Milovan Djilas Nova Klasa.pdf

Milovan Djilas — "The New Class": Analysis and Context

Thesis and significance

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.

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Author: [Your Name/Academic Institution] Course: Political Theory / Comparative Communism Date: October 26, 2023 Milovan Djilas — "The New Class": Analysis and

Why the Book Still Matters (Legacy)

While the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Djilas’s thesis has proven remarkably durable. Political scientists argue that his model fits not just Stalinist Russia, but also: The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System

: While private property was abolished, this "new class" effectively "uses, enjoys, and disposes" of nationalised property as if they owned it collectively. Exploitation

5.1 Post-Soviet Oligarchy: Djilas’s model predicted that when the party’s monopoly on force collapses, the new class simply converts political power into private property. The Russian oligarchs of the 1990s—former party secretaries who bought state assets for kopecks—are the perfect Djilasian type.