YUGOSLAVS AND YUGOSLAVISM AT THE END OF THE 1960s AND THE BEGINNING OF THE 1970s
At the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, one of the questions that used to divide the Yugoslav public and additionally inspire national disputes was the question of defining the terms “Yugoslav” and “Yugoslavism”. The leadership of the Communist Alliance of Yugoslavia and the state, considered Yugoslavism does not mean existence of the Yugoslav nation, and they did not allow any national or ethnic reading of the term. In Croatia and Slovenia particularly, any mention of Yugoslavism would receive a negative, unitarian connotation. The only Yugoslavism that was allowed was in support of the political course of the socialist self-management. However, the negation of the nationalistic Yugoslavism, which arrived from the top people in power, could not deter many former fighters, members of the Army, young people, spouses and children from mixed marriages, population of the multi-ethnic communities and some communists from declaring as Yugoslavs. Although the top Party members made some attempts to prevent this, the Communist Alliance of Yugoslavia had to allow the citizens their right to declare as Yugoslavs in the 1971 Census, even though they did not fail to insist that it did not count as nationality.
