Један италијански поглед на Југославију: о активности новинара листа Унита у Београду током шездесетих и седамдесетих An Italian Perspective of Yugoslavia: on the Activities of Italian Communist Journalists in Belgrade during the Sixties and Seventies

During the sixties and the seventies, the communist parties of Yugoslavia and Italy established a very close collaboration. Despite their previous conflicts, in these two decades the two parties were engaged in a very close cooperation, forming a strategic alliance. One aspect of that collaboration was the activity of the Italian communist journalists in Yugoslavia, who wrote many articles regarding various aspects of the Yugoslav socialism. While these articles were mostly very positively intoned, and did not differ from the claims of the official Yugoslav state propaganda, the intimate views of these Italian journalists was somewhat different. The documents from the Yugoslav and Italian archives, particularly the minutes of their conversations with Yugoslav officials and the internal reports on Yugoslavia written by these journalists, testify to that difference. Their main critique of the Yugoslav system was aimed at its decentralization, both in the political and in the economic sphere. According to the Italian communist journalists, only a strong and centralized state and party could tackle Yugoslavia’s economic and political problems. In their view, those problems were deriving from the heterogeneous structure of socialist Yugoslavia. The country was plagued by national differences in the political sphere, and by inequalities between the republics in the economic sphere. This critique echoed the essential economic policy not just of the Italian communists, but of the majority of West European left. The Italian communists, as the majority of the West European left, saw the nationalization and stronger public control of economy as the only viable solution for the problems of their countries. On the other side, the Italian communist journalists were sympathetic to Yugoslavia and its government, particularly due to its stronger democratic capacity and lesser political repression, in comparison to the other socialist countries in Eastern Europe. This sympathy was caused by the constant attacks of the anticommunist propaganda in Italy, which emphasized the democratic deficit of socialist regimes. Hence, Yugoslavia was a positive example in that area, which was strongly appreciated by the Italian communists.