„Neka narod sam upravlja sobom“ Smederevski kraj u kampanji izbora za Ustavotvornu skupštinu 1945.
„LET THE PEOPLE RULE ITSELF!“ The Smederevo Region during the Electorial Campaign for the Constituent Assembly 1945

Summary/Abstract: The first half of 1945 is characterized by the construction of the revolutionary communist government and its final strike to the „enemies of the people“. This was followed by the oppression of parliamentarism and the destruction of the multi-party system. The political framework for the gathering of the „progressive forces“ in the country was the Popular Front, in which the Communists had absolute dominance. All political groups that were left out of the Popular Front, and most notably, the Democratic Party, soon found themselves under the attack of the new authorities. Echoes of these events were especially evident in Smederevo region (eastern part of the Belgrade District). The beginning of the campaign for the elections of the Constituent Assembly, which were scheduled for November 11th 1945, only strengthened the attacks on pro-democratic parties. In order to eliminate any possible impact of the opposition – which by Election Day was not existent – all declared and even potential enemies of the regime had lost the right to vote in the elections. Their total percentage in districts of Smederevo varied from one to three percent, but those who were convicted were the ones which could affect a much broader category of voters. In the fierce repressive attacks by the authorities – the strongest after the autumn of 1944 in the districts of Smederevo – dozens of people were deprived of their liberty, while the significant number of them was detained, abused, beaten or dismissals from the public service, and several persons were even murdered. On the other hand, the right to vote was significantly expanded to women and workers. Numerous rallies were organized, while agitation was common in factories, institutions and villages. The articles which were published in the weekly „New Days“ – made the propaganda of the Popular Front encompass all the people, to the extent that the individual was almost impossible to brush aside. This campaign was led by Dragoslav Draža Marković. On the Election Day, all „the efforts“ of the Communists and their aides were borne fruit. They had all the logistics available and even the secret service were involved in the places where the turnout was lower, in order to force the citizens to vote. With a number of irregularities and intimidation of voters in the Election Day, and election fraud that occurred in some villages, the list of the Popular Front won a landslide victory. However, if the number of electoral abstainers was combined with the voters of the opposition, their result in the district of Smederevo would on average be, despite all the pressures, about 30 percent per county.

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