Abstract: The paper reviews the recently published diary of Boris Muževič and earlier memoirs of former Slovenian communist officials. Along with selected archival sources, this literature is used to discuss the role of Muževič and his Slovenian colleagues in the events that preceded the breakup of Yugoslavia. In particular, the attention of the Slovenian politicians was moving from ideological to statehood issues over the period 1985–1989, while Muževič actively participated in escalation of conflicts in the Yugoslav communist leadership.

Keywords: Yugoslavia, Slovenia, League of Communists, 1980s

Summary

The quality of memoir literature written by former Slovenian communist officials from the late socialist period the 1990s were characterised by the authors’ (Franc Šetinc, Jože Smole) efforts to distance themselves from the former social order and the Yugoslav framework, in spite of their significant role in maintaining them. A somewhat more sober view of the beginnings of Slovenia’s path to independence is offered in media interviews by a key figure in this process, Milan Kučan. However, he does not reflect his former communist identity and also shows his conviction that he was merely an executor of historical processes without feeling responsible for influencing them. A new book by Boris Muževič differs from the previously published memoirs of his Slovenian colleagues in its diaristic character and in its much larger scope. Mužević introduces the reader to the course of the meetings of the Presidium of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, of which he was a part from 1985to 1990. The example of Mužević himself shows that among the liberal-oriented officials in Slovenia, identification with Yugoslavia was relatively weak towards the end of the existence of the common state. During the deepening political crisis in the federation, he and many other politicians of this profile were guided primarily by belonging to their own nation, which was narrowing the space for a potential transformation of the political and economic system of the whole Yugoslavia into a more modern form.