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The real themes of last week's Belgrade conference were frequently hidden behind vast clouds of rhetorical jargon, translatable only by the initiated. Clearly, though, many party leaders wanted a return to a tougher brand of Communism. Documents prepared for the meeting spoke of the need for "democratic centralism"—which means, in effect, greater authoritarian rule—at least as often as they mentioned "self-management socialism," the correct doctrinal description of Yugoslavia's present liberal brand of Marxism.
Big Cigar. Tito set the tone of the televised conference in his opening address, which called for stricter party discipline. Although the delegates obediently observed the no-smoking admonitions in the assembly hall of Belgrade's domed Parliament Building, Tito lit up a big cigar, settled back in an armchair and flicked ashes into a large gilded ashtray stand that an attendant had quickly carried to him. While he smoked away, in the solitary splendor befitting the father of his country, the delegates carried on a highly introspective, critical search for the party's proper role in a society plagued by dissident nationalism.
During the past two decades, the Yugoslav League of Communists has abandoned its former commanding role; instead, the party has been primarily a guiding, inspirational force. In light of the heightened threat of nationalism, the delegates agreed that the league must regain its old supremacy as the country's dominant influence. In the future, central headquarters in Belgrade will far more closely supervise the activities of its branches in the republics. Local leaders will be chosen, at least in part, for their allegiance to the federal headquarters.
Party cells will be smaller in number but more actively vigilant. They will be responsible for making certain that separatists and their sympathizers do not infiltrate workers councils and other organizations. Declared Veljko Vlahović, a member of the party's presidium: "The Communist League of Yugoslavia must rid itself of ideological hesitation, opportunism, and political inertness and prepare for a further offensive by the socialist forces."
Party Power. Despite the apparent unanimity of the delegates, there is no guarantee that the party-power plan will work. For one thing, the League of Communists, like Yugoslavia itself, is riven by regional rivalries. Equally important, Yugoslavia's society has changed so much, in response to industrialization and close contact with the West, that it is doubtful that the country can still be ruled effectively by centralized party control. Young Yugoslavs, who seem indifferent to political ideology, are notably unreceptive to the old exhortations that Tito still uses to manipulate the country. Moreover, Yugoslavia's enduring regional differences are a living contradiction of the fundamental Marxist tenet that class identity can transcend other interests.