“LIBERAL EDICT” IS UNACCEPTABLE FOR COMMUNISTS
The SKOJ (The Leagoue of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia) considers the so-called “Student Edict” (hereinafter referred to as the “Liberal Edict”), which was presented at a gathering in Niš on March 1, 2025, unacceptable for communists, the working people, students, honest intellectuals, and all progressive individuals in Serbia. This “edict” is unacceptable to us because it represents nothing more than a liberal pamphlet based on abstract and empty phrases about bourgeois freedom, constitutional defenders, the rule of law, the constitutional republic and its institutions, justice, laws, knowledge, solidarity, students, and the future… It pompously talks about the “wonderful” bourgeois representative democracy, which represents the ideal of the “end of history.”
The Liberal Edict in no way addresses the real causes of the problems in our society (which have also caused the collapse of the canopy in Novi Sad, an issue the authors seem to have forgotten). This edict completely disregards the nature of anti-popular laws and the question of whose interests are actually protected by these laws. The text does not mention any of the key issues such as ownership of the means of production, the relationship to labor, capital, imperialism, the commodification of knowledge and the purchase of diplomas, the Bologna Declaration, the most undemocratic electoral law in Europe, hegemonic colonial discourse, foreign capital, the financial sector controlled by foreign banks, an economy tied to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, NATO, the EU, the occupation of the Southern Serbian province, and other important social issues.
Instead, we encounter bourgeois slogans about “freedom, thought, laws, knowledge, and democracy” without any acknowledgment that, in bourgeois democracies, these rights depend on the amount of money an individual possesses. SKOJ reminds that capitalist social relations necessarily divide society into classes, determining people’s position in the production system. Freedom for the minority that controls large capital means slavery for the vast majority – the working people. However, despite these scientific facts, the “Liberal Edict” speaks abstractly about equal freedoms, unity of interests, and equality of all citizens, who should be solidaristic, while ignoring the social relations that have already divided people into rich and poor, capital owners and workers, exploiters and the exploited.
Moreover, the “democratic” nature of the “Liberal Edict” in the formal bourgeois sense is problematic. No one knows who wrote it, who proposed it, or at which “Plenary” it was adopted as a political document to be presented at the clerical-liberal fair (gathering) in Niš. Also, the clerical-liberal iconography (from the Chetnik symbol to the bloody fist) dominated at the fairs in Kragujevac and Niš, as well as the marches that followed them.
SKOJ believes that the decision to increase the budget for higher education in Serbia by 20% represents a significant step in the fight for free and accessible education for all. This decision is not the result of the “good will” of the authorities but of many years of struggle by students for better material conditions for studying. This budget increase will lead to a 50% reduction in tuition fees and a 15.97% increase in salaries for professors. This step allows more students from poorer families to continue their education.
However, despite all this, the protests at the given moment have become essentially liberal and reactionary, and carry an anti-popular character. We must be honest and face the facts that the protests at the given moment are under the control of the pro-Western, anti-popular opposition, and that progressive students now have very little influence on the political direction of the protests. After the fulfillment of the fourth key demand, which was the only student demand and which is of little significance to many protest participants, the remaining demands now come from liberal opposition forces (which have the support of certain nationalist organizations) and do not represent the true class interests of students. Talking about corruption while remaining silent about capitalism (whose essence is corruption) is demagoguery for the naive. The opposition, which refers to “Western” values in the fight against corruption, forgets that the USA and the EU are examples of the largest corruption scandals.
SKOJ emphasizes that if anyone had illusions about the character of the current protests, after the adoption of the “Liberal Edict” in Niš, all masks have fallen. By adopting the “Liberal Edict” (“Student Edict”) in Niš, a political manifesto has been created that defines this anti-popular movement. The antipopular bourgeois opposition, which is rightfully hated by the people, has manipulated the abstract subject of students. The NKPJ (New Communist Party of Yugoslavia) emphasizes that the remaining demands presented as student demands are, in essence, liberal demands that represent liberal demagoguery. The bourgeois opposition uses students and youth as an instrument for political purposes, regardless of the actual fate of students, whether they will lose a year or not, with only one goal – to gain power.
The “Liberal Edict” is nothing more than something copied from a manual of an activist course of nongovernmental organizations financed by Western capital funds. The so-called “Student Edict” has become the manifesto of the bourgeois opposition, and the character of protests with this political agenda is anti-popular! The “Liberal Edict” is unacceptable for communists!
Secretariat of the the Leagoue of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia,
Belgrade, 13.03.2025
