Milosevic by Adam LeBor Page B

meetings to discuss its contents were faultlessly planned and implemented. Popov said: ‘He enjoyed every minute of it.’
    Milosevic was also happy to carry out the less popular duties of an organisational secretary, of implementing party discipline, said Popov. Unruly members could be suspended, or expelled from the party, which could have serious implications for their future career. ‘Milosevic did not have a problem with this. On the contrary, he liked pronouncing strict disciplinary measures,’ said Popov.
    Buoyed by his success, Milosevic decided it was time to position himself in public. He chose the occasion of a nationwide debate organised in 1963 by the Communist Party on renaming the country, then known as the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia. The word ‘People’s’, felt some comrades, was not sufficiently ideologically zealous. It had echoes of the post-war era of the ‘Popular Front’. Every country in the world had its own people, and most were in any case republics. Party officials suggested a new name: the Federal Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia. A directive went out from Belgrade across the country: comrades are expected to organise and attend meetings to discuss the proposal. Young cadre members such as Milosevic were particularly encouraged to take part, though only within the boundaries of Marxist orthodoxy, of course. Any proposal, for example, to rename the country the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, as it had been known until 1929, would not have been well received.
    The meeting at Belgrade law faculty followed the standard pattern. The party grandees lined up on the podium outlined the reasons for the name-change proposal to the rows of students in front of them. Most of the audience nodded sagely. But Milosevic had a better idea. Would it not be better, he asked, to put the word ‘Socialist’ first, to stress the country’s political orientation? Let Yugoslavia be called the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, he proclaimed. This brings to mind the scene in Monty Python’s
Life of Brian
when one revolutionary becomes confused as to whether he is a member of the Judean People’s Front or the hated ‘splitters’, the People’s Front of Judea. Not to mention the Judean Popular People’s Front. But that satire is funny precisely because it draws on the Marxist obsession with tiny delineations of
nomenklatura
that demonstrate the ‘correct’ ideological rigour. The twenty-two-year-oldMilosevic was not known for his sense of humour, but his political antennae were well tuned. His proposal was duly forwarded to the constitutional commission dealing with the matter and then ratified by parliament. Milosevic’s fellow students looked anew at the man in the white nylon shirt and polyester tie.
    Just as noticeable was Milosevic’s close bond at university with Mira Markovic. They were infatuated with each other. Former friends and associates of Milosevic point knowingly to the fact that Mira is the only girlfriend he ever had. This is considered highly unusual in the still deeply macho society of the Balkans where women are expected to adopt a traditional role of home-maker while men are not necessarily expected to stay faithful. Even now it is common in Yugoslav homes for women to serve food to the menfolk, retire to another room and eat later among themselves, as in the Middle East.
    In Pozarevac Stanislava Milosevic began to feel neglected. Her son visited less, preferring to spend his weekend in the capital with his girlfriend. The two women did not get on. Mira guarded her time with Milosevic jealously. She had a curious hold on him.
    The other students joked about his devotion, said Tibor Varady, a contemporary of Milosevic at Belgrade University. If a Communist Party meeting ran over time Milosevic would rush to the telephone to tell Mira that he would be late. ‘We are a macho society, so