In the history of political thought, few books have caused as much immediate upheaval as The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System (Nova Klasa), written by Milovan Đilas in 1957.
Đilas was not an external critic or a Western Cold Warrior. He was the Vice President of Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito, a man who had fought the Nazis and helped build the very communist state he eventually dismantled ideologically. When fragments of the book were smuggled to the West and published, Đilas was imprisoned. The book itself became one of the most important texts of the 20th century, offering the first insider’s critique of the "actually existing" socialism of the Soviet bloc.
For those searching for a PDF or summary of the work, the core value lies not just in its historical dissent, but in its sociological prediction of how modern bureaucracies function.
In the story of his disillusionment, Đilas coined the term that would make him famous: The New Class.
He argued that while the system claimed to be a dictatorship of the proletariat, it was actually a dictatorship of the Party bureaucracy. This new class—the party officials, the managers, the police chiefs—derived its power not from capital, but from "collective ownership." milovan djilas nova klasapdf
In a capitalist society, a CEO makes money. In the "New Class" society Đilas described, the bureaucrat makes power.
This was the terrifying realization that makes the book so enduring. Đilas wrote that this new class was actually more exploitative than the old bourgeoisie. A capitalist wants profit; a bureaucrat wants total control. To maintain their grip on the "collective property," the New Class had to stifle freedom, censor speech, and eliminate dissent.
Đilas realized that he was no longer a revolutionary fighting for the worker. He was a member of a new elite, enjoying the fruits of other people's labor while preaching equality.
“The new class is a class of special privileges and exclusive rights… it appropriates for itself the ownership of the means of production in the name of the people.” In the history of political thought, few books
“What is happening today is not the building of communism, but the formation of a new class of owners, disguised as servants of the people.”
If you need a critical analysis or a comparison with other works (e.g., Orwell’s Animal Farm, Burnham’s The Managerial Revolution), let me know and I can provide more depth.
The fundamental argument of The New Class flips Marxist theory on its head. Marx argued that the state is a tool of the ruling economic class (the bourgeoisie) to suppress the proletariat. Đilas argued that in a Communist system, a new ruling class emerges that is more oppressive than the capitalists it replaced.
Who is the New Class? Đilas identifies the "New Class" not as the factory owners, but as the party bureaucracy. This class is defined by its collective ownership of the means of production. “The new class is a class of special
In a capitalist society, a factory owner has individual ownership. In a communist state, the state owns the factories. But who controls the state? The party bureaucracy. Therefore, the bureaucracy effectively owns the wealth of the nation, disguised as "social property."
Đilas writes:
"The new class may be said to be made up of those who have special privileges and economic preference because of the administrative monopoly they hold."
One of the most compelling parts of Đilas’s analysis is his historical timeline. He explains how the revolutionary vanguard transforms into the parasitic new class:
Đilas famously noted that the "New Class" was worse than the old aristocracy or bourgeoisie. The old bourgeoisie at least created new wealth through innovation and risk. The New Class creates nothing; they merely redistribute the wealth created by others into their own pockets, relying on police power to maintain their position.