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In Slovenia, the country's most Westernized and prosperous republic, party leader Milan Kucan accused Serbia of deliberately fanning nationalist passions. Slovene newspapers have compared Milosevic with Mussolini, and some Serbian journalists regard Milosevic as a sinister new figure on the national stage. Said a currently banned political journalist in Belgrade: "Even during the Cominform and Stalin there was not such systematic and widespread muzzling of the press in Serbia as this. Milosevic is dangerous."
Though Milosevic complains that such criticism of him amounts to "spreading fear of Serbia," his demagogic tactics could backfire at the upcoming Central Committee meeting. He is demanding changes in the federal constitution that would decisively reinforce his powers over Kosovo and Voivodina. But some analysts speculate that his opponents may call for his removal as Serbian party leader at this week's plenum.
Nationalist yearnings figured in the uprisings that shook Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland over the past three decades. No demagogue stepped forward, however, in any of the three Communist countries to whip the populace into mob fury. That is what is happening in Yugoslavia, as Milosevic incites , his Serbs to a fierce nationalism oblivious to Communist Party etiquette. The early success of his campaign does not yet point to the breakup of Communism in Yugoslavia. But Milosevic's mischief, combined with the rumblings in the East bloc, are two sides of the same coin of Marxist economic failure. At a time when the Kremlin has shown a new interest in learning from other Communist countries, the Yugoslav crisis has clearly provided Gorbachev with a graphic lesson in what can happen when economic discontent and nationalism mix.