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From these facts alone it emerges that there exists a closc connection between the political apparatus which has a monopoly in social decis-ion-making and the middle strata which have become the primary mainstay of that monopoly as well as an ally in that domination.

Two things should be emphasized here. On the one hand the political apparatus is not prepared to surrender its monopoly of social power. The practical results of the Fourth (Brioni) Plenum clearly bear witness to this. That was a genuine opportunity for Yugoslav society to resist the police mentality and, which is morę important, to abolish the social power of the political police. The shock engendered by eavesdroppers, tape-recordings, inyestigations and dossiers was de-yastating. But to abolish that power meant to strike a blow at an en-tire section of the structure of the political apparatus - an organized sector of cadres which comprise the nucleus of the domination. The truth is that some people were politically condemned, the political police structure was altered in some degree, but everything was done in order to preserve the monopoly of the political apparatus as a whole. In the meantime various of the means which had caused the shock were legalized. Yugoslavia began to obtain and produce inter-cepting devices. The argument about the political police turned into an argument about unitarism, and even here there was plenty of empty talk. Unitarism is a real social danger, for a unitarist can be-long to any one nałion amongst us: his aim being to make Yugoslavia a happy hunting ground for the selfishly comprehended aspirations of his particular nation. But an even greater danger to democracy is the unlimited power over society of the political police, whether or not it be nationalistic.

On the other hand the middle strata, characterized by a parvenu mentality and by the psychology of easy and quick success, accept every measure and every political situation under the condition that thev are offered thereby a chance to enioy the benefits of a consumer society. They also accept the ideals of the Self-manaepn.ę society -especially if they are ideals and not practice - under the condition that they preserve their own security and position. They are the sup-porters of the consumer society’s ideals, as opposed to the ideals of the revolution. It is the clash between these two systems of ideals which characterises present-day Yugoslav society.

Yugoslav society, when all is considered, has a class structure. While it is possible to speak of strata (in order to escape from the term ’class’), or of quasi-classes or counter-classes, it seems better to accept in a limited way Marx’s traditional division to describe this new type of bourgeoisie, the working class, and the pcasantry. Each of these three basie classes in our society is divided into strata, and the bourgeoisie has, as yet, not even fully constituted itself as a class. It has not yet sufficiently confirmed itself as a class. Its social power is based on political power, as distinct from the classical bourgeoisie whose power is based on economic power. It translates its power from the political sphere to all other spheres of life, which confers upon our

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