Presidency of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia

Presidency of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia
Presidency of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia
Overview
Type	Political-executive organ of the Central Committee of the LCY.
Elected by	Session of the Central Committee.
Length of term	Varied from 4 to 6 years
Term limits	Two terms, in exceptional circumstances could a third term be obtained
Age limit	None
History
Established	by 1st Central Council on 23 April 1919
Disbanded	by 14th Congress on 26 May 1990
First convocation	23 April 1919
Last convocation	15 May 1990
Leadership
Leader office	President
Administrative leader	Secretary
Administrative deputies	Executive Secretaries
Meeting place
	Ušće Tower; Belgrade, Socialist Republic of Serbia,; Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Statute
	"Statute of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia"
Rules
	1978–1990:; "Rules of Procedure on the Organisation and Working Method of the Presidency of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia"; 1969–1978:; "Rules of Procedure on the Organisation and Activity of the Presidency of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia"

The Presidency of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY) functioned as the political-executive organ of the party and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia when the party congress and the Central Committee were adjourned.^[a] The presidency underwent several name changes; it was known as the Executive Committee from 1919 to 1921, the Political Bureau (Politburo) from 1921 to 1952, the Executive Committee from 1952 to 1966 and the Presidency from 1966 until the adjournment of the 14th Congress in 1990. Foreign observers often referred to the presidency as the presidium.

Until 1966, the LCY was a unitary organisation in which the central party leadership alone controlled cadre appointments and national policy. At the apex of this system was the presidency. This system was reformed after the purge of Josip Broz Tito's long-standing heir apparent Aleksandar Ranković and replaced with a system of equal representation of the LCY's constitutive branches in its presidency. From 1969, each republican LC branch had two representatives and one ex officio member, each autonomous province had one representative and one ex officio member, and the League of Communists Organisation in the Yugoslav People's Army had one ex officio member. In this system, Tito, the LCY leader from 1939 to his death on 4 May 1980, was the only member of the presidency who was not elected to represent a constitutive branch of the LCY, and was an ex officio member through his office of president of the LCY Central Committee. Upon his death, the LCY presidency was abolished and replaced with the office of President of the Presidency of the LCY Central Committee. Officeholders were limited to one-year terms and the offices annually rotated between the LCY's constitutive branches. This was a system of collective leadership, and the presidency president worked with the secretary of the Presidency of the LCY Central Committee, which had a two-year term limit and rotated between the LCY's constitutive branches. The LCY president presided over the work of the presidency and, with the presidency's secretary, set the agenda and organised its sessions.

The post-Tito system of collective leadership succeeded in spreading power, though it was widely argued these reforms weakened the federal party organs at the expense of those of the LCY's branches. Following the 1989 fall of communism in most of Eastern Europe and heightened conflict within the LCY on ethnic lines, the LCY split at its 14th Congress, which was held on 20–22 January 1990. The Congress was adjourned and did not reconvene before May 1990; during the interval, the constituent Leagues in Macedonia, Slovenia and Croatia had left the LCY. On 26 May 1990, the 14th LCY Congress elected the Committee for the Preparation of the Congress of Democratic and Programmatic Renewal of the LCY Central Committee to function as a provisional leadership with the task of convening the 15th LCY Congress, which was never convened. The committee, the last federal organ of the LCY, dissolved itself on 22 January 1991.

The presidency represented the LCY domestically and abroad. It was chiefly responsible for organising and implementing the LCY Central Committee's work and programmes. Decision-making in the presidency, especially after Tito's death, was based on consensus and not decision by majority. All members of the presidency were of equal standing, including the presidency's president and secretary, and had equal responsibilities for implementing the presidency's decisions. Members had the right to speak freely on any topic at its session but could not publicly broadcast dissenting views without the presidency's consent.
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