Milovan Djilas facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Milovan Djilas
Milovan Đilas Милован Ђилас
Djilas in 1950
President of the Federal People's Assembly of Yugoslavia
In office 25 December 1953 – 16 January 1954
Preceded by	Vladimir Simić
Succeeded by	Moša Pijade
Deputy Prime Minister of Yugoslavia
In office 14 January 1953 – 17 January 1954
Prime Minister	Josip Broz Tito
Preceded by	Blagoje Nešković
Succeeded by	Svetozar Vukmanović
Minister without portfolio of Yugoslavia
In office 2 February 1946 – 14 January 1953
Prime Minister	Josip Broz Tito
Minister for Montenegro in the Government of Yugoslavia
In office 7 March 1945 – 17 April 1945
Prime Minister	Josip Broz Tito
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Blažo Jovanović (as Prime Minister of Montenegro)
Personal details
Born	(1911-06-12)12 June 1911 Podbišće, Montenegro
Died	20 April 1995(1995-04-20) (aged 83) Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia
Resting place	Podbišće, Montenegro
Political party	League of Communists of Yugoslavia (1932–1954)
Spouses	Mitra Mitrović ​ ​ (m. 1936; div. 1952)​ Stefanija Barić ​ ​ (m. 1952; her death 1993)​
Children	Vukica Aleksa
Alma mater	University of Belgrade
Occupation	Politician theorist writer
Military service
Allegiance	Yugoslavia
Branch/service	Yugoslav Partisans Yugoslav People's Army
Years of service	1941–1957
Rank	Colonel general
Battles/wars	World War II in Yugoslavia
Awards	Order of National Liberation (1945) Order of the People's Hero (1953)
Philosophy career
Era	20th-century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy Yugoslav philosophy
School	Marxism Djilasism
Main interests	Political philosophy
Notable ideas	New class
Influences Petar II Petrović-Njegoš Karl Marx Friedrich Engels Vladimir Lenin
Influenced Josip Broz Tito

Milovan Djilas (born June 12, 1911 – died April 20, 1995) was an important figure in Yugoslavia. He was a communist politician, a thinker, and a writer. Djilas played a big role in the Partisan movement during World War II. He was also part of the government after the war. Later, he became one of the most famous people who spoke out against the government in Yugoslavia and Eastern Europe. He wanted to make communism better from the inside. After the big changes in 1989 and the breakup of Yugoslavia, he became critical of communism, feeling that his early dreams had not come true.

Early Life and Political Beginnings

Milovan Djilas was born on June 12, 1911, in Podbišće, a village near Mojkovac in Montenegro. His family were farmers. He was one of nine children. His father, Nikola, was a brave soldier who fought in wars. His grandfather, Aleksa, was a famous local leader.

Djilas went to school in his hometown and nearby towns. There, he learned about books and the ideas of important thinkers like Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. In 1929, he started studying literature at the University of Belgrade. By this time, he was already very interested in communism. He was an active student who spoke out against the government of King Alexander I. Because of this, he was arrested in 1932 and again in 1933. The second time, he was sent to Sremska Mitrovica Prison for three years. In prison, he met other important members of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ). This time in jail made him even more dedicated to his communist beliefs.

After being released from prison in 1936, Djilas decided to focus on his work with the Communist Party. He supported Josip Broz Tito, who was the leader of the KPJ. In 1938, Tito made Djilas a member of the party's main committee, called the Central Committee. The next year, he joined the politburo, which was an even more important group.

Role in World War II

Fighting for Freedom

In April 1941, Axis powers like Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy invaded Yugoslavia. They quickly defeated the country's army. Yugoslavia was then divided up. Most of Montenegro was taken over by the Italians.

Milovan Djilas helped Josip Broz Tito to create the Yugoslav Partisan resistance. The Partisans were a group of fighters who resisted the invaders. After Germany attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Communist Party decided it was time for an armed struggle.

On July 4, the Communist Party decided to start an uprising. Djilas was sent to Montenegro to organize the fight against the Italian forces. On July 12, 1941, the Italians set up a puppet government in Montenegro. Djilas played a key role in the Uprising in Montenegro. This uprising brought together people from different backgrounds. Large parts of Montenegro were quickly freed from Italian control. Djilas stayed in Montenegro until November.

Working for Borba

In November 1941, Tito removed Djilas from leading the Partisan forces in Montenegro. This was because of some mistakes Djilas made during the uprising. Tito said Djilas tried to fight the enemy head-on, which was too risky. Instead, Tito wanted Djilas to focus on guerrilla warfare, which is a different way of fighting.

Djilas then became the editor of Borba, which was the Communist Party's main newspaper. This paper was used to spread the party's messages. Djilas moved to the communist-controlled town of Užice in Serbia to do this work. He later joined the main Partisan leaders in Bosnia. At this time, there were not many disagreements between communists and non-communists in the Partisan movement.

Building a New Nation

In March 1942, Djilas went back to Montenegro. A civil war had started there between the Partisans and another group called the Chetniks. Some historians believe Djilas was sent to find out what was happening and to remove any communist leaders who were not doing well.

In March 1944, Djilas went to the Soviet Union as part of a special mission. There, he met important leaders like Joseph Stalin. When he returned to Yugoslavia, he helped the Partisans free Belgrade from the German army. After the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was formed, Djilas became Vice-president in Tito's government.

In 1948, Djilas went to Moscow again to meet Stalin. He tried to fix the problems between Moscow and Belgrade. Djilas became one of the main people who spoke out against Stalin's attempts to control Yugoslavia more. Later that year, Yugoslavia broke away from the Soviet Union. This started a period known as the Informbiro period.

Even though Yugoslavia broke with Stalin, the Yugoslav communists were still very strict at first. But they started to try out a new idea called independent socialism. This involved letting workers manage state-run businesses themselves. Djilas was a big part of this change. As the person in charge of propaganda, he created a place for new ideas. He started a new magazine called Nova Misao ("New Thought"). In this magazine, he wrote articles that showed more and more independent thinking.

Becoming a Dissident

Many people thought Djilas would be the next leader after Tito. In 1953, he was almost chosen as President of Yugoslavia. He became President of the Federal People's Assembly of Yugoslavia, but only for a short time. Between October 1953 and January 1954, he wrote many articles for Borba, the official newspaper. In these articles, he criticized the strict, top-down system of Stalinism in the Soviet Union. He wanted Yugoslavia to move away from central planning and give more freedom to the economy.

Djilas believed that people should have more say in decisions. He even started to argue against having only one political party. He suggested that party rules should be relaxed. He also thought that government officials who were getting rich from their positions and stopping reforms should step down. At this point, Tito and other leaders saw Djilas's ideas as a threat to their power. In January 1954, Djilas was removed from the Central Committee of the party and lost all his political jobs because of his criticisms. He left the Communist Party soon after.

In December 1954, he told The New York Times that Yugoslavia was a "totalitarian" country. He said it was ruled by "undemocratic forces." He also asked for a "new democratic Socialist party" to be formed, which would mean having two political parties. For saying these things, he was put on trial. He received a suspended prison sentence of 18 months.

On November 19, 1956, Djilas was arrested again. This was because he spoke out against Yugoslavia's decision not to vote in the United Nations against the Soviet intervention in Hungary. He also wrote an article supporting the Hungarian Revolution. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

The New Class and Imprisonment

In 1957, while in jail, Djilas published a book abroad called The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System. He had sent the book to an American publisher before he was arrested. In this book, he argued that communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe was not fair. He said it was creating a "new class" of powerful party officials who got special benefits from their positions. The book became very popular and was translated into many languages. Because of The New Class, Djilas was sentenced to another seven years in prison in 1957. This meant he was supposed to serve ten years in total.

While in prison, Djilas wrote a detailed book about the famous Montenegrin prince-poet Njegoš. He also wrote novels and short stories. In 1958, he published the first part of his life story, called Land Without Justice, which was about his youth in Montenegro. This book had been rejected by publishers in Yugoslavia.

Djilas was let out of prison early on January 20, 1961. He had served four years and two months. During 1961, the Yugoslav government often threatened to send him back to jail for talking to foreign journalists and scholars. An Italian magazine that published one of his short stories was banned in Yugoslavia. He was imprisoned again in April 1962 for publishing another book abroad, Conversations with Stalin. This book also became a big success around the world. Djilas himself thought it was his most important work. For Conversations with Stalin, Djilas was sentenced to another five years in prison in August 1962. This was supposedly for "revealing state secrets," which he denied.

While in prison, Djilas also translated John Milton's famous poem Paradise Lost into Serbo-Croatian. On December 31, 1966, Djilas was set free for good. He was never imprisoned again. He continued to be a critic of the government, living in Belgrade until he died on April 20, 1995.

Views on Yugoslavia's Breakup

Djilas did not want Yugoslavia to break apart and fall into conflict in the 1980s and 1990s. However, he predicted in the 1980s that it would happen. In 1981, he said that Yugoslavia's system was only built for Tito to manage. He believed that after Tito was gone and the economy struggled, there would be a push for more power in the central government. But he thought this would fail because different regions would want their own power. He called this "bureaucratic nationalism" driven by economic self-interest. He predicted this would cause the Yugoslav system to collapse.

He was critical of Serbian President Slobodan Milošević in the late 1980s. Djilas predicted that Milošević's actions would cause other republics to separate. He also foresaw ethnic wars and the end of Yugoslavia. He said that Yugoslavia was like a "laboratory of all Communism." He believed its breakup would predict the breakup of the Soviet Union.

In 1987, Djilas was asked about Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms. Djilas said that Gorbachev's actions were necessary. He believed that the Soviets had realized, like other communist countries, that communism simply "doesn't work." He called communism a "19th-century relic and a prescription for disaster."

Views on Montenegrin Identity

Some Serbian nationalists called Djilas the "creator of the separate Montenegrin ethnicity." In an interview in 1945, Djilas stated that "Montenegrins are of Serb origin." However, he also said that over time, Montenegrins had developed into a separate nation and ethnic group. Djilas made important contributions to Montenegrin literature and history through his writings. Later in his life, from the mid-1980s, Djilas referred to himself as "Serb." After he left the Communist Party, Djilas said that there was no separate Montenegrin ethnic or national identity. He wrote about this in his books Njegoš: Poet-Prince-Bishop and Rise and Fall.

Works by Milovan Djilas

• The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System, 1957.
• Land without Justice, 1958.
• Conversations with Stalin, 1962.
• Montenegro, 1963.
• The Leper and Other Stories, 1964.
• Njegoš: Poet-Prince-Bishop, 1966.
• The Unperfect Society: Beyond the New Class, 1969.
• Wartime, 1977.
• Tito: The Story from Inside, 1980.
• Rise and Fall, 1985.

Selected Essays

• "Disintegration of Leninist Totalitarianism", in 1984 Revisited: Tolitarianism in Our Century, 1983.
• "The Crisis of Communism". Telos 80 (Summer 1989).

Translations

• Milton, John, Paradise Lost (from English to Serbo-Croatian), 1969.

See also

In Spanish: Milovan Đilas para niños

• Đilasism

Literary Subjects

• Communism
• John Milton
• Petar II Petrović-Njegoš
• Joseph Stalin
• Stalinism