Writing social history of socialist Yugoslavia: the archival perspective

It was not until recently that we could talk about a noticeable trend in research focusing on the social components of the 45-year-long history of socialist Yugoslavia (1945–1991). Possible research topics might include the history of social relations, structures, labor, workers’ self-management, industrialization, social stratification, class conflict, housing, mass culture and consumption. In socialist Yugoslavia most of these topics inspired ongoing debates, especially in the fields of sociology and philosophy. Historians participated briefly in those debates during the 1980s, but as the country disintegrated in the brutal conflicts of the 1990s, institutionalized humanities developed a negative stance toward the recent socialist past. In the new millennium, with the revival of social history and the constant state of crisis in the existing system, a new generation of historians began to explore Yugoslav socialist society. This paper argues that if this research movement is to be placed on solid ground through the use of primary sources, the first task for archivists should be to identify these sources. Based on an analysis of records applying social history methodology as a structural approach to the broad spectrum of human experience and social processes, it identifies several major categories of records relating to government, local self-government, judiciary, economic enterprises, political organizations and the trade unions and attempts to determine their current state. It concludes with general observations on some possible solutions for preserving relevant records as well as for the change in the appraisal strategies. © 2016, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.