From: malenovi@plains.NoDak.edu (Malenovic Nikola V.)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia
Subject: Interview: Ivica Racan, Leftist in Croatia ( VREME NDA 5 Sep 1992 )
Date: 5 Sep 92 18:12:47 GMT
Article-I.D.: plains.20177
Organization: North Dakota Higher Education Computing Network


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     "Vreme" News Digest No. 49                             August 31, 1992
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    Interview: Ivica Racan, Leftist in Croatia
    ------------------------------------------


                           WAITING FOR A BETTER HAND


    We  talked with  Ivica Racan,  once president  of the Croatian Communist
    Party and now president of the  Party for Democratic Change (SDP), about
    the future of socio-democracy in Croatia.

      Do  the  last  elections  mean  an  end  of  the fall and the possible
      beginning of an upward turn for the leftists?

    It was  with amazement that the  governing party came to  the conclusion
    that we had somehow retained our  position as a parliamentary party, and
    one  that in  the last  two months  has succeeded  in picking  itself up
    considerably. Even  though the media  by way of  trumped up surveys  had
    already buried us and foreseen a mere  1.5 to 2 percent of the votes, we
    succeeded  in  attaining   a  lot  more.  Not  only   were  the  surveys
    methodically  incorrect  and  unrealistic,  but  the  people,  who  were
    surveyed by telephone, were afraid to support us, in the fear of bugging
    and manipulation... In any case, things  are not easy for the democratic
    left. We  have a bad hand  and we know we  have to play well  with these
    cards.

    Or try to bluff...

    That  is also  a way  of playing.  However, the  political game which is
    being played  here no longer resembles  open poker which means  it is no
    longer possible to rely too much on  bluff. Simply put, we must wait for
    a good hand and then  we can play well! I am convinced  that such a hand
    will come soon, just  as soon as the question of the  war and borders is
    settled,  when everything  is concentrated  on the  social questions and
    problems of  the democracy here  where the left  can prove itself.  This
    will be our chance.

      How much of the voting body can you count on at the moment?

    About 9 - 10  percent of the voters. This is the  left, the "bad cards",
    at the moment. However, I think that  a much more important fact is that
    the right is even more divided, considering that at these elections they
    practically experienced  defeat. This is  one of the  good sides of  the
    last  elections.  The  defeat  of  the  right  was  brought about by the
    maturity of Croatian  citizens who in times of war  voted for the status
    quo and in the main voted for the Croatian Democratic Alliance (HDZ). It
    may not look like  this to you in Belgrade, but for  us here Tudjman and
    the HDZ are not the worst thing  that could happen to us. In Croatia the
    evil of neo-fascist  rightwingers could have taken hold,  and this would
    certainly have been a triumph for  Milosevic, because it would have been
    established that "Croatia is Ustasha".  The desire to show everything in
    Croatia as "Ustasha" is ridiculous; amongst  other things I myself was a
    few  years ago  proclaimed and   "recognized" as  "the chief  Ustasha in
    Croatia",  even though  I was  born  in  a concentration  camp and  have
    experienced the cruel effects of fascism...

    With  his  generalized  naming  of   "Ustasha",  Milosevic  has  done  a
    disservice to the democratic forces in Croatia.

    Nevertheless,  at the  coming meeting  of the  Sabor (General Assembly),
    despite the fact  you have survived the elections, you  won't be able to
    do much.

    Well, up to  now, even when we had many  representatives, as much as 80,
    we  were not  able to  do much;  we have  always been  criticized by the
    non-parliamentary  opposition  of  being   incompetent.  Now  that  same
    opposition,  primarily  HSZS  and  HNS,   which  has  also  entered  the
    parliament, will  be able to show  for themselves how much  they can do.
    But if  the governing party does  not change the course  of its politics
    and doesn't notice  that there exists an immense  difference between the
    constitution of the voting body and  the constitution of the Sabor, then
    it will  itself exacerbate the  political situation. If  the HDZ doesn't
    move towards a rule of  tolerance and compromise, the present government
    won't be bale to stay in the saddle  for the next four years. There is a
    possibility that before the expiry of its mandate we get a government of
    national unity or a transitional government.

      Was there a time when you were  still in the Presidency of the Central
      Committee of the  Alliance of Communists of Yugoslavia  that you could
      have foreseen the present situation?

    Three and  a half years ago  I said to Milosevic,  at some meeting, that
    his "politics of greater Serbian nationalism,  by which he wanted in his
    own   measure   to   rearrange   Yugoslavia,   would   have  to  provoke
    contra-nationalism and conflict  which no-one would be able  to stop". I
    even told his that he would maybe "cause a war and that he himself would
    fall in blood and amongst his own people to boot". It is recorded in the
    minutes. But  I can't refrain from  saying, even though it  sounds funny
    today, that none of this need have happened.

      While  you were  still in  power, was  it really  impossible, with the
      support  of other  liberal communists  in Yugoslavia,  to prevent this
      move in Serbian politics?

    Yes, it  was impossible. Certain  powerful individuals made  a pact with
    Slobodan Milosevic. Because of this, under the famous "Croatian silence"
    grew a resistance, a resistance it was later not possible to stop. I was
    then an  extreme minority, and  unlike Slovenian partners  who were more
    wily, I did not have the Croatian  people behind me. In 1989, when in my
    report at one  meeting I sought a multi-party  system, I was immediately
    attacked  by comrade  generals and  the  demand  was thrown  out of  the
    conclusion. Milosevic  tolerated me because  I wasn't dangerous  to him,
    and at the  same time I served as  proof of his liberalism. This  is how
    Milosevic  succeeded in  realizing his  plan at  the expense  of all the
    Yugoslav nations, and particularly at the expense of the Serbs.

      Do you think Milosevic's plan will succeed because his moves are being
      copied  by Franjo  Tudjman and  other politicians  of the newly formed
      Balkan states, which means that the  change of the geographical map of
      this part of the world is realistic and inevitable?

    The ethnic map of this area  is definitely changing. Whether the borders
    will change is not yet clear and this  is the straw to be clutched at by
    certain  democratic  and  European  forces.  I  myself  am more and more
    skeptical, even though  I am hard on the line  of defending the existing
    borders. However,  this war has  already carried out  an enormous ethnic
    shift and caused  such deep chasms in the  relations between the nations
    that we ourselves won't ever be able to improve them. Even with the help
    of Europe  it will be very  difficult. But there is  another possibility
    open  -  because  of  Milosevic's   politics  the  fate  of  the  Serbs,
    particularly  Serbs  outside  Serbia,  could  be  very  like that of the
    Sudeten Germans after the Second  World War. Croatia definitely won't be
    left without its  territories, the question is how  many Serbs will stay
    in these territories.

    I understood the crime of a policy that manipulates with people, despair
    and dissatisfaction. At that time, with  the Serbs from Kosovo, later in
    Vojvodina (leaving  out those in Montenegro),  and very soon afterwards,
    with the Serbs in Croatia. And we  are all paying the price. It was then
    that I understood  the malevolence of that policy  which was prepared to
    go to  the very end, to  bloodshed. I took very  seriously the threat by
    Milosevic that in the defence of  the Serbs, in his articulation of Serb
    interests, war was not excluded. I  realized that his policy was leading
    us into the abyss. Serbs and  others alike. He will force on generations
    of Serbs, like  it was with generations of Germans,  an awful feeling of
    guilt.  And this  is why  this kind  of policy  is malevolent, primarily
    towards Serbs.
                                                            Svetlana Vasovic


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     "Vreme" News Digest No. 49                             August 31, 1992
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