Croatian independence referendum, on 2 May 1991, 93.24% voted for independence.

The escalating ethnic and national tensions were exacerbated by the drive for independence and led to the following Yugoslav wars:

• War in Slovenia (1991)
• Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995)
• Bosnian War (1992–1995)
• Kosovo War (1998–1999), including the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.

In addition, the insurgency in the Preševo Valley (1999–2001) and the insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia (2001) are also often discussed in the same context.

The independence of the constituent (federal) units, occurred in the following chronological order:

• Slovenia (25 June 1991)
• Croatia (25 June 1991)
• Republic of Macedonia (8 September 1991)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina (1 March 1992)
• Federal Republic of Yugolslavia (29 April 1992) - comprising Serbia and Montenegro. Renamed 'State Union of Serbia & Montenegro' on 4 February 2003.
• Montenegro (3 June 2006)
• Serbia (5 June 2006) proclaimed its succession to the Union of Serbia & Montenegro as an independent state.
• Kosovo (17 February 2008), Only partially recognized.

In the Socialist People's Republic of Albania, Enver Hoxha, who led Albania for decades, died 11 April 1985. In 1989, the first revolts started in Shkodra and spread in other cities. Eventually, the existing regime introduced some liberalization, including measures in 1990 providing for freedom to travel abroad. Efforts were begun to improve ties with the outside world. March 1991 elections left the former Communists in power, but a general strike and urban opposition led to the formation of a coalition cabinet including non-Communists. Albania's former Communists were routed in elections March 1992, amid economic collapse and social unrest.