Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

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This is the factbook for the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

[FR Jugoslavija]

Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia
Federativna Narodna
Republika Jugoslavija (Serbo-Croatian Latin)
Федеративна Народна Република
Југославија (Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic)
Федеративна Народна Република
Југославија (Macedonian)
Federativna ljudska republika
Jugoslavija (Slovene)
Republika Popullore Federale e Jugosllavisë (Albanian)

Motto:
"Brotherhood and Unity"
Bratstvo i Jedinstvo (Serbo-Croatian Latin)
Братство и јединство (Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic)
Bratstvo in enotnost (Slovene)
Братство и единство (Macedonian)
Vëllazëria dhe bashkimi (Albanian)

Anthem: Hej, Slaveni

Flag:

Emblem:


Capital: Beograd

Languages:
No Official Languages at Federal Level
Recognized Languages: Serbo-Croatian (de facto Lingua Franca), Slovene, Macedonian, Albanian

Government: Federal Semi-Presidential "Titoist" Socialist Republic

General Secretary: Josip Broz
President: Milica Broz
Premier: Veselin Duranovic

Legislature: Savezno Skupština (Federal Assembly)
Upper House: Savezno Vijece (Federal Council)
Lower House: Narodna Predstavnička Skupština (People's Representatives Assembly)

Area: 255,804 km² (Yugoslavia), 284,588 (with Albania AS)

Population: 22,121,687 (Yugoslavia) 24,955,001 (With Albania AS)

Currency: Yugoslav Dinar
Drives on the: Right
Internet TLD: .yu
Telephone Code: +38

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The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), also referred to as Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FR Yugoslavia) or simply as Yugoslavia, is a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, Spanning an area of 255,804 square kilometres (98,766 sq mi) or 284,588 square kilometre with Autonomous State of Albania included, Yugoslavia borders the Kingdom of Rome to the west after the Adriatic Sea, by (...) to the north, by (...) to the east, and (...) to the south. Defacto wise, It is a one-party socialist state and federation governed by the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, also known externally as Communist Party of Yugoslavia, and has six constituent republics and one autonomous republic: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegowina, Croat Republic, Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Republic of Serbia-Montenegro, Republic of Slovenia, and Autonomous Socialist State of Albania. Within Serbia is the Yugoslav capital city of Belgrade as well as two autonomous Yugoslav provinces: Kosovo and Vojvodina.

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History:

Yugoslavia traces its origins to 26 November 1942, when the Anti-Monarchist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia was formed during World War II to resist occupation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Following the country's liberation, King Peter II was deposed, the monarchy was ended, and on 29 November 1945, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed. Led by Josip Broz Tito, the new communist government sided with the Eastern Bloc at the beginning of the Cold War but pursued a policy of neutrality following the Tito–Stalin split in 1948; the state transitioned from a command economy to market-based socialism in 1950s and has been industrialising rapidly since, with Education and Workforce Mobilization being top priority.

In 1951, The leaders of Anti Stalinist Bloc in Albania, Koçi Xoxe and Sajfulla Milëshova, approached Tito and the Yugoslav Government to seek asylum from, at the time current General Secretary of Albanian Communist Party, Enver Hoxha's political purges. Being Pro-Stalin, and following Stalinist ideals, Hoxha adopted Ultranationalistic fervour, Exterminated any political opposition, enacted State Atheism with zero compromise against both Muslim and Christian population inside Albania. Xoxe's and Milëshova's exile in Yugoslavia shed light on the issue amongst the Yugoslav population. This increases tension between Yugoslavia and Albania.
Montenegrin and Serbian elements inside Yugoslavia demanded actions against Hoxha's regime due to, not only Hoxha's actions "besmirches the true spirit of socialism", but also due to influx of Albanians seeking asylum from Hoxha's rule.

After rapid industrialization, Literacy programs and Infrastructure restorations programs of the 1950s, Yugoslavia's economy boomed, and in 1955, most of Yugoslavia's economy are consisted of manufacturing and goods processing, this creates a hole in food supply, where Yugoslavia became a net importer of foodstuff, despite the state owning large amounts of arable land. Due to Yugoslavia inability to provide for subsistence agriculture, most of food imports came from Albania, due to ease of access, abundances of supply, and low overhead costs. This created an unwanted dependency between the two, at the time, resentful states. Inside Yugoslavia, this also created talks among Yugoslav Citizenry that the government are being hypocritical of their actions by actively trading with Pro-Stalin Albania. The situation also creates an economic tether, where Yugoslav enterprises and state apparatus are able to steer Albanian's economy by controlling the amount of goods entering Albania, while Albanians cannot afford to steer their influx elsewhere due to Hoxha's unfriendly attitudes towards non communist states and insistence towards State Austerity. Besides economic inflexiblity his state are binded with, Hoxha also threatened to enact "drastic measures" should Yugoslavia did not return any Albanians that seek Political Asylum.

The Nadir of this tension broke in 1958, where Albanian Military Forces stationed at Shkodra Lake rammed 5 Yugoslav skips suspected of carrying stowaway bound for Titograd, killing 20 people, 15 of them are Yugoslav citizen. Yugoslavia demanded "Formal apologies and compensations for both losses in human lives and properties". Albania refuses entirely and claimed that Yugoslavia "failed to control their own populace and have created unmeasurable distress by entering Albanian territory illegally". Within 3 weeks Yugoslavia mobilized their Armed Forces near Albanian border and sent an Ultimatum to the Albanian government for their compliance. Albania mobilized 2 weeks after. On November 1958, Yugoslavia formally declared war on the Albanian government, starting the Yugoslav-Albanian war, also known as the Shkodra Conflict.

The Shkodra Conflict rages for 4 years, With the last remaining Pro-Hoxha forces formally surrendering to Yugoslavia in June of 1962 and Yugoslav People's Army took over Tirana from Albania. Enver Hoxha went to exile to Soviet Union and any other Pro-Hoxha elements and high ranking officers that failed to escape were captured and imprisoned for life. Anti-Hoxha Albanians filled the current vacuum of power and are formally insured by Yugoslavia. Under Yugoslavia's protection, Albania became a devolved, Non-sovereign, but politically independent state, formally known as the Autonomous Socialist State of Albania.
The conflict also devastated Albanian lands and significantly reduced the amount of subsistence agriculture on the region, deepening the hole on Yugoslavia's Food Stockpile. Since then, Yugoslavia is on a food crisis, importing food from abroad and with high overhead cost

In 1965, Yugoslavia commited to The Non Bloc Neutrality Doctrine, a Socio-economic and Political doctrine made into action by Milica "Milli" Broz and Aleksandar "Miso" Broz, Tito's Daughter and Son, Internally and Externally, respectively. Since then, Yugoslavia traded and cooperated with any nation with varying allegiances. Milli currently held the office of Yugoslavia's "President of the Presidencies" while Miso held the office of Head Councillor of "the Council for State Matters of the Republic"
Today, Yugoslavia is currently fighting an internal Economic upheaval after it was made apparent during the Early 1960s Reform period and the Aftermath of the Shkodra Conflict. Extreme unemployment, low productivity of subsistence agriculture, dwindling food stockpile, increase in public demands due to liberalisation, and poor bureaucratic management are Yugoslavia's main issues to tackle while tensions arises due to rumors of Tito's Health spreading among the population and uncertainty of Tito's legacy and Yugoslavia's future vision, among the Old Guards, and projection of power, among Albanian Independentists

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Yugoslavia is a federation composed of six constituent republics and one Autonomous State: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania. Within Serbia, there were two autonomous provinces, Kosovo and Vojvodina. Each republic had its own government, constitution, and some degree of autonomy.
Yugoslavia is a Bicameral state, with the Federal Council (Savezno Vijece) and Narodna Predstavnička Skupština (People's Representative Assembly) positions for both Upper and Lower House respectively. The Upper house issue bills that affects the Republics boundaries and laws, while the Lower House acts as the National representation of the People, issuing any National Referendum to the Legislatures. Both Upper House and Lower House forms Savezno Skupština (Federal Assembly), which are used to control Executive powers and, alongside Constitutional Court.

Yugoslavia has a unique Semi-Presidential esque system of governance with its executive office is split into 3 Levels, The General Secretariat, Presidency and Premiership. The de facto highest authority in Yugoslavia is the General Secretariat of the State.
The General Secretary are able to appoint President of the Presidencies, Judges for the Constitutional court of Yugoslavia, and Premier of the Councils; and are able to give out Vote of No Confidence after their elections for both President and Premier, not to dissimilar of that to the power held by a President of a Parliamentary state. However, the General Secretary has no veto powers against any executive orders, therefore cannot directly command both President and Premier.

Veto powers are exclusively held by the Parliament, with at least 2/3 of the Parliament votes for it to take precedent.

The President, officially known as the President of the Presidencies, held the de jure position of Head of State, with similar powers of that the President of a Presidential state, with the exception that the President does not appoint Ministers and does not command the office of Head of Government. The role of the Head of Government is held by the Premier of the Councils. Both seats of the President and Premiers are rotated among republics every election. And every second term, two republics, the one incumbent on their seat, and the one that's next in line, may issue running candidates for the seats.

The office of the General Secretary is held for 6 years, with practically unlimited term limits.
While the office of President and Premiership are held for 4 years, with 2 terms limit. Election between the Office of General Secretary and President and Premier are differentiated by month, with General Secretariat election held on November and Inaugurated on January, and Office of President and Premier are held on October and Inaugurated on December

Offices on State level are bound to the same electoral rules as that of Federal Levels, with the difference is that its on each Republics jurisdiction with limited Federal statutes, such as the statute limiting Non National of one state on taking office of another State (e.g a Serbian National cannot run for the Presidency of Croat Republic, etc) and statutes that puts Albania as a state that can manage their own limitations (such as an Albanian Commissar having 3 terms instead of 2) while not allowing Citizens with Albanian Nationality to run for Executive office in Federal Level.

The intricate balance between federalism, self-management, and attempts at representing diverse ethnicities in the political structure was a defining characteristic of Yugoslavia.

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Military:
The armed forces of FR Yugoslavia consisted of the Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska narodna armija, JNA), Territorial Defense (Teritorialjna Odbrana, TO), and Police Force (Milicija). Yugoslavia maintained a strong military force. JNA was the main organization of the military forces plus the remnacents of the old royal Yugoslav army, and was composed of the ground army, navy and aviation. Militarily, Yugoslavia had a policy of self-sufficiency. Due to its new policy of neutrality and non-alignment, efforts were made to develop the country's military industry to provide the military with all its needs, and even for export. Most of its military equipment and pieces were domestically produced, while some was imported both from the East and the West. The regular army mostly originated from the Yugoslav Partisans of World War II. Yugoslavia had a thriving arms industry and exported them among others states and regimes (including a number of staunchly Anti-Socialist regimes outside of Europe). Yugoslav companies like Zastava Arms produced Soviet-designed weaponry under license as well as creating weaponry from scratch, ranging from police pistols to airplanes. Beside the federal army, each of the six republics had their own respective Territorial Defense Forces. They were a national guard of sorts, established in the frame of a new military doctrine called "General Popular Defense" as an answer to the brutal conclusion of the Shkodra Conflict of 1962. It was organized on Republics, autonomous province, municipality and local community levels.

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Despite their common Marxist and Socialist origins, the socialist economy of Yugoslavia was much different from the economy of the Soviet Union and most of the economies of the Eastern Bloc, especially after the Yugoslav–Soviet break-up of 1948. Though they were state-owned enterprises, Yugoslav companies were nominally collectively managed by the employees themselves through workers' self-management, albeit with state oversight dictating wage bills and the hiring and firing of managers.
The occupation and liberation struggle in World War II left Yugoslavia's infrastructure devastated. Even the most developed parts of the country were largely rural, and the little industry the country had was largely damaged or destroyed. Efforts on alleviating this issue came under the implementation of ORA (Omladinske Radne Akcije) or Youth Work Action, an organized voluntary labor activities of Young, Yugoslav citizens used to rapidly build formerly devastated infrastructure, as well as establishing new, modern industry and infrastructures when needed, such as the Krško Nuclear Power Plant in Slovenia that is currently planned to be finished in 6 years. Unemployment was, and is, a chronic problem for Yugoslavia: the unemployment rates were amongst the highest in Europe. The departure of Yugoslavs seeking work began in the 1950s, when individuals began slipping across the border illegally to seek better opportunities. In the mid-1960s, Yugoslavia lifted emigration restrictions and the number of emigrants increased rapidly. By the early 1970s, 20% of the country's labor force or 1.1 million workers were employed abroad. This was also a source of capital and foreign currency for Yugoslavia.

Among of all Sectors, the Main domestic production sources came from Energy, Industry and Agriculture, ranked highest to lowest in value from former to latter.
Despite being small on a world scale, Yugoslavia's oil and gas resources (roughly 85 million tonnes of oil equivalent and 53 billion cubic metres, respectively) found along the Pannonian Basin have a certain regional importance. Almost 90% of the discovered oil and gas are to be found in Banat and those oil and gas fields are by size among the largest in the Pannonian basin but are average on a European scale. Coal is found in two large deposits: Kolubara (4 billion tonnes of reserves) and Kostolac (1.5 billion tonnes).

Main Industry in Yugoslavia are from Metallurgy, Manufacturing of Machines and Heavy Equipment and Construction Material as well as a sizable Automotive Industry.
The automotive industry in Yugoslavia had its own unique trajectory. It is characterized by the production of various vehicles, including cars, trucks, and buses, by companies like Zastava, and TAM (Tovarna avtomobilov Maribor) in Slovenia.
TAM, established in Maribor, Republic of Slovenia, primarily produced trucks, buses, and specialized vehicles. TAM's main focus are on heavy-duty vehicles, including trucks and buses, catering to both domestic and export markets. The company are infamous for producing reliable and durable trucks used for various purposes, including transportation, construction, and military applications. Additionally, the company manufactures buses, contributing to public transportation within Yugoslavia and exporting buses to several countries
Zastava, not only producing consumer automotive, is also involved in producing firearms and military equipment. The Zastava Arms factory, a part of the larger Zastava conglomerate, is a renowned manufacturer of firearms, including pistols, rifles, and machine guns. They produced a range of weapons used both domestically and exported internationally. The company gained recognition for firearms like the Zastava M70 series rifles, among others.
Companies like Sisak Ironworks (located in Croatia), Trepča Mines (in Kosovo), and numerous steel mills and foundries across the country were key players in steel production. These facilities supplied materials for construction, automotive manufacturing, and various other industries.

On Media and Communications, The state controlled much of the mass media, including newspapers, radio, and television. However, there were also independent outlets and publications that offered alternative perspectives. The media often reflected the country's political climate, with varying degrees of censorship and propaganda depending on the era and the ruling government. Despite state control, Instances of critical reporting and diverse opinions in certain media spheres are often made national headlines. Main providers in mass media are state-owned outlets like Radio Television Belgrade (RTB), which holds a dominant position in broadcasting. Newspapers such as Borba and Politika are also influential and widely circulated, often reflecting the government's viewpoints.
Independent media publishers in Yugoslavia varied, and their prominence fluctuated over time due to political pressures. Some of them includes "Vreme" (Times), A notable independent magazine based on Belgrade that provided critical analysis of political and social issues, "NIN" (Nedeljne Informativne Novine): Another influential independent weekly magazine based on Belgrade known for its investigative journalism and diverse viewpoints. And Oslobodjenje, A newspaper publishing company based in Sarajevo

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Ethnicities and Languages:

FR Yugoslavia recognised "nations" and "nationalities" separately; the former included the constituent South Slavic peoples (Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Albanians (from 1962), Ethnic Muslims, Serbs and Slovenes), while the latter included other Slavic and non-Slavic ethnic groups such as Slovaks, Bulgarians, Rusyns and Czechs (Slavic); or Hungarians, Romani, Turks, Romanians, Vlachs, Romans, and Germans (non-Slavic). In total, about 26 known sizeable ethnic groups are known to live in Yugoslavia. There is also a Yugoslav ethnic designation, for the people who wanted to identify with the entire country, including people who were born to parents in mixed marriages.

The population of Yugoslavia spoke mainly four languages: Serbo-Croatian, Slovene, Macedonian and Albanian. Serbo-Croatian was spoken by the populations in the federated republics of SR Serbia, SR Croatia, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina and SR Montenegro – a total of 17 million people by the late 1980s. Slovene was spoken by approximately 2 million inhabitants of Republic of Slovenia, while Macedonian was spoken by 1.8 million inhabitants of Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Yugoslav Albanians, almost exclusively Ghegs, chose to use the unified standard language of Albania predominantly based on Gheg Albanian (a dialect prominently spoken on the Northern region of Albania), for political reasons, that is to distance themselves from the "Standard", Southern, Tosk Albanian that was prominently used by Hoxhaist Albania. The three main languages all belong to the South Slavic language group and are thus similar, allowing most people from different areas to understand each other. Intellectuals were mostly acquainted with all three languages, while people of more modest means from Slovenia and Macedonia were provided an opportunity to learn Serbo-Croatian during the compulsory service in the federal military. Serbo-Croatian itself is made-up of three dialects, Shtokavian, Kajkavian, and Chakavian, with Shtokavian used as the standard official dialect of the language. Two alphabets used in Yugoslavia were: the Latin alphabet and the Cyrillic script. Both alphabets were modified for use by Serbo-Croatian in the 19th century, thus the Serbo-Croatian Latin alphabet is more closely known as Gaj's Latin alphabet, while Cyrillic is referred to as the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet. Serbo-Croatian uses both alphabets, Slovene and Albanian uses only the Latin alphabet, with special identifier characters for Albanian language, while Macedonian uses only the Cyrillic alphabet. Bosnian and Croatian variants of the language used exclusively Latin, while the Serbian variant used both Latin and Cyrillic

Religion:

While Yugoslavia as a state does not recognize any religion in their laws and statutes, and are de jure Atheist State, Yugoslavia is still diverse in terms of religious diasporas with multiple religious groups living inside the country. Major Religions that's professed by Yugoslavs included Eastern Orthodox Christians, Catholics, Muslims, and smaller groups of Protestant Christians and others. The distribution varied across different regions within Yugoslavia.

According to Central Yugoslav Census of 1975, of 22,121,687, About 50.4% of Yugoslav claimed to be Irreligious, Either following a form of Agnosticism or Atheism. 47.7% claimed to be followers of Major Organized Religion, while the remaining 1.9% claimed to profess "Folk Religion", majority of which are known as Bektashiya.
Of the Organized Religion followers statistics, Around 30.4% follows Eastern Orthodox Christianity, 22.5% follows Roman Catholicism, 21.9% follows Sunni Islam, 11.7% follows Reformed Church (also known as Hungarian Protestantism), 6.1% follows German Protestantism (such as Lutheran and Baptist Church), 5.3% follows Judaism, while 2.1% follows other smaller organized religions in Yugoslavia, mainly Buddhism, from Far Eastern Migrants that came to Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavia, despite their Atheistic judicial stance, has provisions in its federal constitution that protected freedom of religion, allowing individuals to practice their faith. However the "Freedom to spread" religion is not protected and are subject to each Republics Jurisdiction. Such as in Albania, there are limitations on proselytizing or attempting to convert Albanian Muslims and/or Other Ethnic Muslims to other religions, and Attempts to proselytize Non-albanian Nationals to Islam are strictly forbidden by Albanian Laws. And in Croat Republic of which there are some limitations on religious media and missionary attempts