League of Communists of Croatia was the Croatian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ). Until 1952, it was known as Communist Party of Croatia.
The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and after its initial successes in the elections, it was proscribed by the royal government and was at times harshly and violently suppressed. It remained an illegal underground group until World War II when, after the Invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941, the military arm of the party, the Yugoslav Partisans, became embroiled in a bloody civil war and defeated the Axis powers and their local auxiliaries. After the liberation from foreign occupation in 1945, the party consolidated its power and established a one-party state, which existed until the 1990 breakup of Yugoslavia.
The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia split apart, but the unresolved issues caused bitter inter-ethnic Yugoslav wars. The wars primarily affected Bosnia and Herzegovina, neighbouring parts of Croatia and, some years later, Kosovo.
The League of Communists of Serbia, founded as the Communist Party of Serbia in 1945, was the Serbian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole legal party of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1990. It changed its name from KPS to SKS in 1952. Under a new constitution ratified in 1974, greater power was devolved to the various republic level branches. In the late 1980s, the party was taken over by a faction endorsing Slobodan Milošević to become leader of the party. Milošević appeased nationalists in Serbia by promising to reduce the level of autonomy within the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina. This policy increased ethnic tensions with the other republics and nationalities. During the early 1990s, the growing ethnic tensions between the republics of Yugoslavia led to the breakup of the federal party.
The Socialist Republic of Serbia, previously known as the People's Republic of Serbia, was one of the six constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Its formation was initiated in 1941, and achieved in 1944–1946, when it was established as a federated republic within Yugoslavia. In that form, it lasted until the constitutional reforms from 1990 to 1992, when it was reconstituted, as the Republic of Serbia within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It was the largest constituent state of Yugoslavia, in terms of population and territory. Its capital, Belgrade, was also the federal capital of Yugoslavia.
League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia, commonly known in English as the Young Communist League of Yugoslavia, or simply Communist Youth, was the youth wing of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia from 1919 to 1948. Although it was banned just two years after its establishment and at times ruthlessly prosecuted, it continued to work clandestinely and was an influential organization among revolutionary youth in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and consequently became a major organizer of Partisan resistance to Axis occupation and local Quisling forces. After World War II, SKOJ became a part of a wider organization of Yugoslav youth, the People's Youth of Yugoslavia, which later became the League of Socialist Youth of Yugoslavia.
The Republic of Serbia was a constituent state of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia between 1992 and 2003 and the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro from 2003 to 2006. With Montenegro's secession from the union with Serbia in 2006, both became sovereign states in their own right for the first time in nearly 88 years.
The Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the collective head of state of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It was established in 1971 according to amendments to the 1963 Constitution and reorganized by the 1974 Constitution. Up to 1974, the Presidency had 23 members – three from each republic, two from each autonomous province and President Josip Broz Tito. In 1974 the Presidency was reduced to 9 members – one from each republic and autonomous province and, until 1988, President of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia ex officio.
The Socialist Alliance of Working People of Yugoslavia or SSRNJ, known before 1953 as the People's Front, was the largest and most influential mass organization in SFR Yugoslavia from August 1945 through 1990. By 1990 its membership was thirteen million individuals, including most of the adult population of the country.
The office of the President of the Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia existed from the death of the President of the Republic Josip Broz Tito on 4 May 1980 until the dissolution of the country by 1992.
In the Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, which was at the time one of the two socialist autonomous provinces of the Socialist Republic of Serbia and one of the federal units of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a single-party system was in place. During this time there were six heads of state, all from the ranks of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ). The federal party was organized into six sub-organizations - the republic parties, one for each of the six federal republics. Vojvodinian politicians and presidents of the presidency of the period were members of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia through their membership in the League of Communists of Vojvodina (SKV), the Vojvodinian part of the federal party.
The League of Communists of Kosovo was the Kosovo branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole legal party of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1990.
The Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, comprising the Kosovo region, was one of the two autonomous provinces of Serbia within Yugoslavia, between 1945 and 1990, when it was renamed Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija.
The Secretary of the Provincial Committee of the League of Communists of Kosovo was the head of the League of Communists of Kosovo, heading the Provincial Committee of the Party. The holder of the office was, for a significant period, the de facto most influential politician in the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, an autonomous province of Serbia within Yugoslavia. The official name of the office was changed in June 1982 from "Secretary of the Provincial Committee" to President of the Presidency of the Provincial Committee of the League of Communists of Kosovo.
In the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, which was at the time one of the two socialist autonomous provinces of the Socialist Republic of Serbia and one of the federal units of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a single-party system was in place. During this time there were eight heads of state, all from the ranks of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ). The federal party was organized into six sub-organizations - the republic parties, one for each of the six federal republics. Kosovan politicians and presidents of the presidency of the period were members of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia through their membership in the League of Communists of Kosovo (SKK), the Kosovan part of the federal party.
The 14th (Extraordinary) Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia was held from 20 to 22 January 1990, in the Belgrade Sava Centar. The highest organ of both the government and the party, it was the last Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. It was attended by delegates from all the republics and provinces, as well as a party delegation from the Yugoslav People's Army. The meeting was chaired by President of the Presidency of the Central Committee Milan Pančevski from Macedonia.
Two members of the Presidency of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ) for the Socialist Republic of Croatia existed from the 11th Congress in 1978 to the dissolution of the SKJ at the 14th Congress in 1990.
Two members of the Presidency of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ) for the Socialist Republic of Montenegro existed from the 11th Congress in 1978 to the dissolution of the SKJ at the 14th Congress in 1990.
A Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia was elected by the 11th Congress, and was in session from 1978 until 1982. The committee had 20 members from each of the six individual republics, and 15 members from each of the two autonomous provinces and the Yugoslav People's Army.
The Communist Party of Yugoslavia held its sixth congress in Zagreb on 2–7 November 1952. It was attended by 2,022 delegates representing 779,382 party members. The sixth congress sought to discuss new policies, first of all in reaction to the Yugoslav–Soviet split and Yugoslav rapprochement with the United States. The congress is considered the peak of liberalisation of Yugoslav political life in the 1950s. The congress also renamed the party the League of Communists of Yugoslavia.
