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In a village of 300 inhabitants, not 50 miles from Belgrade, a grizzled farmer told me that there was only one Communist in the community. "He is a Communist because he is fat, and he is fat because he is lazy, and he is lazy because he has 15 children and he makes them work on his farm. But he has to have some job, so he is the Communist Party's informer. We all know him, and pay no attention to him. But we dare not offend him, or he would denounce us."
Deep discontent and resentment smolder throughout Yugoslavia, directed against four typical expressions of Communism : 1) the five-year plan, which compels men & women to work hard for an almost unbearable standard of living; 2) socialization of the land; 3) persecution of the church; 4) suppression of human freedoms by an all-powerful secret police.
The primary aim of the five-year plan is to make Yugoslavia economically self-sufficient by a policy of industrialization pursued at breakneck pace. Tito last summer claimed that 50% of the goal had been accomplished. Last week the five-year plan's mastermind Boris Kidric, chairman of the Planning Commission, raised the claim of fulfillment to 82%.
These are figures which mean little or nothing. In Yugoslavia it is easier to get secret military information than hard data on economy and production. The government triumphantly an nounces results in terms of percentages which are not related to any ascertainable figures. Thus it is always "92% of the plan for this year" — but no one knows or will say just what the plan for this year was in the first place. Or, again, a favorite formula: "28% more than last year." But it is impossible to discover how much was produced last year.
In the Voivodina I met a peasant who had well learned his lesson. "98%." I I said, asked him "98% of how what? many Of what horses he you had had. He before the answered: war, or of what you would like to have?" He repeated: "98%." He had no other comment.
The truth about the plan, as near as it can be discovered, is that This is certainly falling way below the targets, This is not because Yugoslavia is short of prime natural resources.
She has much undeveloped mineral wealth, all the main strategic raw materials except coking coal, and that may be largely offset by her hydroelectrical potential.
But the fast pace of the plan helps to defeat it. There is much shoddy building. Imported machines are being wrecked almost as fast as they can be bought. Skilled labor is desperately short.
In terms of manpower, Yugoslav industry is now producing more expensively than the same production would cost to import. The overall effort is based on a staggering program of self-sacrifice by the Yugoslav people. Like the Russian people, they were not consulted about the desirability of making the sacrifice. Many Yugoslavs resent it. Although some new factories, schools and offices have been built, what the average worker really sees ahead is a life of slavery for which he is not even beginning to receive compensation in the form of consumer goods.
"A Peasant, Like His Pig. . ."