ABSTRACT
Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) persuasive policies in the first nine years after the Second World War describe the party's progress within its graduated strategy for the construction of socialism. Consequently, CPY rhetoric in this period consisted mainly of appeals to Yugoslav citizens to work more and harder, and to express their loyalty to the party by repeating slogans and attending carefully staged political rallies. In the process developed not only a new approach to the political and economic construction of socialism but also a more sophisticated and thoughtful understanding of cultural and social change. In practice, of course, the reforms opened the doors to much apolitical and nonsocialist thought and cultural activity. While unwilling to let reliance on persuasion threaten the political supremacy of the party, CPY leaders still believed that the cultural transformation of society must come about gradually through socialist education and ideological persuasion.
