Self-Managing Transformation of Culture through the Prism of Delegates: The Example of the Pula Self-Managing Community of Interest 1974–1990

Abstract

Self-managing transformation of culture as a concept gained importance after numerous political and social changes in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), such as the adoption of a new Constitution in 1974 and the introduction of the Associated Labour Law in 1976. The term itself covers everything from party politics and workers’ (amateur) cultural practices, through free exchange of labour, to issues such as the humanisation of labour, interpersonal relations, and culture as a way of life. The proclaimed further democratisation of culture was to be achieved through the establishment of free exchange of labour between cultural workers (service providers) and workers in joint labour organisations (organizacije udruženog rada, OURs) and citizens in the local communities (mjesne zajednice, MZs), which was supposed to take place in the OURs and self-managing communities of interest (samoupravne interesne zajednice, SIZs). Through the establishment of bicameral delegate councils (one chamber comprising the ‘users’, i.e. the delegates of material production OURs and local communities, and the other ‘providers’, i.e. the delegates of culture OURs, amateur cultural-artistic associations, and independent artists), the cultural SIZs on the municipal level had to secure the conditions for satisfying the special and general cultural needs of all inhabitants of the municipality. This paper analyses the success of cultural reform on the micro level on the example of the Pula municipality, with special focus on the functioning of the delegate system.