“Slučaj Mihajlov’’ u bilješkama diplomatskih predstavnika Velike Britanije 1966.
The “Mihajlov Case’’ in the Notes of British Diplomatic Representatives in 1966

Author(s): Katarina Spehnjak
Subject(s): Diplomatic history, Political history, Government/Political systems, Political behavior, Comparative politics, Post-War period (1950 - 1989)
Published by: Hrvatski institut za povijest
Keywords: Great Britain; Yugoslavia; dissidents; Mihajlo Mihajlov;
Summary/Abstract: This article provides a brief overview of the activities of Mihajlo Mihajlov in 1966, while documents about his activities found among the diplomatic papers of Great Britain form the basis of an understanding of British attitudes toward dissidents in Yugoslavia. An academic assistant at the University of Zadar, Mihajlov, due to his literary work (the travel-essay Ljeto moskovsko 1964) and his political activities, was from 1965 to 1975 sentenced and jailed on a few occasions. Ideologically similar to dissident Milovan Djilas, Mihajlov in 1966 gathered around himself a group of intellectuals and artists from several Yugoslavian cities with the aim of launching an independent opposition newspaper. There was great interest in his literary work and political analysis in the west. In 1978 he moved to the United States. On the basis of documents from British diplomatic representatives in Yugoslavia in 1966 the second part of this article provides a study of the British attitude toward the “Mihajlov case.” Though partial, this analysis shows that the official politics of the western countries approached the theme of Yugoslav dissidents more carefully than in the case of dissidents from the eastern bloc. An evaluation of the activities of Mihajlov as well as the reaction of the Yugoslavian authorities is seen to indicate a certain amount of restraint.

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