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This research examines the development of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, and its success in forming a government at the close of the Second World War. The thesis of this examination is that the Party was successful because it was able to create a sense of national unity in an otherwise divided and fractious political environment.

In contemporary Yugoslavia, the official name of the Communist Party is Savez Komunista, or League of Communists (Singleton, 1976). This name was not adopted, however, until 1952 (Bicanic, 1966). During the time period covered by this examination, the organization was named the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (Tornquist, 1966).

THE FIRST STIRRINGS OF COMMUNISM IN YUGOSLAVIA

In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, Marxist agitation was rife throughout many parts of the world. It was, however, strongest in Europe, especially so in the Baltic states of the northeast, and the Balkan states of the southeast (Hyams, 1973). In Yugoslavia, communists were not strong in 1918 and 1919, but the dissension between socialists and the ruling monarchists was high (Pavlowitch, 1971). This breach opened the political door for the communists and other leftist groups

1 2(Maclean, 1957). The Serbian Social Democrats refused to cooperate with the rightwing parties in the establishment of a Yugoslav parliament, and took the lead in unifying socialist groups (Pavolwitch, 1971).

By June 1919, a Socialist Workers Party of Yugoslavia had been formed (Pavolwitch, 1971). This party was communist in orientation, and joined the Communist International (Pavolwitch, 1971). The party adoped the name Communist Party of Yugoslavia at its Second Congress in June 1920 (Maclean, 1957). At this Second Congress, the Party declared that its goal was "the establishment, by revolutionary means, . . . a Jugoslav Soviet Republic, to be included ultimately in a World Communist Union" (Maclean, 1957, 28).

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