‘The Flowers of Evil’: The White Book of the League of Communists of Croatia

Bijela knjiga je uobičajeni naziv za internu analizu Saveza komunista Hrvatske iz ožujka 1984. u kojoj su sabrane antisistemske pojave iz javnoga prostora od 1982. do 1984., najvećim dijelom iz Srbije, a koje su bile u suprotnosti s politikom Saveza komunista Jugoslavije. Ona je bila rezultat dosljedne provedbe zaključaka Centralnoga komiteta Saveza komunista Jugoslavije u Hrvatskoj, ali i većem dijelu republika i autonomnih pokrajina. U Srbiji su to radili parcijalno, očito iz pobuda da ne idu do kraja u obračun s kritičarima komunizma jer su dijelu političkoga vrha Srbije služili i za druge ciljeve – promjenu političkoga sustava, što je bio eufemizam za redefiniranje jugoslavenskoga federalizma. Analiza je bila uvod u Savjetovanje kulturnih stvaralaca održano 23. svibnja 1984. u Zagrebu. Izazvala je razmimoilaženje između komunista Hrvatske i Srbije i potaknula dugotrajne polemike u medijima.The White Book is the popular name for the internal analysis of the League of Communists of Croatia from March 1984, in which anti-system occurrences in the public space—i.e. those that were at odds with the policies of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia—from 1982 to 1984 and mostly from Serbia, were gathered. It was the result of the consistent implementation of the policies of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia in Croatia as well as in most parts of the other Yugoslav republics and autonomous provinces. In Serbia, this was done only partially, obviously due to a desire to avoid a thorough settling of accounts with the media and anti-communists, because they were important to a part of the political leadership that wanted a change of the political system, which was a euphemism for redefining Yugoslav federalism. The goal of the Analysis was to highlight this issue, while the Consultations of Cultural Creators held on 23 May 1984 were intended to offer help from Zagreb. It appears that the White Book purposefully ended up in the hands of persons in Belgrade for whose eyes it had not been intended, and thus worsened relations between the Leagues of Communists of Croatia and Serbia. The White Book was also the cause of long-lasting media polemics, despite the Party leadership’s demands that they be stopped. It is a concrete example that there existed serious differences in the approach to the topic of ideological struggle within the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, and that the conclusions of the League’s Central Committee were not being conducted according to the principles of ‘democratic centralism’