Yugoslavia allowed "private enteprise", but privately owned companies were limited to 5 employees. Yugoslavia was instrumental in forming the Non-Aligned Movement. Pretty much every country that wasn't in NATO or Warsaw Pact was in NAM, including Cuba, DPRK, and other socialist states.

inb4 "muh debt!" Go check it out. Yugoslavia as a whole had a much lower debt than each former Yugoslav state has now. Yugoslavia exported a lot, its debt wasn't a problem, the problem was that US, IMF, and other creditors demanded the principle paid in full immediately. This caused inflation to skyrocket and Yugoslavia to default on its debts.

Funny how smaller, neoliberal states with a diminishing and aging population who don't produce or export anything can maintain a debt that is some 10-20x larger than Yugoslavias (a country with a growing population and billions in exports). The Economy works in mysterious ways.

[–] Sinister@hexbear.net 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Well isnt the fault still the debt? Since Yugoslav leaders trusted the IMF to uphold proper conduct?

[–] multitotal@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Sure. The debt was a catalyst, though. If not debt, it'd have been something else. The US wanted to break apart Yugoslavia after the fall of the Soviet Union, to create states friendly to it who'd eventually join NATO. Local nationalists collaborated with foreign capital to sell off all the means of production and state-owned capital. Same thing happened in Russia, the Baltics, and every other socialist state that turned neolib (shock therapy).

How long does it take for CIA to declassify documents? I wouldn't be surprised if we read about their activity in Yugoslavia in the 80s to find they stoked separatism.

[–] Sinister@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago

For sure they supported some latent ustasha remnants.

load more comments (3 replies)