THE GREAT ECONOMIC CRISIS IN INTERWAR YUGOSLAVIA: STATE INTERVENTION
THE GREAT ECONOMIC CRISIS IN INTERWAR YUGOSLAVIA: STATE INTERVENTION

Summary/Abstract: The subject of this text is the Great Depression (which began with the crash of the New York Stock Exchange in 1929), which also hit the Kingdom of Yugoslavia during the 1930s. The author applies an interdisciplinary approach, with an accent on reviewing the basic inputs at the start of the crisis. Special attention is devoted to socio-economic development, state economic policy and tectonic shifts in the basic structures of history, which were especially visible during the time of the New Economic Policy of the government of Milan Stojadinović (1935–1939). Light is shed on structural changes in the upper layers of history, which took place in the shifts and positioning of society in relation to private and state property in the capitalist socio-economic system of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. While considering the important question of the relationship between the general, the specific and the individual in history, the text examines the economic and historical phenomena through which the history of Yugoslavia is reflected in the general currents of world history, specifically the Great Depression of 1929–1933. The general features of the crisis of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia’s capitalist economy were manifested through hyper-production, unemployment, and the financial, agricultural and industrial crisis, but also in dealing with the global problem of the relationship between labor and capital. Also having a general aspect were the economic policy measures that were undertaken to deal with the crisis and its consequences, which were articulated in the form of state intervention in the economy, whose harbingers appeared during King Aleksandar’s so-called 6th of January Dictatorship, with the promulgation of the Regulation on Public Works of November 22, 1933. The interventionist measures would continue under the rule of Prince Paul and the government of Bogoljub Jevtić, and gain full speed during the government of Milan Stojadinović, when state interventionism in Yugoslavia took on the general elements of the state interventionism of Roosevelt’s New Deal in the United States. The specific onset and duration of the crisis in the Yugoslav historical space are viewed in light of the Yugoslav space’s specific historical circumstances, namely the tardy development of capitalism and the industrial revolution, as well as the ending of feudalism. In Yugoslavia, the crisis began earlier, with the agricultural crisis of 1927, and ended later, in 1935, with the beginning of the realization of Milan Stojadinović’s New Economic Policy. The greatest attention is devoted to public works as “the most efficient means of ending the economic depression,” which was proposed by the League of Nations as the most necessary measure for dealing with the Great Depression, primarily in the agrarian countries of eastern and southeastern Europe. In addition, a public works program was also placed on the agenda of the London Economic Conference in 1933. The program of the League of Nations primarily concerned Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Latvia and Hungary, as these were the states that were the hardest hit. Since the programs chosen were primarily those that had international importance, the text deals with a road and railroad network that was significant for international transportation (e.g. the international roadway Hungarian border – Horgoš – Subotica – Novi Sad – Belgrade – Niš – Bulgarian border). Regulations were passed for carrying out hydrotechnical works, and the reclamation and draining of rivers, while businessmen and experts sought to push the electrification of the country to the top of the public works agenda. As the broader scope of public works undertaken in Yugoslavia also encompassed works done in the domain of industry and mining, the text also deals with the state’s policy regarding iron ore, copper, aluminum, zinc and lead, and provides, in the process, historical data on the mines located in Bor, Zenica, Trepča and other places subject to state interventionism. A large portion of the text is devoted to the creation of a state economic system through the formation of a system of state economic enterprises, of which the most important were the large industrial conglomerate, Jugočelik AD, the country’s largest wood industry company, Šipad, the state-owned mines run by the Directorate of State Industrial Enterprises seated in Sarajevo, and the five state military-technical institutes. In its final part, the text deals with a dilemma of strategic importance to the state’s development: should Yugoslavia have developed its industry or its agriculture? As for conclusions of importance for crisis resolution in general, the imperative of action stands out as a particularly pertinent historical lesson. The text is based on extensive and complex archival research, as well as the study and analysis of relevant literature and print media.

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