Socialist Republic of Serbia

Federal State of Serbia Федерална Држава Србија Federalna Država Srbija (1945–1946) People's Republic of Serbia Народна Република Србија Narodna Republika Srbija (1946–1963) Socialist Republic of Serbia Социјалистичка Република Србија Socijalistička Republika Srbija (1963–1990) Republic of Serbia Република Србија Republika Srbija (1990–1992)
Constituent republic of Yugoslavia
↓ 1945-1992 →
Flag Emblem
Serbia within Yugoslavia in 1990
Capital		Belgrade
Government		Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist republic (1945–48) Titoist one-party socialist republic (1948–90) Parliamentary republic (1990-1992)
President
•	1945-1953	Siniša Stanković(first)
•	1989-1992	Slobodan Milošević(last)
Legislature		National Assembly
Historical era		Cold War, World War II
•	ASNOS	9–12 November 1945
•	End of World War II	8 May 1945
•	Last Constitution adopted	28 September 1990
•	Federal Republic of Yugoslavia declared	27 April 1992
Area
•	1991	88,361 km2 (34,116 sq mi)
Population
•	1991	9,506,174
	Density	107.6 /km2  (278.6 /sq mi)
Preceded by Succeeded by Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia Hungary NDH Albanian Kingdom Montenegro Republic of Serbia (1992–2006)

The Socialist Republic of Serbia (Serbian: Социјалистичка Република Србија / Socijalistička Republika Srbija) was one of the six constitutional republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It was the largest republic in terms of population and territory. Its capital, Belgrade, was also the federal capital of Yugoslavia.

History

Part of a series on the
History of Serbia
By century 9th 10th
Prehistory Paleolithic Mesolithic Neolithic Bronze Age Iron Age
Pre-Roman Illyrians Autariatae Dardani Triballi Moesi Scordisci Dacians
Early Roman Illyricum Pannonia Pannonia Inferior Dalmatia Moesia Moesia Superior Dacia Dacia Aureliana
Late Roman Moesia Prima Dacia Mediterranea Dacia Ripensis Dardania Praevalitana Pannonia Secunda Diocese of Moesia Diocese of Dacia Diocese of Pannonia Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum
Early Middle Ages White Serbia around 600 AD Principality of Serbia Duklja, Travunia, Zachlumia, Narentines, Raška, Bosnia 7th–10th century Catepanate of Ras around 969–976
High Middle Ages Duklja (Zeta) 11th–12th century Theme of Sirmium 1018–1071 Grand Principality 1071–1217 Kingdom of Serbia 1217–1346 King Dragutin's realm 1282–1325 Empire · Fall 1346–1371 Prince Lazar's Serbia 1371–1402 Despotate of Serbia 1402–1537
Early Modern Serbia under Turkish rule 1459–1804 Jovan Nenad / Radoslav Čelnik 1526–1530 Banate of Lugoj and Caransebeș 16th–17th Habsburg occupation 1686–1699 Great Serb Migrations 1690 and 1737–1739 Military Frontier 1702–1882 Habsburg Serbia 1718–1739 Koča's frontier 1788–1791
Serbia 1804–1918 Revolution 1804–1815 Principality of Serbia 1815–1882 Serbian Vojvodina 1848–1849 Serbia and Banat 1849–1860 Kingdom of Serbia 1882–1918
Serbia since 1918 Kingdom of Yugoslavia 1918–1941 Axis occupation 1941–1944 Federal unit of Yugoslavia 1944–1992 Federal unit of FRY (S&M) 1992–2006 Republic of Serbia 2006–present
Serbia portal

In April 1945 ASNOS officialy created Federal State of Serbia (Serbian: Федерална Држава Србија / Federalna Država Srbija. In January 1946, after bringing first constitution of Socialist Yugoslavia, Federal State of Serbia was renamed to Peoples's Republic of Serbia (Народна Република Србија / Narodna Republika Srbija).

From 1946 to 1963, the republic was officially known as People's Republic of Serbia, and from 1963 to 1990 as Socialist Republic of Serbia (Социјалистичка Република Србија / Socijalistička Republika Srbija). The republic had two provinces, Vojvodina and Kosovo.

For most of its existence in the SFRY, Serbia was loyal and generally subordinate to the federal government. This changed after the death of Josip Broz Tito in 1980, when there was a rise in Albanian as well as Serbian nationalism in Kosovo. The League of Communists was split on how to respond. A successful round of coups in the Communist party leadership of Serbia as well as Montenegro occurred from 1988 to 1989, led by Slobodan Milošević; he supported Serbian nationalists in Kosovo to end the state's autonomy.

In 1989, Milošević was elected as President of the republic. He demanded that the federal Yugoslav government act for the interests of Serbia in Kosovo by sending in the Yugoslav People's Army to take control of the province. Serbia opposed such action and demanded a "one-member, one-vote" system in the Yugoslav League of Communists, which would have given a majority of votes to Serbs. Ethnic tensions increased and the League of Communists of Yugoslavia collapsed, followed by the fall of the government of Yugoslavia by 1991.

After 1990, the state was known simply as Republic of Serbia (Република Србија / Republika Srbija). In 1992, when the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was formed, Serbia became one of its two constituent republics. In 2003 this state union was re-formed into Serbia and Montenegro, and in 2006 Serbia became an independent state after Montenegro separated.

Flag of Federal State of Serbia in 1945

Map of Federal State of Serbia in 1945

Administrative divisions

Administrative divisions of SR Serbia 1974-1990

Within Socialist Republic of Serbia two autonomous provinces existed: Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo. The central part of the Socialist Republic of Serbia located outside of the two autonomous provinces was generally known as "Serbia proper" ("Uža Srbija").

Geographically SR Serbia bordered Hungary to the north, Romania and Bulgaria to the east and Albania to the south-west. Within Yugoslavia it bordered SR Macedonia to the south and SR Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia to the west.

Demographics

Politics

In the Socialist Republic, the only legal political party was the League of Communists of Serbia (SKS), which was part of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ). The party remained relatively stable and loyal to the federal party until the late 1980s, when the party became split over what action to take in Kosovo when protests and fights broke out between ethnic Albanians and Serbs.

The more traditional Communists supported President Ivan Stambolic, who advocated continued neutrality as a means to solve the dispute; while more radical and nationalist-leaning members supported Slobodan Milosevic, who advocated the protection of Kosovo Serbs, who had claimed that their population was being pressured to leave Kosovo by Albanian separatists. Milosevic utilized public sentiment and opposition to Kosovo Albanian separatism to rally large numbers of supporters to help him overthrow the Communist leadership in Vojvodina, Kosovo and the Socialist Republic of Montenegro in what was known as the anti-bureaucratic revolution. Afterwards, the Serbian League of Communists selected Milosevic as its leader. Milosevic took a hard stand on Albanian nationalism in Kosovo and pressured the Yugoslav government to give him emergency powers to deal with Kosovo Albanian separatists. Furthermore, he reduced the autonomy of the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina and installed politicians loyal to him to serve as their representatives.

In the congress of the Yugoslav League of Communists in 1990, Milosevic and his subordinate representatives for Vojvodina, Kosovo and the Socialist Republic of Montenegro attempted to silence opposition from the Socialist Republic of Slovenia who opposed the actions taken against Kosovo Albanian leadership, by blocking all reforms proposed by the Slovene representatives. The tactic failed and Slovenia, along with its ally Croatia, abdicated from the Yugoslav Communist Party. This caused the Yugoslav Communist party to fall apart, and then the state of Yugoslavia itself one year later.

Heads of institutions

See also

• Serbia
• History of Serbia
• Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Sources

• Bataković, Dušan T., ed. (2005). Histoire du peuple serbe [History of the Serbian People] (in French). Lausanne: L’Age d’Homme.

External links

• Media related to Socialist Republic of Serbia at Wikimedia Commons