Djilas' work has had a lasting impact on the critique of communist systems and the study of elites in socialist societies. His analysis remains relevant today, as many countries continue to grapple with issues of corruption, inequality, and the concentration of power.
Djilas begins by accepting the Marxist premise that history is a series of class struggles. However, he decisively breaks from Lenin and Stalin by arguing that a party-led revolution cannot abolish class per se . “The idea of a classless society,” writes Djilas (1957, p. 37), “has proved to be an illusion. The communists have not succeeded in creating a society without classes, but only in creating a new class of bureaucratic exploiters.”
Djilas’s The New Class argues that communist revolutions produced a new ruling elite — bureaucratic party-state officials — who, despite the abolition of private property, exercise de facto control over resources and society, reproduce privileges, and betray revolutionary egalitarian goals; the work’s insider perspective, conceptual clarity, and normative force made it a foundational critique of communist regimes and a durable lens for analyzing bureaucratic domination and elite capture.
After World War II, Djilas rose to the pinnacle of power as Vice President of Yugoslavia. He was the heir apparent to Tito. Yet, unlike the sclerotic bureaucrats of the Eastern Bloc, Djilas began asking dangerous questions. He traveled to the Soviet Union and saw the privileged lives of the nomenklatura . He returned to Yugoslavia and looked at his own party officials.
Milovan Djilas’s The New Class (originally Nova klasa, 1957–1961 essays) argues that communist revolutions replaced one class (capitalists) with another: a bureaucratic, political elite that monopolizes power and privileges. Djilas contends this elite — the “new class” — controls the means of production through the party-state, not private ownership, and therefore becomes a distinct ruling class whose interests diverge from the working masses. The book was groundbreaking because it came from a high-ranking Yugoslav communist dissident and offered a Marxist-rooted critique of actually existing socialism, influencing later dissident and post-Marxist thought.
I notice you’ve referenced a PDF file name, , which corresponds to Milovan Djilas’s famous work Nova klasa (English: The New Class ). However, I cannot directly access or open files on your device or elsewhere.
Milovan Djilas Nova Klasa.pdf -
Djilas' work has had a lasting impact on the critique of communist systems and the study of elites in socialist societies. His analysis remains relevant today, as many countries continue to grapple with issues of corruption, inequality, and the concentration of power.
Djilas begins by accepting the Marxist premise that history is a series of class struggles. However, he decisively breaks from Lenin and Stalin by arguing that a party-led revolution cannot abolish class per se . “The idea of a classless society,” writes Djilas (1957, p. 37), “has proved to be an illusion. The communists have not succeeded in creating a society without classes, but only in creating a new class of bureaucratic exploiters.” Milovan Djilas Nova Klasa.pdf
Djilas’s The New Class argues that communist revolutions produced a new ruling elite — bureaucratic party-state officials — who, despite the abolition of private property, exercise de facto control over resources and society, reproduce privileges, and betray revolutionary egalitarian goals; the work’s insider perspective, conceptual clarity, and normative force made it a foundational critique of communist regimes and a durable lens for analyzing bureaucratic domination and elite capture. Djilas' work has had a lasting impact on
After World War II, Djilas rose to the pinnacle of power as Vice President of Yugoslavia. He was the heir apparent to Tito. Yet, unlike the sclerotic bureaucrats of the Eastern Bloc, Djilas began asking dangerous questions. He traveled to the Soviet Union and saw the privileged lives of the nomenklatura . He returned to Yugoslavia and looked at his own party officials. However, he decisively breaks from Lenin and Stalin
Milovan Djilas’s The New Class (originally Nova klasa, 1957–1961 essays) argues that communist revolutions replaced one class (capitalists) with another: a bureaucratic, political elite that monopolizes power and privileges. Djilas contends this elite — the “new class” — controls the means of production through the party-state, not private ownership, and therefore becomes a distinct ruling class whose interests diverge from the working masses. The book was groundbreaking because it came from a high-ranking Yugoslav communist dissident and offered a Marxist-rooted critique of actually existing socialism, influencing later dissident and post-Marxist thought.
I notice you’ve referenced a PDF file name, , which corresponds to Milovan Djilas’s famous work Nova klasa (English: The New Class ). However, I cannot directly access or open files on your device or elsewhere.