Constructing the people in late socialist Serbia: The case of letters to the press

Transcription

1 Constructing the people in late socialist Serbia: The case of letters to the press Marko Grdesic Faculty of Political Sciences University of Zagreb, Croatia Prepared for Causes, Faces and Consequences of Populism in the Global Political Context, IUC, September -3 27

2 Introduction Possibilities for cross-fertilization between political sociology/social movements and populism studies The importance of identity work for social movemetns (Melucci, Poletta, Jasper, Whittier, Snow, McAdam) The importance of the people for populism (Laclau and many others) What does this identity work look like in the case of the people? Who engages in it? How does it work? Does it impact the real world?

3 The setting Yugoslavia (Serbia) in the late 98s Political and economic crisis Explosion of protest in 988 Rise of Slobodan Milošević as charismatic leader Mixture of grievances: class and nationalism The anti-bureaucratic revolution June to December 988

4 Letters to the press The Serbian daily newspaper Politika 2-3 page daily section called Echoes and reactions Ordinary citizens would send their letters Authorship unclear, possible/probable manipulation A cult phenomenon: the circulation of Politika doubled when the section was introduced Politika can be compared with Borba

5 The populist construction of the people. The-people-as-one The people as a single unitary actor When the people appear in the singular (narod vs narodi) 2. The-people-for-themselves The people as an actor that acts for itself, Marx's class-for-itself (see also Aslanidis) When the people are the subject/agent in a sentence e.g. The people have spoken.

6 Cohen's Kappa Percent agreement Fleiss's Kappa Krippendorff's Alpha Coders and 3 Coders and 2 Coders 2 and 3 Coders and 3 Coders and 2 Coders 2 and 3 The people used in sentence The people used in singular or in the plural The people used as subject of sentence

7 appear (per letter) appear in the singular appear as the subject in a sentence appear in the singular and as the subject Politika Letters with the (total of 6 letters) Politika Comparison group No ( randomly selected letters) Borba (total of 3 letters) Median Median Median Median

8 appear (per letter) appear in the singular appear as the subject in a sentence appear in the singular and as the subject Politika Letters with the (total of 6 letters) Politika Comparison group No people in the title ( randomly selected letters) Before Sept. After Sept. Before Sept. After Sept. Before Sept. After Sept Median Median Median Borba (total of 3 letters)

9 Verbs in sentences in which the people are used in the singular and as the subject Politika Letters with the (total of 6 letters) Politika Comparison group No people in the title ( randomly selected letters) Borba (total of 3 letters) The people say The people express 5 The people know 5 3 The people call out 3 5 The people demand The people want 3

10 Does series A Granger cause series B? (Politika) A B Chi-squared p-value 5.346* with the 5.66*.7 with the 4.45*.36 with the with the 4.23*.45

11 Does series A Granger cause series B? (Borba) A B Chi-squared p-value with the with the with the people in the title with the people in the title

12 Examples (from Politika) While sociologists and political scientists argue and diagnose what kind of phenomenon this is (is it populism, a result of socialist spontaneity or something else), while politicians react with confused and rigid bans on gatherings, the people are entering political life and demanding that the system be opened (which has for some time been bureaucratically formalized, neglected and blocked) for their troubles, problems and interests. There are historic situations where the people, who are stripped of their rights and angry, do not ask for the rules of the game, but enter into politics and spoil the calculations of compromising and alienated political rulers. Our people were not taught 'nice manners' in high diplomatic circles, but they knew, though uneducated, usually with only four years of grade school, to sing pretty verses to their party and comrade Tito while he was still alive. On Saturday, on the streets, on the squares, on the windows, in front of the assembly, we saw that the people understood the people.

13 Examples (from Politika) Auto-communication: the letters are written by the people, for the people and about the people. Our common man and his soul have spoken through 'Echoes and reactions.' The worker, peasant, intellectual, scientist, war veteran have expressed themselves. And this irresistible love for their country and a peaceful life has been crowned in numerous articles which we should stop and analyze, as a priceless jewel. Our common man has long refrained from public statements. But when he felt and saw the abyss ahead of him, he took up the pen and words came together like pearls. Philosophers, historians and sociologists should think hard about these letters. Everything that the people have said in 'Echoes and reactions' should be published in a single book as proof (as a trace) of the people who have begun to speak with their heart and soul, honestly and justly in a stream reaching to the heavens.

14 Examples (from Borba) Letter attacking Milan Rakas (the director of Borba): I hope you will publish this letter even though your director Milan Rakas will probably not like it, just as I did not like his article As far as I know, Rakas is a good man and a good communist and so I do not understand why in his article he disputes the right of the people (who are seldom wrong) to call out particular functionaries who with their lack of work did not justify the confidence of the people... It is clear to everyone today that being silent is only in the interest of the enemies of the country and therefore, comrade Rakas, do not tell the people to be quiet. Be confident that the people will not make a mistake since they have not made mistakes before. Rakas responds: I agree with you comrade that the people have the right to call out certain functionaries, which as you say 'have not justified the confidence of the people', and especially those of us who occupy high-ranking positions Probably some should not only be called out but also removed, but of course only through our forms of socialist democracy.

15 Discussion The artificial, jarring quality of populist discourse Successfull construction of the people depends at least in part on the naivety of the public Chavez's Alo Presidente, conservative talk radio Always the possibility of manipulation elite involvement intertwined with popular enthusiasm The late socialist period as a promising setting to study populism Mao's Cultural Revolution, Solidarity in Poland, Gorbachev's Perestroika