The XNUMXth of July uprising is nationwide and everyone can find themselves in it, especially before the ideological differentiation into Chetniks and Partisans will follow a few months later. This gives enough grounds for it to be a holiday for everyone, but also enough conviction that it should be so, CANU academician and professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, historian Šerbo Rastoder, assessed for "Vijesti".
For Montenegro, July 13 is a special date - on that day in 1878, its independence was recognized, and 63 years later, the first popular uprising broke out in enslaved Europe.
Rastoder pointed out that the XNUMXth of July Uprising, as the first popular uprising in enslaved Europe, is the brightest page of Montenegrin history.
"The mutual connection between the Petrovdan Assembly on July 12 and the uprising on July 13 was subsequently established as an ideological construct that has no basis in facts. It is simply about two different views of reality: pacifist and collaborationist - July 12, and revolutionary and anti-fascist - July 13," Rastoder said.
According to historical data, on July 12, 1941, at the Petrovdan Assembly in Cetinje, the "Greens" made a decision to annul the Podgorica Assembly from 1918, abolish the Constitution of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and all its institutions, and declare the Independent State of Montenegro under the protectorate of fascist Italy...
Just a day later - the uprising broke out. Already on July 13. Virpazar, Čevo, Rijeka Crnojevića and part of the coast, from Miločer to Sutomor, were liberated. During the 14th, 15th and 16th of July, the guerrilla fighting turned into a national uprising. About thirty thousand insurgents liberated a good part of Montenegro and it was like that until the middle of August, when significantly strengthened Italian troops suppressed the uprising...
The decision to start an uprising was made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in Belgrade on July 4, and that day was celebrated in the SFRY as Fighter's Day. On July 8, the KPJ Provincial Committee for Montenegro and Boka unanimously accepted the Central Committee's decision to raise an uprising...
In areas where the majority were Muslims and Albanians, the uprising had no particular resonance.
Rastoder explained that the question of the participation of minorities in the National Liberation Movement (NOP) is very complex and that even commanders of ethnically mixed brigades, such as General Danilo Jauković, failed to answer it.
"He found the reasons for the weaker response of minorities in NOP in the previous experience of minorities, which could not be a basis for trust in the partisan movement, while the Chetniks did not hide their intention to exterminate them," said Rastoder.
He states that, due to various circumstances, until 1943, the minorities almost did not distinguish between Chetniks and partisans, that is, until the time when the partisans opened up space for the filling of units with members of minorities.
"In addition, the official historiography hid for a long time that there was a 'Muslim partisan battalion' as an integral part of the NOP in Montenegro," Rastoder said.
Historian and member of the political movement Plenum 083 Tomaš Damjanović pointed out that the Petrovdan Assembly, both as an event and as a symbol, united completely different political factors and, accordingly, different and often conflicting motives:
"The Greens want the restoration of the Montenegrin state under the patronage of Italy, and part of the previous Yugoslav administration wants cooperation with the same Italy in the hope that, after the war, the old infrastructure will be restored, which would prevent the revolution and, in the most favorable scenario, revive the pre-war situation. There were also those who were guided by the logic of 'saving the biological substance', starting from the belief that small nations can only lose in big wars".
Damjanović assessed that, on the other hand, July 13, again both as an event and as a symbol, represents a symbiosis of different factors:
"On one level there is the traditional anti-occupation mood of a significant percentage of the population, and on the other level there are political articulations of that mood, ranging from the KPJ, whose members believe that the Soviets will very quickly break the resistance of the Nazis, so, by channeling the people's anti-occupation feelings, are preparing for the revolution, through 'undistributed' individuals, all the way to royalists who, at that moment, were anti-communist and anti-occupationist".
Damjanović said that the development of events in the following period, along with the huge number of victims, also accelerated the appearance of cracks among the insurgents.
"As for the regions where the majority were Muslims and Albanians, it should be said that the uprising did not have a particular resonance there, for one simple reason: the local population and the Orthodox, despite all the previous declarations of love and togetherness, were not aware that they should belong to the same society or state, nor did they want such a thing...".
Damjanović said that after the Second World War, an attempt was made to overcome this problem, but, "as can be seen from the previous thirty years, that attempt was also unsuccessful, because, in parallel with decades of swearing in brotherhood, unity and cooperation, it is being shown that the old antagonisms are still dominant".
ANTI-FASCISM IN THE GAME FOR POLITICAL POWER
Answering the question of how it is that the mouths are full of anti-fascism at the same time, and that there are current narratives celebrating collaborators of the occupier, Rastoder pointed out that a collaborator of the occupier is a collaborator and does not have to be a fascist.
"The confusion arises because the character of fascism is determined by action, not thought. Its character can be read in the program documents, for example 'Homogeneous Serbia', and not in what someone thinks about that movement that implements the program objectives from the mentioned document".
Damjanović assessed that in history it is not a rare case that terms change their meaning, which, he said, is especially the case with those whose use is unjustifiably frequent even after the end of the process to which they originally referred. Thus, it is stated, with regard to the attitude towards the term "fascism", it has come to the point that, decades ago, their use has two directions - the minority one, which refers to the linguistic designation of people prone to a given type of totalitarianism, and the majority one, which connects an understandably negative attitude towards fascism as such and the intention to discredit political dissenters, regardless of their ideological orientation.
"Today, therefore, we live in circumstances in which individuals and groups hide behind the designation 'anti-fascism', which has no direct connection with the authentic resistance movement of the time, but is transferred through linguistic and emotional association, and its function is to serve as a psychological tool in the game for political power", assessed Damjanović.
He said that in this sense the affection towards the collaborators of the occupiers at the time is completely understandable, stating that it is a matter of structural adaptation of this society to contemporary geopolitical relations, "where it is necessary to refer to adequate factors from the past".
"To be more precise, if you, as a country, are XNUMX% directed to Brussels, Berlin or Washington, finding the subordinate position of 'periphery - center' to be natural, it is perfectly understandable that, at the level of symbols, you reach for similar relations from the past. This does not mean that there is a sign of equality between the Italian fascists of the time and contemporary Brussels, nor between then and contemporary Montenegro, but there is one important coincidence: in both situations, Montenegrin subordination is interpreted as civilizational progress, and the expected global supremacy of Rome/Brussels/Washington a question of historical justice."
AUTHORITARIAN ELEMENTS AND ROLE MODELS
Answering the question of how the Yugoslav heritage is used in the current political moment - why only authoritarian elements are celebrated, and not progressive achievements, Rastoder said that if "you primarily view the present as a logical continuation of the past, then you will look for your 'models' in it".
"If you say that 'authoritarian elements' are celebrated, it only means that an adequate role model has been found. If some others are celebrated, it means the same. Whether or not it is to your taste is not up to the past, but up to the one who makes the selection from it. As every choice is by nature subjective, then you do not have an objective idea about it, but a subjective choice from it."
Damjanović assesses that the legacy of both the first and second Yugoslavia is very complex, among other things, because it represents a combination of two seemingly conflicting factors - the authoritarian model of governance and objective socioeconomic development.
"Authoritarian elements are a common thread for the situation that preceded Yugoslavia, for it in all its forms and for post-Yugoslav state formations. It is, therefore, a matter of longer duration. Progressive achievements - no matter how they are understood, and I consider the idea that Yugoslavia was created to be key, (geo)political freedom or, at least, autonomy in relation to the great powers - cannot be celebrated, because they are not complementary to the objective subordination and questionable perspective of contemporary post-Yugoslav states .”
Every fifth citizen does not know the nature of the uprising
Research by the "Damar" agency on the views of the citizens of Montenegro on historical events and values showed that most of them want Montenegro to be civil and secular.
Historian and associate at the Center for Civic Education Miloš Vukanović said at the presentation of the research results last week that 30,1 percent of respondents believed that the Thirteenth of July Uprising was communist, 38 percent of the respondents thought that the general public thought, and even 21 percent of them did not know, which is "very worrying". The research was conducted from June 3 to 10 on a sample of 1.007 citizens over the age of 15, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Thirteenth of July Uprising.
Without the ability to build community
Damjanović assessed that in theory it is possible, but that in practice it is almost impossible
in Montenegro, after all the events, an idea is formed around which everyone gathers, for which July 13 can be one of the rare foundations that provide the possibility of development.
He states that in Montenegro there is a gap between what could be called the institutional articulation of political relations, which consists of parties, NGOs, state institutions, religious organizations, the media, and political relations as they really are.
"On the one hand, we have a declarative representation of the idea of equality, justice, harmonious relations between different groups, the need to put the general interest first - and all the mentioned institutions seem to be arguing about whether they properly represent the described principles. On the other hand, we also have one, perhaps, not so pleasant reality, in which there is mistrust between the existing collectivities, I am talking about collectivities, not about individuals, where the dominant factors within each of them are basically only interested in their interpretive pattern of the given community, and not even for the community as a whole, let alone this broadest, national one".
He assessed that during all this time, with several changes in state formations and social arrangements, the local population did not show the ability to build a community that would not imply positioning one of the existing collectivities as an internal enemy, i.e. guarantor of cooperation between the remaining factors.
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