322 The Presidential Years
congress self-management would either be extended or simply demagogically
confirmed. In the latter case, said Najdan Pašić, director of the Institute of
Social Sciences, self-management would begin to shrink, remaining only a
theory on paper and not applied in real life. The congress, continued Pašić, was
going to be “paradoxical,” because its task would be to create a more active party
and, at the same time, to reduce its interference in the administration of eco-
nomic and government affairs. It was necessary to give substance to the propos-
als formulated up to that point, which suggested that the party should play a
guiding and not a controlling role in society.^296 These opinions, widespread
in intellectual circles, stimulated a lively discussion in which Kardelj and Vuk-
man ović (Tempo) took part as proponents of the liberalization against Petar
Stambolić and numerous functionaries who mostly represented the underde-
veloped republics. It was clear at the Fourth Plenum on March 1964 that the
balance of power was such that neither faction would automatically get the
upper hand.^297
When the Eighth Congress finally took place in Belgrade from 7–13 Decem-
ber 1964 after months of internal debates, it became a forum where the most
important topics, both economic and national, were openly discussed.^298 Tito,
who after the turbulent plenum in March 1962 had tolerated the split between
the liberals and conservatives, even trying to play them off one another to
strengthen his regime, unexpectedly sided with Kardelj and his group at this
congress. According to Ranković, since 1963 he had been influenced by the Slo-
venes and the Croats: “He is a turncoat. He did not even try to dissimulate. He
has set up internal and state politics in a confederative way.”^299 “During 1963
and 1964,” observed an incensed Ranković, “Tito was constantly fawned over in
Slovenia. Hunting lodges were built for him, hunts and parties were organized.
... The Slovenes coordinated their policy with the Croats. He was surrounded
by Stevo Krajačić, by Krleža and Bakarić, trying to keep him away from the
Belgrade comrades.... In 1964, he was away from Belgrade for ten months, at
Brioni, at Brdo, near Kranj, in different localities in Slovenia and Croatia.”^300
At the Eighth Congress, organized by Kardelj and his colleagues, Tito un-
expectedly dealt with the key issues of the country, which in the past had not
been discussed on such important occasions.^301 Although as usual he spoke
extemporaneously and without any particular élan, he was quite explicit: he
recognized that “chauvinist elements, a legacy of the old Yugoslavia, were still
smoldering under the surface” and were present everywhere “in cultural life,
the economy, in research and in the historiography.” At the same time, he
condemned the bureaucratic tendencies of those who tried to ignore the role of
the republics and of the provinces. He attacked “administrative and centraliz-
ing methods,” blaming the supporters for an “artificial” single Yugoslav nation.