The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System
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| Author | Milovan Đilas |
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| Language | English |
| Published | 1957 |
| Publisher | Frederick A. Praeger, Inc. |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Part of a series on |
| Socialism in Yugoslavia |
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The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System (Serbian: Нова класа: Анализа комунистичког система) is a political theory book about the concept of the new class by communist Yugoslav figure and intellectual Milovan Đilas.[1][2] He proposed that the party-state officials formed a class which "uses, enjoys and disposes of nationalised property".[3]
In the former Yugoslavia the book was not legally published until 1990, when Narodna knjiga from Belgrade finally released it. Before that, both the Serbian manuscript and the English edition circulated on the black market. The manuscript was completed before 1956, the year of Đilas’s arrest, after which he spent nine years in prison — including 22 months in solitary confinement. The book has been translated into 50 languages and sold over 3 million copies. It was read by Che Guevara and Mao Zedong.
Djilas discussed the roots of modern Communism in this chapter, with the communists citing Marx, the "replacement of capitalism can take place only by revolutionary means". Yet, he confesses that "Almost nothing remains of original Marxism...only a residue of formalism and dogmatism remained of Marx's dialectics and materialism; this was used for the purpose of cementing power, justifying tyranny, and violating human conscience". Revolutions only took place in Russia, China, and Yugoslavia. Communism was imposed on Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria by the Soviet Army, and made identical to the Soviet system.[4]
Character of the Revolution
In this chapter, Djilas discusses the communist centralization of power and the exclusion of other political groups. Djilas states, "At the same time they demand uniformity of all viewpoints, including practical political views as well as theoretical, philosophical, and even moral views". Additionally, he concludes, "Ownership is nothing other than the right of profit and control. If one defines class benefits by this right, the Communist states have seen, in the final analysis, the origin of a new form of ownership or of a new ruling and exploiting class".[4]: 15–36
The New Class
Djilas defines the new class in this chapter as the political bureaucracy, "a monopoly over the working class itself". This "new class actually seized the lion's share of the economic and other progress earned by the sacrifices and efforts of the masses". Djilas attributes the rise of this new class to Stalin.[4]: 37–69
