Peeking into the secret and discovering what the secret hides has always been and remains important both for the individual and for society. Seeing the hidden, secret side of the truth is a frequent motif in literature. Not to mention psychology.
With the book "Đilasovci in Croatia - forgotten dissidents" (Nakladnik-Zagreb 2022, p.161, 632 footnotes) its (young) author Marko Babic (1996) reveals an entire mini-universe of Đilas's ideas that "fell" in 1953/54. on the soil of part of Croatia (Istria, primarily) and "taken root" in the minds of some of the people there. It is about Đilas's democratic and pro-liberal ideas that this man tried to sow on the ground throughout Yugoslavia with his moral rebellion (like a biblical "grain of wheat").
What makes this book special and very significant is the author's breakthrough and look into the secret archive of the Croatian UDBA, i.e. party secret police. From the book, we can easily learn about UDBA's seriousness, thoroughness, obedience, courage, breadth, hierarchy, expertise, self-sacrifice in protecting the state and Tito's ideological order. In addition to the archives of the UDBa, the author also used respectable scientific sources, as well as others, originally giving the book a breadth of interpretations of Đilas's "grains of wheat".
It is easy to conclude from the book that Đilas' sown democratic or, more precisely, non-dogmatic spiritual "seeds" in conflict with Tito's strong dogma, did not survive for long. Tito defeated Đilas. However, he could not defeat him, because freedom "must not be arrested" (F. Mitterrand). And they would add, he can't even be arrested. Today we know that everything that Tito created has failed and is dead (Yugoslavia, non-aligned, self-management, brotherhood-unity). With Djilas, it is the other way around. And this book by Babić is proof of Đilas' vitality and modernity. (Not to be unfair to Titus, he remains a great historical figure.)
The author reveals the spiritual earthquake that was felt not only in Istria but throughout Yugoslavia from the beginning of the 50s until the beginning of the 60s and much later. The book ie. its author discovers from the archives of the UDBA, a whole series of non-dogmatic, very significant political and cultural figures in Croatia who supported Milovan Đilas, i.e. his ideas. It is primarily about Đilas's articles that were published at the end of 1953 and the very beginning of 1954 in the party newspaper "Borba" and the non-party magazine "Nova Misao". (It is known that this magazine was initiated by Milovan Đilas at the end of 1952 and with it he tried to start a cultural opposition in the country.)
The author discovered and presented in his book a whole series of significant figures in Croatia who supported the non-dogmatic ideas of Milovan Đilas. Let's list just a few: Vladan Desnica, writer, Stevan Dedijer, nuclear physicist, Fadil Hadzic, writer and director, Jože Horvat, writer, Edo Murtic, painter, Dusan Dzamonja, sculptor, Dear Gervais, writer, Vlatko Pavletić, writer, Karlo Steiner, writer, Mate Ujevic, deputy director of the Lexicographic Institute, Rudolf Bićanić, university professor, Željko Hegedušić, painter, Ferdo Čulinović, university professor, Gliha Vilko, university professor, Zvonimir Brumnić, a Catholic priest, Bruno Belan, director, Stanko Ibler, lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine, Predrag Vranicki, university prof, Bozo Milanović, priest, Julius Desidera, director of the hospital in Vrapč, etc. etc...
To this respectable group of Istrian-Croatian elite dignitaries, let's add a few names who were at the very top of the communist government in Croatia and supported the ideas of Milovan Đilas. Again, let's list just a few of the most vocal members of the Central Committee of Croatia and ordinary "party members": Dušan Diminić, Marijan Stlinović, Augustin-Gušte Šprlje, Berto Črnje, Živko Vnuk, Ljubo Drndić, Maja Narić, Marijan Matković, Boris Kržić, Zvonko Mihelić, Ivan Motika, Mario Hrelja, Marko Zlatić etc. The group mostly gathered and advertised through the (non)party newspaper "Naprijed". But also in "Narodno list", and even in Zagreb's "Vjesnik u srijedu".
The author reveals from the depths of the UDBA archive that the leading anti-Đilas party members in Croatia were, along with Vladimir Bakarić i Jakov Blažević, Mika Špiljak, Zvonimir Brkić. They appear as official party operatives in the anti-Djilas campaign. These high-ranking party officials (UDBA's "triumvirate" and even the "triling") in the fight against "Đilavism" in Croatia, clearly speak of the Party's fear of a different ideological and practical connection between Milovan Đilas on the one hand and elite Croatians (before) rebels on the other side.
This is a very good side of the book.
What casts a serious shadow on this book is the author's explanation of Milovan Đilas in the war and revolution. Namely, in the beginning and at the end of the book, the author popularizes and cites several party authors and "authorities" who blame Milovan Đilas as the main culprit for "left mistakes" in Montenegro and beyond. These "authorities" mostly appeared after the Đilas rebellion in 1954. and especially gained importance after the publication of his most famous book "New Class" in the USA in 1957.
But the truth about the "left's mistakes" was told by the author - admittedly shyly, almost in one half-sentence - in the concluding remarks of the book, when he stated that in the so-called in the second phase of the revolution, when many "left mistakes" occurred ("dog graveyards", for example) in Montenegro, Milovan Đilas was not in Montenegro. He was in Serbia and Bosnia. The author refers mainly to Dedierova (Vladimir) revenge narrative about the character and work of Milovan Đilas. This narrative was long ago rejected by serious historiography as unscientific because it is factual. (Slavko Goldstein, for example and numerous others.)
And finally, in the form of a conclusion.
Despite thousands and thousands of historians in Montenegro, there were no researchers who dealt with the hidden (UDBA) secret side of Montenegrin history and the role of our individuals in it. It seems that the darkness of the Montenegrin UBDA has covered the liberal ideas of Milovan Đilas. Therefore, today it is no wonder that it has not yet dawned on us. Because there is no (liberal) development of society if it is not (primarily) gradual, evolutionary and historical.
It's not better in Belgrade either. Among the many historians, academics, journalists and others who dealt with the "Đilas case", there was (again) a young Chinese historian. Yellow Xiang. He came to Belgrade in the mid-90s from Peking University. And be careful, he revealed in the UDBA's secret archive that "the Đilas case" was handled and managed by none other than Josip Broz Tito in the party - but also in the media. Nothing without his initials could and should not see the light of the public.
In short: in the "case of Đilas" they would say that we are all gens una sumus, they are missing (parts of) Marko Babić's book "Đilasovci u Hrvatska - forgotten dissidents".
Bonus video: