Anti-bureaucratic revolution refers to a series of mass protests against governments of Yugoslav republics and autonomous provinces in 1988 and 1989. These events led to resignations of leaders in SAP Kosovo, SAP Vojvodina and SR Montenegro, who were replaced by politicians close to Slobodan Milošević, leader of SR Serbia.
While its name is derived from its proclaimed revolt against bureaucratic and corrupt governing structures, the event is widely considered as a stage in Milošević's strengthening of power through populism, and the expansion of centralised influence the neighbouring republic of Montenegro and Serbia's autonomous provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo (which were at the time not dependent on Serbia's central government following the 1974 Yugoslav constitution, but did remain nominally within Serbia). The events were condemned by communist governments of western Yugoslav republics (especially SR Slovenia and SR Croatia).
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Milošević took control of Yugoslav Communist League's Serbian branch in September 1987, when his nationalist faction won over the relatively liberal one led by Ivan Stambolić. His rise to power coincided with Serbo-Albanian tensions in Kosovo, as Kosovo Serbs felt oppressed by Albanians and the Albanian-dominated leadership of the province. The tensions were further boosted by inflammatory reports in the Serbian media.
According to the 1974 Yugoslav constitution, the two autonomous provinces of Serbia (Vojvodina and Kosovo) had were largely independent from the central Serbian government, with both of them holding a seat in the Yugoslav Presidency, on par with 6 constituent republics of Yugoslavia. In effect, their status was almost equivalent to republics' which enabled provincial leaderships of Kosovo and Vojvodina to lead practically independent policies.
In late 1987 and 1988, a populist campaign started in Serbia which described that situation as untenable. Provincial leaderships were being accused of bureaucratic inefficiency and alienation from the people. Popular slogans like "Oh Serbia in three parts, you will be whole again" (Ој Србијо из три дела поново ћеш бити цела, oj Srbijo iz tri dela ponovo ćeš biti cela)[1] caught up. The atmosphere was further stirred up by numerous articles and readers' letters in Serbian press, the most notorious being Politika's rubric "Odjeci i reagovanja" (Echoes and reactions), a letters to the editor column which was used as a type of astroturfing.[2][3]
The main points of the campaign were the following theses:[4]
The mass protests actually started as early as February 1986, with several meetings of Kosovo Serbs in Belgrade and in Kosovo, pleading for a resolution of the problematic situation on Kosovo. These were relatively small, with 100-5,000 participants, and were mostly reactions to individual inter-ethnic incidents. The largest such protest was held in Kosovo Polje in April 1987, gathering around 20,000 people.[3]
However, the real outburst of protests began in the latter half of 1988. In June, the protest of workers of the Zmaj factory gathered 5,000 protestors; in July, meetings were held in seven towns with tens of thousands protesters, and in August in ten towns with 80,000 people. By September they spread to 39 towns with over 400,000 people.[3]
On October 5, 1988, around 150,000 people gathered in Novi Sad to protest against the Vojvodina provincial government. The gathering started a day earlier in the nearby town of Bačka Palanka, and, as Politika explained it, people "spontaneously" gathered and moved on to Novi Sad, the provincial capital.[3] The protest in Bačka Palanka was led by Mihalj Kertes, a mid-level official of the Communist Party, an ethnic Hungarian who would later become famous for his remark "How can you Serbs be afraid of Serbia when I, a Hungarian, am not afraid of Serbia?"[5] (and later still, as Milošević's money man). Protesters from Novi Sad and other parts of Serbia gathered in huge numbers, and began the protest in front of the provincial Parliament of Vojvodina.
The provincial leadership, which consisted of Milovan Šogorov, Boško Krunić and Živan Berisavljević, were caught by surprise. Before the event, they tried to compromise and negotiate with Milošević, expressing cautious support for the constitutional changes while trying to keep their and Vojvodina's position intact. However, the avalanche of media campaign orchestrated from Belgrade was about to overwhelm them; they were labelled as power-hungry "armchairers" (foteljaši) and "autonomists" (autonomaši).[6]
The Vojvodina government then cut off power and water supply to protesters, a move which enraged them further still, and caused even more people from Novi Sad and its vicinity to join. When power was restored, they tried a different tactic: in order to cheer the demonstrators up, they gave them bread and yogurt. However, thousands of yogurt packages were soon thrown at the Parliament building by angry protesters. That term "Yogurt Revolution" for the protest was named after that episode.[7]
On October 6, the entire collective leadership of Vojvodina resigned and were soon replaced with Milošević's men of trust Nedeljko Šipovac, Radovan Pankov and Radoman Božović.
The rally in Belgrade, at Ušće (the large field at confluence of Sava River into Danube) was held on November 19, 1988. According to the state press, it gathered about a million people, and according to others, several hundred thousands. It was conceived as a "mother of all rallies", and a huge crowd of people come from all parts of Serbia by public and factory buses taken just for this opportunity. Milošević reaffirmed his and Serbia's confinement to the principles of liberty and Serbian equity within Yugoslavia:[8]
We will win the battle for Kosovo regardless of the obstacles placed in front of us in the country and abroad. So, we will win regardless of the uniting of our enemies from abroad and those in the country. And that this nation will win the battle for freedom, is a fact well-known even to the Turkish and German conquerors.
Rallies and media were also similarly used in Montenegro with the first rally in support of Kosovo Serbs and Kosovo Montenegrins taking place in Titograd on August 20, 1988.[9] The leadership of the Montenegrin Communist League was on the defense at the time, claiming that it was also "protecting Kosovo", but their restraint in direct support for Milošević was deemed not good enough by the putschists.
What eventually proved to be the coup's first act occurred on October 7, 1988, when Montenegrin police intervened against protesters in Žuta Greda who demanded resignations from the current Montenegrin leadership. In order to deal with the situation the leadership proclaimed the state of emergency. The state of emergency didn't last long though, as it was taken as act of hostility towards Serbia by media outlets controlled by Milošević as well as Milošević's supporters in Montenegro.[10]
The second act started with joint rallies consisting of workers from Radoje Dakić, a state-owned factory, and Veljko Vlahović University students. On January 10, 1989, over 10,000 protesters gathered in Titograd and the old leadership, confused and disorganised, soon gave in; none of them later played a significant political role.[10] The new "young lions" of the Montenegro, Momir Bulatović, Milo Đukanović and Svetozar Marović, became the new leadership, strongly allied with Milošević in the years to come. The League of Communists of Montenegro was subsequently transformed by the "triumvirate" who had full control over the (Socialist) Republic of Montenegro into the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro, which vigorously maintained its grip over Montenegro and does so to this day more than 20 years later.