This classic by an associate of Yugoslavia's Tito created a sensation when it was published in 1957 because it was the first time that a ranking Communist had publicly analyzed his disillusionment with the system.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Milovan Djilas (1911-1995), dissident Yugoslav Communist leader and writer, born in Polja, Montenegro. He studied law at the University of Belgrade, where he embraced Marxism, and was subsequently imprisoned for political activities. He became a good friend of Tito and by 1940 was a member of the Politburo of the Yugoslav Communist Party. Fighting with Tito's partisans during World War II, he held numerous high posts in the postwar government and was a leading supporter of Tito's break with the USSR in 1948. By 1953 he was vice president under Tito and widely believed to be his chosen successor. Djilas's criticism of Communist rule, however, led to his loss of all positions and his expulsion from the party in 1954. He was imprisoned in 1956. Upon publication in the West of his The New Class (1957), an exposé of the Communist hierarchy, his sentence was extended. His Conversations with Stalin (1962) cost him another four years in jail. Finally released in 1966, he continued to write and publish. Among his other books are Land Without Justice (1958), and Rise and Fall (1983; trans. 1985), an account of his own government career. The New Class was published in Yugoslavia in 1990.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By Luc REYNAERT
Format:Paperback
Djilas' book written in the nineteen fifties was a real bombshell for the top of the CP's and in leftist circles in Europe. It exposed the communist countries as regimes ruled by a very small oligarchy of high level party members (sometimes by only one person, the party secretary). They were totalitarian dictatorial States.
One bitter joke went around that the world's history could be summarized by three 'at' stages; matriarchat, patriarchat and secretariat.
This small oligarchy built around itself a heavy State bureaucracy (later named the Nomenklatura), through which it controlled the whole country, politically through the one party system, economically through State monopolies and ideologically through an absolute control of the media.
In fact, the masses were exploited with an iron fist.The Nomenklatura disposed of all the wealth. Everybody else had a job but lived in poverty.
Djilas' book gives a cynical picture of the functioning of a totalitarian State with its corruption, its enormous differences in living standards and its complete resistance to change.
For Djilas, communist regimes were slumbering civil wars between the government and the population. The government could only keep control by using physical (knocking down insurrections, incarceration and show trials) and ideological (censure) violence.
Djilas also analyzes the role of Lenin and Stalin in the creation of this State bureaucracy.
The Hungarian Nobel Prize winner Imre Kertesz defined the difference between fascism and communism as follows: fascism was a reality, communism a utopia, but both were characterized by the ruling of one party which wielded uncontrolled and unlimited power. Both were a disaster for the population.... Read more ›
One bitter joke went around that the world's history could be summarized by three 'at' stages; matriarchat, patriarchat and secretariat.
This small oligarchy built around itself a heavy State bureaucracy (later named the Nomenklatura), through which it controlled the whole country, politically through the one party system, economically through State monopolies and ideologically through an absolute control of the media.
In fact, the masses were exploited with an iron fist.The Nomenklatura disposed of all the wealth. Everybody else had a job but lived in poverty.
Djilas' book gives a cynical picture of the functioning of a totalitarian State with its corruption, its enormous differences in living standards and its complete resistance to change.
For Djilas, communist regimes were slumbering civil wars between the government and the population. The government could only keep control by using physical (knocking down insurrections, incarceration and show trials) and ideological (censure) violence.
Djilas also analyzes the role of Lenin and Stalin in the creation of this State bureaucracy.
The Hungarian Nobel Prize winner Imre Kertesz defined the difference between fascism and communism as follows: fascism was a reality, communism a utopia, but both were characterized by the ruling of one party which wielded uncontrolled and unlimited power. Both were a disaster for the population.... Read more ›
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Djilas explains from firsthand experience how the CP went from being a revolutionary vanguard to the new ownership class in the societies that they created. They didn't own the factories, mines, and fields by law, but they became the defacto owners (i.e., enjoying the benefits of having control) of these productive assets. Perhaps the CP bigshots and their bureaucracy didn't own title to these assets but they certainly acted and benefited from being in control of them all the same. And given human nature, perhaps this is inevitable too. That was Djilas' point.
Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot just to name a few, all tried to prevent this but were unable to halt the evolution of the CP and it's bureaucracy into acting as a new ownership class. Look at the nominally Communist states that still exist: The so-called "People's Republic of China" is really a State-Capitalist enterprise; Orwell's Animal Farm as state policy. And Cuba and North Korea are simply monarchies under a nominally communist party. Witness the way Castro turned the State over to his brother Raul, and Kim Il-Sung turned control of N Korea to his son Kim Jong-Il.
And for all his prescience Djilas spent years in Yugoslavian labor camps too. This critique is far more effective at exposing the fallacies and failures of Marxism-Leninism in practice than all the screeds written by the Cold Warriors back in the day.
Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot just to name a few, all tried to prevent this but were unable to halt the evolution of the CP and it's bureaucracy into acting as a new ownership class. Look at the nominally Communist states that still exist: The so-called "People's Republic of China" is really a State-Capitalist enterprise; Orwell's Animal Farm as state policy. And Cuba and North Korea are simply monarchies under a nominally communist party. Witness the way Castro turned the State over to his brother Raul, and Kim Il-Sung turned control of N Korea to his son Kim Jong-Il.
And for all his prescience Djilas spent years in Yugoslavian labor camps too. This critique is far more effective at exposing the fallacies and failures of Marxism-Leninism in practice than all the screeds written by the Cold Warriors back in the day.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By rjones2818
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Djilas was on of the top brass in Tito's Yugoslavia in the 50's and then he published this book, which was meant as a critique of where the Yougoslav Communist Party, and others, were going. The great thing about the books is that you can apply it to any particular power group and understand what is going on with them (I think it applies quite well to the corporate state as well as to the communist one). Quite an excellent read!
Highest reccomendation!
Highest reccomendation!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Written by one of Tito's chief leaders who was with Tito from the days of WWII when their Partisans won out over other factions as a result of a civil war fought concurrently with WWII. After the war he helped build the Communist system, of which he was an adherent. Follow the man into disillusionment as he watches a new class of oppressor muddle his idealism; then he ultimately abandons the core principles of communism. As valuable and as useful today as the day it was written.
By Allen Heyd
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
It is an excellent review of the history of Communism. I do consulting for a university in Vietnam and wanted to become familiar with its government.
Can I obtain this book on a CD?
Can I obtain this book on a CD?
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The book is a different print than the one shown on the picture, but it is in a good condition.
It was delivered in time I'm happy with it.
The book is an exciting reading on the mechanisms of the communist system of the former Yugoslavia, and helps to understand how it was operated. It is written about communists, but helps to understand how oligarchs emerge and conclusions can be extended to all types of societies.
I recommend it to everybody who like to understand motives behind actions.
It was delivered in time I'm happy with it.
The book is an exciting reading on the mechanisms of the communist system of the former Yugoslavia, and helps to understand how it was operated. It is written about communists, but helps to understand how oligarchs emerge and conclusions can be extended to all types of societies.
I recommend it to everybody who like to understand motives behind actions.
5 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This 1957 book of ten essays contains no index. I found some essays thought provoking, others not. "The Essence" is the shortest chapter, and gives a sample of his thoughts. The basic philosophic ideals of Communism, dialectics and materialism, did not originate with Marx and Engels. They can be traced back to ancient Greece: the primacy of matter to Democritus, the reality of change to Heraclitus. Marx wanted to discover the basic laws of society, like Darwin's laws (p.2). The major flaw of Communism is their belief of sole knowledge of the laws of society, and their sole right to control society. This is a dogmatic religion (p.3). Society and individuals strive to increase and perfect production; this causes conflict with others, and competition to survive. Natural and social barriers must be changed to eliminated. Classes, parties, and political systems are an expression of this ceaseless movement (pp.11-12).
Countries that are exploited for their raw materials and cheap labor must create a revolutionary movement to free themselves from foreign domination (p.16). Revolutions occur when the old political system is an obstacle to new economic or social relationships (p.18). They lead to political democracy and a freer production of goods (p.19). Djilas says the industrialization which followed the Russian Revolution was responsible for their success; defeat in war was a necessary precondition (p.22). Other revolutions offered greater legal security and civil rights (p.27). While the people are used to win a revolution, the ultimate benefits flow to the new ruling class (p.27). Djilas calls them "a new class" because they came to power to establish a new economic order, not after the new economy existed (p.38).
... Read more ›Citations (learn more)
This book cites 12
books:
See all 12 books this book cites
93
books
cite this book:
See all 93 books citing this book
- Das Kapital, Gateway Edition (Skeptical Reader Series) by Karl Marx on page 7, and page 128
- Selected Works. by Vladimir Ilich Lenin on page 25
- Government and the American Economy by Merle Fainsod on page 205
- In Place of Fear by Aneurin Bevan on page 210
- The State and Revolution (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin on page 84
See all 12 books this book cites
- Class Politics in the Information Age by Donald C. Hodges on page 153, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The First Cold Warrior: Harry Truman, Containment, and the Remaking of Liberal Internationalism by Elizabeth Edwards Spalding in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Rulers and Subjects: Government and People in Russia 1801-1991 (Hodder Arnold Publication) by John Gooding on page 287, and Back Matter
- Slavoj Zizek: A Critical Introduction (Modern European Thinkers) by Ian Parker in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Lost Debate: German Socialist Intellectuals and Totalitarianism by William D. Jones in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 93 books citing this book
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
