Torpor in Belgrade

...Here and there one sees a hopeful sign...

...It maintains ambitious intercontinental and intra-European schedules by efficiently utilizing its aircraft, and its ability to make quick "turnarounds" at Belgrade is critical...

...The delegates checking into the ultramodern conference center adjoining the Intercontinental Hotel, across the Sava River, were the Yugoslav version of the man in the three-piece suit, carrying the universal attache case...

...Thus Montenegro , which currently depends on Bos-nia-Herzogovina for its electricity, wants to build a hydroelectric plant on the Tara River...

...Decision-making is shared among Elihu Bergman, a political scientist, worked in Yugoslavia in the 1950s and recently returned from the latest of several subsequent visits there...

...Still, it would almost certainly enable the country to play in Western Europe's league...

...So many new achievers enter the Party because, like their upwardly mobile counterparts in the U.S., they want to join the club that will enhance their careers...

...Although a handful may have seen Partisan service as teenagers, most were born or grew up after the War...

...But Belgrade has been rendered increasingly less relevant by its inability to reconcile the conflicting claims of the six republics and two provinces...

...Nonetheless, the Serbs accused the Croats of purposely treating Artukovic leniently...

...When a gifted liberal arts student completing her studies at a major university was asked recently about the current Prime Minister, she could not even recall his name...

...Somehow, he managed to escape to the United States after the War...

...But they have been replaced by a ruck of technocrats whose task is to ameliorate and rationalize a seemingly intractable system that has already undergone endless tinkering since its establishment in 1948...

...Except for the areas of defense and foreign policy, these components have been functioning as distinct states since Tito's death six years ago, each pursuing its particular interests largely in disregard of the others...

...The confederation is the product of Tito's desire to bind diverse—and frequently adverse—peoples and cultures...

...six republics (Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Montenegro) and two autonomous provinces (Vojvodina and Kosovo...

...Whatever the Yugoslavs thought about Communism in the regime's initial stages, there was a fascination with the veteran Partisan leaders, many of whom were rather colorful figures...

...It, too, suffers from a leadership deficiency, though, and to make the situation worse, each of the republics and provinces has its own Party structure...

...One had to wonder whether this generation has any ideological fire burning in its collective belly...

...Unification was accomplished at the cost of allowing the constituent states maximum independence, albeit subj ect to the constraints of an ideological doctrine...

...Yet as Yugoslav environmentalists (who, outstandingly, take a national perspective) complain, that would mean needlessly sacrificing the Tara River Canyon, one of the last unspoiled natural sites in the country, to Montenegro's autarkical aspirations...

...Minister of Justice in Nazi-allied Croatia during World War II, Artukovic was in charge of the security apparatus that ran up a bloody record of war crimes, including mass killings of thousands of Serbs and Jews...

...Clearly, for Tito's system to work it must have a leader of the Marshal's stature—someone who, by dint of charisma and personal influence, can force through essential decisions...

...Uncurbed local authority, meanwhile, gives rise to all sorts of other irrationalities...

...And certain "checks and balances"—such as blocking personnel selections for senior Federal Civil Service positions— permit any one of them acting alone to effectively paralyze the government...

...Historical rivalries also continue to strain Yugoslavia's cohesiveness...

...This would be something of a pity, considering its formidable mix of skills and resources, and the traditional innovativeness of its people...

...That, he felt, would lead to an increase in foreign investment, further spurring the economy...

...One is tempted to imagine what would happen if the Yugoslav economy were to be suddenly "privatized...

...Yugoslavia can continue to muddle through, perhaps retreating into the Third World, where it has enjoyed some successful economic relationships (now threatened by the oil price collapse), or establishing closer ties with the comecon countries of Eastern Europe...

...Consider the Yugoslav national airline, JAT, acclaimed by American experts as a model carrier...

...For years the unique feature of Yugoslav socialism, self-management is based on the doctrine that every worker should have a say in the operation of whatever enterprise employs him...

...One Yugoslav economist expressed confidence that as younger, more pragmatic Party members assumed leadership positions, opportunities for domestic private enterprise—widely credited with what success has hitherto been enjoyed—would be expanded...

...Substantial reform, however, will require the sacrifice of some ideological cows, notably the most sacred of all, the principle of self-management...

...The meeting might have had some celebrity impact if the Old Guard were around...

...Yet the Congress produced no remedies, merely another series of political pronouncements...

...This past spring, the deeply-held animosities between Serbia and Croatia were brought to the surface by the trial of Andrija Artukovic in Zagreb...

...Membership is a formal prerequisite only for a few top government jobs, yet it is a source of valuable contacts and a fast track to professional advancement...

...Such a radical move is unlikely to be contemplated any time soon, no matter how dynamic the new generation of leaders turns out to be...

...It is the apotheosis of worker-participation, but in the real world one self-managed firm can often frustrate another...

...Even without the soccer competition, interest in the Party Congress would have been minimal...

...Given this uninspiring image, it is little wonder that Party leaders are no longer much esteemed—if, indeed, they are recognized...

...Because it is an independent, self-managed concern, JAT is powerless to prevent disruptions of its service...

...In the absence of such a figure, the Communist Party might have been expected to play an integrating role...

...The equity issue aside, no where is the void more apparent than in the handling of Yugoslavia's present galloping inflation, high unemployment, burdensome foreign debt, and general stagnation...

...Her failure to remember that it is Branko Mikulic vividly underscores Yugoslavia's most pressing problem: the institutional fragmentation of leadership...

...For 40 years Belgrade sought his extradition, but Washington refused to honor the request until this year...

...The more affluent republics—Slovenia, Croatia—are being left alone, and liking it...

...Unfortunately, the company that cleans the aircraft cares little about J AT's timetable...

...Today's functionaries, by contrast, are commonly perceived as having a purely opportunistic attachment to the Party...

...Asked about economic matters, a senior official explained that the constituent states were free to pursue their own policies, but were bound by a Federal "equity" requirement...

...Because the extradition treaty under which Artukovic was returned does not cover genocide, the Croatian authorities could only try him for lesser offenses...

...Tito, Edouard Kardelj, MilovanDjilas, MoshePijade and the rest were driven by a vision, at least in their early days...

...It has ceased to be a national—let alone world—class event...

...Like most Europeans, Yugoslav fans—that is, the bulk of the population—spent the period riveted to TV sets at home and in cafes...

...And to look at the attractive window displays of fashionable women's clothing in Belgrade's pri-vatelv-owned boutiques, the prevalence of Western hairstyles, and the m/cot/-rant teenagers occasionally done up in punk regalia, one suspects that is exactly where the Yugoslavs would like to be...

...Despite the flags festooning Belgrade, the heroic pictures of Tito hung from public buildings and the front-page coverage in the State-controlled media, the typical citizen reacted with ho-hum indifference to the proceedings...

...In fact, the forced redistribution of income from rich Slovenia to poor Macedonia has been one of the touchiest issues in Yugoslavian politics over the years, and the Federal government's power to enforce equity appears to be on the wane...

...Yugoslavs pointedly ask why it took so long...

...for example, the ceiling on the number of employees a private enterprise may maintain has recently been raised from seven to 13...

...For instance, every republic seeks energy self-sufficiency...

...A TRAVELER'S NOTEBOOK Torpor in Belgrade BY ELIHU BERGMAN Belgrade A visitor settling in here this past summer couldn't help noticing that someone made a mistake in scheduling the Yugoslav League of Communists' 13thPartyCon-gress for the last week in June, when the World Cup Soccer Tournament was climaxing in Mexico City...

...The weekend before the 13th Party Congress convened, the dinar dropped 10 per cent in value relative to the dollar...