Workshops

1. Propaganda: Yugoslavia on the Stage and Behind the Curtain
   

   

   Workshop Leaders: Josip Popek (ISHA Osijek), Valentina Markasović (ISHA Osijek)
   Contact:  josip.popekssj@gmail.com,
   tina.markasovic@gmail.com

    

   Hall 1, Play „The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia“.

   Actors from the company “One nation, one king, one state” will take the stage and demonstrate the propaganda methods and techniques used by the interwar Yugoslav state.  Acts such as “Obznana” (“Decree”), “National Assembly”, “King Alexander’s Dictatorship”, and “Antebellum State” will make the audience familiar with the atmosphere of the omnipresent regime propaganda and its protagonists. In the acts such as “Resistance”, “Freedom of Speech”, “Propaganda Victims”, and “I think differently” the audience will have a chance to get to know the stories of the people who didn’t accept the propaganda content, the people who refused and criticised it (behind the curtain of the regime). After the show, the audience will have the experience necessary for showing and explicating the aspects of the regime propaganda and its consequences on the post-war Yugoslav society.

   Hall 2, Play “Socialist Yugoslavia”

   Theatre Company “Agitprop” will display the roles and the importance which the communist propaganda had in forming the Yugoslav society. In the play, many actors will perform the roles of characters who confidently, diligently, and proudly spread the ideas of brotherhood and unity, renewing the state, and self-governing the state (stage). The scene will be made up of many propaganda props of the time, from Yugoslav flags, posters, batons, and pictures of Josip Broz Tito. During the play you will be able to hear different slogans and songs such as “Tito and the Party, Youth and Activity”, “Through the Forests”, “Down with Stalin, long live Tito”. Such a scene will show the ideal Yugoslav state, i.e. the state that Tito and the Party strove for. But, should the spectator look behind the curtain, he or she will see that this kind of society isn’t completely realized, due to “state enemies” and imperialists.

   NOTICE: Theatre Yugoslavia is giving away 8 tickers to the persons who first reserve the listed plays.

   We hope that the suggested topics will inspire you to sign up for this workshop. Your presentation should be between 15 and 20 minutes long, and if you have any questions regarding the topic or the presentation, feel free to contact the workshop leaders. The workshops will be casual and we’ll do the best we can to make your needs and wishes a priority.

    

2. From Vardar to Triglav

   Workshop Leaders: Stjepan Leko (ISHA Osijek), Stefan Shterjov (ISHA Skopje)
   Contact: stjepan.leko@gmail.com, stefanshterjov95@gmail.com

   The creation of Socialist Federalist Republic of Yugoslavia certainly had a big impact on all nations that were part of the newly created state. As the supreme leader of the so called „second Yugoslavia“, Josip Broz Tito wanted to create one Yugoslav nation. That nation was to have been guided by the slogan „brotherhood and unity“ and Tito believed that „brotherhood and unity“ would resolve all previous conflicts between nations in Yugoslavia’s frontiers.

   That new Yugoslav nation needed tradition and that Yugoslav tradition was made from achievements of Yugoslav partisans led by Tito during World War II. Questioning these achievements was strictly forbidden, just as questioning any move of Yugoslav Liberation Army during World War II.

   Yugoslav cinematography was strongly influenced by World War II movies. Tito wanted to show younger generations that hadn’t experienced war how great and important the Yugoslav partisans were for whole state. Recreations of Battle of Neretva (1969 movie Neretva), Battle of Sutjeska (1972 movie Sutjeska) achieved that goal of Tito.

   Music made during the time of the „second Yugoslavia“ is today still very popular in all the countries that were once part of it. This is definitely a proof that music was surely one of the strongest links between all nations of the Yugoslavia. But, how is it possible that music can connect so many people with so many counter-thoughts? You can find the answer to this question in this workshop.

   But everyday life in the SFR Yugoslavia wasn’t just music and film industry, it was more than that. During the 1960’s Yugoslavia flourished and there were some signs of democracy and liberalization. But, this process was stopped by suppressing the Croatian Spring in 1971. After Tito’s death in 1980, Yugoslavia fell into a huge economic crisis and never recovered.

   We want to talk about that path from the point of view of ordinary people. So, if you are curious what life was like in SFR Yugoslavia or if you are just a passionate lover of the Yugoslav music and film, this workshop is a great place for you.

3. Emergence and Development of the Idea of Yugoslavia: Brotherhood and (Dis)Unity

   Workshop Leaders: Luka Zorica (ISHA Osijek), Andrej Labudić (ISHA Osijek)
   Contact: zoricaluka1996@gmail.com, andrej.labudic@gmail.com

   The idea of a common national entity of the southern Slavic peoples first appeared in the mid 17th century, in the work of Juraj Kanižlić (1618-1683). It quickly gained ground and it was further developed by Pavao Ritter Vitezović (1652-1713) at the end of the same century. During the 19th century, in which the idea of nations and modern nation states was born, the south-Slavic idea was also developed. The tumultuous sociopolitical surroundings resulted in forming of two opposing theories: Austroslavism and Panslavism. The former spoke in favour of forming a south-Slavic state entity as part the already existing Austria-Hungary, based on a federal principle. On the other hand, Panslavism praised the ethnic unity of all Slavic peoples and the forming of an all-Slavic state. World War One proved the integration attempt of Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire to be a failure, and made the political realization of an all-Slavic state possible. As a consequence of the fall of Austria-Hungary, on November 29^th 1918 the first attempt of forming a south-Slavic was made – this was the State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs. The lack of international recognition of the State and the threat to its territory caused the forming of a wider political entity of the Southern Slavs, under the leadership of the Kingdom of Serbia. The political structures of the newly-formed Kingdom of Yugoslavia promoted the Yugoslav Unitarianism and integration policy, which led to reactions of certain peoples, who voiced federalist requests. The instability of the imposed Unitarian idea culminated in the assassination of King Alexander I (Marseilles, 1934). The federal national reconstruction of the south-Slavic area was abruptly ended by World War Two. The antifascist movement – the National Liberation Struggle led by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and Josip Broz Tito – enabled another attempt at construing a south-Slavic state, based on restored federal and new socialist principles. The formation of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia (November 29^th 1945) marked the beginning of the longest-lasting south-Slavic state, which would exist for the following 45 years. During this period, the idea of Yugoslavia underwent changes and was the object of theoretical analyses and numerous discourses. The newly-made brotherhood and unity, founded on the shared antifascist past, communist ideology, and the Josip Broz Tito cult marked the lives of millions of its inhabitants and left a profound mark in their individual and collective memory. The international tensions grew more and more, and were reflected in the unequal representation of certain nations in the ruling structure and the reform attempts such as the Croatian Spring. The final dissolution of the League of Communists, and therefore the State itself, happened in 1990 when the delegates from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia left the extraordinary session of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. This was the basis for the bloody war on the former SFRY territory, which destroyed thousands of lives. Despite this – or partially because of this – the discourse of south-Slavic, i.e. Yugoslav idea, remains turbulent and active, and still affects the lives of the people living in the ex-SRFY region. The goal of this workshop is to inspect the appearance and development of the south-Slavic idea and explore its influences and possible implications in modern societies of the new national countries, by using a multi-perspective and interdisciplinary analysis.

4. “No One Has the Right to Decide in the Name of the Workers!”

   Workshop Leaders: Adam Tuković (ISHA Osijek), Marko Pavelić (ISHA Osijek)
   Contact: adam.ffos@gmail.com, marko.pavelic2@gmail.com

   The topic of this workshop will be the economy of Yugoslavia from 1918 until its final collapse in the 90’s. The 20th century in the Balkans was virulent and complex as it was in the rest of the world. Economy, ethnic and religious differences played a major role in the founding and final breakdown of Yugoslavia. This workshop will offer a wide range of topics concerning the economy of both Kingdome of Yugoslavia and SFRY. For example: the agrarian reforms, building and organisation of financial institutions, the Soviet-style five-year plans, implementing Stalinist economy,workers selfmanagement, the inner colonization processes, the heavy and light industry, the youth work actions and so on. The participants are expected to make a ppt. (power point presentation) and hold a 15minute presentation about their topic. After each ppt. there will be a short discussion about each topic. The workshop leaders will hold their presentation first on the topic “The agrar and colonisation policy in the 2nd Yugoslavia”. The topic will be focused on the agrar reforms and colonisation of Slavonia directly after the second world war. If the participans want to approach thair topic in a multiperspective and interdisciplinary way they are free to do it.
   
   

5. TITO & CO. vs. THE WORLD: Yugoslavian Foreign Policy from 1945 to 1991

   Workshop Leaders: Petra Sršić (ISHA Osijek), Domen Kodrič (ISHA Maribor)
   Contact: petrasrsic134@gmail.com, nemod.cirdok@gmail.com

   The history of Yugoslavia is rich and thrilling, yet a lot of it has happened beyond the 6 socialist republics. You have the chance to be among the luckiest eight people who will explore the ups and downs of Yugoslavian foreign policy with workshop leaders Petra and Domen.

   We will begin our journey with the birth of Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia in 1945. In the aftermath of WWII Yugoslavia was in a delicate situation as it needed to gain international recognition and establish its borders. However, a bigger, international, issue was the formation of the Iron Curtain. Yugoslavia was caught between the hammer and the anvil since Tito didn’t want to join one side and totally denounce the other. The politics of the USSR, Yugoslavia’s closest ideological ally and partner, worked towards subduing and economically draining her, whereas the USA wanted to “steal” her away from the communist regime and place her under their influence.

   Yugoslavia became some sort of a buffer zone between the two superpowers fighting the Cold War and as such she needed to find her own path. Tito’s answer was to create the “third party” and in that spirit the Non-Aligned Movement was formed in 1956. It was a union of peoples and countries ready to work together based on the principles of peaceful coexistence that became an important political backbone to Yugoslavia making the 1960s and 1970s her most active political years. Yugoslavia maintained cordial relations with the Balkan countries on one hand, and high-strung connections with Italy due to conflicts about Trieste on the other. Tito also dabbled in Arab-Israeli conflicts as well as those of Czechoslovakia with the USSR.

   There are of course many more topics and aspects to Yugoslav foreign policy, but you need to choose only one and prepare a short (10-15min) presentation about it. You can choose something mentioned above or find something totally new. Also, we just might have some very cool extra activities planned, so don’t forget to put some effort in your motivational letters.