Судбина "сапутника револуције" : Драгољуб Јовановић између интеграције и репресије (1944–1947)

Abstract

Dragoljub Jovanović was a very prominent intellectual and political figure during the first post-war years. He was a symbol of a “fellow traveler in Revolution”. This term had been used by Bolsheviks to describe non-Communist intellectuals who cooperated with the revolutionary regime. Jovanović was “co-opted” primarly for his political importance, because he had been the leader of the People’s Peasant Party. Western Allies demanded from Yugoslav Cummunists to include “uncompromised” non-Communst politicians and intellectuals in order to prove the democratic character of their rule. They were just and barely tolerated. Among these politicians, Jovanović was the most acсeptable one, for his Leftist peasant ideology, good relations with the Communists before the war, “good behaviour” during the war, etc. Jovanović had hoped for more than being just a “fellow traveler” of the Revolution. Although he and his Party joined the Popular Front, he tried to preserve autonomy. He was very concerned about the overly brutal repression of the regime. There were two periods in the short-term cooperation between Jovanović and the Communists. The first one was from liberation (1944) until the first election (end of 1945). The other period encompasses years 1946 and 1947. During the first period he was a loyal “fellow traveler”. In the other period he gradually ceased to “travel” together with the Communists. He criticized the regime more and more openly. His “travel” finally ended in prison. The new regime, after that, could not stand even mild critical opinions any more.