Consider the "Managerial Class"—CEOs who do not own the company (shareholders do) but control salaries and strategy. Or consider the "Political Consultant Class" in Washington D.C. and Brussels—people who have never been elected but control the flow of information and legislation. Djilas' warning was universal: Every power structure creates a ruling class.
"The New Class" was widely read and discussed in the 1950s and 1960s, both within Yugoslavia and internationally. The book's critique of bureaucratic and authoritarian tendencies in socialist systems resonated with many people who were disillusioned with the failures of communist regimes.
So, what went wrong? Djilas began to notice a disturbing pattern. After the war, the communist officials who had slept in caves and fought fascism began living in villas, driving chauffeured cars, and sending their children to special schools. They preached equality but practiced privilege.
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: While private property was abolished, this "new class" effectively "uses, enjoys, and disposes" of nationalised property as if they owned it collectively. Exploitation
: The book's concept of a "new class" has had a lasting legacy. Its critiques have been applied not only to historical communist states but also to modern political and corporate bureaucracies. The idea of a powerful managerial elite that uses public institutions for private gain remains a potent and debated concept in political science and sociology.
Milovan Djilas’s 1957 work, The New Class (Nova Klasa) , provides an insider critique of communist regimes, arguing that party bureaucracy replaced private capitalists as a privileged ruling class [1, 2]. The text, which explores how state control leads to exploitation by a privileged elite, remains a key resource for analyzing bureaucratic power and state capitalism [3, 4]. For further research, scholars and students often explore digital archives for a PDF copy of the text. Share public link Consider the "Managerial Class"—CEOs who do not own
A: It is neither. Djilas remained a socialist critic. He did not advocate for capitalism; he advocated for a stateless, classless communism (anarchism). The book is hated by both Marxists (for attacking the party) and capitalists (for critiquing material accumulation).
Crucially, Djilas argues that this class is more stable than capitalism’s bourgeoisie, because its wealth is not subject to market fluctuations; it is guaranteed by the police and the army.
The original manuscript was written in Serbo-Croatian, with the original title being Nova Klasa: Kritika Savremenog Komunizma (The New Class: A Critique of Contemporary Communism). It was first published in English in 1957 in the United States, and its impact was immediate and global. Djilas' warning was universal: Every power structure creates
According to Djilas, is defined by three characteristics:
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: Đilas argued that this bureaucracy seized the "lion's share" of economic progress for their own benefits and privileges, such as exclusive housing and special access to goods, while the masses made the sacrifices. Key Themes and Arguments The Party-State