"Dusan T.Batakovic. The Kosovo Chronicles " - читать интересную книгу автора

complicated question of history and politics which touches the very essence
of the present day Serbia and Yugoslavia. Mr. Batakovic's writing should
contribute in clarifying many problems which had been heavily misinterpreted
in recent years, both in Yugoslavia and abroad. Escaping numerous traps of
Marxist historiography and reasoning, the author leads us on the road of new
and modern way of thinking about nationalism and statehood. By combining
historical analysis and archival research with original synthesis, the
author left us with a lot of vastly unknown factography and even more
conclusions and assertations which inspire further work and thoughts.
The author of this volume belongs to the new generation of Serbian
historians. To the generation whose intellectual and professional maturity
presently shows itself in full intensity. It is a general hope that these
young people will drive Serbia out of Marxist dogmas not only in their
intellectual work but also in everyday politics. The book we have before us
is one of those important steps in the direction of modern, non-ideological
view of our past and present.
Milan St. Protic
PART ONE: HISTORY AND IDEOLOGY

THE KOSOVO AND METOHIA QUESTION
Ethnic Strife and the Communist Rule
In the 20th-century history of the two southern regions of Serbia --
Kosovo and Metohia - there are two periods that are clearly separated by
ideological borders. In the first period (1912-1941), in the Kingdom of
Serbia and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, ethnic issues were mainly dealt with
in keeping with the civic standards of inter-war Europe, notwithstanding the
suffering endured during the war and latent political instability. Compared
to ethnic minorities in other countries, the ethnic Albanian minority in
Kosovo and Metohia, despite its open antagonism towards the state, was not
in an particularly unfavorable position. By Saint-Germain Treaty (1919)
minorities on Serbian territory within borders of 1913 (including Kosovo and
Metohia), were formally excluded from international protection but it was
not particularly used against interests of ethnic Albanians in
Serbia.¹
In the second period, commencing with the war (1941-1945) and concluded
after the establishment of communism in Yugoslavia (1945), the question of
Kosovo and Metohia was dealt with in keeping with the Party leadership's
ideological stands regarding the ethnic question. Precisely during this
period solutions were found providing strong impetus to the old ethnic
conflict between Serbs and Albanians, causing deep rifts difficult to
surmount today. Ethnic tension in Kosovo and Metohia thus offers a
paradigmatic example of the ability of the communist rule to completely
change the demographic picture of an area by instrumentalizing existing
ethnic differences.
Kosovo and Metohia, and entire Yugoslavia for that matter, depended on
the rule of the communist leadership, which cunningly used the manipulation
of ethnic differences to consolidate and maintain power. The national policy
of the Yugoslav communists was an ideological and national negation of the
establishment of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which the Serbs saw as their own
- the heir to the political traditions and democratic institutions of the