Original scientific paper

THE SOCIAL LEGACY OF COMMUNISM

Josip Županov ; Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb

Abstract

The paper is divided into three parts. In the first part, the author
presents an immanent criticism of Berliner's definition of the
sociallegacy of communism as a "social contract" of sorts between
the Party/State and population, within which he substituted
"the civil society" in communist countries. The author warns that
in this case there was no exchange of individual rights and freedoms
for social privileges, but the "exchange" of legitimacy (in favor
of the elite) for social rights and privileges (in favor of the employees).
This exchange also included a dual communication between
the elite and masses. In the second part, the author indicates
that in 1983 he himself described this mechanism of legitimizing
the power of the elite, which Berliner too considered the
basis of social stability, as the theory on "the coalition between
politocracy and physical workers", setting it into a broader context
of socialism's abortive economic reforms. In the third part, by
means of an analysis of cross-cultural empirical findings, "the
communist legacy" in Croatia is said to be much less preserved
than in other postcommunist countries. The author suggests an
interpretative hypothesis which attempts to explain this "Croatian
deviation".

Keywords

Hrčak ID:

32152

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/32152

Publication date:

1.3.1996.

Article data in other languages: croatian german

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