Milan Milosevic

In the depression which followed the 1992 election, which the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) won with the slogan ``Serbia will not bow down,'' in an atmosphere of xenophobic isolationism and Radicalism, talk started about the fascistization of Serbia. Philosopher Bozidar Jaksic said that Rhoem's fate (leader of SA paramilitary units assassinated by Hitler in pre-war Germanyed. note) and that of the Chancellor (Adolf Hitler-ed. note) would probably be repeated here. A Socialist official, depressed because of Serbian Radical Party (SRS) leader Vojislav Seselj's growing strength, told VREME at the time, that he assumed that his party would tolerate Seselj for the duration of sanctions and the war in Bosnia. Nine months later, and in the last week of September, the SPS said that ``Seselj's party had shown its true face.'' SPS branch chief in Nis Mile Ilic said a few days later that the ``true face was a hidden wish for power in Serbia and the Serb krajinas.''

During the summer and after Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) leader Vojislav Kostunica's contacts with Bosnian Serb Republic Vice-President Nikola Koljevic, there were speculations about growing nationalist sympathies in DEPOS (Serbian Democratic Movement), about an alliance of nationally-extremist political leaders, priests and intellectuals on both sides of the Drina River against Milosevic. One reason for the showdown with Seselj probably lies in the failed putsch in Banja Luka dubbed ``September '93.'' At the last session of the Yugoslav Assembly Seselj accused Serbian Police eminence grise Radmilo Bogdanovic as the man behind the events in Banja Luka. The authorities in Belgrade received support in their battle against Seselj from the District Assembly of Slavonija, Baranja and Western Srem (UNPA region, ed. note), and this is where an open clash erupted two months ago between SRS member Rade Leskovac and Republic of Serb Krajina President Goran Hadzic.

It is possible that Milosevic has started his attack against Seselj under the influence of the Communist wing which agrees with Seselj in his assessment of events in Moscow, but attacks his chauvinism. The League of Communists-Movement for Yugoslavia (SK-PJ) led by Mirjana Markovic (Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's wife) practically announced its split with Seselj in several articles, urging for ``all colors, except black.'' Retired General Stevan Mirkovic (the other SK-PJ wing) demanded the banning of the SRS some ten months ago, for spreading ethnic hatred. The Socialists adopted a strong anti-chauvinist stand against Serb Republic in Bosnia-Herzegovina Vice-President Biljana Plavsic after her calls for ethnic cleansing.

The SPS and the SK-PJ are now calling all parties into battle against Fascism, while opposition parties claim that the SPS has finally accepted what they had been saying about Seselj for months.

The SPS says that it will ``urge that Seselj's participation and personal contribution in the forming of paramilitary units in the Republic of Serb Krajina and the Serb Republic in B-H, and crimes committed against the civilian populationCroats, Moslems and Serbs, as well as crimes in which Seselj and his associates took part, be established and put before public judgement.'' It is repeated twice that Seselj is the ``incarnation of violence and crudeness which must be stopped.'' This could mean opting for a public unmasking and court proceedings, something they have refrained from so far. Amidst all these accusations against Seselj, no mention has been made of any other ``owners'' of paramilitary units.

The Socialists have not specified the crimes they mention. Helsinki Watch reports which accused Seselj of war crimes a year ago (included on the list were Milosevic, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, paramilitary leader Zeljko Raznatovic-Arkan and Bosnian Serb Army Commander Ratko Mladic) were dismissed as enemy propaganda. There were no reactions to accusations by officers (Milan Eremija) that Seselj's Chetniks were weakening the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) during the Vukovar operation in 1991 and destroying its reputation with their crimes. Former Yugoslav Prime Minister Milan Panic was attacked by SPS deputies (Brana Crncevic) when he, as head of state, demanded that the paramilitary formations be disarmed. It is interesting that no mention was made of all this during Seselj's purge of generals, even though such a line of defence was available to any one of them. All this points to the fact that the announced battle against war criminals and war crimes has just been used for political purposes aimed at achieving some small political gain.

The Socialists say that peace is on the threshold and that ``Seselj wishes to destabilize Serbia because he fears peace,'' and that ``such people surface during crises and war.'' The opening up of files could mean that some debt from Geneva is being paid off. Croatian President Franjo Tudjman came into conflict with Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) leader Dobrosav Paraga a few months ago. Details from an announcement which says that ``those who protect war profiteers and attack honest, hard working people, have no right to talk of equality, and that Serbia will not put its fate in the hands of criminals and war profiteers who promote and help Seselj's party''points to the fact that the Socialists had not envisaged Seselj as Public Prosecutor on the domestic scene.

The Socialists say that Seselj's attack against their government shows that their ``refusal to cooperate with Seselj is not a political trick, but the truth'' and that he had ``deceived the citizens of Serbia during the election campaign by supporting the Serbian leadership.''

Claims of ``refusing all cooperation'' with Seselj are the most problematic part of the announcement. The SPS Main Committee said last autumn that the Socialists ``together with Seselj'' must not lose the elections, because that would lead to a ``disaster for the state,'' at least according to academician and SPS deputy Mihajlo Markovic, SPS top officials Borisav Jovic and Petar Skundric. It was said at the time that there was ``good cooperation'' with Seselj and ``precise agreements on important political issues linked to the elections.'' Seselj earned this trust by attacking Reformists, peace-makers, deserters, those opposed to the war, pro-European politicians and the SPO. He then demanded the dismissal of journalists without the right national and political background, participated in breaking up protest meetings in Belgrade, hit teachers protesting in front of the Assembly, used his revolver to threaten students, and while the Public Prosecutor turned a blind eye threatened that he would beat up the demonstrators in Belgrade (March 1992), and called demands for Milosevic's dismissal (summer of 1992) ``political nonsense, started by foreign secret services;'' claimed that ``opposition parties were receiving orders from abroad,'' and accused Milan Panic of being an American agent.

The Socialists and Seselj dismissed Milan Panic and got rid of former Yugoslav President Dobrica Cosic. They adopted a retro-active law under which only the SPS and the SRS deputies entered the Yugoslav Assembly. In June this year, during an offensive for the banning of the SPO and with regard to the arrest of Vuk Draskovic, they used the services of the SRS and looked the other way when boxer and SRS deputy Vakic knocked out a SPO deputy in the Assembly. Seselj can't be believed when he claims that he was offered a ministerial seat, just as it is hard to believe SPS spokesman Ivica Dacic's claim that the Socialists did not seek Seselj's help, or that they thanked him for services rendered. They are claiming now that they couldn't get rid of him. If footage of Assembly sessions is checked, it will be seen that claims of ``refusing to cooperate'' stink. SPS and SRS shoulders must have been blue from fraternal back slapping.

Mihajlo Markovic underscored that there were ideological differences between the SRS and the SPS, but insisted that they were linked by a ``patriotic task'' and praised Seselj's political abilities.

Seselj often had inside information about Milosevic's intentions and used pressure to help their realization. When a large group of generals was retired, he presented it all before the public as if his demands had been met. That is when he started talking about getting involved in military matters, and this was probably the first time that he had gone a bit too far. Sparks flew during the vote on the re-balancing of the budget, when SPS official Nedeljko Sipovac said that Seselj was stooping to demagogy. The sentence that those protecting war profiteers do not have the right to speak of equality, shows that the Socialists wish to push Seselj out of the working class ranks. They don't sound very convincing when talking about protecting war profiteers. It is logical to conclude that ``war business'' received stronger protection from the authorities than from a loudmouth frontman promoting a war policy.

There was a time when Seselj agreed wholeheartedly with the Socialists that sanctions were of no danger to Serbia's economy; when Milosevic used to say that sanctions were a challenge for the restructuring of the economy; Seselj advertised isolationism in the Assembly shouting: ``If there's no oil, we'll ride horses!'' The Socialists now say that Seselj is offering false hopes and that his idea of total privatization and equal pay is absurd and dangerous, that the kind of society he urges is a crazy combination of feudal autocracy and war communism, and that something like it is impossible... Sociologist Slobodan Inic remarked however, that Seselj was urging war communism, but that the Socialists were making it come true.

The break with Seselj and the campaign following in its aftermath, could lead to the conclusion that the Socialists are getting out of the war, that they are washing their hands of everything and that they are laying the blame on their former first ally. It would be a good thing if they were to use their powerful media machine to stop the growing wave of Radicalism and xenophobia here. In Serbia, even the birds know that words have become empty and that actions are more convincing than strict announcements and sharply worded reactions on television. This is perhaps the moment to recall 1990 election campaign:

``The Socialist party is the right choice for those who:

wish to live in peace, and not in national hatred and conflicts want a peaceful tomorrow for their children, instead of the insecurity and threats of a fratricidal war wish to live well from the results of their labor want society to help them when they need it view the freedom of others as a condition for their freedom...''

This is the message carried by a campaign poster printed in Serbia in November 1990, six months before the start of the war which still has no name.