At the last May Parade in Belgrade in 1985, Marshal Tito, the main figure at all previous such events, had been dead for five years and the military was desperate for nothing to go wrong.
Spring is the time of new life awakening, promises and dreams of the future, and in Socialist Yugoslavia, May 1 was the time to celebrate International Workers’ Day, and also remember Victory Day which ended the Second World War.
It was an opportunity also to show off the might of the Yugoslav People’s Army, JNA, once the fourth mightiest military force in Europe. Apart from marches of school children in Pioneer uniforms, with red carnations, a show of achievements of the Socialist economy and displays of Yugoslav Partisan war banners and military hardware, all these events had one thing in common:
They all started at the moment when the Army Commander-in-Chief, Marshal Tito came to the grandstand.
Last Parade in Belgrade
“I remember the last May 1 Parade in Belgrade in 1985,” Tomislav Peternek, legendary Belgrade photo reporter and distinguished artist, recalls.
Marshal Tito, the main figure at all previous such events, had been dead for five years and the military was desperate for nothing to go wrong during the march of army and citizens through the main streets of Belgrade.
“We were all invited to Yugoslav Military Guard unit headquarters and right away some colonel started speaking about all the things we were not allowed to do.
“It seemed an endless list of prohibitions and all the colleagues were silent. He kept going on, until I interrupted him with a question: Do you want this parade to be reported in the media or not?”
After a short, uncomfortable silence, the colonel answered simply: “Yes.” Peternek then explained that, in that case, the organizers needed to create the conditions for photographers and cameraman to do their jobs and make a grandstand from which it was possible to shoot. And they did.
Different times, different mindset
“It was just a completely different time, and a different mindset. Rules were strict but people in charge were still open to hearing different opinions, especially if they came from professionals whose authority and experience was valued and respected.”
A spirit of readiness for collective effort was visible in daily life, not only on celebration days, Peternek remembers.
“Parades were always a bit nervous and tightly controlled events, with the organizers running around with orders and instructions all the time, and there was never any excess or incidents.
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