cultural policy in yugoslavia: self-management and culture...

in Yugoslavia Self-management and culture

r\ Stevan Majstorovii

I\

Studies and documents on cultural policies

Recent titles in this series:

Cultural pblicy in the Republic of Panama, by the National Institute of Culture Cultural policy in Bolivia. by Mariano Baptista Cumucio Cultural policy in Argentina, by Edwin R. Harvey Cultural policy in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, by the Institute of Art Criticism, Ethnography and Folklore of the Academy of Sciences of the Bye- lorussian SSR Cultural policy in the Revolutionary People’s Republic of Guinea, by the Minis- try of Education and Culture under the auspices of the Guinean National C o m - mission for Unesco Cultural policy in Australia. by Jean Battersby Cultural policy in the Democratic Republic of Korea, by Chai Sin Sik and Hyon Jong H u n

For a complete list of titles see page 97

Published in 1980 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris Printed by Dnevnik, OOUR Stamparija, Novi Sad

ISBN 92-3- 1 O 1829-9 French edition: 92-3-201829-2

OUnesco 1980 Printed in Yugoslavia

Preface

The purpose of this series is to show how cultural policies are planned and implemented in various Member States.

As cultures differ, so does the approach to them; it is for each Member State to determine its cultural policy and methods according to its own conception of culture, i& socio-economic system, political ideol- ogy and technical development. However, the methods of cultural policy (like those of general development policy) have certain c o m m o n problems; these are largely institutional, administrative and financial in nature, and the need has increasingly been stressed for exchanging experiences and information about them. This series, each issue of which follows as far as possible a similar pattern so as to make comparison eas- ier, is mainly concerned with these technical aspects of cultural policy.

In general, the studies deal with the principles and methods of cultural policy, the evaluation of cultural needs, administrative structures

. and management, planning and financing, the organization of resources, legislation, budgeting, public and private institutions, cultural content in education, cultural autonomy and decentralization, the training of personnel, institutional infrastructures for meeting specific cultural needs, the safeguarding of the cultural heritage, institutions for the dissemination of the arts, international cultural co-operation and other related subjects.

The studies, which cover countries belonging to differing social and economic systems, geographical areas and levels of development, present therefore a wide variety of approaches and methods in cultural poi- icy. Taken as a whole, they can provide guidelines to countries which have yet to establish cultural policies, while all countries, especially those seeking new formulations of such policies, can profit by the experience already gained.

This study was prepared for Unesco by Dr Stevhn MajstoroviC. The opinions expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily re-

flect the views of Lnesco.

Contents

9

13 26

29

45

55

65

75

81

86 93

Foreword

I. Evolution in the interpretation of culture and cultural policy

Basic features of the Yugoslav community Culture and society - a new relationship Interpretation of culture and cultural policy in the self-management system Features and meaning of Yugoslav cultural pluralism Contradictions emerging from cultural development in the self-management system II. Practical aspects Self-management and administrative agencies Organization of inter-republic cultural co-opera tion Encouraging creative effort in culture and arts Traditional forms of dissemination of culture Other forms of dissemination of culture

Foreword

This second book on cultural policy in Yugoslavia contains some new information and its structure is different. There are two reasons for this: (a) the development of the country has entailed a new approach to culture and cultural policy; and (b) the need has developed for a broader exchange of experience by various countries in accordance with the purpose of this Unesco project.

Many foreign cultural workers and artists visiting Yugoslavia ask how people can communicate with each other when there are so many different languages; how decisions on cultural policy are taken in practice, in view of the decentralization that has taken place; how the plans of cultural development are co-ordinated; what is the Yugoslav interpretation of the culture of work; how the different cultures interact; what is the practical mode of financing cultural institutions and programmes since there is neither a ministry for culture nor a traditional budget, and many other questions of îhis kind.

I have therefore endeavoured to answer all these questions in this monograph to the best of my ability. Special attention has also been given to the Yugoslav interpretation and implementation of cultural pluralism, decentralization, creative effort, culture of work, local initiative and cultural develópment planning.

The explanations and opinions expressed in the monograph are the authür's and do not necessarily reflect either those of Unesco or the Yugoslav Commission for Co-operation with Unesco. The author had no intention of making propaganda for the Yugoslav experience and even less of refuting the experience of other countries.

In the preparation of this monograph I received valuable assistance from the sociologist Dr Veselin Ili6 of Belgrade.

Stevan Majstorovii

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I. Evolution in the interpretation of culture and cultural policy

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Basic features of the Yugoslav community

The crossroads of cultural and political innuence

The Balkan Peninsula and especially its central part, where present-day Yugoslavia is situated, have constituted for centuries the meeting-point between Europe and the ancient civilizations of Asia and Africa. For over a thousand years, the eastern part of the Mediterranean was the focal point of European culture, and the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula served not only as a link between cultures but was their con- verging point. The most varied material and spiritual cultures met and permeated each other in this area, leaving indelible traces behind them.

The social organization developed in ancient Greece laid the foundations of European civilization. The Greeks had colonies in Asia Mi- nor and ruled almost all the islands in the Aegean and Mediterranean. Their colonization of the Adriatic coast and islands began in the seventh century B. C., Their oldest colonies - Epidamnos (Dirabion) Apol- lonia, Epidaurum, Pharos, Corcyra, Issa - have preserved the names given them by the Greeks to this day (Corcyra - KorCula). The sea provided the most important route for the maintenance of commercial and cultural relations between the oldest inhabitants of the Balkan Penin- sula and the Greeks, and the Danube served the same purpose.

The existence of close ties with the Greek and Anatolian cultures is demonstrated by discoveries in numerous prehistoric settlements excava- ted in Yugoslavia - VinEa near Belgrade, Butmir near Sarajevo and settlements in Slavonia.

The earliest settlers in the Balkan Peninsula were the Thracians in the east and the Illyrians in the west. In the fourth century B.C., the Celts arrived and forced the Illyrians to retreat towards the sea and into the mountains. They left numerous vestiges of their culture in the fortifi- cations and settlements they built - Singidunum (Belgrade), Taurnun (Zemun) and others. A number of places, including the longest rivers in Yugoslavia (Danube, Sava, Drava), have Celtic names to this date. In the fourth century B. C., the Greek influence was gradually replaced by that of the short-lived but powerful state of Alexander the Great.

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In the third century B. C., the Roman influence began to spread in the Balkan Peninsula. In 298 B. C., the Romans clashed with the forces of the Illyrian state situated around what is today the Gulf of Boka Ko- torska and the cities of Skadar and Risan. By the end of the second century B. C., they crushed the resistance of Philip V, the Macedon, and the Illyrians, but the conquest of the peninsula was completed only as late as the end of the first century B. C., after which they ruled the peninsula for five centuries. Their influence on the area covered by modern Yugoslavia embraced many fields: good roads linked all places of importance; new towns were built and the old ones developed further; material culture prospered. The Romans practised systematic colonization, opened numerous mines and promoted trade. The most important cities of that time were Salona (Solin near Split), Scodrina (Skadar), Damavia , (Srebrnica in Bosnia), Singidunum (Belgrade), Viminacium (Kostolac in Serbia), Naissus (NiS, Serbia), Scupi (Skopje, the capital of Macedonia), Mursa (Osijek, Croatia), Emona (Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia), Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica, Vojvodina), Tarsatica (Rijeka, Croatia) and many others.

Several centuries of Roman rule in the Balkan Peninsula left many traces which are still visible. Many Latin words are still to be found in the language of the Albanians, the descendants of the Illyrians, and in the languages of the Romanians and the Wallachians, who are descen- ded from the Thracians, the old settlers of the Balkan Peninsula. The political and strategic role of the peninsula began to grow in the third century a.d., when the attacks on the Roman Empire from the east became more frequent and intensive. The Balkan Peninsula constituted the first line of defence of the empire and most Roman legions were sta- tioned in Illyricum, Rome’s Balkan province. The Illyrian influence in the Roman army was so strong that they deposed some Roman emperors in order to bring the.ir own people to the.throne (Diocletian). In the fourth century A. D., yet another R o m a n emperor, Constantine the Great, came from the Balkan Peninsula (te. NiS in today’s Serbia).

The big westward migration had begun by the end of the fourth century and lasted, with brief intervals, until the ninth century. Many mi- grating tribes moved across the territory of present-day Yugoslavia and this eventually led to a complete reversal of the political m a p of central Europe. Under the pressure of the Huns, the Gothic tribes were forced to move from the Black Sea coast and from what is now southern USSR, and, after defeating the Romans in battle, pushed towards the Danube. The Romans had no other choice but‘to let them settle in Thrace but their conflicts continued. in the fifth century, the Huns invaded Europe drawing the Gothic tribes after them. They established a state along the Danube and in Pannonia, but it fell apart shortly after the death of At- tila. Ghepid tribes succeeded the Huns as masters of Pannonia and the Carpathian area and at the same time, the Goths conquered m large part of the Balkan Peninsula.

In 476, the Western Roman Empire succumbed to the attack from the east and the Goths invaded the territory of present-day Italy, moving from the Balkan Peninsula. Their departure relieved the Eastern Roman

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Empire (Byzantine Empire) of a dangerous adversary but new difficulties arose immediately.

The departure of the Goths left the boundaries of the empire on the Danube defenceless, enabling peoples from the east to invade the Bal- kan Peninsu!a. and Central Europe. Bulgarian and Slavic tribes were among those who begán to occupy this region at the onset of the fourth century A. D. The Slavs, aided by the Avars, settled the area bordering on the Danube and Tisza rivers and carried out with their allies an un- successful attack against Constantinople (626). This failure was followed by a conflict between the Slavs and the Avars, which Byzantium in- stigated in order to ward off the menace to its frontiers by these peoples.

in the seventh century A. D., during the civil war in the Byzantine Empire and its military involvement in Asia Minor, the Slavs crossed over to the Balkan Peninsula and settled there. They brought with them their tribal organization, their customs and their pagan religion. The Bulgarians, the kinsmen of the Huns, were the first to invade the Lower Danube region, while the Slavs followed somewhat later. The Bulgarians set up their state and began to spread their influence, attacking the neighbouring Serbs who also founded their own state at that time. In 924, the Bulgarian emperor, Simeon, succeeded in defeating the Serbian state, but his rule lasted only until 931 when Serbia regained its freedom. At the same time, the Croats established their state in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula, while the Slovenes lost their independence (772), failing in their resistance against the more powerful and more numerous Germans. At the onset of the ninth century, a large area, spreading as far as the Cetina River in Dalmatia, was ruled by Franks, with the exception of the Dalmatian cities. Ljudevit Posavski, a Croatian prince, raised a rebellion against the Franks together with the Slovenes and the Serbs. The insurgence lasted from 819 until 922. It was the first time that the peoples of the present-day Yugoslav nations joined hands to fight together against a foreign invader.

During the ninth and tenth centuries, the Slavs in the Balkan Peninsula were converted to Christianity, and two Macedonian mis- sionaries, Cyril and Methodius, developed the Slav alphabet and thus laid the foundations of Slav literacy and literature. The success of Cyril and Methodius can be explained by the fact that the great Macedonian Empire under Tsar Samuilo (976 - 1014) embraced almost all Slavs in the Balkan Peninsula. For several centuries, autonomous Serbian, Bos- nian and Croatian states existed for various periods of time and with varying success. During the reign of Tsar DuSan (1331 -46) Serbia encompassed a major part of the peninsula and almost all the Southern Slavs. This period was marked by the considerable political and economic growth of the Serbian state.

The Hungarians, who reached Europe in 8%, and began consolidat- ing their power in a broad region spreading from the Alps to the Carpathian mountains, became an immedate threat to the Croatian state. In 1102, the Croats finally fell prey to the Hungarian kingdom and remained a part thereof, and subsequently a part of Austria (i.e. Aus- tria-Hudgary) until 1918. The Serbs lost their independence two centuries later, in 1389, after their defeat by the Turks at Kosovo. They

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5emained under the domination of the Ottoman Empire for five centuries. Bosnia and Macedonia were ruled by the Turks for even longer, whereas the Slovenes, as has already been mentioned, were under Cer- ma n domination until 1918.

By assimilating the influence of ancient Greece and Rome, the Byzantine Empire and, subsequently, during Turkish rule, the Persian and Arabic cultures, and in the north-western regions, the Mediterra- nean and Central European cultures, the Yugoslav peoples acquired a synthesis of all these cultures to which they brought their own creative contribution. The old architecture of the Dalmatian cities and towns is an expression of the building sense of the Croatian people, while the frescoes and the ecclesiastical and monastic architecture reflect the building gifts of the Serbian, Macedonian and Montenegrin peoples. The Bosnian tombstones, literature of Dubrovnik, Slovenian castles, Ser- biam folk poetry, the rich cultural and literary traditions of other peoples, and the ancient crafts and folk arts serve as an authentic testi- mony of the creative ability and rich heritage of the Yugoslav peoples. In 1971, a major exhibition entitled The Arb in Yugoslavia, held in Paris, offered Europe an opportunity to learn more about the creative experience, traditions and accomplishments of the Yugoslav peoples.

. General features of the country

Yugoslavia is a multinational socialist community with a population of 22 million and a great variety of cultures, languages and ethnic characteristics. For this reason, some people call it ‘Europe in minia- ture’ because, within its boundaries, six national cultures and almost twice as many cultures of nationalities, conduct a dialogue, permeate, complement and verify each other. The national, cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity is further enriched by various religious denominations : Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Moslem and Jewish along with minor groups of Baptists, Adventists and others.

In the course of the socialist development in Yugoslavia after the Second World War, major changes affected the social and geographic distribution of the population due to industrialization, alterations in the economic structure of the country and the professional structure of the population, the large-scale migration of the rural population into urban areas, colonization and emigration. In 1939, four-fifths of the Yugoslav population lived in rural areas and were involved in agricultural production, and only one-fifth were city dwellers. At‘the beginning of the 1980s the urban population was already in the majority (52 per cent). After the war (1945), Yugoslavia was mostly agrarian and underdeveloped whereas today it has joined the ranks of the medium-developed countries. S o m e parts of the country (Slovenia) have already crossed that boundary, while others are well on the way towards crossing it (parts of Croatia, Serbia and Vojvodina).

According to the population census of 1971, 86.7 per cent of the population belong to the various ‘nations’ 11.4 per cent are members of ‘nationalities’ and 1.9 per cent are ‘nationally indeterminate’. The glo- bal populgtion structure is as follows: Serbs, 39.7 per cent; Croats, 22.1;

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Errata

Page 22, line 5: 24, 6: 26, 15:

16: 31, 4: 35, last line: 36, line 2: 38, 9:

read its not the read prerequisites not prerequsities read it had to be vested not it had be vested read in jeopardy from nor in jeopardy of read paths, instead of path, insert and before cultural industry read One form not association form read deducted instead of deducting

43 and page 42 should be transposed 46, line 8: delete speak

subheading: should read Interpretation of national equality 47, line 14: read gap instead of existing

28: read genuine instead of gennine 29: read nation instead of natin

51, 33: read the instead of their 34: delete individual

52, 13: read applies nof appractions 58, 21: to read at exhibitions throughout 59, 25: delete second Martelam 65, 35: read practical instead of pracitical 78, 22: delete blished

80, 27: delete blishers 82, 27: read Anti-Fascist Council 90, Table 9: 96, last line:

41: delete med

Footnote should read 1. Statistics read and not republics

A small number of copies have been inadvertently distributed with page 16 omitted. These will be replaced upon receipt of the defective copies, but for readers who may find this inconvenient page 16 is reproduced overleaf. Extra copies of this sheet will be sent upon request.

i Unesco: Cklrural policy in Yugoslavia (1980)


gemained under the domination of the Ottoman Empire for five centuries. Bosnia and Macedonia were ruled by the Turks for even longer, whereas the Slovenes, as has already been mentioned, were under Cer- m a n domination until 1918.

By assimilating the influence of ancient Greece and Rome, the Byzantine Empire and, subsequently, during Turkish rule, the Persian and Arabic cultures, and in the north-western regions, the Mediterra- nean and Central European cultures, the Yugoslav peoples acquired a synthesis of all these cultures to which they brought their own creative contribution. The old architecture of the Dalmatian cities and towns is an expression of the building sense of the Croatian people, while the frescoes and the ecclesiastical and monastic architecture reflect the building gifts of the Serbian. Macedonian and Montenegrin peoples. The Bosnian tombstones, literature of Dubrovnik, Slovenian castles, Ser- bian folk poetry, the rich cultural and literary traditions of other peoples, and the ancient crafts and folk arts serve as an authentic testi- mony of the creative ability and rich heritage of the Yugoslav peoples. In 1971, a major exhibition entitled The Arts .in Yugoslavia, held in Paris, offered Europe an opportunity to learn more about the creative experience, traditions and accomplishments of the Yugoslav peoples.

General features of the country

Yugoslavia is a multinational socialist community with a population of 22 million and a great variety of cultures, languages and ethnic characteristics. For this reason, some people call it ‘Europe in minia- ture’ because, within its boundaries, six national cultures and almost twice as many cultures of nationalities, conduct a dialogue, permeate, complement and verify each other. The national, cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity is further enriched by various religious denominations: Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Moslem and Jewish along with minor groups of Baptists, Adventists and others.

In the course of the socialist development in Yugoslavia after the Second World War, major changes affected the social and geographic distribution of the population due to industrialization, alterations in the economic structure of the country and the professional structure of the population, the large-scale migration of the rural population into urban areas, colonization and emigration. In 1939, four-fifths of the Yugoslav population lived in rural areas and were involved in agricultural production, and only one-fifth were city dwellers. At’the beginning of the 1980s the urban population was already in the majority (52 per cent). After the war (1945), Yugoslavia was mostly agrarian and underdeveloped whereas today it has joined the ranks of the medium-developed countries. S o m e parts of the country (Slovenia) have already crossed that boundary, while others are well on the way towards crossing it (parts of Croatia, Serbia and Vojvodina).

According to the population census of 1971, 86.7 per cent of the population belong to the various ‘nations’ 11.4 per cent are members of ‘nationalities’ and 1.9 per eent are ‘nationally indeterminate’. The glo- bal population structure is as follows: Serbs, 39.7 per cent; Croats, 22.1 ;

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Moslems, 8.4; Slovenes, 8.2; Albanians, 6.4.; Macedonians, 5.8; Monte- negrins, 2.5; Hungarians, 2.3; Turks, 0.6; and minor groups of Italians, Bulgarians, Romanians, Czechs, Slovaks and Ruthenians. T o these should be added a Romany group who moved to this territory from India in the fourteenth century.

The province of Vojvodina and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzego- vina have the most diversified population structure. Members of twenty- four different nationalities live in Vojvodina. This province has been, ever since Maria Theresa, an area exposed to colonization (the reason was a strategic one - the defence of Austrian,.i.e. Austro-Hungarian bor- ders against the Turks) and after the two world wars, in 1918 and 1945, settlers moved there from all parts of the country, notably from the

The above-quoted national population structure shows that the Al. banian ‘nationality’ is more numerous than some of the other ’nations (Macedonian and Montenegrin), and this occasionally gives rise to a Cer- tain confusion. To avoid the expression a ‘national minority’ which ma3 imply inferior national rights, the term ‘nationality’ has been introduced in Yugoslav political and legal terminology. It is intended that the terms ‘nations’ and ‘nationalities’ should demonstrate the difference between a concentrated national grouping, resident wholly, or mainly, in Yugoslavia, and a group which resides mainly in a neighbouring nation or some other country.

The languages spoken in Yugoslavia may be divided into Slavonic languages (Serbo-Croat, Croato-Serbian, Macedonian, Slovenian, Bul- garian, Ruthenian, Czech) and non-Slavonic languages (Albanian, Hun- garian, Romanian, Italian, German). Serbo-Croat and Croato-Serbian are very close, and only minor differences distinguish one from the other. These two versions are spoken by 70 per cent of the population (15 million out of the total of 22 million). Other Slavonic languages differ from Serbo-Croat (i.e. Croato-Serbian) to a greater or lesser degree, but these differences are never so great as to prevent general understanding in multinational milieux. O n e often comes across bilingualism, and even trilingualism, and there is a policy of systematic encouragement of all“1anguages of a given region’ at school, in administration and justice.

S o m e nations and their cultures and languages were not recognized before the Second World W a r (Macedonian, Albanian) and this was achieved only in the new socialist Yugoslavia. The national and cultural diversity of Yugoslavia (i.e. its national and cultural pluralism) has found its political and legal expression in the federal Constitution, and in the constitutions of the republics and provinces, guaranteeing each and every nation and nationality the right to free development and their own national and cultural identity. The national and cultural specificity of Yugoslavia is thus complemented by political and legal specificity; its socialist federal system, or, as it is called, ‘participative federalism’, represents a historically new form of federation.

Yugoslavia is composed of six republics (Macedonia, Serbia, Bos- nia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia) and two autonomous provinces within the Republic of Serbia (Kosovo and Vojvodina).

I mountainous regions.

, I This type of federation is characterized by the federal units being re-

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sponsible not only for their own affairs but also for the affairs of the federation. In other words, they are not merely a part of the federation, but constitute the federation itself, as they combine the functions and duties of federated units with those of the federation.

Such a political system determines also the aims of decentralization which goes beyond the distribution of administrative jurisdiction and signifies, in a broader political context, the amalgamation of general and particular interests (i.e.’ ‘unity in diversity’). Yugoslav federalism and decentralization are thus not only a logical result of historical circumstances and the multinational composition of the country, but also of self-management socialism. Conversely, they constitute a condition sine qua non for a multinational community and self-management socialism.

The above-mentioned national composition of the population and the political and social foundations of the community laid down during the joint national liberation struggle in 1941 - 45 determined the social role and substance of Yugoslav national and cultural pluralism. The cultural practice emerging and developing therefrom manifests itself directly in various forms of interaction and permeation of different Yugoslav cultures.

Cultural renaissance in the nineteenth century - a part of the political struggle for national liberation

The idea of a common state where ali these small nations would live freely and equitably and where they would jointly protect their autonomy is very old, dating back to the ninth century and the insurgence headed by Ljudevit Posavski. O n the one hand, it is an expression of the profound aspiration of these nations to free development, and on the other, it reflects painful historical experience. Many aggressors, from the earliest to the most recent times, saw the region settled by the South- ern Slav nations as an important element in their strategic and political goals. T o illustrate the historical fate of the Yugoslav nations, we shall quote the example of Belgrade, the caRita1 of Yugoslavia, which, since the fourth century, when it was captured by the Celts, until 1945, passed many times from one foreign invader to another and was destroyed forty times. It was conquered for the last time in April 1941 when the city was bombed, and for the most part burnt down, by the airborne units of the Third Reich.

Desirous of conquering the Balkan Peninsula, which was the princi- pai link with Asia and the Middle East, all military aggressors used the same motto - Divide et impera. They endeavoured to put the national, ethnic and denominational diversity of the Yugoslav peoples, which con- stitutes a cultural and spiritual wealth, in the service of their political goals, fostering individual national cultures at the expense of others, and instigating religious antagonism. However, the Yugoslav peoples, taught by historical experience, realized that their unity was an essen- tial pre-condition for autonomous survival. By this, they meant not the unity which allows one nation to dominate the others, but the unity which expresses and respects full national equality.

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This feeling, which is deeply rooted in the consciousness of contemporary Yugoslavs, and which is based on self-management socialist relations and their historical experience, began to develop in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries at the time of the national and cultural awakening. Yugoslavia is a relatively young state, established in 1918 after the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy which comprised large parts of the present-day country - Vojvodina, Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Until the Congress of Berlin, Bosnia was ruled by Turkey, and only subsequently by Austria-Hun- gary.) Macedonia was ruled by Turkey until the Balkan Wars, and only Serbia and Montenegro were independent (although Serbia had also previously been ruled by Turkey for five centuries).

As 'has already been said, the Yugoslav peoples were for a long time under foreign domination, yet, in the Middle Ages, they were mostly independent with a material and spiritual culture emulating that of western Europe. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, at the time of the national renaissance, the idea was reborn of a c o m m o m state in which these small nations would defend together their autonomy and reaffirm their equality. This idea was propagated by the most progres- sive minds of all the Yugoslav peoples and at the turn of this century it became the basis of the political programme of national liberation.

The cultural movements which developed among the Yugoslav peoples in the nineteenth century also had the characteristics of a political movement because they aimed at both a national cultural renaissance and national liberation. Such an interpretation of culture, closely related to national aspirations, was accepted by all strata of society, the peas- ant majority, the young bourgeoisie and the emerging working class. The awakening of the cultural-historical consciousness and the confirmation of national values contributed to the spiritual and moral mobilization required for the political struggle for freedom and national autonomy.

Poetry and prose, drama and music, alongside the fine arts, drew their inspiration from the national history, the life of the people and their endeavours to win political freedom and cultural emancipation. Historiography, linguistics, geography and ethnography served the same purpose. Imbued with national pathos, the wealthier citizens established foundations and left legacies to support national culture, development of education, science and the arts. The first such foundation (established by Sava Tekelija) was Matica Srpska, set up in Budapest in 1826, which started the publication of the earliest Yugoslav literary magazine Lefopis. Less than two decades later, in 1842, Matica Hrvatska was established with a similar objective in mind - to publish books and magazines in the national language and to promote the national literature. Somewhat later, in 1862, Matica Dalmatinska was also established.

The powerful impetus which marked the national creative effort and determ,ined the idea of culture during a whole century had begun to decline by the end of the nineteenth century and particularly after the First World War. The culture identified with the national life implied all

19


the spiritual an4 material values created by the people and the contribution and expefience of,all strata of the population. At the onset of the twentieth century, however, social differences brought about the division of every nation into classes, i.e. a rich bourgeoisie, poor peasantry and workers. The approach to culture changed under the influence of these social and economic processes and the word culture acquired different meanings in different classes and strata of society.

The emergence of industrial workers along with numerous crafts- men, the growth of cities and towns and the increasing poverty of the rural population accelerated this process. The national culture was thus divided into urban and bourgeois culture, following the example of the European bourgeoisie (theatres, concerts, art galleries and museums, opera, the press and publishing) and the new workers’ culture with an explicit social and class content (workers’ cultural societies, education centres, choirs, writers and poets voicing the social experience of the working class). These two cultural trends were accompanied by the continuing traditional folk culture with its mostly rural and folk forms.

Nevertheless, although it expressed the traditions, life, moral and psychological experiences of an overwhelming majority of the population, the folk culture was increasingly pushed to the periphery of social life and served much more as a source of themes for various musical ar- rangements, novels and stories about rural life and urbanized theatrical folklore events than as a current cultural trend. This rich tradition was thus gradually severed from contemporary life, urban culture and the life and habits of the bourgeoisie and even when there was a link, it was only an indirect one, which assumed artificial forms and served as a re- minder of the rural past. Modern cultural establishments such as libraries, cinemas and halls for cultural events existed only in bigger and richer rural communities. Illiteracy among the rural population reached in some regions as much as 90 per cent and exceeded that figure among women and elderly people.

Under such circumstances, cultural policy (as an expression of the systematic concern of the state) was confined almost exclusively to larger and more important ’national cultural institutions’ (theatres, m u - seums, libraries, archives). As a rule, they fell under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education and were budgetary institutions while their personnel enjoyed the status of civil servants. Along with the state, various citizens’ organizations, associations, foundations and legacies, supported the development of the bourgeois culture which was identified with the social experience, way of thinking, prestige and system of values of the bourgeois class. Cultural events and activities organized by them, which predominated at that time, were funded through voluntary contributions to various cultural societies, or on a market basis.

French, German and, to a lesser extent, English and Russian culture, all exercised their influence. Economic and cultural underdevelop- ment, the lack of any noteworthy urban tradition, the narrow social framework of culture and the strong foreign influence in the predomi- nantly bourgeois cultural life, made Yugoslavia look like the cultural backyard of Europe. Yugoslavia was much better known for its rich folk

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I Basic features of the Yugoslav community

culture and diverse traditions than for its accomplishments and contributions to contemporary cultural and artistic life. S o m e talented writers and painters succeeded in breaking through these limitations and in win-

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The most prominent poets, painters, composers and numerous scientists belonged to this intellecutual movement which exercised a strong influence on students, secondary school pupils and young people in general. They took part in the armed resistance against the enemy from the beginning in 1941. The intellectual leftist movement, guided by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and motivated by its political struggle, was of noteworthy assistance in the spiritual preparation for the Revolution in 1941 -45.

The The National Liberation struggle - a historic turning-point

In the summer of 1941, an uprising organized and headed by the C o m - munist Party started in Yugoslavia, which had been occupied by Ger- many and Italy aided by Bulgaria and Hungary. With time, the uprising, which was first aimed at national liberation only, grew into the revolutionary struggle for a new society and new social relations. Cul- ture was considered to be a part of politics and the armed struggle, as it shared with them the same goals and objectives: national, political and spiritual freedom. Various cultural activities organized in the territory where the partisan units moved and fought encompassed literacy courses, ses, diverse lectures, cultural programmes and plays,

Cultural groups attached to bigger army units, comprised poets, actors, journalists, teachers and scientists. They issued newspapers and bulletins and published literary and other works, organized concerts and theatre performances and promoted books even during the hardest times. The National Liberation Theatre attached to the Joint Chiefs-of- Staff of the National Liberation struggle included the most prominent actors from Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana and other places. The Partisan Youth Theatre Group founded in KolaSin, Montenegro, in 1943, served as the nucleus of the Montenegrin national theatre established in Ceti- nje after the war.

The cultural workers made a remarkable contribution to the Nation- al Liberation struggle, participating in it both as combatants and as cultural activists. T!-?ir ranks were joined by the most distinguished Yugos- lav artists as, for example, the Croatian poet Vladimir Nazor who joined the struggle in spite of his advanced age, the greatest modern Slovenian poet, Oton ZupanfiC, the Croatian poet Ivan Goran KovaEiC, the author of The Pit, a moving ode about the National Liberation struggle, the Bosnian writer Skender KulenoviC, the author of another moving ode Mother from Kne.?polje, the Serbian composer Vojislav VufkoviC, the Serbian writer Djordje JovanoviC, Jovan PopoviC, the poet from Vojvo- dina, the Macedonian poet Kofo Racin and many others.

A year before the end of the Second World War, in June 1944, To- pusko, Croatia, acted as host to the Congress of Cultural Workers attended by 250 artists and cultural workers. The congress recapitulated the experience in the field of culture, acquired during the struggle, debated future objectives, and discussed the cultural action programme.

This is the history of a militant, non-dogmatic and engaged culture, closely related to the national cultural traditions, social aspirations and objectives of a new society. It is still exercising a considerable influence

22


on the interpretation of culture and its national and social role. The programme of the socialization of culture in the self-management society emerges directly from these traditions.

After the liberation, major effort had to be put into the reconstruction of the country. The aftermath of the war was disastrous - 1.7 million people (almost IO per cent of the entire population) were killed, the economy pillaged or destroyed, transportation facilities destroyed, and many schools and cultural institutions burnt or bombed severely. Never- theless, reconstruction advanced rapidly because of the great enthusiasm of the people. Voluntary public work was organized, with young

construct cities and towns, build power plants and factories. In the field of culture, this was a period of dynamic and extensive

development, mass cultural activities, notably amateur cultural and art societies gained momentum, old cultural establishments and schools were reconstructed and new ones built, the system of education was expanded and numerous cultural societies were founded. The new socialist authorities supported various cultural initiatives and co-ordinated diverse cultural activities. In the light of the newly awakened needs and new cultural aspirations of the masses, roused by the revolution, everything seemed lacking: there was a great shortage of personnel in all walks of public life, and of space, facilities and equipment.

This was the first stage of post-war development which had ended by the mid-1950s. It saw the first development plan introduced which laid the main emphasis on quantitative growth (planning of new projects, growing material production, etc.) In less detail, but with the same emphasis on quantitative indicators, the plan encompassed culture. The nationalization of industry and large estates resulted in a considerable expansion of the public sector, which, at that time, signified state rather than social ownership. All cultural institutions preserved the old organizational plan and methods of work to a greater or lesser degree, but their activity was brought in line with new tasks. Theatres, museums, art galleries archives, publishing houses, libraries and broadcasting stations depended on the socialist state and its administrative agencies which supervised cultural activities and supplied them with budgetary funds.

The nationalization of publishing houses, cinemas, bookshops and printing houses practically eliminated the private sector in the cultural field. Cultural institutions and activities could not be self-supporting at that time because the low standard of living, economic underdevelop- ment, the priority accorded to the satisfaction of material, and more ur-

, tion and public amenities) and industrial development, made culture eco- 1 nomically unprofitable notwithstanding new and greater needs. Hence its development had to be supported through subsidies. The state granted assistance to cultural institutions and art societies, provided artists with accommodation and studios, paid for their social security and pension funds and offered grants for their further education. All cultural activities and branches of the arts, as well as those involved in them, de-

I l people as its driving force, to build railways, industrial facilities, to re-

I

I gent social needs (the promotion of education, public health, transporta-

23


pended, directly or indirectly, on the budget and administrative agencies of the socialist state.

This method and role of the state in the field of culture were successful during the post-war reconstruction period. During this period, which lasted about fifteen years, basic economic and ,institutional prerequsities were provided for further cultural development: the number of cinemas, theatres, museums, art galleries and other institutions doubled, and the number of cultural and art societies and various amateur groups rose almost five times. 1 This period coincided in time with industrialization, steep growth of cities and towns and large-scale migration of the rural population to urban environments. (By the end of this period, the rural and urban population ratio had changed radically: from 81 :19 per cent to 51 :49 per cent.) The cultural needs of cities and towns grew rapidly, and the number of those wishing to attend a cultural event, a theatre or a cinema in particular, was so big that the tickets had to be booked several days in advance.

At the same time, the post-war enthusiasm for amateur cultural activities began to dwindle while, on the other hand, various types of light entertainment began rapidly to gain popularity. The circulation of newspapers grew, the illustrated press, hitherto of marginal importance, boomed, the number of radio sets rose ten times and exceeded 1 million by the end of the period. There was a range of different radio programmes to suit various types of audience and new entertainment and humo- rous programmes were introduced and became quickly very popular, as did radio plays, literary broadcasts and classical music along with broadcasts of jazz, contemporary and'folk music.

Together with these internal changes there was also a political reason for the new cultural climate - the conflict with Stalin. Exposed to an economic and political blockade and pressure, the country turned to the world to find support for its defence of independent development and an autonomous policy in new international relations. This also meant being fully open to the cultural trends and artistic influences of other parts of the world. Socialist realism in the arts and aesthetics, which never had any ardent partisans, was finally relinquished. The opening up of the country gave a strong impetus to the fine arts, theatre life and literature. Anti-dogmatic inspiration also encouraged the social sciences to embark after their experience with Stalinism, on the critique of statism and dogmatic socialist theories.

During this period, in 1949, a factory in Split was ceded to its workers for management, and the first workers' council at Prvoborac Cement Works in Split marked the beginning of a new stage in the history of the

1. Figures on the Republic of Croatia are quoted as an example. In 1939, there were 34 museums in Croatia, and in 1956,85. The number of professional theatres rose in the same period from 9 to 18, and that of amateur theatres from 10 to 28. In 1939, the film industry was non-existent, and in 1956, 38 films were made. In 1939, there were 104 cinemas, and in 1956,363. In 1939, Croa- tia had only one broadcasting station, and in 1966 the number rose to 25 (Bui- letin of the Assembly of SR Croatia and the Executive Council, 12 September 1967).

24

The little town of Pofitelj in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, founded in the fifteenth century. It has been completely restored and transformed into a workshop where each summer there is a colony of painters.

Monastery of Cetinje, Republic of Montenegro. Built in the second half of the fifteenth century, it was the former capital of Montenegro.

Concert by Antonio Janigro withdhe Zagreb soloists in the atrium of the Palace of the Count in Dubrovnik, Republic of Croatia, during the Dubrovnik Summer Festival.

$t Clement (fourteenth century) in Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia, cradle of the medieval cdture of

the Macedonian Slavs. It was in this town, in the ninth century, that the founders of the Cyrillic alphabet, Cyril and Methodius, worked, and

also their successors. The medieval houses of Ohrid, which have been

restored, are now widely available for concerts of music, poetry evenings and other cultural manifestations.

The Ljubljana Summer Festival takes place each year in the traditional atmosphere of the capital of the Republic of Slovenia.

The cultural centre of the Prvi Maj factory in Pirot, Republic of Serbia, is a remarkable example of the culture of a workers’ milieu.

The eve of the opening of the XXVth Festival of Contemporary Drama

(April 1980) in Novi Sad, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. This festival bears

the name "Sterijino pozorje', after Jovan Sterija Popovik, one d the most famous Serbian writers of comedies.

An Albanian, in his traditional costume, poses for students of the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of PriStina, Autonomous Province of Kosovo.

I Basic features of the Yugoslav community

country - the evolution of sel€-management socialism. This event radically affected social, economic, political and cultural life and labour relations, modes of decision-making, conduct of social affairs, cultural development and even the interpretation of culture itself.

25

Culture and society - a new relationship Critique of the statist culture

This development period was marked by the critique of statism and the pursuit of some novel forms of socialization in all spheres of life : social ownership was replacing state ownership, and was followed by the socialization of politics, culture, public services, and all levels of decision-making. It should be mentioned that this social option was not due to the political conflict with Stalin alone, but also to the Yugoslav experience in the building of socialism. Signs indicative of gradual restriction by the centralized social organization in which the socialist state played the primary and decisive role began to appear at the end of the reconstruction period. Bureaucratization, weakening of the role of the masses and their political initiative, awakened by the revolution, professionaliza- tion of politics and the shrinking foundation of the decision-making "pyramid' made it clear that "the quantitative leap' in post-war reconstruction was not enough and that it had be vested with a new social substance. Culture, under the state umbrella, was in serious jeopardy of bureaucratization and the establishment of hierarchical relations, and endangered by the possible substitution of its restive creative spirit and its critical function for political and creative conformism.

Decision-making - the crucial question of cultural democracy

Cultural policy is, for all practical purposes, alienated from the people. The aspirations of the community, the wishes and opinions of the people, are interpreted by various mediators (political forums, administrative bodies and cultural bureaucracies) while the people themselves and the communities in which they live, which constitute the raison d'être of cultural institutions, have no say in these matters whatsoever, or, if they do, their voice is of marginal importance.

The alienation of cultural policy from the people and their communities is further aggravated by the practice followed by budget-administrative agencies and political forums, which make decisions as anony- mous and amorphous bodies hidden beneath the general authority of the state, and do not have to account to the public for the policies they pursue. In the hierarchy, these agencies are considered much more as

26

Culture and society - a new relationship

being responsible to higher administrative instances and political for- u m s than to the society or the community in which they function. It is thus important for them not to exceed the boundaries of the prescribed ideological, political, cultural, or aesthetic measures, even at the cost of cultural mediocrity, than to allow anything to go beyond this boundary, even if it is topical and creatively convincing.

Such a situation has a direct bearing on the assessment and evalua- ‘tion of cultural actions and artistic results. The creative effort, which is the heart and soul of any culture, is thus exposed to a strong subjective influence because evaluation is carried out, without any public control or influence in ‘closed forum’ and administrative circles on the basis of undefined criteria on which the public is inadequately informed. Any ‘concrete decisions made by forums and administrative bodies, relative to culture, ranging from those laying down cultural policy and determining its priorities or specific development plans, to those financing individual cultural institutions, cultural initiatives, purchase of paintings, performance of a musical score, allocation of studios, or grants, are of an authoritarian nature. As regards their real effect, such indirect and im- plicit judgements and evaluations are of much greater practical significance than the opinion of the critics and the public.

Under the influence of administrative decision-making, the number of cultural institutions and workers accepting these conditions and giving precedence to the requirements and opinions of forums over the principles governing any creative effort and public opinion, grows every day. The spirit of mediocrity and conformism is beginning to pervade creative effort replacing the creative risk and moral challenge that should be put to society in order to improve the quality of life.

Culture as a sector The administrative-budget method of decision-making and financing tends to distribute funds on the basis of precedents and already established. ratios. There is a tendency to finance institutions rather than programmes and activities. Administrative selection and rights acquired through distribution preclude the acceptance of any other criteria. As decision-making is not liable for public verification, the number of applicants for funds are often ’narrowed down’ thereby limiting any competition based on the quality of programmes offered or projects already completed. This happens at the expense of novel and more da- ring ventures beyond the framework of established distribution and priority patterns. Gifted young people and protagonists of new initiatives find it thus more difficult to express themselves and win social recognition for their creative effort because it is not included by those determining the distribution of budgetary funds.

The phenomenon of institutionalism is closely related to this. This rather indefinite term usually refers in Yugoslavia to identification with cultural and art institutions. It is a phenomenon characteristic of the budget-administrative logic which fails to see in culture the raison d’&e of life as a whole and the means of humanizing relations between people and looks at it only as embodied in cultural institutions.

Administrative logic is inclined to simplify culture, its contradictions and critical content, its interrelationship with the overall experience of human beings and their moral and social existence,. and to treat it as just another sector. The relationships between individual activities, even those which are very close, such as culture and education, culture

27

Culture and society - a new relationship

and daily life patterns, or behaviour, types of labour and labour relations, modes of decision-making and conduct of public affairs, care for chlldren and the aged aid all that is covered by the integral meaning of cukure are impoverishkd and reduced to columns in a table. From the aàniinistrative point of view life is deprived of its integral purpose, and m P n is considered not in the light of all his needs taken together, but as a being whose functions and needs are taken apart.

. Such an approach not only separates individual activities from the wRole; it confronts them. Thus, in competing for the funds and support of the state the education sector fights against the culture sector, the science sector is opposed to the public health sector, the public health sector competes with the transport sector and so on. Overall social creative effort and the true nature of culture as “daily life’ are thus ‘squeez- ed’ into a column headed ‘‘Culture’ which is as a rule, a marginal one.

The administative budget logic is thus constantly trying to fit all contradictions and aspects of lively pulsating existence into prc-established patterns, and to subject all complex, contradictory and profound human experience to a seemingly rational administrative logic.

28

Interpretation of culture and cultural policy in the self-management system

The cultural substance of self-management

W e have dwelt on criticism of the statist culture not so much for its own sake, as because of the reasons and motives which led to a change in the interpretation of culture in Yugoslavia and to the definition of the new fundamentals of its cultural policy. In general, the purpose of these changes is to replace the statist culture by the socialized culture. This is not an isolated process, restricted to culture alone, bnt a part of the overall self-management transformation of society.

The transformation process focuses on the concrete decision-making policy and the distribution of the social surplus product. The conver- sion of state into social property and changed labour relations are the principal issues in the programme of self-management development and expansion of the economic and social foundations of innovative self-management democratic forms. In practical terms, this means that the distribution of the surplus value is decided upon by the work organizations creating it, and that they also decide in a self-management procedure how they will use this surplus - to raise their personal incomes. expand production, purchase housing for their staff, satisfy social, cultural, educational and other needs, provide recreation for their workers, etc.

This radical change in decision-making policy brought about a mew social relationship for working people and the communities in which they live whereby they voice their needs and interests directly and tgke decisions on them, or exercise direct influence on such decisions. For the time being, this is rather an end to be pursued than an establisbed and predominant practice because the work organizations are at present deciding on the distribution of only a part of the surplus, and not on the whole of it, but we are talking now about developmental goals and not the level of their accomplishment.

Within the framework of these new relations, various forms of labour association should develop, along with a new organization of work and applications of technology, the sole objective of which should not be higher productivity alone. The purpose and objectives of work and technology should include cultural objectives, social care, culture of manrg-

I

~ 29

Interpretation of culture and cultural policy.. .

ing social resources, care for communal development and its advancement, aesthetics of the working environment, protection of the human environment, co-operation and solidarity among people, etc. This culture would be synonymous with overall human creative effort and the aptitude of m a n to transform Nature and himself.

This development also produced a change in the interpretation of culture which is gradually being identified with the substance of new self-management relations and genuine living and working conditions. It has also resulted in a different interpretation of creative effort which no longer signifies various branches of art alone, but is identified with all types of creative manifestation - in physical labour, politics, social life, education, science, new solutions in social services, etc. Culture is less and less treated as a sector, and more and more as an integral part of the overall creative effort of society, an expression of solidarity and co-operation among people and a link providing interaction between intellectual and physical labour.

These changes are already noticeable in daily life, in new percep- tions and insights and the opening of new prospects. They have also been instrumental in changing the interpretation of a nation and national culture, Yugoslav cultural pluralism, the interpretation and practical meaning of the decentralization of culture, culture of work and ways of linking culture and work organizations, forms of interaction between national cultures, the interpretation of tradition and its relationship to contemporary life, including the practical aspects of cultural policy, the way of financing cultural activities and institutions, cultural development planning, organization and methods of work of cultural institutions.

Practical tasks of cultural policy At present, the Yugoslav community, its organization and its economic relations are characterized by profound changes embracing, inter alia, the system of values, ideas and customs and the social consciousness. The dialectics of old and new, of existing and desirable, initiated by the self-management process, signify encouragement of new prospects, contradictions, occasional socio-psychological and even political tensions all at the same time. In other words, the cultural system, traditional criteria, common models of organization of cultural activities, and even the interpretation of culture itself, are all subject to a change.

The principal long-term goal of this development is to promote relations by which all those creating values through their work decide on the results to be achieved and integrate the functions of labour with the functions of management and decision-making. The example followed by this development is ‘the republic of labour’ as defined by Marx and associations of free producers whose mutual relations are based on self- management. In such a society the socialized individual assumes a grow- .ing responsibility for hidher personal development and destiny as well as for the development and destiny of the community as a whole. These are, greatly simplified, the long-term objectives of the social and cultural policy.


Yet, although these fundamental goals accepted by the Yugoslav community may seem clear and unambiguous, the social practice, practical solutions and action taken in their pursuit are not always free of contradiction. The movement of society along as yet unexplored path, says the political scientist N. PaSiC, has not yielded only positive results, such as the indisputable democratization of social relations and elimination of statist bonds and constraints. Both in theory and everyday practice, Yugoslav society has to face up to contradictions and problems which radically differ from those confronting other contemporary societies.

Hence, any survey of Yugoslav cultural policy and practice would be deficient if it dwelt only on a description of the existing state of affairs, its’ quantitative indices and organizational forms. T o understand ,the experience Yugoslavia has acquired in this field, one must also learn more about the above-mentioned changes, their purpose, open contradictions, and degree of achievement or failure to achiev’e these goals. Be- cause of these changes, the cultural policy in Yugoslavia has a twofold meaning today; it means the current cultural practice, institutional activities, organizational activities, cultural development planning, and also, the objectives to be attained through these changes, which form part of the overall social goals. Without this explanation, it would be difficult to understand some practical aspects of the cultural policy - for instance, there are no ministries of culture in the traditional sense of the word, the federal agencies have practically no jurisdiction in cultural matters, there is no traditional budget for the financing of cultural programmes and activities, the decision-making process is taking place, for the most part, outside governmental bodies and there is a form of coun ter-planning.

T o these specific aspects of Yugoslav cultural policy should be added a very different practice taking place in the framework of identical principles and social goals, different levels of development and traditions in various parts of the country. All kinds of solution are welcome as they demonstrate a wide range of practical experience gained by individual republics and provinces, and even by communities within a republic or province. Decentralization has allowed communes and regions to devise solutions that best meet their own needs, reflect their experience, and at the same time lead to common social goals. The methods of acti- vation of local material and human resources and practical cultural policy solutions vary from one republic or province to another, from one region to another, and sometimes from one commune to another.

O n the other hand, whereas these differences reflect the diversity of needs and experience, and ingenuity in devising practical solutions, another set of differences at the level of material and cultural development raises problems which have to be tackled directly by cultural policy. These differences are a result of a certain inherited state of affairs and the pre-war policy of national suppresion. S o m e ‘nations‘ (Macedo- nian, and Moslem) and nationalities (Albanian) were not recognized before the Second World War. For this reason, in the new socialist Yugo- slavia they had to start almost from the beginning both nationally and

31


culturally. They had to codify their languages, establish and develop their national cultural, educational and scientific institutions, organize the study of their. history,*seek confirmation of the national traditions, set up their universities and other schools of higher learning and bring their national intelligentsia up to the level of the other Yugoslav nations so that they could exercise their full national equality.

The same applies to underdeveloped areas within a certain nation, republic or province, i.e. its political and territorial community. The gap separating them was very large; developed centres had universities, numerous institutions of culture and art, a high concentration of all cfeative workers (up to 95 per cent), whereas some communes did not even have a library as an elementary cultural establishment. It was therefore illu- sory to speak about cultural equality of citizens when some communities were lacking the fundamental prerequisites for the participation of citizens in cultural activities.

Although this vast discrepancy has been considerably reduced since the Second World War, a certain gap persists to this day. As the cultural policy cannot disregard reality, it must face extremely varied tasks - from encouraging creative work of the highest quality and keeping pace with contemporary cultural trends in the country and abroad, to solving elementary cultural problems such as literacy, opening of libraries, increasing the network of cinemas, building centres of culture and so on.

T o illustrate the Yugoslav cultural development rate, the unevenness of which occasionally reaches the point of paradox, we shall mention that at present Yugoslavia ranks very high in terms of the relative number of professional artists and university students, and at the same time, in some mountainous regions, the number Óf illiterates among older generations is as high as 35 per cent.

These contradictions determine the problems to be solved through the cultural policy of the country. W e are confident that this rough survey will help in understanding better and assessing the Yugoslav social experience and learning more about the reasoning behind and the purpose of the cultural policy in Yugoslavia.

Decentralization During the last decade there has been a great deal of discussion about the decentralization of culture. The Western countries have held two conferences on this subject: in Dartington, United Kingdom, 1973, and Nuremberg, Federal Republic of Germany, 1975. The subject of decentralization has been included in the programme of joint studies of Unesco involving Belgium, as the co-ordinating country, France, Yu- goslavia, Norway and Finland. Because of this, we shall now briefly ex- plain the meaning of decentralization of culture in the self-management system.

As has already been mentioned, decentralization in Yugoslavia is conditioned by the multinational population structure and is a sine 9ua non of the survival of the Yugoslav community. The right of every ’‘nation’ and every national culture to free development means in practice that every ‘nation’ (nationality) within its political community (republic,

32

Interpretation of culture and cultural poky. . .

province, commune) decides itself on its cultural development and the priorities thereof. Hence, there is no federal ministry of culture which could override the jurisdiction of these autonomous entities. Instead, there are only co-ordinating bodies (Co-ordinating Board of Republic Secretaries for Culture ; Federal Administration for International, Tech- nical, Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Co-operation; Yugoslav Commission for Co-operation with Unesco).

There are no federal statutes relative to culture other than the basic ones regulating the general conditions under which some cultural

archives, newspaper publishers; the film industry, broadcasting organizations). Other federal statutes in this domain apply to the few remaining federal cultural institutions and some federal funds established to stimu- late creative work (Archives of Yugoslavia, M u s e u m of the Revolution of the Nations and Nationalities of Yugoslavia, Nikola Tesla Museum, A V N O J Award (Anti-Fascist Council of the People’s Liberation of Yug- oslavia - the supreme political body during the National Liberation struggle) and the MoSa Pijade Fund for the Promotion of the Fine Arts.

The planning of cultural development has also been decentralized and every republic, or province (as well as each commune and city) adopts its own cultural development plan. If the plans are to contain some common elements, these are defined by agreement. The plans of cultural institutions and individual cultural activities are co-ordinated within each commune, and the plans of communes at the level of each republic or province. The cultural needs and tasks of large political communities are thus brought into harmony with the needs of local communities and vice versa. This process is called ‘counter-planning’ and provides for mutual complementing and joint definition of priorities and operational responsibility for the fulfilment of plans. Only the most fundamental common needs (inter-republic cultural co-operation where the federation appears as one of the parties, all-Yugoslav cultural events, interrepublic cultural co-operation) are planned at federal level.

The multinational character of the country is one of the reasons for decentralization and another, which is equally important, is decision-making based on self-management principles, which has considerably multiplied the number of decision-making factors. The system based on self-management allows working people to control that part of their income which they allocate to the satisfaction of their cultural needs. Production organizations of associated labour earn their revenue through the free exchange of labour, sale of their products and services, etc. The income of an organization of associated labour is its total revenue less the production costs and depreciation funds. From the income, deductions are made to meet various common needs as defined by statute (child and social care, education, science, etc.). Contributions and membership fees to economic chambers (chambers of commerce), business associations and federations provide funds for depreciation and the residual part is the net income. Its division between the fund for personal and collective consumption and the fund for the expansion of production and reserves is decided upon directly by the staff of the organiza-

I activities m a y take place (acts on the protection of cultural monuments,

I l

I 33


tion concerned. After determining the gross personal incomes payable from the fund for personal and collective consumption, the workers decide on the precentage thereof to be allocated for the satisfaction of their cultural and other needs. Self-management agreements concluded on an annual basis specify the rates of deduction from gross personal incomes intended for the financing of culture. These funds are deposi- ted with self-management interest communities and their deployment is decided upon by the delegates representing all spheres of associated labour. The funds pooled and invested through self-management interest communities for culture since their establishment (1974) in all republics, provinces and local socio-political communities (communes, regions cities) totalled as follows; in 1974, 559 million dinars were pooled, and 515 million spent; in 1975, 2,625 million pooled, and 2,385 million spent; in 1976, 3,877 million pooled, and 3,514 million spent. As the cultural institutions operate on the basis of income laws, it must be assumed that these are not the only resources allocated in Yugoslavia for cul- -----

I

W M M b(iri

34

Interpretation of culture and cultural policy. .

tura1 purposes. In faot, the total funds invested in culture are much larger, as they also include thé” revenue of cultural institutions themselves as well as other funds acquired through the earning and distribution of income.

The work organizations participate through their delegates in the decision-making process and have their say in defining the cultural policy and financing of cultural programmes and activities in communes, .regions and their republic or province. They allocate their funds for these programmes and enjoy the self-management fight to control the mode of their utilization. Furthermore, through the collective consumption fund, they can also decide independently how much money they will allocate and for what cultural needs. The last, but not the least important form of decentralized decision-making is raising of local voluntnry contributions. The communes and neighbourhood communities are authorized by statute to raise (in agreement with citizens) voluntary contributions (a percentage jointly specified and deducted for a certain period of time from the net personal income of every employee) for the execution of a cultural or public amenity project (school, road, water supply system, social care institution, etc.) Fig. 1. Earning and distribution of the total revenue and income in organizations of associated labour. BOAL a Basic organization of associated labour; SMA = Self-management agreement.

This mode of self-financing has proved very efficient over the past two decades. In Serbia, for instance, a rpal boom was achieved during the last decade in the construction of water supply systems - 6,000 settlements in Serbia now have safe drinking water. Electric power was brought in this way to a number of settlements in Serbia, the province of Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Volun- tary contributions have made possible the building of 10,OoO kilometres of local roads all over the country. Dozens of cultural centres were built or reconstructed in Serbia and Macedonia during the last decade due to voluntary contributions.

The communes have the statutory right to utilize funds deriving from taxes (those which are levied on luxury goods, alcoholic beverages, etc.). This has also pushed decentralization further and encouraged loc- at initiative in matters of culture and other areas. The pooling of resources of work organizations has had the same effect. W h e n a commune wishes to build a cultural centre, a library, or execute some other cultural project, and is ready to mobilize local resources to this end (through voluntary contributions and contributions of work organizations) the relevant republic, or provincial community for culture helps in the realization thereof by providing 10 - 40 per cent of the total amount of investment needed. This policy has been termed ‘the leaven strategy’ as the republic or province supplies often only a symbolic part of the money (10 per cent of the total) to serve as an incentive in mobilizing local resources.

There are many other forms of decentralized decision-making such as investments by television and radio stations ‘cultural industry’ (new

i

I

35


bookshops and cinemas, local radio and television transmitters, studios, etc.) association form which has been showing a steady increase lately is the associatoin of work organizations and cultural institutions in the joint execution of cultural projects, construction of cultural facilities, and planning of cultural events. Numerous films, tours of theatres around the country, art exhibitions, concerts and other cultural events have been financed recently in this manner.

This is a completely decentralized form of decision-making based on common interests and, as the self-managment terminology puts it, the pooling of labour and resources. In 1976, cultural ihvestments in Serbia through established channels totalled 800 million dinars (about S 53 million). Of this, one-third was provided through the republic community for culture and two-thirds by communities for culture in communes. Taken together, these funds account for less than one-third of total investments in cultural activities and developments during that year. In other words, more than two-thirds of the required funds were invested by production work organizations, gramophone record companies, radio and television organizations and cultural institutions themselves.

Exchange of labour and interrelationship between cultural institutions and work organizations

The significance and functions of decentralization are best illustrated by examples of the real cultural policy - the financing of and the decisions on cultural programmes. As has been shown above, the most important source of revenue for cultural purposes derives from the exchange of labour, i.e. the pooling of labour and resources of production work organizations and cultural institutions. The exchange takes place through self-management interest communities for culture (more will be said about these in the second part of the monograph), but it may also take place directly between the work organizations and the cultural institutions. The exchange of labour, which began on a broader scale after the adoption of the Associated Labour Act (i976), establishes direct economic relations between economic work organizations and cultural institutions. To illustrate this co-operation and the self-management based interrelationship between culture and labour, we shall quote several practical examples.

By the end of the 1960s. the Self-management Community for Cul- fure of the city of Belgrade and the City Trade Union Council initiated the establishment of closer ties between cultural institutions and work organizations. It was agreed to improve individual cultural activities in work organizations and the list of priorities was established as follows: (a) increase of readership; (b) dissemination of knowledge and apprecia- tion of works of art; (c) fostering of cultural and educational programmes and (d) encouragement of creative work and amateur cultural and artistic activities in work organizations. In 1973 the list was extended to encompass the culture of work, and in 1974 the domestic film industry was also added.

36

I Interpretation oï culture and cultural policy. . .

All these activities were encouraged through ‘the leaven strategy’: the Belgrade Self-management Community for Culture gave a dinar for every dinar allocated by a production work organization for the cultural needs of workers. A little later, in 1974, the Self-management C o m m u - nity for Culture of the city began to provide more, i.e. 1.5 dinars for every dinar invested in promoting the culture of work and two dinars for every dinar invested in increasing the interest in classical music. In this manner, 69 production organizations pooled their labour and resources with 19 cultural institutions in 1971, while in 1975 these figures reached 170 and 75, respectively.

ent cultural activities, and five years later, in 1976, the number reached twenty-eight. Practice has thus shown that the self-management-based interrelationship established in this manner between work organizations and cultural institutions makes possible a steady development and en- richment of the cultural life of workers on the one hand, and the development of cultural institutions, on the other.

Festivals and other cultural events, constitute another example. Of 426 events organized in the country every year, several have acquired an international reputation; Marble and Sound, Arandjelovac, Serbia; the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Dubrovnik, Croatia; the Split Summer Fes- tival, Split, Croatia ; the Ljubljana Festival, Ljubljana, Slovenia, the Ohrid Summer Music Festival and the Struga Poetry Evenings, Ohrid, Macedonia. Of .$ 1,390,000 which was the cost of the Dubrovnik Surn- mer Festival in 1977, the Self-management Interest Community for Cul- ture of the City of Dubrovnik and the Republic Self-management Inte- rest Community of Croatia provided $ 833,000, and the rest came from contributions and the sale of tickets to work organizations.

The financing of the Split Summer Festival is even more closely related to work organizations, which buy 60 per cent of all tickets in advance. Of $450,000,-which was the cost of these events in 1977, more than half (i.e. $280,000) were supplied bX the Self-management Interest Community for Culture of the City of Split (that is, the work organizations of the city) The cost of the Ljubljana Festival totalled $400,000 that year, of which the production work organization supplied $80,000 directly, and a further $86,000 indirectly, through the city and republic communities for culture. In 1977, the Struga Poetry Evenings cost $85,000, of which half was provided by work organizations on the basis of a self-management agreement.

, In 1971, the funds thus pooled were used to finance fifteen differ-

I Less favourable aspects of decentralization The decentralization of decision-making and financing released local and other initiatives and allowed the mobilization of local resources. It brought to life the socialization of the fundamentals of culture and the principle of cultural democracy, stating that people should voice their cultural needs and decide on them directly. None the less, decentralization has some less favourable aspects: the tendency of local communities occasionally to spend considerable funds on some ostentatious cultural events and be left with inadequate funds for current, less-pom-

37

Interpretation of culture and cultural policy. . .

pous cultural growth (increase of book stocks in libraries, assistance to amateur creative work, protection of human environment, etc.).

Another problem emerging from decentralization concerns the harmonization of diverse interests and needs. Decentralization has brought to the surface a powerful inclination to view cultural development and cultural needs first and foremost in the light of local ambitions and the narrow interests of a work organization or cultural institution. There is a tendency, defended in various ways, to keep to oneself the dinar deducting for cultural purposes. It is a rule in communities for culture financing cultural activities and institutions that discussion becomes li- veliest when this topic is on the agenda. In principle, all central republic or provincial, cultural institutions and programmes, inter-republic and international cultural co-operation and joint cultural events are financed through the contributions from communes. The communes, which are often concerned only with their own needs, *are reluctant to allow their money for cultural purposes to move to republic level, while the representatives of republic communities for culture insist that the communes should take note of the broader interests of the region, republic or province along with their local interests.

The problem of harmonization of interests and needs does not arise only when a decision has to be taken on investments in culture (ai- though it is most manifest there) but also in the planning of cultural development, co-ordination of programmes, definition of responsibility for cultural actions, etc.

Yet, notwithstanding all these problems, in comparison with the previous period of centralized organization and state financing of culture, decentralization has made it possible to achieve considerable progress in the cultural development of the country. In the system of self-management relations, this does not mean simple autonomy in decision-making, or a fragmented cultural policy. It means a mechanism of rights and responsibilities in a closed loop system of relations - from the smallest groupings of society to the republics, provinces and the federation. The modalities of interrelationship and harmonization of needs and initiatives in the field of culture, economy, social services and else- where are the focus of attention at present and constitute the most topical issue of further self-management evolution.

Work as culture

Since this monograph was first issued in 1971 there have been certain innovations in the cultural policy of Yugoslavia, which in certain environments also constitute a new course in cultural development. O n e of them is the so-called ‘culture of work’ which is now expanding and acquiring the scope of a new cultural movement. What does it mean, what does it look like in practice, and what are its short and long-term goals? The first thing to be said is that this novel cultural practice emerged almost spontaneously with the evolution of self-management.

Many countries have recently embarked on a discussion on work and culture, demonstrating different approaches, practical attempts, and innovative efforts. Some countries have placed the emphasis, in con-

38


formity with their oyn conditions, on the culture of the working environment, aesthetics and layout of the working area. Others hold that this term should also mean that the working environment is equipped with lending libraries, recreation and sports grounds and facilities, and possibly halls for cultural events, and other provisions for various cultural activities. Some countries experiment with the reorganization of the work process and minor modifications to operations performed on the production line, such as suitable music accompanying work, or a gaily painted working environment which is believed to have a stimulating effect on output. In all these cases, the work culture does not assume any radical change in technology and its application, the organization of the process of work, and, even less, any change in labour relations - the participation of workers in decision-making on the work process and distribution of the surplus value.

However, the Yugoslav interpretation of the work culture is more complex and encompasses the industrial democracy, i.e. decisions on the organization and conditions of work, and the distribution of the surplus value. Moreover, it also presumes future development whereby m a n would integrate all his functions: working, managerial and intellectual. Marx made a distinction between necessary work (Arbeit) and creative work (Tiitigkeif). In the most simplified terms, under the self-management system, the transformation of work and the status of m a n by the process of work should be conducive to the transformation of all forms of human labour into a creative activity. As the philosopher Leo Rozitch- ner puts it, it is the organization of wor$ as culture, i.e. as a creative effort and primary human need.

This necessitates a number of pre-conditions, such as a high level of productivity, advanced economic foundations, subordination of technology to human needs and not to the supremacy of technology and productivity which at present is usually the case, a socialized individual, new democratic social and labour relations, new social and cultural consciousness and many other things. The possibility of such a transformation of labour relations and the nature of labour give rise to many questions that are at present very difficult to answer, and come down to industrial basic issue. Is it possible for work and complex indstrial operations to undergo transformation and become a creative effort, an expression of human satisfaction and self-confirmation, or is this Uto- pian? Even if this question is answered in the affirmative, a number of practical and equally complex questions remain: what road and what strategy should be followed to accomplish these historic new goals and where should the transformation of labour begin without destroying what has been already achieved (i.e. the present level of productivity and existing method of satisfying the needs, which determine the existence of millions of people at present)?

It should be said that Yugoslavia is still far from any practice which could supply the answer to these questions, but the evolution of self-management and some new practical solutions have raised them and made them highly topical. The first conference on the work culture was held at the Prvi M a j Garment Factory in Pirot in 1970. The exam-

39


ple of this factory demonstrates what has already been done to promote the work culture, and serves as an incentive to others to strive in the same direction. The company, which at present employs 2,000 people, mostly women, grew from a small workshop whose only assets after the Second World W a r were seven sewing machines. Today, it is a large and up-to-date clothing industry with 140 selling outlets all over country, two department stores abroad (Frankfurt, Moscow) and teams of industrial designers, textile engineers, and artists.

The factory yard is attractively landscaped, with lawns, trees, flower beds, fountains, sculptures, swimming-pools and sports grounds. The shop floor is in a glass building, there is plenty of light, and flowers everywhere The walls of the canteen are decorated with mosaics and paintings, and there is also a large library, a health care centre, a den- tist (the best in the region), a vocational training school .and many other facilities. The factory helps its personnel with schooling for their children, and a large number of workers have been given either flats, or financial assistance to build their own houses. Nobody employed there has left for another job during the last five years. All members of the staff consider the factory their collective creative effort.

The company organizes various cultural activities among its per- sonel, and allocates considerable sums of money for cultural activities in the town. The pensioners are still treated as members of the staff, are invited to all major events at the factory and can avail themselves of all facilities offered by it. All decisions - from investment plans, expansion of production and construction of new facilities to the distribution of funds, allocation of flats, or funds for educational and cultural purposes, etc. - are taken by a self-management procedure and by consen-

The town of Pirot and the entire region are very proud of this factory. It has won numerous awards, including the most distinguished cultural award in Serbia, Vukova Nagrada. Numerous trade delegations of foreign trade-unions visiting Yugoslavia have recently, at their own request, visited the factory and spoken to its workers. Prvi M a j was persented as a case-study in the joint study organized by Unesco on cul- 'ture and working life which included Sweden, as the co-ordinating coun try, Norway, France, Hungary, Belgium and Yugoslavia.

M a n y work organizations throughout the country have begun to follow the example of Prvi M a j recently. Some of them, (for instance, the Panonija Agricultural Complex in Vojvodina) went a step further and built their own cultural centres with studios for painters, whom they in- vite from time to time to stay and work as guests of the work organization. Others, such as the Podravka Food Industry in Croatia, have opened art galleries. Mermer, Arandjelovac, Serbia, presents sculptors with blocks of stone for sculpturing and invites them as their guests; the Steel Works in Sisak, Croatia, have established distinguished literary awards of all-Yugoslav standing.

All these work organizations interpret the work culture as an endeavour to make working conditions worthier of man, to advance the self-management culture, and integrate the sphere of labour with the

sus.

40


I sphere of culture and arts. It should be added that the work culture embraces also cultural and artistic activities of workers themselves and that this movement has given them a new impetus and a new creative meaning. (The number of amateur societies and groups in work organizations has grown considerably due to this movement, and the number

41


(one of the most distinguished awards for poetry), bearing the name of Coran NovaTiC, is bestowed by work organizations in Croatia. Mention should also be made of the Dimitrije Tucovik Award made by the Bel- grade weekly NIN for the best non-fiction work of the year (before that, NIN introduced the award for the best Yugoslav novel of the year), the award for the novel on working life bestowed by the trade-unions of M a - cedonia, the M a y Award of the Belgrade trade-unions and many similar awards in other republics.

Artists may be paid the tribute due to them also in other ways such as the use of studios and acommodation offered by work organizations, or free materials for sculpture. Work organizations may finance a film, subsidize the publication of literary works, etc. S o m e work organizations, within the framework of their programme promoting the work culture, hire painters and sculptors to embellish the industrial premises, buy their work, or books, and help in the execution of artistic projects.

Their interpretation of creative freedom, which has been traditionally considered the freedom of artists, is also changing. Hitherto, these freedoms were determined by the relationship between the artist and the state, or between the artist and the political bodies or the administration. Creative freedom is now increasingly related to the human freedoms. In the past, the artist fought for his freedom of artistic expression whereas now, under the system of self-management relations, he fights for the human and social freedoms while continuing the struggle for artistic freedom. The interdependence of freedoms was defined by Marx in his well-known postulate that the freedom of each is a condition of freedom for all. The freedom of creative effort loses nothing in this manner. O n the contrary, the struggle for free artistic expression acquires a broader social meaning.

Particular and special freedoms - a freedom as a social privilege have always existed. There is, for instance, the freedom of the ruling classes, the freedom of those possessed of social supremacy and power, who used to determine the boundaries of freedom enjoyed by other people. Their special freedoms are based on the “non-freedom’ or limited freedom of others. There is a radically new situation at present: an integral conception and practice of freedom. Within the framework of self- management relations, those engaged in the arts and sciences will eventually fight less and less for themselves and their particular freedoms, following the example of bureaucracy fighting for power and appropria- ting such freedoms, and will instead fight increasingly for the freedom of the self-management society.

After reintegration with society and in association with it, they will have less and less reason to fight for a special status which differs from the status of other citizens, or for privileged freedoms to be bestowed on them by those holding power and defining the practical boundaries of freedoms. If society becomes increasingly a power in itself and manages its own affairs, artists and scientists can aspire to win these human freedoms together ’ with society, contributing thus to the awakening of “man’s fundamental forces’. The freedoms and their substance have never been defined once and for all. The boundaries of freeedoms are

43

Interpretation of culture and cultural policy. . .

the field of culture shall ‘have the same socio-economic status as workers in other social activities in which the action of market laws cannot be a basis for assessing the value of labour’.

The establishment of the direct interrelationship between labour and other forms of social creative effort (education, culture, science, social policy) and the establishment of their direct interdependence and co-operation change the approach to creative work and the practical atti- tude to various creative accomplishments. Traditionally related to creative effort in the field of art or science, the term now embraces also physical labour, politics, organization of production, public services, etc. in other words, it now denotes all forms of work involving and testifying to ingenuity and creative reasoning and contributing to overall progress. This change is affecting both the system of valorization of work and creative contributions and the types of public and other tributes. In the years following the Second World War, public awards and tributes were mostly accorded to artists and scientists. Even when an award was bestowed on production workers, social workers, teachers and others, it took another form, with the emphasis laid on the pragmatic aspect of their work and not on their creative effort.

The situation has considerably changed since that time and the highest ranking awards and public tributes are now conferred not only on prominent artists and scientists, but also on engineers, production workers, innovators, and inventors, physicians, teachers, farmers, political and social workers, i.e. all those whose innovative and creative effort contributes to revolutionizing production, promoting social thinking and political life and improving the social organization. Another change pertains to the system of valorization which increasingly derives from the overall social creative effort.

In other words, creative accomplishment is not valued only on the basis of the significance it may have in its own special domain, but also against all accomplishments in other fields.

Formerly, literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic works and scientific achievements were appraised separately, on the basis of specific criteria established for each of these fields and the social valorization of creative effort was influenced frequently by professional narrow-mindedness and subjectivism. At present, all such achievements are subjected to a broader, more objective and critical valorization within the framework of the overall social creative effort and in competition with creative achievements in all other spheres.

The interrelationship of labour and culture and the modified system and criteria of social valorization of creative effort have not resulted in the restriction of awards and public tributes accorded to creative accomplishments in culture, science and the arts. O n the contrary, the number and the type of tributes have multiplied. Among new public awards and tributes introduced during the last five years, the majority (almost 80 per cent) have been conferred by work organizations. While formerly mostly conferred by the state, the awards now bear a social character and are bestowed by cities, cultural and work organizations, youth and trade-unionist organizations, associations of artists, organizations of war veterans and the army.

The award for the best novel about contemporary life bestowed by the Steel Works in Sisak has already been mentioned. Another award

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42

Interpretation of culture and cultural policy. .

constantly being pushed further and further, encompassing an ever- increasing number of areas.

H u m a n freedoms are constrained by numerous factors : political power and dominatioh over people, foreign subjugation, economic conditions, labour relations an& various forms of exploitation through labour; man’s self-constraint as reflected in conservative usages and consciousness, psychological states, traditionalist and reactionary education. Nominal privileges, like nominal freedom, are one thing and the historical emancipation of m a n quite another.

The Yugoslav experience shows that the political, economic and psychological constraints of creative freedom still persist. The evolution of self-management and the growing ties between labour and culture show that the artistic freedoms must be viewed in a broader and more complex context of human and social freedoms.

44

Features and meaning of Yugoslav cultural pluralism Multinationality - the basis of the community

In Yugoslavia there is not one Yugoslav nation which can be identified with the symbols of statehood; there are several nations and nationalities. According to the Yugoslav interpretation, the difference between the nations and the nationalities lies in whether an entire nation, or the predominant part of it is within the Yugoslav community, or whether it is part of a neighbouring nation or some other nation. The former term ‘national minority’ has been rejected, as it offers a quantitative, and not a qualitative definition, and may mean that a minority has minor rights. T o avoid this and to emphasize their terminological equality, the term ‘nationality’ has been adopted, although it is not without shortcomings. Thus Serbs, Croats, Slovenians, Macedonians, Albanians, Montene- grins, Hungarians, Italians and Romanians can all be Yugoslav citizens. In all these cases, a distinction is made between the citizenship and the nationality9 except in those instances where children come from nationally mixed marriages or have been stated to be of Yugoslav nationality during the last census (1.3 per cent of the population).

Multinationality in Yugoslavia is an anthropological, cultural and historical feature of the population and, at the same time, the fundamental political principle underlying the Yugoslav community. Yugoslavia is organized as a multinational country, and not as a centralized state in which the same statehood would be of greater importance than the fact that one belongs to a particular nation. All nations and nationalities enjoy equal political and cultural rights and bear the same responsibility to the community. The political expression of this assumes different forms such as, for instance, the institution of the Chamber of Republics and Provinces of the Assembly of SFRY, in which the consensus of representatives of all nations and nationalities is required for any decision to be taken.

The economic, political and cultural development and language policy are aimed not at creating a supra-national Yugoslav synthesis, but at leading to full development and confirmation of all nations and nationalities. This does not mean that the nations which have evolved historically from the division of labour, the mode of production and the ethnic.

45

Features and meaning of Yugoslav cultural pluralisn

cultural and social association of people with kindred features will not disappear in the future but that the conditions for their disappearance are still far from being ripe. In Yugoslav political thought and social theory, it is therefore believed that the nations are not a category overcome by historical development and also that, in view of the present-day division of labour and persisting profound differences in their levels of economic political and cultural development, it is premature to speak speak of, the fusion of the nations. It is also impossible to speak, let alone accept, any coercive action aimed at imposing integration by which smaller nations and national minorities would merge in bigger nations, which are allegedly more developed. O n the contrary, che Yugos- lavs hold that the nations can and must accomplish their full and comprehensive development only in socialism, before finally disappearing from the historical scene.

The Yugoslav experience demonstrates that the natibns change under socialist conditions inasmuch as they develop and win their full political and cultural recognition in a more comprehensive way than under capitalist conditions. The dialectical unity in these changes stems from the national and the social elements. At the same time, the socialist evolution of nations reveals that their traditional definition, which lays almost exclusive emphasis on their ethnic and cultural-historical specificities, tends to neglect another important component of nationhood - the socio-economic element. The development of self-management socialist and multinational Yugoslavia demonstrates convincingly that the traditional definition of a nation and the definition of national freedoms and national equality deriving from it are both inadequate and re- futed by history. As the Yugoslav experience shows, the political and cultural confirmation of nations, without their economic and social confirmation, does not provide for their overall development and the establishment of their genuine equality.

Interpretation of the nation Interpretation national equalit

The principle of ‘brotherhood and unity’ was adopted during the Natio- nal Liberation struggle and widely accepted by all strata of the Yugoslav nations and nationalities. This approach to national equality found its political and statutory expression during the years of post-war reconstruction and of the beginning of the building of the socialist society. It was believed then that the revolution in which all nations and nationalities had participated had resolved the national question and that full national equality had been accomplished. Nevertheless, in the early 1960s during the period of intensive industrial development, it became clear that national equality had not yet been fully established because nations at different levels of economic development could not but be economically unequal as well. The distribution of the national income, which is largely taking place through market mechanisms, still favours the more developed and economically stronger nations. In practical life, economic inequality is constantly disrupting and jeopardizing political equality, and increasingly threatens to reduce it to a mere political statement devoid of any real social and economic content.

46

Features and meaning of Yugoslav cultural pluralism

These economic discrepancies, which are now recognized in Yugo- slavia as a crucial factor of true national freedom and national equality, have been creating difficulties and occasional disruptions in relations among nations, and giving rise to occasional national misunderstand- ings and tensions. The establishment of economic equality and the sur- mounting of a considerable gap persisting between the economically developed and the underdeveloped nations, following the already established political and cultural equality, is considered the most important pre- requisite for the final and lasting solution of the national question. Ac- cording to the Yugoslav interpretation and experience, such a solution, which would constitute at the same time the historical completion of the evolution of nations, can only be accomplished by socialist society in the future. The economic gap between nations (which also means in practice the cultural and social existing has not yet been bridged by any of the existing types of socialist state. Because of that, at the present-day level of development of production forces, and with the existing division of labour, the integration of nations is possible .only against their will, and with the help of methods implying political, economic, cultural and other forms of coercion.

The population of nations undergoes numerous changes under socialism. The working class becomes the “national class’ and this should have a far-reaching effect on overall national life and its socialist transformation, political organization, production relations, distribution of the national surplus value and historical, social and cultural integration of nations. In other words, the substance and content of the term are also changing. In the light of the development of new forces of production and socialist political forms, the rate of these changes depends on the degree to which the working class becomes the ‘gennine national class’ uniting in itself the class and the national, and investing the natin under socialism with new historical I features and new national, social and cultural substance.

Nevertheless, all these changes in the socialist evolution and transformation of nations are taking place hand in hand with the traditional national features, such as culture, ethnic kinship, identical psychological constitution and common language, history and tradition, which persist, grow and acquire new meanings. The evolution of a nation under socialism thus differs from its evolution in the bourgeois society in which the social and cultural differentiation of a nation is perpetuated within the framework of capitalist relations and the laws emanating from them. In the mid-nineteenth century, this fact prompted Benjamin Disraeli to assert the existence of two nations within a nation, as he wrote in his book Sybil or Two Nations.

peveïopment of all national cultures - the basic function of the cultural policy W e have dwelt on the interpretation of the nation and national equality in Yugoslavia not so much because of the nations themselves, as because it has a direct bearing on the subject-matter of this monograph - the cultural policy. The above-mentioned interpretation of the nation and the historical experience of the Yugoslav multinational community,

I 47


determine the cultural policy, the principal objective of which .is an equitable development of all national cultures. Regardless of changes which have been taking place in Yugoslav political practice in recent years and which entailed the modification of certain courses of action and approaches, this objective has remained the same, although the ways and means of obtaining it are now considered in a. somewhat different light.

Since the liberation of the country, in 1945, all national cultures have been advancing at a rapid rate. The same applies to the nationalities. The biggest groups are: Albanian (1,309,523) and Hungarian (477,377) and the smallest are: Italian (21,791), Romanian (58,570), Bul- garian (58,627), Ruthenian (24,640) and Slovak (83,656). The Macedo- nian nation was not recognized before the Second World W a r and was the subject of disputes between the Serbian and the Bulgarian ruling strata, who both tried to appropriate it. Today, it has its own university, the academy of sciences and arts, a codified language, its own literature, publishing houses, schools, radio and television and several professional and amateur theatres. (

The evolution of the largest nationality - the Albanian - followed a similar course. The Albanians also were unrecognized before the Sec- ond World War, and now have all necessary cultural and scientific institutions. (the Academy of Sciences the Institute of Albanology) and their own literature. In the province of Kosovo where the majority of Alba- nians live, the instruction in schools and faculties is in Serbo-Croat and Albanian, there are newspapers and magazines in Albanian and a television centre has been opened recently with regular broadcasts in this language. The Hungarian nationality has been promoting its culture in a similar manner, under the sponsorship of the Institute of Hugarology the Department of Hungarian Language and Literature of the Faculty of Philology in Novi Sad, two professional and several amateur theatres, active publishing, etc.

A n exception in this regard is a compaq,atively large Romany ethnic group whose number has not been determined precisely. According to the last census (1971) there were 78,485 Romanies, but, according to some assessments of the Demographic Studies Centre at the Institute for Social Sciences in Belgrade, their actual number is three to four times higher. Their status is different from that of other nationalities inasmuch as they enjoy the same rights as all other citizens but do not have the same status and their representatives do not sit on political bodies. The problem,is still open and efforts are being made to resolvc it in conformity with the principles adopted, but opinions diverge when it comes to practical issues. This may be due to prejudices and resistance, but there are also some objective difficulties. Unlike the other nationalities who live in more or less concentrated groups, the Romany are scat- tered throughout the country. Furthermore, a large number of them still prefer the traditional nomadic way of life. Recently much attention has been devoted to this question by the press, political bodies, and cultural and social organizations. In 1978, studies were conducted in Serbia and the province of Kosovo, on the initiative of political organizations, on

48

I , Features and meaning of Yugoslav cultural pluralism

the status and problems of the Romany people in the republic as B whole, and the province ia particular. The problem of this ethnic (national) group will be solved eventually, but at present they are an exception in that they do not enjoy the same status as other nationalities, including those which are ten times less numerous, such as the Italians, Bulga- rians, Romanians and Slovaks.

Accurate figures on the development of national cultures will be presented in the second part of the monograph. These cultures have all developed remarkably since the Second World W a r and individual representatives from them have won European, and sometime’s world, renown. The Yugoslav writer lvo Andrib, who wrote in Serbo-Croat, won the No- bei Prize (the first in Yugoslavia). The Croatian film director, DuSan Vukotih, won an Academy Award for an animated cartoon and the number of Yugoslav books translated into foreign languages has grown six times as compared with the pre-war period.

In the domain of the fine arts, some Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian and Montenegrin painters have won an international reputation, together with representatives of several schools of the so-called ‘primitive art’ which has developed in Hlebine (Croatia), Oparib (Serbia), Uzdine (a Romanian village in Vojvodina), and KovaZica (a Slovak village in Vojvo- dina). During the same period, the folklore and traditional f x m s of expression of all Yugoslav cultures and the wealth and diversity of its art won Yugoslavia world renown. As has already been mentioned a large exhibition displaying the cultural treasures of the Yugoslav people was held in Paris in 1971. Yugoslav cultural pluralism does not mean merely the coexistence of different cultures, and even less so the cultural-pluralistic “décor’ for Yu- goslav statehood. As has been mentioned already, multinationality is a constituent element of the Yugoslav community, and national equality the conditon sine qua non of its survival and development. The entire political, legai and cultural organization of society is governed by thc principle of equality of all nations and all cultures. This means that the development of the country, all its institutions, the overall legal and political system, and the cultural policy derive from its multinational character and depend on it. It is also important to emphasize that even the largest Yugoslav nations (Serbia and Croatia), which established their bourgeois national cultures as early as the ninteeenth century, have seen their full economic and cultural development only during the post-war evolution of the Yugoslav community. Hence, occasional com- plaints arriving from reactionary and nationalist circles thai the development of the cultures of the biggest nations is lagging behind, because the cultures of ‘younger’ nations and those of nationalities are allegedly developing at their expense may be considered as lacking proof and historical substantiation. The mutual relations between individual cultures are also govened by the principle of unity in diversity. Various cultures interact, permeate and affect each other and conduct “a permanent dialogue’ while at the same time endeavouring to preserve and further national cultural specificities.

I

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I 49


Equality of languages Many foreigners visiting Yugoslavia want to know how people in such a multinational and multilinguistic community can communicate with each other. The right to use one’s mother tongue is guaranteed by the federal Constitution to every citizen, in his contacts with the administration, judicature and local authorities. In all communities where the members of several nations or nationalities live (the case of Vojvodina, for instance) the administration is bilingual, or even trilingual. The same applies to schools. If it is a monolingual community the courts and administrative agencies are bound to provide interpretation or translation whenever requested by an individual, or a group belonging to a different nation or nationality.

In Vojyodina again (the ‘most pluralistic’ part of the country), the radio and television programmes are broadcast in five different languages. All languages are equal in Yugoslavia and all statutes and enactments of all Yugoslav importance are adopted in all national languages. all-Yugoslav broadcast jointly by television or radio statians for the territory of the country are either translated (sub-titled on television) or transmitted in one of the languages, if the languages concerned are sufficiently close (Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian and, to a lesser degree, Slovenian). All major literary works, fiction and non-fiction are translated into one or several other languages. In terms of the size of its population, Yugoslavia is possibly the country with the most developed translation activity in Europe.

Forum Publishing House, in Novi Sad issues books in Hungarian, translates all important works of Yugoslav authors and sells them in Hungary, and at the same time, translates all noteworthy books appear- ed in Hungary into the Yugoslav languages. Actors and directors from Hungary appear regularly in Hungarian theatres in Vojvodina (Novi Sad, Subotica) and vice versa.

Similar co-operation has been established, although to a lesser degree, between the PriStina University and the university in Tirana, and between the cultural establishments and organizations of Albanians in Kosovo and the institutions in Albania.

Some textbooks required by Slovak schools in Yugoslavia are im- ported from Czechoslovakia, those required for the Romanian pupils from Romania, from Bulgaria for schools teaching in Bulgarian, and from Italy, for the ,Italians resident in Yugoslavia. Some studies, for instance, on the historical, scientific and cultural institutions of nationalities, are organized jointly with similar institutions in the mother nation.

Yugoslavia, far from discouraging cultural and other relations between the nationalities resident in Yugoslavia and their mother nations, does everything to foster them. Restrictions are imposed only in those instances where substantial ideological and political differences may harm this co-operation rather than promote it. The co-operation with neighbouring countries by the nationalities, serving as a bridge between them, embraces exchange and group visits to cultural events and festivals, joint programmes, reunions in border areas, scientific gatherings, exchange of tourists, visits of relatives, the school system and equiva-

50

Features and meaning Of Yugoslav cultural pluralism

1 lence of school certificates. (Some students of Hungarian origin resident in Vojvodina enrol, for instance, in the universities in neighbouring Hungary.) More specific information about the co-operation between national cultures will be supplied in the second part of the monograph. The examples quoted here serve merely as an illustration of the principles covering the cultural policy of the country.

Domestic and international cultural co-operation and exchange

The diaiogue of Yugoslav cultures assumes varied forms: translations; joint projects and programmes; various types of exchange; theatre and orchestra tours of the country; all-Yugoslav events, including the activity of various Yugoslav associations and unions (writers, composers, cultural and educational communities). The most important forms of co- operation are joint cultural events conceived largely as critical reviews of achievements in various fields. Sterijino Pozorje, the annual theatre festival in Novi Sad, is thus a review of the best theatre performances. Within its framework, public discussions or international symposia are organized on various aspects of dramatic art. The event has a practical purpose also: theatre workers have an opportunity to see the best performances in the country, played in all Yugoslav languages, and to acquaint themselves with new plays. The best performances are awarded prizes and are translated and included in the repertory of theatres all over the country.

Other all-Yugoslav events (jointly financed by all republics and provinces) are the Film Festival in Pula; the Dubrovnik Summer Festival; the Struga Poetry Evenings; the Youth Choir Festival in Celje; the Re- view of Amateur Activities (held every year in a different republic, or province); the Festival of the Child in Sibenik and others. They are both reviews of the best achievements and important factors in the promotion of cultural exchange. Other forms of cultural co-operation are the establishment of sister-city, or sister-commune relations between communes and cities and towns from different republics and provinces, including their economic, educational and cultural co-operation betwen numerous individual individual institutions, assdciations, societies and joint film projects. All these cultural interactions are based on the respect of all national cultures and their creative efforts.

This is one of the most important functions of cultural pluralism as it is interpreted and implemented in the multinational Yugoslav community. This mutual permeation and the permanent dialogue between Yugoslav cultures, assuming mutual verification and debate as well as the fact that different national cultures are developing under the same social conditions (in self-management socialism), result in the emergence of a new cultural quality. Thus, for instance, Hungarian literature in Vojvodina, which has seen a major development since the Second World War, remains in form and national features close to the literature of the mother nation but at the same time has certain specificities. It reflects the conditions under which it has been developing - the self- management relations, the influence of other national cultures in Yu-

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goslavia, and is also expressive of world influence. Before the war, it was of minor value and of little importance in comparison with the literary centres in the mother country (Budapest, first and foremost) whereas now it is also exercising its influence on literature in Hungary. Since 1948, Yugoslavia has been open to all world cultural tendencies and this has affected, infer alia, Hungarian literature in Vojvodina; through it, world cultural tendencies and styles have reached the mother nation.

A similar statement could be made with regard to the Albanian literature in Kosovo, which remains close to the literature of the mother nation and a part of it, and yet has many features of its own. This qualitative influence of Yugoslav pluralism and Yugoslav self-management relations is not restricted to the cultures of nationalities alone; it appractions to ail national cultures also: Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, Macedonian and Montenegrin. Nevertheless, research into these qualitative interactions of the culture and languages of various Yugoslav nations and nationalities is not very frequent.

Another principle governing life in Yugoslavia is that all nations and nationalities (i.e. their political communities - republics, provinces, and even communes, cities and towns) have the right to establish international cultural co-operation. Moreover, this right is also recognized for all cultural, artistic and scientific institutions, associations and organizations. The forms of this co-operation are determined by them on the basis of their own interests. In accordance with their financial, economic and programme policies, they establish such co-operation with their foreign partners (a similar cultural or artistic institution, region, city) as a rule on their own initiative.

W h e n several institutions wish to establish such co-operation, and funds at their disposal are inadequate, the relevant interest community for culture (communal, city, republic or provincial) which cannot decide without the representatives of these institutions, determines the priority list of applications. However, this is a matter concerned with modes of decision-making, financing of cultural programmes and projects which will be tackled in the second part of the monograph dealing with the practical aspects of cultural policy.

In addition to co-operation when Yugoslavia is party to the contract, a considerable amount of international cultural co-operation takes place through agreements in which republics, or provinces, appear as one of the parties. Every republic and every province has its administrative agency for international educational, scientific, cultural and technical Co-operation, which acts on behalf of that republic or province in concluding and negotiating the programmes of cultural co-operation.

Cities, towns and individual institutions co-operate with their foreign partners within the framework of this form of exchange. The scope of this co-operation at republic or provincial level is much wider than that of co-operation when the federation appears as a contracting party.

To this form of co-operation should be added international cultural events organized in Yugoslavia, such as the International Theatre Festi- val (BITEF) in Belgrade, the festival of the best films of the year (FEST) in Belgrade, the Music Biennial Festival in Zagreb, the writers’ October

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Reunion in Belgrade, the Struga Poetry Evenings in Ohrid, Macedonia, the Biennial Prinf Exhibition in Ljubljana, the International Book Fair in Belgrade and others. AI1 these are international cultural events, and at the same time, a form of domestic Yugoslav cultural co-operation.

In concluding this chapter, we should mention that cultural pluralism in Yugoslavia has a twofold meaning: it relates to the national cultures and their diverse expressions and tendencies, and also to the aesthetic aspect. The unifying theory and practice of socialist realism has been rejected finally owing to the evolution of self-management and has made way for aesthetic pluralism - i.e. the right of existence of all artistic expressions and styles.

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Contradictions emerging from cultural development in the self-management system

Uneven economic and cultural development

It was mentioned at the beginning that there were some paradoxes in cultural development in Yugoslavia. It was said that illiteracy is persist? ing (according to the census of 1971, 15.1 per cent of the Yugoslav population was illiterate) and also that the relative student population (439,608 students in 1978 - 79) and the relative number of professional artists were among the highest. W e should also add that Yugoslavia has thirteen opera houses and sixty professional theatres and that in some parts of the country there is not a single concert hall or a decent theatre; that the film industry is concentrated in several centres; that 95 per cent of all those engaged in the arts live and work in republic and provincial capitals; that notwithstanding the very considerable growth of publishing and the number of books issued annually, the relative price of a book is still one of the highest in Europe; that the price of a good painting equals'an average four-month salary; that 30 per cent of hamlets (up to 500 inhabitants) do not have yet a single cultural facility or any premises for rudimentary social life.

The cultural policy, which is increasindy emerging from the initiative of the social base due to the evolution of self-management, is hence facing the contradictory task of broadening the base of the cultural pyramid without neglecting its summit. Furthermore, it should promote and encourage international cultural co-operation and exchange and, at the same time, rationalize, expand and enhance co-operation among national cultures within the country. From time to time, one sees a contradictory tendency in this field. In some years the international co-operation of a republic may be more diversified than its co-operation with a nation- 'al culture within the country.

Cultural policy must take note of these phenomena and try to allay them if it cannot remove them altogether. As has been mentioned already, such discrepancies stem from the uneven level of development of individual nations and nationalities, and are manifested in the domain of culture as a certain underestimation of some cultures and their achievements and, on the other hand, as a certain overestimation of one's own culture and its achievements. This is a source of national narrow-

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Contradictions emerging from cultural development. . .

mindedness which occasionally may develop into a kind of nationalist outburst in the cultural field. T o combat these phenomena, all republics and provinces determine a cultural policy that will systematically encourage the confirmation of other cultures within their own communities through exhibitions, musical and other events, tours of theatres from other republics, special incentives given to those translating and publishing literary works, of other Yugoslav nations, etc. This is one of the lasting tasks of the cultural policy pursued in every republic and province. Nevertheless, it is still believed that all these different forms of interaction among individual national cultures are still inadequate, that they are not following the new social needs, and that they are more of a manifestational than of a working or creative nature.

Another contradiction in the cultural development is its persisting and marked unevenness. Advanced cultural centres, especially the capitals of republics and provinces, possess all the conditions for a varied and rich cultural life whereas smaller towns, including sometimes the communal centres, have limited possibilities in this regard. S o m e ten years ago, when the slogan on the ‘demetropolization of culture’ was launched, it was proposed to change the course of the cultural policy so that it could meet this request. S o m e people interpreted demetropolization in very simplified terms, i.e. as the physical transfer of the largest cultural and artistic institutions from republic and provincial capitals to various towns in the country. As could be expected, this met with vehe- ment resistance from these centres, the cultural and artistic institutions and artistic circles. It was said to be a misinterpeted decentralization which would destroy what had already been achieved and recognized and would moreover impoverish the cultural and artistic life of the biggest centres, radiating a powerful inïluence on the cultural climate and development of an entire republic or province.

It was also argued that even the most developed centres had to satisfy their vital needs and that they were not culturally ‘over-affluent’ either. During the decade preceding this request, populations in all republic and provincial capitals rose and the existing cultural institutions could not meet the increased cultural needs of their cities any longer, let alone cover the demands of the rest of the country. The population of Belgrade, for instance, doubled during that decade (from 600,000 to 1.3 million). The same applied to Zagreb (from 400,000 to almost 900,000) and the population of Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, trebled (from 200,000 to 600,000) making it the third biggest city in the country. Thus the cultural ’metropolises’ also faced the problem of urgent development of new cultural facilities and expansion of the existing ones.

The issue was complicated further by the decentralization of financial decision-making due to the self-management-based organization of culture. In other words, it has now become possible to know exactly how the funds are provided for culture and how they are spent. The delegates of individual regions and communes and the delegates of work organizations attended the meetings of the Republic Interest Community for Cul- ture with precise figures on the funds allocated by their communities

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I Contradictions emerging from cultural development. . .

and work organization’s for cpltural purposes, and the percentage thereof that went to central institutions which gave nothing, or very little in return. The need was emphasized to “demetropolize’ artistic work and systematically develop centres of literary, artistic and musical life in the country. Mention was also frequently made of the paradoxical state of iaffairs by which 95 per cent of artists lived and worked in republic and provincial capitals. Towns and local communities, it was argued, could not provide conditions to attract these artists so that they could help in the “cultural awakening of the countryside’ and enhance cultural creative effort and initiative in local communities.

At the beginning of the 1970s, the first practical solution to these contradictory demands was devised. This period saw a change in cultural investment policies and greater attention being paid to cultural needs in the country. Some republics completed major cultural projects at this time (construction of the National Library and Museum of Modern Art buildings in Belgrade, Serbia ; reconstruction and modernization of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, Croatia; construction of the House of Culture, Ljubljana, Slovenia) but, under pressure from the smaller communities in the country, any further investments of this kind were abandoned. In Belgrade, for instance, it was decided not to build a new opera house although an international competition for the design of the building had already been completed (the first award was won by a Danish architect, and the second by his Japanese colleague).

Since then, the major part of the funds has been invested in cultural projects in the country, and in agricultbal and mountainous areas. In Serbia, during this period, all professional theatres in the country were reconstructed and equipped with up-to-date facilities (nine theatres in toto). This “country rebellion’ also produced fifty centres of culture (complex projects with libraries, cinemas, theatres and concert halls and club premises) which were built mostly in communal centres and some large villages. In Macedonia, the plan adopted to build thirty centres of culture in various towns has already been largely fulfilled: in Bos- nia and Herzegovina, a similar plan was adopted for the construction of a large number of libraries and stocking them with books; in Croatia, a number of cultural facilities in the country were built or reconstructed (a museum in Zadar, an art gallery in Split, centres of culture in various towns on the Adriatic Coast, and some other communal centres). Dur- ing this period, which coincided in time with an intensive development of self-management, more cultural projects were completed in the country than during the entire post-war period up till then. This list does not cover commercial or semi-commercial organizations which executed their own developmental projects (bookshops, radio and television stations or transmitter stations, publishing houses, press).

The pronounced “capital-country contradiction’ has thus been allev- iated but not fully resolved. This applies in particular to rural areas which are considerably lagging behind urban milieux in matters of culture. The citizens are recognized to have equal rights in the field of culture, and enjoy the right of access to all cultural values, but practical cultural inequality persists and in some instances the gap tends to be-

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come wider, for example, in the field of classical music and the fine arts, and in opportunities for education in these arts. During the same period, the neighbourhood communities and work organizations occasionally manifested remarkable enthusiasm for mobilizing local resources and made many sacrifices to execute cultural projects with some help from a broader community, i.e. republic or province. Another attempt to alleviate this contradiction was made by changing the mode of work of cultural and artistic institutions in cities. Systematic financial assistance is given to encourage tours of theatres in the country, organization of concerts, exhibitions, etc. in places other than major cities.

Under the pressure of the increased cultural needs of the country regions and aided by the financial assistance given to them, cultural and artistic institutions are beginning ‘to open out towards society’ and change their organization and methods of work in order to extend the scope of their activities beyond major urban centres. The Belgrade Opera, for instance, often pin-pointed as the most outstanding example of metropolitan culture, has begun visiting regularly the industrial centres in Serbia, such as Kragujevac and Ni:, and the M u s e u m of Modern Arts (another “élitist’ and “metropolitan’ Belgrade institution) has begun organizing ‘at throughout Serbia and in other republics. For the first time in their history, the theatres from Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljub- ljana, Skopje and Sarajevo have more performances in the country than ‘at home’.

The change is best illustrated by the example of the Inter-republic Community for Culture and Education at Pljevlja: it is a cultural organization in a mountainous area which is one of the least-developed parts of Yugoslavia. It has succeeded in crossing the republic boundaries and bringing together through its programmes, twenty-five communes from Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the region of Sa- njak which was a separate administrative unit during the period of Tur- kish rule. It could be said that this new cultural organization produced a revolutionary cultural change in this area over a very short period of time. Several modern centres of culture (Nova karoS, Prijepolje, Novi Pazar, Priboj, CajniCe, Tutin) were built in this underdeveloped area with the help of work organizations, voluntary contributions and some assistance from the three republics concerned. For the first time in their history, the inhabitants of these communes saw the performances of the best theatres from Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana and other places and heard the philharmonic orchestras of Belgrade and Zagreb and even the Leningrad Quartet, to mention but a few.

This cultural organization has succeeded in improving literary effort in the area, launched a literary magazine, organized a unique gathering of poets, published the works of poets from the region, expanded the library network, promoted amateur activities, etc. Its example has been followed by regions in other parts of the country: the Sava Community for Culture in the Croatian, Bosnian and Herzegovinian and Serbian border area, the Dunav Community for Culture and Educa- tion in Smederevo-Kovin, i.e. the border area between Serbia and Vojvo-

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dina. This has considerably eased the capital-country contradiction, but the foci of creative effort have not been -‘demetropolized’ to any noteworthy degree. This indisputable progress is confined to the distribution of cultural values and achievements as it enhances creative effort in a very indirect manner, diminishing thereby the significance of such enterprises.

Contradiction between cultural objectives and market relations

The contradiction between cultural objectives and market relations is one of the most characteristic in cultural development under self-management conditions. We have mentioned already that books are very expensive in Yugoslavia. The high prices are caused by commercial difficulties because the linguistic areas are small and sometimes even ‘minia- ture’. production cost of a book of poetry or prose in Slovak, published in Vojvodina where the circulation cannot be moie than 500 copies (there are 83,656 Slovaks in Yugoslavia), is twenty times higher than the cost of a book published in Serbo-Croat or Croato-Serbian which is spoken by the majority of the population (it is the mother tongue of 15 million Yugoslavs). The same applies to books published in Bulgarian. Romanian and Ruthenian which also cost about twenty times more. A book in Macedonian (1.2 million Macedonians), or Slovene (1.6 million Slovenians) costs three to five times more than a similar book in Serbo- Croat or Croato-Serbian.

In 1971, the then Republic Secretary for Culture of Slovenia, T. Martelanc, Martelanc, made an interesting calculation of the cost of national culture to small nations and the amount of effort and sacrifice required from them to promote their culture H e found out, for instance, that the cost of a philharmonic orchestra to the Republic of Slo- venia amounted to 0.04 per cent of its national income while the expendi- tures for all five symphony orchestras in the United States (Boston, Chi- cago, Cleveland, New York and Philadelphia) are 133 times less, (i.e. 0.0003 per cent of the national income). H e made similar calculations for opera, theatre, ballet and a book in Slovene. However, the publishers maintain that even the biggest Serbo-Croatian (i.e. Croatio-Serbian) region is not sufficiently large and that a book in Serbo-Croat (i.e. Croato- Serbian) costs three to four more to produce than a book in French, and five to six times more than a book in English or Russian.

These figures show that culture must not be left to the market alone (this would be disastrous for the cultures of nationalities in Yugos- lavia, and for those of smaller nations such as Montenegro, Slovenia, or Macedonia). However, it cannot be entirely isolated from the market and its laws. The cultural development of nationalities is thus financed from a joint Yugoslav fund for this purpose. The contradiction involving social and cultural objectives and market laws affects not only culture but also the fields of education, science, the social services, and sometimes‘the economy as well. At the present-day level of productivity and development of production forces and division of labour, the market laws cannot be forsaken while, on the other hand, society cannot, and

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Contradictions emerging îrom cultural development. . .

does not wish to, renounce socialist objectives and criteria. For this reason, various measures are undertaken to restrict and correct the effect of the market laws.

The republics and provinces are pursuing various forms of cultural policy aimed at rectifying the situation. The former corrective instru- ment (the state subsidies) resulted, as has been said already, in pronounced bureaucratization and a state protectionist tendency. The state subsidies were thus substituted for forms of social intervention. As the detail- ed description of all these diverse types of intervention would require much more space, we shall merely quote some practical examples. As has been said, books are expensive but not inaccessible. Every year, at the suggestion of their expert commissions, the republic and provincial communities for'culture purchase new books for public libraries. Other libraries (school, specialist, those belonging to trade-union organizations and others) obtain new books in the same way, i.e. not directly on the book market and at commercial prices, but with thé help of work organizations, trade-union organizations, communities for education and professional associations.

'The domestic film industry does not pay by commercial standards (recently some domestic films became a commercial success, but this was due to the fact that they had been sold abroad). A republic community for culture Co-finances certain film projects, selected on the basis of specified criteria (up to 30 per cent of the total cost). If the film subsequently passes the public test, and proves to be a valuable work of art, it may also expect an additional premium as well as various awards. Furth- ermore, a work organization, or organizations, may also be interested in the film industry and decide to assist in the production of films. Re- cently, most films have been made in this way.

Not long ago, this practice was extended to the purchase of paintings and sculptures, new musical scores, production of new plays and other support to various forms of creative effort which are commercially non-profitable. Furthermore some forms of cultural and artistic work are exempted from taxation altogether, some are liable to much lower taxation rates, and others pay full rates. (For instance, in 1973, Serbia introduced the -yellow-press tax', i.e. a tax to be levied on publications, newspapers, or books considered to be of little cultural value, according to the assessment of a special commission.)

There are also some other privileges such as, for instance, financial assistance to young authors issuing their first books, printing of doctor- al theses, financing the début of young musicians or the first works of young composers, exemption from customs duties on painting materials, etc.

Cultural democracy and valorization criteria

One of the ways of relaxing the pressure of market laws and socializing work in the Yugoslav field of culture deserves special mention. This is a completely novel form of interrelationship between work organizations on the one hand and artists and cultural institutions on the other. The first step in this direction was made at the end of the 1960s on the initiative of

Contradictions emerging from cultural development. .

the Natiqnal Theatre (with the opera and ballet in Belgrade, the largest and oldest theatre in Serbia). The theatre set up a “theatre commune’ which was joined by some twenty work organizations and various institutions during the first year. During subsequent years the number of members rose steadily and reached 140 in 1975.

The ¿ommuneiias a board composed of representatives of the theatre and of all member organizations and institutions, which reviews the theatre repertory and other matters relative to the relationship between the theatre (drama, opera, ballet) and members of the commune.

At the beginning of every repertory year, the members of the commune pay their membership fee, which is fixed on the basis of the number of staff members in every member work organization, the financial standing of these organizations and the type of preferential treatment they wish to enjoy with the theatre. In return, the members of the commune are accorded priority in obtaining tickets for various performances and buy them at reduced prices. In some cases, the members of the commune have the right also to request that a certain performance be staged outside the theatre, i.e. on the premises of a work organization if the necessary facilities can be provided, or to request that a visit be made by the most prominent members of the drama, opera, or ballet troupes to meet the personnel of these work organizations.

This example was followed by some theatres in other republics, and by some music institutions. This type of interrelationship between work organizations and cultural institutions which loosens the grip of market laws, and eliminates administrative mediation, has been extended to other domains. VrHac, in Vojvodina, where Vasko Popa, one of the most distinguished contemporary Yugoslav poets, was born, has initiated the establishment of ”a literary commune’. Work organizations in VrSac and neighbouring places help this commune 4y co-financing the publication of poetic works, meetings of authors, and literary evenings in VAac and its neighbourhood, and in schools, work organizations, etc.

This type of organization and interrelationship of labour and culture must still be verified by experience. Opinions on it vary. S o m e people think that theatre people, writers, opera singers and members of the ballet have thus found an additional way of financing their institutions and increasing their personal incomes, whereas others believe it to be a genuine novelty and release of art from the grip of market laws (although rather high, the price of a ticket for an opera performance in Belgrade is less than one-quarter of the actual cost), and arbitration and mediation by the cultural administration. For the latter group, the theatre, literary and other communes are a new form of the exchange of labour and the self- management interrelationship between labour and culture.

In conclusion, mention should be made of a contradiction generated by self-management itself. The opportunity given to work organizations and local communities to exercise their influence on cultural policy and to allocate funds for cultural programmes of interest to them has opened the way to various kinds of manipulation. Artful agents, representing film enterprises, publishing houses, orchestras, bands, etc. may use their personal connections and persuasion tactics to induce work organizations to ear-

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Contradictions emerging from cultural development.

mark their funds for all kinds of programmes that are, to say the least, unconvincing from the cultural and creative point of view, and sometimes completely worthless. Ostentatious editions of books issued on the occasion of various anniversaries, entertainment films without true artistic merit, ‘cultural’ events without serious cultural content, are presented as the cultural choice of work organizations and their way of spending money for culture.

Such events are often combined with feasts and other paracultural forms of entertainment which erode cultural funds. It is true that the criteria of work organizations are not always sufficiently reliable. The workers, who for a long period of time were stigmatized as being insufficiently cultured, and felt themselves too inferior to understand the “élit- ist culture’, now have the opportunity to make decisions. The psychological motive underlying their choice is frequently more important than the cultural motives, i.e. the desire to show that they can decide and choose of their own free will. Time is needed to allow them to develop and establish reliable criteria in the same way that they developed criteria in matters relative to self-management decision-making on production, income distribution, introduction of new technology, allocation of funds for housing, social care, etc.

The examples of these contradictions show that the road to be covered by a developing self-management democracy is long and winding. However, at the same time, the Yugoslavs, taught by history and practice, believe it is the only acceptable road.

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II. Practical aspects

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Self-management and administrative agencies

Interest communities for culture and financing of cultural activities

Self-management interest communities are the basic self-management institutions for the exchange and association of labour. Such communities exist at various levels in all fields of activity: education; science; culture; public health; social security, etc. In the most simplified terms, the interest communities are a form of organization bringing together all those concerned with individual social activities and public services, to consider questions of common interest. Thus, for instance, in the community for public health, matters relating to public health and organization of health services are considered by health workers and all those covered by health care, i.e. those who are directly concerned with the best possible functioning of health services. They comprise the delegates of the community where a health establishment operates, the delegates of work organizations, soc,ial care and other institutions. This interest community takes specific decisions on the distribution of funds, investments in public health, developmental plans, urgent tasks, and so on.

The Constitution of Yugoslavia specifies that the self-managing interest communities are associations through which working people and other citizens satisfy their personal and c o m m o n needs and co-ordinate their interests, governed by the principles of mutuality and solidarity. In the example of health care quoted above, this means, in pracitical terms, that work organizations pool their production, labour and resources with the professional labour and resources of health institutions, i.e. people employed in them. Moreover, health workers and specialists are directly interested in exchanging their labour with the production labour because the work of health institutions now depends on that labour, and not on the state. This is often called an interest-based organization and an interrelationship of ‘donors’ and ‘users’ of services - an expression which is not a very happy one because it has a technocratic and market-oriented connotation and does not convey the substance of this novel relationship, but is nevertheless used for want of any better term. Different types of work are thus evaluated to allow for their mutual comparability and exchangeability. (For example, the number of

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operations, the professional skill, time and money needed to make a machine and, how much professional skill, money, time, medicine and equipment, overhead and other costs are required for a surgical operation in a health institution.)

Identical interest communities operate in the field of culture and their methods of work are the same as above. The federal constitution authorizes the republics and provinces to adopt their own statutes regulating in more detail the public role of interest communities, their place in the system of self-management relations, and their rights and duties. There are different types of interest communities in the field of culture: communal, regional, city, and republic or provincial. Some large work organizations have set up their own interest communities for culture, and lately discussion has begun on the possible establishment of special interest communities for individual branches : theatre, film, libraries, etc. (Such communities have been set up already in Bosnia and Herzego- vina.)

Interest communities for culture co-operate among themselves ; associate in larger communities (regional, republic, i.e. provincial); when necessary establish work organizations in the field of culture; co-operate with art associations, academies of science and universities; work together with similar interest communities for education, science, socio- political communities and social organizations. The assembly of the relevant political community (commune, city, republic) considers the policy of interest communities and the rate of fulfilment of its tasks. In this manner, these communities are related to the overall delegate system.

All interest communities are governed by the delegate principle ex- cluding any mediation or indirect representation. People engaged in the field of economy, citizens in neighbourhood communities, socio-political organizations and cultural institutions elect their delegations to the assemblies of socio-political communities and assemblies of interest communities. The delegations are also elected by students and pupils (to communities for education). The number of delegates depends on the number of working people in a work organization, or the number of citizens in a neighbourhood community. In their work, the delegates follow the guidelines put forward by the workers and self-management bodies electing them, and are responsible to them for what they do. The tenure of delegates is four years and no one can be elected more than twice to the same assembly. If they do not meet their obligations, the delegates may be recalled by the members of the relevant neighbourhood community or the organization of associated labour.

The assemblies of interest communities are composed of two chambers: (a) a chamber of working people; and (b) a chamber of working people engaged in the field of culture (in the case of communities for culture). The delegates to the chamber of working people of a communal interest community are elected by working people in organizations of associated labour, citizens of a neighbourhood community and associations of citizens. The delegates to the chamber of working people engaged in the field of culture are elected by cultural institutions and org-

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anizations, and by professional associations of artists. The chambers of communal interest communities delegate their representatives to the chambers of regional, city and republic assemblies. In the same way, the delegates of the most important cultural institutions and associations of a region or republic are also full-fledged members of these chambers. It is hence possible to imagine the number of people participating in the decision-making process.

Although the delegate system has socialized the decision-making process, various shortcomings such as a certain formalism and slowness in making decisions, and a lack of efficiency, have been observed in the work of interest communities for culture. Because of the election of wrong delegates, slow elimination of usages inherited from the administrative period and the bureaucratic mentality, some interest communities tend to accord a major role to the administrative apparatus and specialized bodies of the community, allowing them to exercise a powerful, and sometimes even a predominant, influence on the definition of the cultural policy, its critera and priorities and the financing of cultural activities and distribution of funds. Moreover, these phenomena are largely due to the complex role of interest communities.

Every year the specialized services of these communities receive a large number of applications for funds from various cultural institutions and organizations, due to the fact that they are open to all proposals and requests. (The Republic Community for Culture of Serbia received 15,000 applications in 1977; all these applications had to be - according to the by-laws of the community - considered, checked and copied for all delegates before they could be decided upon.) Under such circumstances it is not easy to have a good overview of all interests, make an adequate critical selection and draw up objective priority lists. It is hence increasingly argued that the interest communities ought to be decentralized, i.e. organized in a manner following the example of Bosnia and Herzegovina : separate interest communities for theatre, fine arts, publishing, museums, music, etc.

The interest communities are the scene of confrontation and struggle between the old practice and new criteria and values. The narrow-minded “guild’ approach to cultural development or complex social evolution, vague and deficient priorities and valorization criteria, lack of co-ordination in the work of interest communities, inadequate knowledge of the delegates on the problems currently discussed, are all shortcomings observed in the work of interest communities to date. Neverthe- less, as a new democratic mode of decision-making on the financing of culture, they constitute a major step forward in comparison with the former centralized organization and decision-making.

The funds required for the financing of cultural activities and needs are provided through deductions from personal incomes (taxes and dues) in conjunction with the developmental programmes of cultural activities, socio-economic development plans and the policy of general and collective consumption adopted for the territory of the relevant socio-poli tical community. Organizations of associated labour, socio-politicai communities, self-management interest communities and

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Jther self-management organizations and communities may all participate in supplying the funds for culture, the arts and other creative work, and determining the allocation of these funds. The funds for republic and other self-management interest communities (provincial, city, regional) are provided by communal communities on the basis of special self-management agreements.

The funds of the self-management interest community are deployed according to the specific programme which is drawn up in keeping with the financial plan and other general enactments adopted by self-management bodies. The funds are distributed according to the financial plan. The financial plan is adopted at the beginning of each year and is harmo- nized with the long-term programme and annual plan of the community concerned.

The mode of financing should make it possible to overcome the budgetary and statist mode of financing of culture. It reduces the effects of the state authority in cultural organization and action, eliminates mediation and prevents monopoly and manipulation of cultural and artistic effort. The financing of culture on the basis of the delegate system is conducive to the democratization of the system of taxation of economic organizations of associated labour, and to the socialization of distribution of funds. None the less, although considerable progress has been achieved already in the democratization of the foundations of culture, it is evident that the financing of culture is still affected by fiscal consider- ations. This is manifest in the procedure applied to determine the percentage to be deducted from the gross personal incomes of workers in associated labour for cultural purposes. The percentage is fixed on the basis of the concrete programme by the assembly of the interest community concerned, and approved by the assembly of the relevant socio-political community. This principle of concertation embodied in specific self-management agreements governs also the fixing of amounts to be allocated for cultural purposes at republic and provincial levels. How- ever, a much more important source of money for culture is the exchange and pooling of labour and resources by the production organizations of associated labour and cultural institutions. Co-operation and the pooling of resources allow self-management interest communities to finance culture in a much more rational and purposeful manner than during the statist period. These principles are of major significance in the system of integration and association in broader interest communities (regional, city, provincial, republic).

Self-management io cultural Institutions

The Associated Labour Act (1976) equalized cultural institutions with economic organizations. This means that those employed in cultural institutions may also associate in basic Organizations.

Cultural and artistic institutions enjoyed comparative safety under the auspices of the state because they were financed from the budget, as institutions, whereas now, the funds are provided for their work and their programmes; hence it is their work which determines their development and the social and economic status of their employed. Historically

68


speaking, this is a radical change indeed, entailing complex economic, social and psychological consequences. The institutions were not used to promoting their relations with society and work organizations, nor were they developing their internal organizations and methods of work in co-operation with them. As was already mentioned in the introductory section;the modgl of their organizational and work patterns was not sub- stantially different from those in administrative agencies, and the status of those employed in cultural and artistic institutions was hardly distin- guishable from that of civil servants. M a n y institutions were therefore not ready to change the traditional status they enjoyed with the budget and administration by embarking on self-management reorganization and free exchange of labour.

Nevertheless, the overall evolution forced them increasingly to move in that direction and the self-management transformation, which is in itself rather complicated and contradictory, is now in full progress. O n the credit side, it may be noted that by establishing a closer relationship with society, the cultural institutions have begun to change their internal organization and to apply and promote new, more advanced, and more successful methods of work. This change may be illustrated by the example of theatres in the largest cultural centres, which have expanded their scope of action so much that some of them have more performances in the country than in their mother cities. The same applies to art galleries, museums and central libraries whose activities have also become much more dynamic and diversified than during the ‘statist system.

None the less, in spite of this sound credit side there is also a “debit’ side. During the initial stage of the transfarmation, some cultural institutions (theatres, for instance) were driven more by commercial than by cultural motives. Assuming a priori that light, more entertaining programmes would be hore popular among workers and various communities which decide largely on the financing of cultural institutions today), the theatres began to accord priority to vaudevilles and other performances without any noteworthy literary or theatrical value. The publishers also changed somewhat their course to suit “the taste of a wide public’, according priority to light fiction, memoirs and similar literature. The film studios did the same. This entertainment wave soon began to ebb, however, because stricter criteria were by that time developed in interest communities for culture, backed by the entire system of awards and other tributes accorded for cultural work in the country. This orientation, resulting from the relaxation of state control over culture and the introduction of the self-management mode of financing and decision-making, has been changed considerably, but some vestiges of it still persist.

Another item on the ’debit’ side of the reorganization of cultural institutions is the opportunity for various manipulations and groupings offered by new self-management relations. A group in a cultural institution based on c o m m o n interests, friendly and other ties, may impose its own will in the decision-making process. It may justify its stand by its interpretation of self-management decision-making or of the tasks of

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the institution, but this does not alter the fact that it is acting as a group concerned mainly with its own specific interests. Another similar group may oppose it and then self-management decision-making turns into a rivalry of groups. Such relations are made possible by ambiguous or vague self-management terms of reference and responsibilities - for example, when it is not clear whether the repertory of a theatre should be decided by actors and directors or by all those employed, including stage workers, electricians, and administrative staff. The same question arises in all cultural institutions (art galleries, institutes for the protection of monuments of culture, music establishments, etc.)

Factions in such institutions may also develop when they are cut off from the public. There is a tendency in a certain number of cultural institutions (including scientific and others) to consider themselves as autonomous self-management ’pockets’ or islands, cut off from the influence and supervision of the public which has no right to interfere from the outside in self-managemeht relations. Relations and responsibilities are defined differently at present, but in the past (and even now to a certain extent) there was much ”wandering’. This and a number of other factors, such as lobbying, or manipulation of delegates in interest communities by representatives of cultural institutions or disciplines, have not detracted from the major importance of this change from the statist to the socialized culture.

The socialization of culture and the evolution of self-management in cultural institutions have raised yet another problem: the self- management rights of artists and cultural workers who are not full-time employees of institutions, but do some work for them and contribute thereby to the fulfilment of their programmes. The principle governing the exercise of self-management rights specifies that they should be based on labour invested and there is a certain discrepancy here with the institutionalized status of full-time employees. The complexity of this issue is greater in the case of “free-lance’ artists who are not employed full time anywhere, but whose means of livelihood is their work in the arts (actors, directors, painters, sculptors, musicians, composers, some writers, and translators).

The status of artists will be considered separately and it is only mentioned here because the evolution of self-management in cultural institutions and the search for the solution to these problems have lately given rise to completely new forms in the exercise of self-management rights and the exchange of labour. Thus, in some cases free-lance artists have the right to participate in the distribution of the profits of the institution at the end of the year, op the basis of the labour they have contributed (for example, making d film for a film studio). Furthermore, they are now elected to programme councils where they have self-management rights resulting from their contribution to the institution concerned to influence its programme (radio and television stations). Some publishing houses have set up authors’ conferences which discuss together with publishers, the proposed publishing plans, royalties, fees and other matters arising from their mutual relations and exercise of self-management rights.

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I Self-management and administrative agencies

Authorities and cultural policy, legislative jurisdiction, planning

The establishment of self-management interest communities and the fact that the operation of cultural institutions is governed by the provisions of the Associated Labour Act involve a change in the role of authorities - executive boards of assemblies and secretariats for culture in republics or provinces. Although the jurisdiction of these authorities has been considerably reduced in the field of culture, they still play an important role in cultural policy.

O n e of the vice-presidents of a republic, or provincial executive board (government) is responsible for cultural affairs, and there are also special secretariats for culture in every republic. (In Serbia there is the Secretariat for Education and Science and also the Secretariat for Cul- ture and Physical Culture; in Croatia, all these affairs are conducted by one secretariat.) These secretariats (former ministries) are administrative agencies and are responsible to their republic assemblies ; c o m m u - na1 secretariats are responsible to the communal assemblies. (It has already been said that there are no such bodies at federal level.) The difference between the secretariats and the former ministries lies in the fact that the secretariats do not decide on the financing of cultural institutions and activities. Their task is to supervise the enforcement of statutes and other regulations, and the execution of those parts of social plans and programmes concerned with culture. Furthermore, they draw up and prepare bills relative to culture. Their specialized services moni- tor and analyse the development of individual branches of culture.

The Federal Secretariat for Education and Culture was abolished at the beginning of the 1970s, because most functions of the feâeration in the field of culture had been delegated to the jurisdiction of the republics. In its place, the Federal Council for Education, Science and Cul- ture was established as a body of the Assembly of SFRY, invested rather with a social than an administrative function. After the constitutional reforms (1974), this body was dissolved and the remaining functions were taken over by the Inter-republic Board for Culture, whose members are delegated by the republic and provincial secretariats for culture.

It has been noted already that the legislative action of the federation in the field of culture has been reduced to basic laws. However, even these laws are not enforceable directly, and constitute only a general legal framework for the republic statutes which are enforced in practice. The nature of the self-management organizational layout and the multinational structure of the population make it logical that the principal legislative activity in the field of culture should take place in the republics and provinces. The republics and provinces have hence adopted their acts on libraries, museums, archives, protection of monuments of culture, awards and tributes for cultural achievements, and a number of other statutes.

Within their field of operation, the communes also adopt enactments and by-laws relative to culture (e.g. on copyright tax, local taxes for culture, etc.). Cities comprising several municipalities (communes) are also authorized to pass such enactments. Along with this traditional

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legislation, the self-management, or (as it is called in Yugoslavia) ‘internal’ legislation, has also developed remarkably of late: internal by-laws, sets of rules, self-management agreements and other enactments are adopted by work organizations. This self-management legislation emerging from the principles of self-management Concertation and agreement, exchange of labour and pooling of labour and resources, is already beginning to predominate over state legislation.

Something should be said now about the planning of cultural development which falls within the scope of jurisdiction of the administration planning agencies, and self-management bodies. This forms part of the general social development plan adopted every fourth year, and it is also part of the annual plans. It has been mentioned already that this planning method is called ‘counter-planning’ because the procedure en- visages the participation of a large number of planning protagonists and numerous individual plans (those of work organizations in the field of economy: cultural and other institutions: socio-political communities - communes, regions, cities, republics), and their synthesis constitut- ing the social development plans of larger communities, ending with the federation.

The preparation and adoption of these plans are the result of a broad public discussion about developmental priorities and overall developmental goals. Specialized agencies (planning administrations in communes, cities, republics, and at federal level) prepare their expert analy- sis but the planning goes beyond that. The analyses and projections prepared by them serve merely as a basis for a broad discussion on the plan in socio-political communities and organizations. All work organizations, institutions and socio-political communities are bound by statute to draw up their developmental plans. In this work, they are guided by their own needs and possibilities as well as by the developmental course and priorities previously adopted by larger socio-political communities. Moreover, the plans of larger socio-political communities must take note of the developmental needs of work organizations, institutions, smaller communities, individual branches and social activities. The plans derive ultimately from the confrontation and juxtaposition of all these needs and that is why this method is termed “counter-planning’.

As in the case of legislative activity, planning also presumes concertation and self-management agreement and the harmonization of needs and interests with possibilities prior to the adoption of the plan. All planning agents are responsible for the execution of tasks falling within their scope of operation. The execution of the plan and the discipline required are supervised by the self-management bodies in work-organizations and institutions, administrative agencies, and assemblies of the socio-political communities. (As has already been noted, in the field of culture, this is one of the functions of the republic, i.e. provincial, secretariat for culture.)

The mechanisms of planning concertation and co-ordination are complex and insufficiently developed, which makes it imperative to insist constantly on the need to strengthen discipline in executing the planned tasks.

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Role of socio-political organizations in the field of culture

Alongside the'self-management interest communities, diverse cultural associations and organizations and administrative agencies, an important role in preparing cultural policy is played by the socio-politica1 organizations. All of them (League of Communists, Socialist Alliance, trade-unions, Federation of W a r Veterans, League of Youth, Conferen- ces of Women, Federation of Co-operatives) have boards, commisssions, councils, departments dealing with culture and cultural development. They all have boards and commissions conducting affairs which are not directly related to culture, but which encompass it in one way or another. (For instance, commissions for nationalities attached to the League of Communists and the Socialist Alliance, tackle problems relative to the status and advancement of nationalities, and within this framework, they also consider the problems of their cultural development.) All these bodies discuss concrete matters of cultural policy, analyse various phenomena and tendencies observed in cultural life and adopt conclusions on them. The programme orientation of cultural policy and its ideological foundations are laid down by these socio-poìiti- cal organizations (i.e. by their congresses or at other important mee- t in g s).

I

Cultural organizations, artistic associations, professional communities

Other important protagonists of cultural policy are social organizations in the field of culture, bysiness communities, diverse associations, unions and professional communities. They are all integrated in a neighbourhood community, work organization, or commune and at the same time, in a region, city, republic or province. S o m e of them, such as certain artistic unions and associations, exist at federal level as well.

This group of cultural policy protagonists encompasses the Yugo- slav Commission for Co-operation with Unesco; Federal Administration for International Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Co-operation ; similar administrations at the level of republics and provinces; specialized institutions, such as the Institute for the Study of Cultural Develop- ment and the Film Institute in Belgrade; the Institute for Culture of Croatia, Zagreb; the Institute of Albanology, PriStina; the Institute of Hungarology, Novi Sad ; programme research departments of radio and television stations in republics and provinces; Marxist study centres attached to republic, provincial and city organs of the League of C o m m u - nists. All these institutions participate directly in the drawing up and implementation of cultural policy by conducting research, analyses, etc.

Only a very concise presentation of the functions of cultural organizations, associations of artists and their communities will be given here. There are fourteen art associations in Serbia alone (the situation is similar in other republics and provinces). Most of them are members of all- Yugoslav federations. The principal task of these associations is to enhance and protect common professional interests. Their delegates aim to interest communities for culture and administrative agencies by voic-

I

73


ing the interests and needs of their members. They are also endeavouring to further rheir particular branches of art, participating in the definition of general working conditions for artists (social security, fees and royalties, exercise of self-management and social rights by free-lance artists, allocation of studios and flats to artists, grants, etc.)

A similar role, but with regard to institutions, is played by republic communities of professional theatres, communities of libraries, archives, museums and institutes for the protection of monuments of culture.

All these organizations are autonomous legal persons and may contact directly interest communities or administrative agencies with requests to resolve issues falling within the scope of their activity. All members of associations (admission is subject to professional verification) acquire certain rights in matters of social security, pension, funds, some taxation and other preferential treatment. Although they may not take any decision falling oufkide the scope of their internal terms of reference, the associations of artists voice their opinion on programmes and plans for cultural and artistic activity and on the work of institutions related to their work, programmes of radio and television stations, institutions engaged in music or fine arts, publishing houses, etc. The associations have their say directly in the establishment of cultural policy through their delegates to republic, regional and communal assemblies, or to interested communities, programme councils in radio and television stations, various juries and panels for the bestowal of awards.

A special place in the drawing up of cultural policy belongs to cultural-educational communities (Cultural-Educational Assembly in Croatia ; Association of Cultural and Educational Organizations in Slo- venia). They combine the activity of all cultural organizations and institutions - from artist associations to institutions organizing cultural activities for the general public (adult education centres, associations of amateurs, centres of culture, Musical Youth, Literary Youth). The cultural-educational communities are large cultural and educational parliaments operating in communes, republics and provinces and at federal level (Community of Cultural Educational Organizations of Yuugoslavia).

The cultural-educational communities are collective members of the Socialist Alliance of the Working People. They are both cultural and social organizations governed by the delegate principle. Important cultural actions are organized by them: Village Competition (in cultural and other achievements); amateur competitions; promotion of the culture of work; expansion of book stocks in local and village libraries; furthering of cultural activities in work organizations; incentives for educational workers ( M y Dearest Teacher); organization of the Month of the Book: landscaping and public sanitation actions, etc. These communities bestow awards for cultural achievements and initiative.

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Organization of inter-republic cultural co-operation

Types of inter-republic-provincial co-operation

The multinational population structure of Yugoslavia, and its national and social foundations laid down in the joint National-Liberation struggle, have determined the social role and practical functions of Yugoslav national and cultural pluralism. This has given rise to diversified cultural practice reflected in various forms of inter-republic-provincial cultural co-operation and the specificities observed in the development of the culture of the nationalities. The most frequent forms of cultural co-operation in republics and provinces are as follows: (a) direct operational co-operation among educational, scientific and cultural institutions in joint programmes; (b) joint organization and financing of all Yugoslav cultural events; (c) co-operation among socio-political communities and organizations encompassing culture, inter alia; (d) activity of inter-republic cultural institutions and organizations; (e) joint financing of all Yugoslav standing awards and prizes in the field of culture and arts; (f) programme co-operation and pooling of labour and resources in carrying out joint film projects, book publication projects, organization of fine art, music and other events; (9) co-operation among radio and television stations encompassing broad cultural and artistic programmes, their exchange, joint realization of special broadcasts; (h) long-term cultural co-operation based on self-management agreements ; (i) exchange of personnel and visits of cultural workers aimed at the exchange of experience and professional advancevent; (j) joint representation of the country and its cultural achievements in international cultural co-operation.

As an illustration, a few examples may be quoted. During 1973 - 74 the newspapers and magazines issued in the

languages of the nations and nationalities of Yugoslavia published almost 19,000 texts about, or from, the literature of various Yugoslav nations and nationalities. If broken down on the basis of literature, the ra-

I tios between the number of contributions in the mother tongue and the

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number of contributions in other Yugoslav languages are as shown in Tab14 1. TABLE 1.

Litera ture Number of contributions:

Mother tongue Translations Other

languages

T O T A L Nations Serbo-Croat or Croato-Serbian Macedonian Slovenian

Nationalities Albanian Hungarian Turkish Romanian Slovak Ruthenian Italian Czech Bulgarian

18 983 15 562 11 660 2 O06 1896 3 421 1115 910 318 176 212 483 33 87 87

16 742 13 904 10 811 1514 1 579 2 838 928 727 247 107 I49 440 I I 84 85

2 241 I658 849 492 317 583 187 123 71 69 63 43 22 3 2

11.8 10.7 7.3 24.5 16.7 17.1 16.8 13.5 22.3 39.2 29.7 8.9 66.7 3.5 2.3

in 1973-74, the texts about or from the literature in other languages of the Yugoslav nations and nationalities were published by 153 newspapers and magazines. Of them, 71 per cent are issued in the languages of nations (52 per cent in Serbo Croat or Croato-Serbian) and 29 per cent in the languages of nationalities. Of the total number of contributions, 58 per cent were published in the languages of nations (45 per cent in Serbo-Croat or Croato-Serbian) and 42 per cent in the languages of nationalities. This means that the average number of contributions per issue is larger in the languages of nationalities than in the languages of nations. More is therefore translated from the languages of the nations, and their contributions are published more in the languages of the nationalities than vice-versa. This discrepancy is natural to a certain extent as the choice of literary works in the languages of nations is much wider.

Another aspect of cultural co-operation among republics and provinces is the large number of festivals and reviews, which totalled 426 in 1977. Of these events, 99 were art exhibitions, 80 musical events, 44 literary events, 43 theatre festivals, 42 folk art events, 28 film festivals, 22 art photography exhibitions and 45 youth festivals. The most important events are: the Ohrid Summer Festival and the Struga Poetry Evenings (Macedonia); the Dubrovnik Summer Festival; the Yugoslav Film Festi- val in Pula; the Musical Biennial Festival in Zagreb; the Split Summer Festival (Croatia); the Yugoslav Choir Festival; the Film Encounters (festival of Yugoslav film actors) in Ni;; the October Writers' Mee-

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tings; the Belgrade International Theatre Festival (BITEF); thé Bel- grade Musical Festival (BEMUS) (Serbia); the Sterija Theatre Festival in Novi Sad (Vojvodina); tJie Ljubijana Festival and the Biennial Print Exhibition in Ljubijana (Slovenia). The most prominent representatives and groups from all republics and provinces take part in these events.

Numerous art colonies are also organized, providing direct contact and co-operation between artists from all over the country. The most important are: Forma Viva at Kostanjevica and Portoroi (Slovenia); Marble and Sound at Arandjelovac (Serbia); the art colonies at DeEani (Kosovo), PoEitelj (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Sitevo and Dudovica (villages in Serbia).

During the last decade, a novel form of cultural co-operation has developed under the name of ‘days of culture’. Thus, for instance, in 1978, Days of Serbian Culture were organized in Zagreb, Croatia; Days of Macedonian Culture in Belgrade, Serbia ; Days of Slovenian Culture and Days of Croatian Culture in Skopje, Macedonia, etc. They embrace varied cultural and art events such as tours of theatres from other republics, art exhibitions, literary evenings, concerts, meetings and discussions among artists and cultural workers. A similar form of co-operation has been established between individual cities which develop sister- city relationships. A n example of this co-operation is Belgrade and Zag- reb with their Friendship Caravan which has grown into a traditional annual mass event, when the inhabitants of the two biggest Yugoslav cities meet and organize a variety of programmes, including cultural events.

Extensive co-operation is also taking place through the inter-republic cultural-educational communities. O n e of their major tasks is to encourage the rapprochement and permeation of all Yugoslav cultures.

A specific form of co-operation between republics and provinces is their joint financing of the above-mentioned all-Yugoslav cultural events. These forms of co-operation, which are mostly organized through the republic and provincial interest communities, the Yugoslav Cultural-Educational Community or the Co-ordinating Board of the Republic Secretaries for Culture, are agreed upon and fixed every year, and note is being taken to include the best achievements of each national culture. The republic and provincial self-management interest communities for culture have signed an agreement on the organization and financing of cultural activities and events of c o m m o n interest.

There are many other forms of this co-operation. They encompass an extensive exchange of radio and television programmes, translation of literary works into other Yugoslav languages, co-operation in international cultural exchange, individual co-operation between diverse cultural institutions and art associations, exchange of theatre ensembles, museums, etc.

It has been noted already that 11.4% per cent of the Yugoslav population are members of different nationalities. The nationalities enjoy equal rights with the nations. The Federal Constitution and the constitu-

I

Development of culture of the nationalities

I tions of the republics and provinces guarantee the equality of the nation-

I 77


alities and their right to use- their mother tongue in the administration, judicature, mass communication media, education and economic life of the country. T o demonstrate the exercise of these rights, the example of newspapers and magazines issued by the nationalities in Yugoslavia will be quoted.

In 1945, thirteen newspapers and magazines were published in the languages of the various nationalities, and in 1975 their number had risen by 4.5 times, i.e. there were fifty-seven of them. Three nationalities - the two biggest ones (Albanian and Hungarian), and one of the smallest (Italian) - have their dailies. Rilindja (Rebirth), a daily, is issued in Al- banian in PriStina; Magyar Szo (Hungarian Word), a daily is published in Hungarian in Novi Sad; and La Voce del Popolo (the Voice of the People), a daily, is published in Italian in Rijeka. In addition to Ri- rindja, fourteen weekly, monthly and bimonthly newspapers and magazines nes are published in Albanian in the province of Kosovo. Three weekly and monthly newspapers and magazines in Albanian are also published in Macedonia. In Vojvodina, Croatia and Slovenia, eighteen newspapers and magazines are published in Hungarian in addition to M a - gyar Szo. La Voce del Popolo is accompanied by three weekly and monthly newspapers and magazines in Italian. Brafstvo (Brotherhood), a weekly, Drugarc'e (Friend), a magazine for children, and Most (Bridge) are published blished in Bulgarian.

In Croatia and Vojvodina three weekly and monthly newspapers and magazines are published in Czech and two in Ruthenian. A weekly and two monthly magazines are published in Romanian in Vojvodina. A weekly and four monthly magazines also appear in Slovak in Vojvodina. Six weekly newspapers and magazines are published in Turkish in Mace- donia and Kosovo. Krlo e Romengo (The Voice of Romany), a monthly magazine in the Romany language, was published in 1973 and 1974, but its publication ceased after ten issues.

Although mostly resident in an insufficiently developed area (Ko- sovo), the Albanian nationality has achieved notable and cultural progress during the last decade. PriStina has founded its university comprising at present ten faculties with 32,000 students. Most of the departments provide instruction in both Serbo-CrUat and Albanian. Kosovo has thirty-five scientific, cultural and educational institutions. Along with the radio and the recently established television station (broadcasting several hours of its daily programmes in Albanian), publishing houses, the film industry and diverse cultural institutions, the cultural advancement of the Albanian nationality is further conf- irmed med by numerous artists, writers, and scientists, some of whom have gained all-Yugoslav prestige. Lately the studies and research conducted by the Institute of Albanology have begun to attract the attention of the Yugoslav public.

identical results are noted in the development of the Hungarian nationality. Hungarian drama theatres work in Subotica and Novi Sad; RTV Novi Sad broadcasts daily programmes in Hungarian (along with programmes in the languages of four other nationalities); Forum Publishers issue a large number of books in Hungarian every year. The

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Institute of Hungarology in Novi Sad conducts studies on the culture, literature and history of the Vojvodina Hungarians and has issued a number of noteworthy publications. Hid, a literary magazine in Hunga- rian, which was started by a group of intellectuals and workers belonging to the Hungarian group in Vojvodina before the Second World War, has already a long and rich tradition. The contributors to this magazine took part in the National Liberation struggle.

International cultural co-operation Yugoslavia has conventions on international cultural co-operation with sixty-eight countries, and concludes agreements with forty-four countries covering periods of two or more years. Cultural-educational co-operation falls mostly under the jurisdiction of the republics and provinces which are all authorized to establish such co-operation with foreign countries. The interests of the country as a whole are represented in the field of international cultural co-operation by the Inter-republic Co-ordinating Board for Cultural and Educational. Co-operation with Foreign Countries, and the Federal Administration for International Technical, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Co-operation.

The Inter-republic Co-ordinating Board has been established by the self-management agreement signed by the republics and provinces, whose representatives participate in its work on a parity basis. The board is assisted by six specialized commissions): (a) Commission for Instruction in Languages and Literature of Yugoslav Nations at For- eign Universities; (b) Commission for Music and Dramatic Arts; (c) Commission for Fine Arts; (d) Commission for Grants; (e) Commission for Films; and (f) Commission for the Selection of Films for Foreign Festivals. In the republics and provinces this role is played by the republic and provincial agencies for international educational, cultural and scientific co-operation. In some republics this co-operation is financed by the interest communities, and in others, and at federal level (for co- operation with the developing countries) the funds are allocated from the budget.

In some cases, the funds for international cultural co-operation are provided through collective contributions and the institutions from individual republics and provinces submit their joint proposals to the Inter- republic Co-ordinating Board on programmes envisaged by conventions

I concluded with foreign partners. In their preliminary contacts with a foreign institution, or a group of institutions, they exchange views and agree on possible exchange and co-operation. This system has contributed to the expansion of international cultural exchange and the establishment of new forms of co-operation. The essence of co-operation has also gained from decentralization.

Cultural co-operation with foreign countries embraces all types of cultural and artistic creative effort. The fine arts are introduced to the world at numerous individual and group exhibitions and through the participation of Yugoslav painters and sculptors in major international art events. Examples of these are the art exhibitions organized by individual republics and provinces. Days of culture of individual Yugoslav nat-

79


ions were frequently organized in various countries during the last decade. Moreover, the fine arts of other nations were also introduced to thé Yugoslav public on a large scale. In 1976-77 there were 50 exhibitions of this type.

During the same period, 16 Yugoslav theatres visited 14 countries, 5 opera and ballet ensembles toured 6 countries, 1 1 symphony orchestras performed in 12 countries, 9 choirs in 14 countries, and 20 folk ensembles in 25 countries. At the same time, Yugoslav audiences saw the performances of 40 foreign music and drama ensembles and 120 soloists from 35 countries. Some of this co-operation takes place through international festivals held in Yugoslavia.

With the developing, the non-aligned and other countries, Yugosla- via maintains wide co-operation in the film industry. In 1976-77, Yugos- lav films were shown in 35 countries, of which 25 were developing countries. In 1976, Yugoslav films were shown at 16 film festivals, and in 1977 at 32 such events, of which 12 were held in the developing countries.

In 1945-75, 1,700 books by 250 Yugoslav authors were published abroad. The translations include 203 anthologies of poetry and prose published in 30 languages. Foreign publishers issue an average of 60 Yugoslav books by various authors every year, but many more foreign books are published in Yugoslavia - up to 1,000 per year. Recently, the list of foreign authors translated and published in Yugoslavia has begun to include an ever-growing number of writers from various developing countries. The International Book Fair in Belgrade is attended by publishers from 35 countries. The latest fair, held in 1979, included publishers blishers from the People’s Republic of China and a considerable number from the developing countries. Yugoslavia also participates in all major book fairs in the world (Frankfurt, Moscow, Leipzig).

Grants and scholarships are exchanged with 30 developed and 10 developing countries. Yugoslavia provides grants for students from 80 developing countries. Every year, 300 Yugoslav experts go to speci.alize in other countries and 350 foreigners come to Yugoslavia on a recipro- cal basis. The student population at Yugoslav universities includes 1,200 students - beneficiaries of Yugoslav grants from the developing countries. T o promote instruction in foreign languages in Yugoslavia, 500 teachers attend every year specialized language courses abroad, and the same number of foreign Slavonic experts attend the Slavonic language courses held in Yugoslavia.

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Encouraging creative effort in culture and arts

Legal and social status of artists

The direct and indirect measures bearing on creative effort in culture and the arts can be divided into four groups: (a) enactments regulating the legal status of artists; (b) public tributes and awards; (c) scholarships, grants and other ways of promoting professional skills; and (d) divers forms of assistance and encouragement: studios, purchase ; preferential taxation, etc. ; art colonies, housing.

Artists enjoy pension benefits and sqcial security rights specially regulated by statute. in Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, social and pension security is regulated by contracts concluded between the republic social security administration and the republic interest comunities for culture. The republics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro do not have any special enactments on this matter. Croatia is the only republic which has regulated the social security of artists by an act specifying that the funds for this purpose be provided by the republic interest community for culture which concludes special contracts to this effect with relevant art associations. The decision on the seniority of an active artist is taken by a special commission designated by the Republic Administration for Social Security in agreement with the Community of Artists of Croatia.

In Serbia, the contract on social security is concluded directly between the art associations and the Republic Social Security Administra- tion. The cmnmission determining the profession, vocation and years of seniority of an active artist is designated by the Republic Secretar¡,# for Culture, and in Slovenia, such a commission is appointed by a special ordinance. In all these cases, the social, pension and disability security covers also the artists who are not full-time employees, i.e. free-lance artists. These artists enjoy various privileges. The taxes they pay are used to form a special fund employed to build studios and housing for artists and pay dues for their social and pension security:

The most prominent artists (and scientific workers) may be granted an extraordinary, or, as it is called, national pension. In 3969, thirty-two artists enjoyed such a pension in Serbia, and in 1979 their number reached fifty. Annual dues for the security of artists are rising because

I 81


of the ever-increasing number of artists. In 1967, they totalled 868,000 dinars in Croatia, and two years later, in 1969, they almost doubled and reached 1,370,000 dinars (about $800,000). It is believed that this system of artists’ social security is good on the whole and that it has proved use- ful in practice. None the less some of its shortcomings must also be pointed out. There is a tendency to apply formal and “social’ welfare criteria in recognizing the status of artists and as a consequence, this privileged status is enjoyed also by some people who do not meet the necessary artistic standards and even by those who have ceased to engage actively in the arts.

All the republics and provinces are therefore thinking of making the criteria for the acquisition of these special rights more stringent in order to establish a more realistic proportion between the expansion of creative effort in art and the exercise of these privileges.

Awards and other forms of public tribute

The number and type of awards for achievement in the world of art have almost doubled during the last decade and a complete list of them would be too long to quote here. They can be divided into the following categor- ies: (a) all-Yugoslav awards and prizes; (b) republic and provincial awards; (c) city awards (bestowed, as a rule, on the occasion of the anniversaries of their liberation) and (d) awards bestowed by cultural and social organizations and trade-unions; (e) awards of art associations; (f) awards of newspapers and publishing houses ; and (g) awards bestowed by work organizations.

There are twelve all-Yugoslav awards bestowed for achievements in the field of culture and the arts. They are as follows: (a) Annual A V N O J Award (Anti-Facist Council of the People’s Liberation of Yugoslavia, the supreme political body during the war); (b) NjegoS Award (after Pe- tar PetroviC NjegoS, the greatest Yugoslav poet) bestowed every third year for the best literary achievement; (c) MoSa Pijade Award (after MoSa Pijade, painter and revolutionary) bestowed for accomplishments in the fine arts; (d) Borba (newspaper) Award for architecture; (c) awards at the Yugoslav Film Festival in Pula; (f) awards for the best theatre achievements bestowed at Sterijbo Pozorje (Yugoslav Theatre Festival) in Novi Sad; (g) awards bestowed at the Biennial Print Exhibi- tion in Ljubljana; (h) Struga Poetry Evenings Award, bestowed during the poetry festival in Ohrid; (i) awards of the Biennial Music Festival in Zagreb; (j) Z m a j Award for children’s literature; (k) Branko Miljkovik Award bestowed for poetry by the city of NiS; (I) an award bestowed by Mladost, newspaper for literary accomplishments of young authors.

All the republics and both provinces mark the anniversaries of their insurgence in the Second World W a r by bestowing awards for the best work during the year, or for life achievement in the arts, science and public activity. Cities also have their awards.

Politika, a Belgrade daily newspaper bestows every year the Vladis- lav Ribnikar Award for fine arts and architecture; the Federation of W a r Veterans of Yugoslavia has the award for the best book of the year about the National Liberation struggle. The Republic Council of Trade

82


Unions of Macedonia has its annual award for the best novel on the life of workers. Sisak Steel Works bestows an award for the best novel about contemporary life. NIN (Belgrade weekly) and Svjetlost, a publishing house in Sarajevo) also have awards for novels (two years ago NIN also introduced the Dimitrije TucoviC Award for the best non-fiction work. The Yugoslav Radio and Television has awards for radio and television plays, direction of broadcasts, literary and other broadcasts. All republic and provincial associations of journalists have their annual awards, and the same applies to associations of actors and translators of literary works (the MiloS DjuriC Award in Serbia).

The greatest tribute to an artist is his election to one of the academies of sciences and arts. There are eight academies of sciences and arts in Yugoslavia. One-quarter to one-third of their members are artists. The Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts had fifteen m e m - bers, of w h o m six were artists in 1973.

Fellowships, grants and other incentives

-4rtists may receive different types of grant (and for different periods of time) from a monthly fellowship (for a study tour) to two-year grants. They are accorded by republic and provincial interest communities for culture, the Yugoslav Commission for Co-operation with Unesco, foreign governments, the MoSa Pijade Fund for Furthering the Fine Arts, Fulbright and Ford Foundations, associations of actors, etc.

T o illustrate better the scope of these formal grants, we shall quote the data for the Republic of Serbia.

In 1955 - 67, 160 artists were beneficiaries of various grants. Dur- ing the same period, the grants offered by foreign governments were used by 165 artists. The MoSa Pijade Fund gave 54 grants to painters and sculptors in Serbia in 1958 - 66. There were 4 beneficiaries of the Fulbright grant, 14 beneficiaries of the Ford Foundation grants, and 14 received the grants of the Federal Commission for International Cultur- al Relations. The total number of artists - beneficiaries of grants during that period - was 472. The majority of them were theatre actors and directors (i 18), painters and sculptors (los), musicians and composers (93), museum workers (48), television and radio directors (35) writers and translators (29), film.actors, directors, cameramen, etc. (21). Furt- hermore, a number of artists used the possibilities offered by exchange programmes or the grants provided by institutions in which they were employed (academies of fine arts, universities, museums, art galleries, etc.)

There are also other incentives provided for artists. It has been mentioned already that the tax levied on royalties goes to a fund used to build studios and housing for artists. Every year during the 1960-70 period, 30 artists in Serbia were given flats in this manner. During the same period 63 studios were built and distributed among painters and sculptors. In Croatia, 4 workshops and 56 studios were built as well as 60 smaller working places for young artists. In Macedonia, almost all artists (90 per cent) obtained studios in this manner, and the same applies to Vojvodina. (Novi Sad ranks first among the Yugoslav cities.)

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Purchases are a direct incentive of special importance for the fine arts. Works of art are purchased by republic and provincial interest communities for culture (and those in cities). Specially appointed commissions of these communities attend all art events in the republic, or the province, and propose the works that should be purchased. Last year, for instance, the interest community for culture in Serbia allocated 160 million dinars (about $82,000) for the purchase of paintings, prints or sculptures and in 1979 the figure reached 220 million (%iiO,OOO). Purchases are also made by major art institutions receiving special funds for this purpose from republic interest communities. Paintings and sculptures are purchased by the faculties of fine arts (works of young artists) and various institutions. The share of production work organizations is also rising.

There is also the so-called “advance purchase’ based usually on two- year contracts which a republic interest community for culture concludes with an artist upon learning about his projects. During the last decade, about forty painters and sculptors concluded such contracts every year in Serbia and, on the basis thereof, received from the Repu- blic Interest Community for Culture a monthly advance payment calcu- lated on the total amount contracted. Furthermore, purchases are conducted in all places where exhibitions are held (this form of purchase has also been increasing lately). In Belgrade, there is a special Selling Art Gallery where patrons may buy the works displayed directly. The painters and sculptors organize every year travelling group exhibitions visiting various places in the country. They are called ‘painters’ cara- vans’ and, although they have been introduced only recently, they have already been very successful in promoting the fine arts among the public and assisting the artists.

Another form of assistance to painters and sculptors consists of the art colonies. They are organized by communes and local communities in association with work organizations and cultural institutions, and in them painters, sculptors and their families are provided with facilities for work and free lodging. in some cases, the artist is requested to pay for these facilities “in kind’, i.e. to leave a painting, or a print, and in other instances, everything is offered free of charge. Numerous art colonies were born in this way: EEka, Becej, Senta, Backa Topola, Ki- kinda, Ruma, &rug near Palie Lake - all in Vojvodina); PoEitelj, Ti- Cevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina); Decani (Kosovo); Budva (Montenegro); Ivanjica, Sikevo (Serbia); idria, Stanjevo, Izloke on Kras, Skofja Loka (Slovenia); Vela Luka on the island of Korcula, Biograd na Moru, Ro- vinj, Groinjan, Motovun, Ostroiac (Croatia); Strumica, Prilep (Mace- donia). There are also the international art colonies: Forma Viva at Kon- stanjevica and Portoroi (Slovenia) and Marble and Sound at Arandjelo- vac (Serbia).

It was mentioned in the introductory part of this monograph that the evolution of self-management relations specifying that labour is the basis of self-management rights has raised the problem of free-lance artists, i.e. these who are not employed full time, but contribute to the reali-

Free-lance artists

84

I Encouraging creative eîîort in culture and arts

zation of programmes of cultural and art institutions, radio and television stations and publishing houses. The Constitution of Yugoslavia and the Associated Labour Act specify very precisely the socio-economic status of free-lance artists who work professionally in a personal capa- city in the arcsend other cultural activities. In keeping with the constitutional provisions, this category of working people has the same socio- economic status and enjoys the same rights and privileges as those who are employed full time in organizations of associated labour.

The socialization of culture and the evolution of self-management have resulted in a continual increase in forms of professional artistic work, which is performed independently as demonstrated by the number of free-lance artists. In 1969 in Serbia, for instance, this status and the rights emerging from it were enjoyed by 700 artists, and in Croatia by 650. That same year, there were 10 free-lance artists in Montenegro and 17 in Macedonia. In 1979, in the territory of Belgrade alone (the place of residence of 90 per cent of the free-lance artists of Serbia), there were 1,182 free-lance artists, of whom 16 were composers, 7 musicians, 666 jazz musicians, 56 literary translators, 80 writers; 152 ‘show-business’ artists, 224 industrial designers and other artists engaged in applied arts, 71 film actors and directors, 93 theatre actors and 313 painters and sculptors. The number of free-lance artists has risen in other republics as well. In 1979, there were 25 free-lance artists in Macedonia, 60 in Bos- nia and Herzegovina, 230 in Slovenia, and about 700 in Croatia.

There is no doubt that the further relaxation of state control over culture and the arts and the constantly growing needs for works of art will be conducive to a further increase in the number of free-lance artists. It is therefore imperative to resolve the question of their status as soon as possible.

The Associated Labour Act sRecifies already that free-lance artists meet the tax obligations arising from their income from provisional or permanent work communities, regulating independently their labour relations and the earning and distribution of their income. The main factors in solving the problems of free-lance artists are their associations;

l

85

Traditional forms of dissemination of culture

Libraries I The term “library’ in Yugoslavia implies, first of all, a general type public lending library. There are two other types of library: school and specialized scientific libraries. The latter are intended for a limited number of users, but their function in cultural and scientific life is very important. Table 2 gives figures on this type of library from 1960 to 1977.

TABLE 2. I Scientific and specialized libraries

Total

libraries book stock number read lent of users Year Number of Total Books Books

1960 1202 10664000 2184000 3 545 O00 I 006 O00 1968 1444 15353000 2976000 3 871 O00 1 662 O00 1971 1383 16226000 3459000 4 417 O00 3 O1 6 O00 1977 1516 20582000 4845000 5 809 000 3 472 O00

I The number of these libraries was growing between i960 and 1968,

and then after a slight drop, began to rise again in 1977. The overall vol- u m e of book stocks, and the number of readers and books read have been increasing all the time.

In 1960-68, the number of school libraries dropped considerably (1,500 libraries less in 1968 than in 1960), but the total book stock doubled (from 7 to 14 million). Of 10,690 school libraries in 1968, more than two-thirds (6,840) had less than a thousand books each. This was partly due to the orientation of pupils to public libraries because the expansion of education resulted in a true invasion of public libraries by the young generation. Pupils of all types (school and university students account for 65-95 per cent of all public library patrons. In 1970-77, the number of school libraries and their book stocks began to grow considerably once again.

The most widespread libraries are public libraries. The republic acts (1965 and 1966) helped to improve their status. Before the adoption

86


of these acts their number was dropping rather steeply (from 3,233 in 1960 to 1,895 in 1968) but their book stock was growing in an inverse proportion (from 7.5 million to 12 million books). In 1971 - 77, the number of libraries and the book stocks available in them grew at an outstanding rate. Table 3 shows the changes which affected this type of library and how the book stock in 1977 had almost trebled as compared with 1968, the number of users had grown eight times, and the number of books read four times. TABLE 3. Public libraries in Yugoslavia

Number of Total Total Books Boks libraries book stock number of read lent

Year

users

1960 3 233 7 460 O00 3564000 14480000 13386000 1968 1895 12077000 10029000 22170000 20201000 1971 1796 13484000 21287000 42351000 23513000 1977 1922 19630000 24083000 51499000 31046000

Economic conditions, material facilities and other conditions under which the public libraries operate, the personnel structure and method of earning income are conducive to greater efficiency of libraries. Desirous of modernizing the operation of libraries, some republics (Serbia, Macedonia) have accorded them priority in their medium-term development plans.

Museums Table 4 shows the structure and the development of museums in 1960 - 74. TABLE 4. Mu s e u m s in Yugoslavia

Type of museum Number of Number of Number of museums museums museums in 1960 in 1968 in I974

Total Natural sciences Economic and technical sciences Social sciences and history General Arts

240 284 371 11 15 15 14 15 21

71 83 104 118 136 141 26 31 90

As Table 4 demonstrates, there were 87 museums more in 1974 than in 1968, and 131 more than in 1960. Am o n g libraries, the public libraries predominate, and among museums, general and historical m u - seums are the most widespread (40 and 25 per cent respectively). During the last two decades, their scope of operation has undergone considerable changes: they have begun to organize concerts (Slovenian M u s e u m

87


in Ljubljana, National Museum in Belgrade), courses, seminars, panel discussions and evenings relative to current exhibitions, to show films and offer lectures illustrated with slides and organize scientific symposia. Formerly such events were considered incompatible with the nature of the activities of museums.

Theatres

The development of theatres in Yugoslavia has been fluctuating considerably since the Second World War. During the first post-war decade they prospered, but subsequently, due to television and the intensive ur- banization period, which brought to cities and towns a new public without sophisticated urban habits, they began to stagnate and finally lose ground. In 1973 - 78 a relative stabilization took place - the number of professional theatres, patrons and performances per year, became less fluctuating.

However, amateur theatres and theatres for children have been showing a constant, albeit slight, development (a small drop in 1977 and a major increase in 1978). in the meantime, plays broadcast by radio and television have gained popularity very quickly. The dramatic arts have thus acquired a much wider significance.

TABLE 5. Professional theatres for adult audiences

Performances Audiences Year Theatres Seats

Total Abroad Total Abroad

1973/74 59 23 045 1 1 152 135 4 033 O00 107 O00 1974/75 60 23 585 1 1 592 154 4256000 133000 1975/76 59 23 350 1 1 895 100 4421 000 88000 1976/77 63 23 868 1 1 471 136 3 933 000 78 O00 1977/78 60 24 009 1 1 397 160 3 908 O00 87 O00

TABLE 6. Amateur and children’s theatres

Year Theatres

hnateur theatres

1974174 149 1974/75 157 I975/76 163 I976/77 155 1977/78 190 Children :s theatres

~~

Vembers

W o m e n Performances Audience Total

6 874 2 843 2 775 640 O00 7 809 3 201 2 908 710 O00 7 680 3 001 2 970 684 O00 6 940 2 741 3 017 782 O00 6 444 2 562 3 645 920 O00

1973/74 1974/75 1975/76 1976/77 1977/78

31 4 899 29 4 945 29 5 088 29 5 178 27 5 294

1711 O00 1144000 1259000 1 189000 1 285 O00

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People’s and workers’ universities (Adult education centres)

‘rhe majority of activities conducted by these institutions are educational and cultural’a’ctivitier are of lesser importance. None the less, they are valuable vehicles -of cultural life in numerous communities. The vague demarcation line between culture and education is even more pronounced in their case because their action programmes encompass literacy courses, professional and economic training alongside the organization of concerts, scientific lectures, literary evenings and amateur groups. People’s universities are an older and more traditional type of centre, which reached their peak during the first post-war decade (1945 - 55). They were engaged in enlightening and educating the people, organizing training in agriculture, health, habitat, proper diet, etc. Industrialization and the growing need for all types of skilled labour made them broaden their programmes to include diverse professional training courses. This, in its turn, gave rise to the emergence of workers’ universities, the establishment of which was encouraged by the trade- union organizations. These institutions gradually grew into specific educational centres that did not neglect cultural activities. In addition to film shows, these centres organize other cultural and entertainment programmes, engage entertainers and other artists, organize literary clubs, fine art groups, etc. Almost all workers’ or people’s universities in major cities have their centres of culture.

Furthermore, the people’s and workers’ universities organize visits by a variety of theatres, concerts, art exhibitions and literary evenings. Since the educational reforms, educational activities have been stagna- ting but cultural and entertainment programmes are gaining mornen- tum. TABLE 7. People’s and workers’ universities

~

Seminars and courses Public lectures

Year Universities Number Audience Number Audience

People’s universities

1972/73 209 4 396 128 O00 7 603 428 O00 1973/74 I90 3 787 125 o00 6 066 463 o00 1974/75 181 7 518 225 O00 6 911 912 O00 1975/76 184 5 878 19OO00 7 088 525 O00 1976/77 191 5 208 189 O00 5 095 333 O00

I Worker’s universities

1972/73 216 11 718 531 O00 15 075 927 O00 1973/74 226 10 751 435 o00 16 600 1050 O00 1974/75 223 12 599 572 O00 16 621 1409 000 1975/76 227 13 526 569 O00 22 194 1409 O00 1976/77 236 14 024 592 O00 19 363 1096 O00

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Cultural and art societies The number of cultural and art societies declined steadily, after the steep post-war increase until 1964 - 65 when they began to grow again. These fluctuations can be explained by the influence of television which, however, did not have the same effect on the societies engaged in music which continued to grow steadily.

TABLE 8. Cultural and art societies

Number in audience

Number of Year Number of societies Membership Number of groups perïormances

1956157 3 266 161 700 10 856 39 337 9 878 000 1960/6 1 2 o52 1 I6 700 7 284 25 350 8 474 O00 1964/65 1313 104 10 0 4 701 18 540 6 900 O00 197976 1 743 134 418 - 33 588 14 046 O00

TABLE 9. S o m e activities of cultural and art societies ~~

Classical music Folk-music and concerts popular music Plays

Year Number Audience Number Audience Number Audience

1956/57 13600 2217000 3000 744000 3900 1066000 1 %0/6 1 7600 1948000 2000 795000 4000 1698000 1964/65 4500 1132000 2200 1017000 4300 1698000 1975/76 1 5294 3908000 - 1. Statistic are not compiled any longer on concerts of folk-music and popular music and

therefore there are no data available for 1975176.

Some forms of amateur actinity, which are not followed by statistics, have shown a considerable development during this period (amateur broadcasting and amateur photography clubs, amateur orchestras and bands). Non-institutionalized amateur activities are also on the increase (cottage industries, traditional crafts). In western regions of Ser- bia, a female artist organized village women in a co-operative called Dra- gaEevo Weavers, who weave much sought-after fabrics, sweaters and shawls. W o m e n from Sirogojno, a village on Zlatibor Mountain, are doing the same kind of work. These activities have proved a commercial success (all items are sold in advance to foreign buyers) as well as being creative. They are indicative of the possibility of reviving amateur work on a new basis -an integration of artistic ideas and fashionable design with the rich traditional heritage.

I

Philharmonic and other professional orchestras Statistics show a number of changes in this field. The data are collected every four years. As Table 10 shows, the number of orchestras dropped

90


1961 5 531 33 186 O00 6 O00 1 O0 1 O0 1963 6 400 45 722 O00 7 100 I I6 138 1965 7 980 59 417 O00 7 500 144 179 1968 9 856 67 654 O00 6 800 178 204 1978 IO 509 56 660 O00 5 385

I

- -

slightly in 1960 - 76. The same applies to the size of audiences and the number of classical music concerts. However, the number of concerts held abroad has grown somewhat.

TABLE 10. Philharmonic and other professional orchestras

year Number of Concerts Audience orchestras

At home Abroad At home Abroad

1960/6 1 37 2 158 141 710 O00 330 O00 1966/67 36 723 178 558 O00 277 O00

34 712 136 439 O00 197 950 1975176

Archives In 1966167, there were 70 general and several specialized archives in Yugoslavia. In 1978 there were 114, including archival departments. There were also 2,046 private and family collections and 745 public archive collections. All the republics and provinces have their central archive offices. After the adoption of the Archive Stock and Service Act (1967) establishing that the archive services would be mandatory the operation of archives in Serbia has advanced considerably. The Macedo- nian archive services have made the biggest progress in comparison with similar institutions in other republics. In 1951, the first Historical Ar- chive Centre of Macedonia was founded in Skopje, and it was followed by archives in all major M'acedonian towns. In Montenegro, there are republic archives in Kotor, and there is also an archival department on the workers' movement at the Historical Institute in Titograd, two deta- ched departments of the republic archival office in NikSik and Bijelo Polje. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are four archival offices in larger towns in addition to the central republic archives. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Serbia, and other republics, the shortage of space and personnel are the most salient problems in the work of archives.

The stringent business conditions resulting from the economic reforms (1965) gave rise to a serious crisis in some publishing houses. These were mostly small publishers, printing editions in limited quantities and having an insufficiently operational organization. Table I I shows the development of publishing from 1961 to 1978.

TABLE 11. Publishing in Yugoslavia

Publishing


Note should be taken of a paradox occurring in the Serbo-Croat (Croato-Serbian) linguistic area (population, 15 million). The cheapest books (paperback and pocket-books) and the most expensive books (collected works bound in cloth) sell the best.

Certain facilities enjoyed formerly by publishing houses (long-term loans with low interest rates; possibility to engage also in commerce and sale of school and other stationery, typewriters and other office equipment) have been abolished. Furthermore, printing costs have been growing steadily during the last two decades, accompanied by rising royalties and paper prices. The marketing of books and the crisis in the book-selling profession have only added to the above-mentioned difficulties (the number of book-sellers is steadily declining). in spite of the pressing needs, the business-based integration of publishers and the commercial network is still a rare event.

Table I l is demonstrative of a relatively steady increase in the number of books published, a certain stabilization of the total annual circulation, and a steady decline in the average circulation.

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Other forms of dissemination of culture

Radio

Signs of saturation of the market in radio sets began to appear in Yugo- slavia a few years ago. A steep increase in the number of radio subscribers in the 1960s indicated that the rural areas were awakening - during that period 70 to 80 per cent of new subscribers were farmers. Nevertheless, the number of transistor radios is still growing. Table 12 shows the increase in the number of radio subscribers and the development in broadcasting.

TABLE 12. Radio in Yugoslavia

Duration oí programme Year Number oí Number of Power in (hours on the air)

subscribers radio stations kilowatts Total Music Talk

1960 1 428 O00 19 1106 97 900 62 900 35 o00 1%8 3 171 O00 94 3312 143000 89 O00 54 o00 1978 4 634 O00 I90 9507 321 o00 200000 121 O00

As shown in Table 12, in 1960-78, the number of radio subscribers increased four times whereas the number of radio stations, and the power in kilowatts rose ten times. The number of hours on the air has trebled. Most radio stations have introduced their second and third programmes, and some have specialized programmes (Radio Belgrade, Za- greb Radio, Ljubljana Radio, Novi Sad Radio). The first programme is of a general nature in all republics, the second may vary from one republic or province to another (the second programme of the Novi Sad Radio is in Serbo-Croat while the first one is broadcast in the languages of the nationalities), but it is usually lighter and more of an entertaining character. The third programme is more serious and is conceived to meet the needs of a more educated audience.

In 1958, there were 6,000 television sets in Yugoslavia. Only ten years later, in 1968, they exceeded a million (1,298,500). By the end of the fol-

Television

93


lowing decade, there were almost four times more television sets (3,955,000). in 1968, the television coverage was 73 per cent of the country’s territory, and 76 per cent of the population could watch the broadcasts. In 1978, the coverage reached 97 per cent of the national territory, and 92 per ceyt of the population are now able to watch the programmes. The truc significance of this progress is realized when it is recalled that Yugoslavia is a mountainous country, whose geographical configu- ration requires a ramified and very expensive transmission network.

Table 13 shows the increase in the number of subscribers and televizion programmes broadcast in 1960-78.

TABLE 13. Television in Yugoslavia

Duration oî programmes Power

kilowatts

Television Subscribers in (hours on the air) stations Year

Total Domestic Foreign

1960 3 29 800 8 1 524 924 600 1968 5 1 298 O00 1549 5 969 5710 259 I978 8 3 955 O00 16 833 ... I 17063 ...

I.. . . Data not available

Television programmes are broadcast form nine stations : Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Skopje, Sarajevo, Titograd, PriStina, Novi Sad and Koper. All these stations broadcast programmes on two channels. They all co-operate and exchange programmes so that the audiences in various republics and provinces may watch a variety of programmes prepared by television stations in other republics. Since 1973, most television stations have begun to broadcast in colour.

Film industry and cinema network

The Academy Award conferred upon the Zagreb School of Animated Cartoons and on one of its founders and protagonists, DuSan VukotiC, awards bestowed on Yugoslav documentary films at international festivals and the success of some feature films indicate that the Yugoslav film industry has gone beyond the pioneer stage and joined the international market as an equal partner. in 1964-68, 447 film copies were exported to more than forty countries and 1,513 showing licences sold to a large number of countries. This is more than twice as many as during the entire previous decade.

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Table 14 gives the principal data on the film industry in Yugoslavia from 1960 to 1978.

TABLE 14. Production of films

Year Companies Feature films Documentary Exported Licences

1960 6 16 238 67 ... 1964 13 21 258 90 310 1968 19 37 264 85 36 1 1978 24 26 380 84 148

and short films (feature films)

Table 14 shows that the number of producers has grown four times, due to the fact that independent film teams (free-lance artists) have been vested with the right to apply for the necessary funds to the republic communities for culture and set up provisional work communities. This has had other positive effects as well: the cost of a feature film has dropped and the quality of films has improved due to competition. Furthermore, this has given the opportunity to a group of young directors to seek and win confirmation of their work in the country and abroad.

At the same time, the audiences, and the number of cinemas dropped sharply. lhe explanation for this may be sought in the fact that films are shown on television also: most stations run three films per week. Table 15 shows changes in the number of cinemas and their patrons.

TABLE 15. Cinemas in Yugoslavia

Year Cinemas Seats Shows Audience Foreign films

1960 1 588 588400 546600 I30 124 O00 725 1964 1675 253900 571 900 123 143 O00 1015 1968 1 708 553300 583900 100 166 O00 1166 1978 1338 441 O00 511000 75 406 O00 65 O00

Protection of monuments of culture Institutes for the protection of monuments of culture are specialized establishments charged with recording and protecting the cultural leg- acy of Yugoslavia. They exist in all republics and all have the same tasks and the same mode of organization. A central republic institute co-ordi- nates the work of intercommunal and local institutes. S o m e republics have adopted special statutes on the protection of monuments of culture. In Serbia, for instance, the provisions of this act specify two types of tasks for these institutions: (a) to perform their principal activity (recording, evaluation, monitoring of the state of monuments); definition of protective measures; issue of expert instructions for the maintenance of monuments; training and upgrading of skilled personnel; control over the work carried out on monuments: and (b) conservation,

~

I 95


restoration and presentation of individual monuments of culture (research ; preparation of docúmentation, project designs; organization and execution of projects).

The problems relative to the protection of monuments of culture are the same in all republics. Not all noteworthy monuments of culture are covered by protective measures, because of the limited financial resources, the shortage of personnel and equipment and because there are very many such monuments in Serbia. Furthermore, the monuments of culture are for the most part situated in insufficiently developed areas, as has also already been mentioned. Travel agencies and economic enterprises have not yet assumed their share in financing and protection and this is the reason that some of the former plans for protection of rural architecture, development of an ethnological park, and large-scale works to protect some of the major archeological sites have not yet been realized.

Conservation of nature and protection .

of the human environment In Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia these problems are tackled by specialized agencies, whereas in other republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia) these services are attached to the institutions dealing with the protection of monuments of culture. Their task is to take care of all wildlife and those natural assets which are of scientific or historic value to the community. The conservation of nature involves a number of practical problems arising from the rational use and conservation of natural resources (avoiding pollution of air, water, soil). The salient problems are the shortage of specialized personnel (in 1972, all the work in Bosnia and Herzegovina was performed by three experts) and funds which are inadequate for any major undertaking.

This activity is becoming more ‘socialized’ gradbally. Corani, a youth and pioneers’ organization in Serbia, has already done a great deal in afforesting and protecting the natural environment, protecting the soil from erosion, etc. A similar organization in Slovenia takes care of the protection of Slovenian mountains, rare plants and forests. The Protection of the H u m a n Environment Movement is spreading in all the republics and is also contributing to the socialization of this activity republics the provision of skilled personnel for this purpose.

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Titles in this series:

Cultural policy: a preliminary study Cultural policy in the United States. by Charles C. M a r k Cultural rights as human rights Cultural policy in Japan, by Nobuya Shikaumi S o m e aspects of French cultural policy. by the Studies and Research Depart-

ment of the French Ministry of Culture Cultural policy in Tunisia, by Rafik Said Cultural policy in Great Britain, by Michael Green and Michael Wilding, in con-

Cultural policy in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. by A. A. Zvorykin

Cultural policy in Czechoslovakia, by Miroslav Marek with the assistance of

Cultural policy in Italy, a survey prepared under the auspices of the Italian

Cultural policy in Yugoslavia, by Stevan Majstorovii. Cultural policy in Bulgaria. by Kostadine Popov Some aspects of cultural policies in India, by Kapila Malik Vatsyayan Cultural policy in Cuba, by Kisandro Otero with the assistance of Francisco

Cultural policy in Egypt. by Magdi W a h b a Cultural policy in Finland, a study prepared under the auspices of the Finnish

Cultural policy in Sri Lanka, by H. H. Bandara Cultural policy in Nigeria, by T. A. Fasuyi Cultural policy in Iran, by Djamchid Behnam Cultural policy in Poland, by Stanislaw Witold Balicki, Jerzy Kossak and Miros-

The role of culture in leisure time in New Zealand, by Bernard W. Smyth Cultural policy in Israel, by Jozeph Michman Cultural policy in Senegal. by M a m a d o u Seyni M’Bengu Cultural policy in the Federal Republic of Germany, a study prepared under the

auspices of the German Commission for Unesco Cultural policy in Indonesia, a study prepared by the staff of the

Directorate-General of Culture, Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia

Cultural policy in the Philippines, a study prepared under the auspices of the Unesco National Commission of the Philippines

Cultural policy in Liberia, by Kenneth Y. Best Cultural policy in Hungary, a survey prepared under the auspices of the Hungar-

The cultural policy of the United Republic of Tanzania by L. A. Mbughuni Cultural policy in Kenya, by Kivuto Ndeti Cultural policy in Romania, by Ion Dodu Balan with the co-operation of the Di-

rectorates of the Council of Socialist Culture and Education Cultural policy in the German Democratic Republic, by Hans Koch Cultural policy in Afghanistan, by Shafie Rahe1 Cultural policy in the United Republic of Cameroon, by J. C. Bahoken and Eng-

S o m e aspects of cultural policy in Togo, by K. M. Aithnard Cultural policy in the Republic of Zaire, a study prepared under the direction of

sultation with Richard Hoggart

with the assistance of N. 1. Golubtsova and E. 1. Rabinovitch

Milan Hromadka and Josef Chroust

National Commission for Unesco

Martinez Hinojosa

National Commission for Unesco

law Zulawski

.

ian National Commission for Unesco

lebert Atangana

Dr Bokonga Ekanga Botombele

Cultural policy in Ghana, a study prepared by the Cultural Division of the Mini-

Cultural policy in the Republic of Korea, by Kim Yersu Aspects of Canadian cultural policy, by D. Paul Schafer Cultural policy in Costa Rica. by Samuel Rovinski Cultural poli6 in Jamaica, a study prepared by the Institute of Jamaica Cultural policy in Guyana, by A. J. Seymour Cultural policy in Peru, by the National Institute of Culture Cultural policy in Colombia, by Jorge Eliecer Ruiz. with the assistance of Valen-

Aspects of Algerian cultural policy, by Sid-Ahmed Baghli Cultural policy in the Republic of Panama, by the National Institute of Cultyre Cultural policy in Bolivia. by Mariano Baptista G u m u c i o Cultural policy in Argentina, by Edwin R. Harvey Cultural policy in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, by the Institute of

Art Criticism, Ethnography and Folklore of the Academy of Sciences of the Byelorussian SSK

Cultural policy in the Revolutionary People's Republic of Guinea, by the Mini- stry of Education and Culture under the auspices of the Guinean National Commission for Unesco

stry of Education and Culture, Accra

tina Marulanda

Cultural policy in Australia, by Jean Battersby Cultural policy in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, by Chai Sin Sik

Cultural policy in Yugoslavia. Self-management and culture, by Stevan M a js'to-

The serial numbering of titles in this series, the presentation of which has been

and Hyon Jong H u n

rovii.

modified, was discontinued with the volume Cultura1 policy in Italy.

cultural policy in yugoslavia: self-management and culture...

Documents