AFTER your inspiring articles about how special Stroud is, I feel I want to blow one of the best kept secrets of the Western world: Tito’s Yugoslavia.
When Tito started his system of Workers Self-Management in 1950, Yugoslavia as it was then, had a largely peasant population.
By 1980 when Tito died (he made no arrangements for his succession) Yugoslavia was making cars under licence from Fiat and building ships at Split.
The system was that you could employ up to seven people but then the enterprise had to be run by an elected council who had the power to appoint and remove the director of the enterprise.
In other words, in Tito’s Yugoslavia the workforce had the power to sack their boss!
I visited there for a month in 1969 and was struck by two things: One, there were no licensing laws whatever for alcohol, but I saw no drunks at all.
Secondly, someone told me you could enter Yugoslavia from seven countries, but “people stand straighter in Yugoslavia”.
That spoke volumes.
If your readers doubt this, a detailed description is in Harold Lydall’s Yugoslav Socialism.
David Guinness
Stroud
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article