Poor transport connections, lack of skilled labor and industrial tradition, lack of domestic capital, and an underdeveloped financial sector were the stumbling blocks to a deeply backward economy.
The size - 2,5% of the population of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, Slovenes and Serbs/Yugoslavia lived on the territory of Montenegro - and the status of a restless province, determined the extent of its political (in)power, without which its influence on the main directions of its economic development was limited. Inclusion in a community territorially twenty times larger stimulated a certain economic breakthrough, but, in the system of market competition, of limited scope. And although "during the life of Montenegro in the Yugoslav kingdom, there were certain changes and advances in some areas of its economic life, all this was insufficient to be able to speak of prosperity, or even a satisfactory economic situation.
Or, in the words of those who lived at that time...
“And since nothing is being produced, there is no trade, so there is general dissatisfaction,” wrote Spasoje Raspopović, a communist and board member of Zora i Budućnost, to revolutionary Bracan Bracanović, who was in Moscow, in the third decade of the 20th century. “What do you want, brother, in this country of ours, no one is happy, no one is satisfied.”
Despite such an environment, although not an administrative one, Podgorica, thanks to its favorable geographical position, solid transport network at that time, economic momentum and constant influx of population - in 1909 it had 6.895 inhabitants, and according to the 1931 census 10.247 - grew into the economic, commercial and cultural hub of Montenegro, transforming itself from an eastern town into a town with more modern European outlines. Following the echoes of the rhythm of modern life, responding to the increased needs of the youth, in harmony with the mentality expressed desire for competition, self-affirmation and achievement, a relatively dynamic sports scene gradually developed in it, primarily based on football.
The influence was mutual. Just as Podgorica, through its economic and social development, provided the basic conditions and incentives for playing football in its area, football also brought a touch of urbanity to it.
Not without resistance. In a traditional, conservative environment, running after the ball, as a novelty, was met with both misunderstanding and rejection. Thus, in a copy of “Montenegro”, the People’s Radical Party’s list for Montenegro and Boka, dated November 20, 1923, one could read the worried cry of “parents”, who called on the educational authorities “to, in the interest of our youth and their serious education, most energetically order that playing football and visiting the cinema be banned for students of all schools for the entire duration of the school year... The authorities must put a stop to this horror, which is to the obvious detriment and ruin of our people, state and society.”
It is also recorded that Jovan Tomašević, the first president of the Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia for Montenegro, accused his party colleagues of “playing ball while the permanent revolution is going on.” Although not alone, these and other voices were drowned out by the mass acceptance of football, its social and physical benefits.
"For the working masses, sport is an important fact, because after a day's exhaustion in unhygienic workshops, a worker needs clean air more than anyone else," wrote "Radni narod," the newspaper of the Montenegrin branch of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia.
(From the monograph “Proud Past, One Future”, which will be on sale soon)
Bonus video:
