Milovan Djilas ’s 1957 work, The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System , argues that communist revolutions failed to create a classless society, instead replacing the old capitalist elite with a new ruling class composed of party bureaucrats. Djilas, a former Yugoslav insider, posits that this "New Class" maintains power through administrative control of state resources, rigid ideological dogmatism, and the creation of a privileged elite despite nominal communist egalitarianism. Share public link
Milovan Đilas’s 1957 work, The New Class (Nova Klasa) , argues that communist revolutions failed to establish a classless society, instead creating a new, exploitative ruling bureaucracy. Đilas, a former top Yugoslav official, posited that this party elite used its monopoly over state ownership, ideology, and power to maintain absolute privilege. This critical analysis of the communist system became a fundamental text in understanding the internal dynamics and inevitable decline of the Soviet bloc. Milovan Djilas Nova Klasa.pdf
This class enjoys exclusive material privileges (better housing, special stores, luxury goods, and high salaries) and maintains an absolute monopoly on political power, media, and ideology. 3. Key Concepts Explored in the Book Milovan Djilas ’s 1957 work, The New Class:
: This class consists of the political bureaucracy—the party-state officials and technocrats—who exercise a total monopoly over the state and the economy. Control vs. Ownership Đilas, a former top Yugoslav official, posited that
This produces a neurotic ruling class that fears two things above all: market reforms (which would introduce economic competition) and true democracy (which would introduce political competition). As Djilas puts it, “The new class fears freedom more than it fears counter-revolution” (1957, p. 168).
Milovan Đilas’s The New Class remains a masterpiece of political analysis. By demonstrating that totalitarianism and inequality were not accidental detours of communism but inherent features of its structure, Đilas delivered a devastating intellectual blow to the Soviet model. Decades after the Cold War, his insights into how political elites convert administrative power into personal privilege remain highly relevant to analyzing modern authoritarian regimes across the globe.