I heard the story from a kind and witty old man - my childhood was full of such people. Before the war, on the eve of some important events, young communists were given the task of scaring the older and more respectable people in the village. Two brothers were given the party task of waiting for their father, a staunch federalist and ardent anti-communist, on a path and beating him up, masked.
One brother took on the task with all his might, but noticed that the other was slacking off. He was not good at beating his old father. As soon as they left him in the meadow, beaten (but it is unlikely that he had been "reformed"), the one who had taken on the task diligently said to the other: "Hit him, Mikonja, you poor thing, this is party-related, this doesn't count."
This consciousness, which believes that the party can be above everything, even above good customs, is perfectly expressed through this sentence. When it comes to the party, nothing is "counted" as dirty or immoral. Everything is permitted.
Although this is a story from before World War II, this awareness that the party is above the most elementary morality has survived in Montenegro to this day...
We are witnesses that the fetish of the party is still at work in today's Montenegro. The way in which the party installs itself as the supreme moral, cognitive and whatnot instance, perhaps best testifies to the depth of the current crisis.
Instead of a meaningful debate about specific cases that testify to the personal inadequacy of the current government, we have received new slander, new slander, new shameless (but also meaningless) propaganda. Udba as fate.
Finally, instead of conquering new paths, instead of freeing ourselves from party logic, we got a hypertrophy of party consciousness and a dangerous belief that the party is - infallible.
Parties are often just interest groups that deceive citizens. No matter how lofty the rhetoric they use to deceive you. But this “deception” is only possible if citizens agree to it. It is always like that. It is worth remembering that, at least from time to time.
The party here and now is mainly a way to get loot, but it's scary what these people are ready to do, what shameless stupidity they're willing to do just to keep it that way.
If nothing else, the current student protest has weight and significance because it has shown the true dimensions of the sinking of today's Montenegrin politicians. Unfortunately, some of the statements about the protests confirm that their corruption is much greater than their intelligence.
One of the main areas of criticism of the decades-long rule of the DPS was their party logic and discipline, essentially the worst legacy from their ideological parent - the former League of Communists/KPJ. From the same party roots as the DPS, the SNP was born, from which, in one of the numerous splits, today's Democrats were formed. And all of them, at least in terms of party organization, appear to be the true heirs of that former communist party. Unfortunately, there are few political projects in today's Montenegro that do not, in one way or another, trace their roots to the same source... This is one of the key reasons why this society is essentially not moving forward, nor can it move forward. People are ready for anything if they believe that they are working in the interests of their party.
"Now we have found all wisdom in the party," he sang. Dis, and just like in 1910, this verse sounded equally relevant/true in Yugoslavia in 1950, 1980, but, unfortunately, and beyond the historical logic and spirit of historical processes, in Montenegro in 2025.
Djilas accurately detected in the early 1950s that party morality was anti-moral, and that such moral deviation would lead society to decline. You will be reminded of his insights in an interesting text about the first trial of the famous dissident in Tito's Yugoslavia in this issue of Art.
In short, where party morality dominates, morality does not actually exist.
I believe this is especially visible when local democratic hopefuls write statements.
You must constantly hear: "Hit Mikonja..."
Bonus video:
