English

Inspite of the usual, ahistorical treatment of capitalism as eternal, the only possible social order by bourgeois economists - which implies one comprehensive theory of capitalism, their views and theories on capitalism have changed side by side with its development, constantly fighting among themselves and denying each other. The result of this is that what represents "economics science" is actually a heterogenous set of ideas, mutually conflicting and sometimes completely contradictory. Bourgeois economists prefer to call these by a euphemistic name, "schools of economics", but this does not make a difference. Which one of them will be considered as valid at some point of time, and thus the base of economic policy of the State, depends on the stage of development of the capitalist system and on interests of the ruling (capitalist) class which are politically defined and expressed by the State apparatus - its instrument for the perservation of the given order.[7, 10]

“If we oppose terrorist acts, it is only because individual revenge does not satisfy us. The account we have to settle with the capitalist system is too great to be presented to some functionary called a minister”.-Leon Trotsky, 1909.

Nothing new in the heart of the Balkans. A sharp radicalisation within Serbian society continues and was put in the spotlight once again last week by failed presidential elections - third in a row. The working people of Serbia simply stayed at home, ignoring the government calls to go out and elect a president. Only around 38% of registered voters bothered to show up at the polls, and those who did show up voted against the pro-western ruling coalition - the DOS - and it's candidate. The election results clearly showed just how deep the crisis in the country is and how unpopular and weak the pro-western ruling caste is in reality. Most analysts predicted the failure of the election itself, however what nobody expected was such a humiliation that people of Serbia served to the DOS and it's "reformist course". The DOS sponsored candidate, who led all the pre-election polls - the media hyped Dragoljub Micunovic - got disapointing 35% of the votes, finishing second behind the underdog Tomislav Nikolic - a candidate of the right wing Serbian Radical Party - who received 46 % of the votes. Vojislav Kostunica and his Democratic Party of Serbia boycted the elections.

Two years after the overthrow of Milošević, Yugoslavia remains the firecracker burried in the center of the powder keg known as the Balkans. Hopes that the post-Milošević era will be the one of "normal" political life and relative prosperity, definitely ended yesterday. If anyone here still had any illusions in the back of his mind , after the dictator has fallen, that the country will become more stable and the state aparatus will begin to function more smoothly like the "normal" western democracies, they certanly don't have them any longer. It seems like a tradition now - since the late eighties nobody is allowed to sleep because every few years a great political shock hits the country and stirs things up again.

The DOS establishment and its local apologists have once again shown us their capacity for hypocrisy and how low they are prepared to go just in order to justify their own failure. As before, government officials and their faitfull servants (the media, political analysts, the NGO's.), do not refrain from comments which insult the very intelleigence of the average Yugoslav, which in itself is passing into an open form of antagonism to and disgust with the masses. Thus, trying to escape reality, the main reason given for the failure of the elections in Serbia by the majority of the conutry's 'analysts' is the rain and the cold weather which had forced people to stay at home!

State education, just as public forms of property, has, in the last decades, here, attained very negative connotations. And, indeed, the first associations of younger generations with the school system justifiably include broken chairs, uninterested teachers, and a highly sterile atmosphere that destroys any attempt at creativity. In such a social climate, it has been easy for various Karic's, Zecevic's and similar 'gentlemen' businessmen, to found private creches, kindergartens, schools, gymnasia and universities. And so it is that today, only in the capital city, we have over thirty registered universities, and, across the country, more than 100 of them, and around 1000 registered private firms in the field of education. Since you have always dreamt of becoming an actor or actress, or a stockbroker, you can now realise your dreams overnight for just a few trivial thousand Deutche Marks.

One of the first things that the opposition (DOS) did immediately after they seized power on 5 October, was to take control of the Central Bank of Yugoslavia (NBJ). The printing of money, which had been used as an instrument to rob the people by the Milosevic regime for decades, was stopped. This printing of money had been the cause of income redistribution, mainly at the expense of the working class because the wages of the workers are more or less fixed, and they could not keep pace with rising prices and the fluctuating exchange rate. Inflationary pressures caused by the expansion of the money supply led to huge losses and the syphoning off of income into private pockets - a process of initial capital accumulation sui generis. However, the printing of money became more than just that a long time ago. It became one of the means of keeping alive bankrupt state-owned companies which had been plundered by managers appointed by the regime.

From the early morning hours one could hear the sounds of numerous horns coming from cars,trucks and buses pouring into downtown Belgrade from each highway. Licence plates revealed that people had gathered from all over the country. Besides national symbols and anti-Milosevic slogans many of them proudly waved their union flags. Word on the street was that they came to the capital in order to finish up what they started few days ago when most of the factories in Serbia were shut down and general strike was announced. Residents were on their windows and balconies saluting the incoming vehicles. Around this time huge groups of people started to arrive on foot from various suburbs and neghborhoods.

Democratisation of society and 'turning to West' were discussed very much in last several years, and became subject no.1 after NATO's aggresion on our country. It is necessary to see what is the perspective of nationalist and pro-capitalist parties, since they represent only alternative to Milosevic's regime at this time; and dissatisfaction of people with his policy grows every day.