„Svi U Fabrike“! Instant Industrijalizacija U Jugoslaviji 1945–1955
Everybody To The Factories! Instant Industrialization Of Yugoslavia 1945–1955

Summary/Abstract: Yugoslav communists embarked on the hasty industrialization of the country in accordance to the Soviet model. Five year plan provided for megalomaniac investments in heavy industry, as the economical strategists of the party believed that in ten years Yugoslavia would reach Great Britain. Impoverished country was not able to sustain this cycle of investments, and economical policy resulted in general poverty and drop in agricultural output. Peasants were not easily transformed to industrial workers, although repressive measures were introduced. Investigations, beatings, threats, policing and intimidation were only some of the “agitation measures” of zealous local functionaries. Still, unqualified workers form the courtside could not achieve the desired productivity. Dropouts were frequent due to the hard conditions, small wages and accommodation problems. Unemployment appeared as early as 1950, and was solved through administrative measures – transfer of works to other branches of industry. Although the pace of urbanization was far slower than the industrialization, migrations from countryside to the cities were irreversibly set in motion. As a result of a public opinion survey form 1957, youth from the countryside was thinking about mass resettlement, attracted by city lights.

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