Ljubo Sirc is an economist. He was born in Kranj, Slovenia, in April 19, 1920. He participated in the Resistance and served in the Yugoslav Army between 1941 and 1945. In 1947, due to his political opposition and friendship with Western diplomats, he was sentenced to death. He was imprisoned in Slovenia/Yugoslavia from 1947 to 1954, but escaped to the United Kingdom via Italy in 1955/56.

He received a law degree from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1945, and a Doctorate in Economics from Fribourg University, Switzerland in 1961. Since that time he has held academic appointments at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh; the University of St. Andrews, Dundee, Scotland; Center Nationale de la R�ch�rche Scientifique, Paris, Universities of Frankfurt, Hamburg and Stanford; and the University of Glasgow, Scotland.

Ljubo Sirc has served as Director of the Center for Research into Post-Communist Economies in London. since 1983. He is the author of numerous books and articles in a variety of languages. His autobiography, Between Hitler and Tito, was published in 1989.

Communism in Aphorism

(with the transition thrown in)

When Bill Clinton visited Slovenia in 1999, some people thought that he should, at least briefly, meet the representatives of those who had suffered under communism, especially if their suffering was somehow connected with the United States.

It was not to be - the American president declared that a political situation in which (ex?) communists dominated was excellent and gave the Slovenian President, Milan Kucan an ecouraging pat on the back. Why not? President Kucan was the last Secretary General (in Yugoslav parlance "president") of the Slovenian Communist Party (in Yugoslav parlance "Communist League"). His head of electoral staff, Professor Zdenko Roter, is an old political policeman; he personally interrogated this writer when he was tried for his life, in particular for his Western sympathies. Another Kucan's cherished friend (according to the Slovene State TV) is the notorious former top political policeman, Colonel Mitja Ribicic, who became the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia around 1970 when Tito tried to re-introduce class politics. In 1947, Ribicic organized a Stalinist-type show-trial of several young Slovenian patriots who established contacts with their former British and American friends. Several were sentenced to death on fabricated charges. One, Nagode was shot. To this day, no one knows where they buried him. This was the kind of company President Kucan was keeping during President Clinton's visit while telling him about the marvels of democracy in Slovenia.

Amongst those with whom, in the opinion of this author, President Clinton should have shaken hands, was Zarko Petan, a well-known Slovene writer. He had a very hard time because his brother worked for Radio Free Europe in Munich. Petan described his misadventures in his own book The Past.

Yet, the communists could not get at him. He even defended himself which was considered to be very bad, in line with saying "The beast is dangerous, it defends itself." Petan's main strength was his humorous disposition. Instead of succumbing, he started composing aphorisms. He chose this form of expression as one particularly appropriate to for those in prison, since the short, biting sentences are easy to remember.

It is an intriguing thought to use such short sentences (in the old Latin sense of sententiae to illustrate the development of a country under communist rule and the present transition. They show the country and the world around it through the eyes of a creative writer, a writer of aphorisms. This is a way of not reporting mere dry facts, but of conveying to the reader a part of the feelings that animated the subjects of a totalitarian regime and its aftermath.

The Quality of Communist Freedom