Ahead of the early parliamentary elections in Serbia, scheduled for October 25, the New Communist Party of Yugoslavia and the Communists of Serbia have adopted different pre-election strategies, supporting different political lists and expressing opposing views on the student movement.
New Communist Party of Yugoslavia Participates in Elections as Part of the Russian Party List.
On October 22, the New Communist Party of Yugoslavia (NKPY) published a pre-election statement (https://nkpj.org.rs/2026/10/22/glasaj-za-rusku-stranku-glasaj-za-komuniste/) titled “Vote for the Russian Party, Vote for the Communists.” Four candidates from the NKPY and its youth organization, the Union of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia (SKOJ), are running on the list “Russian Party - Serbia in BRICS - Slobodan Nolic”, which is listed as number seven on the ballot.
The party states that its decision to participate in the elections through the Russian Party reflects agreement on a number of domestic and international issues. These include: opposition to Serbia’s accession to NATO and the European Union, closer cooperation with Russia and the BRICS countries, opposition to sanctions against Russia and Belarus, and the protection of Serbia’s territorial integrity. They also emphasize their commitment to anti-fascist traditions.
In an interview published (https://www.danas.rs/vesti/politika/aleksandar-djenic-intervju-komunisti-izbori/) by the newspaper Danas on October 3, Aleksandar Jenic, the executive secretary of the NKPY, outlined the party’s domestic policy program, which includes the protection of workers’ rights, changes to labor legislation, free education, opposition to the Rio Tinto lithium mining project, the abolition of private bailiffs, increased state control over strategic sectors of the economy, and the termination of agreements with the IMF and the World Bank.
Jenic also strongly rejected the view that cooperation with the Russian Party is equivalent to supporting the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). He stated that the NKPY opposes the government’s policies and characterized the pre-election agreement as a collaboration based on specific common positions.
The interview also highlighted the disagreements between the NKPY and the student movement, which has become a central force in the opposition to the government. While Jenic acknowledged that the protests were driven by legitimate public discontent, he criticized their political direction, describing the demands of the student list as liberal and their organizational methods as incompatible with communist principles.
The NKPY argues that political struggle should be organized around a clearly defined leadership, accountability, and the protection of the interests of the working class, rather than through general assemblies (plenums), as practiced by student activists. Therefore, the party rejects the “Student List” as a political alternative, despite the participation of some left-wing groups in the broader movement.
Communists of Serbia Support the “Student List”
The Communists of Serbia have taken the opposite pre-election position. In a statement published on September 27, the organization expressed its support (https://www.komunistisrbije.rs/студенти-побеђују/) for the “Student List - Students Win” list, registered as number three on the ballot, and called on its members and supporters to vote for it, as the most direct electoral challenge to the current authorities.
The organization stated that the program of the student movement contains anti-capitalist tendencies, and highlighted proposals related to the fight against corruption, social policy, workers’ rights, education, and support for young people. It also criticized the government led by Aleksandar Vucic, as well as the Socialist Party of Serbia and the Movement of Socialists, arguing that these parties do not adequately represent the interests of workers.
Source -> https://t.me/kom_mir/15269
Vucic is a slimy opportunist but it’s pretty clear that the “Student List” stands for absolutely nothing and has no political program other than “we want to get rid of Vucic”. On the whole this entire Serbian election was a wash. At least in Brazil you knew you were stopping a degenerate Zionist American stooge, even if Lula himself is a rather disappointing socdem. In Serbia i don’t see a good outcome either way until a real alternative political force emerges.
Are the existing communist parties any good?
In Serbia? Any communist party is better than a non-communist party. It’s more so a question of where you see the priority of struggle. Personally i think by far the biggest danger to Serbia right now is the EU. If the EU manages to dig its claws into Serbia through the trojan horse of liberal “anti-corruption” color-revolution you can forget about any kind of remotely socialist or anti-imperialist politics. The EU suffocates all genuinely progressive politics.
On the surface, NKPY definitely has a better stance here. KoS is just vagueposting. Wtf does “anti-capitalist tendencies” mean anyway?
I think this is my main concern here. It’s good to have communist orgs, but we need to conduct some research on their current and especially previous activities. I am not familiar with the Russian Stranka, but they are different from the SRS (Radical Stranka, who are pro-Russia from a nationalist point). Concerning the Communists of Serbia, they will need to take immense action, as I believe the way things are headed now are extremely liberal.
Ngl the student list sorta look like my parents college logo.
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I am not well versed in the Serbian affair either 🥲
However, hopefully, someone from there can help us by enlightening us now that this thread is up. From my side, all I can say is that it looks messy.
Seems like cfgaussian enlightened us! Thanks comrade.
While that is nice of you to say i’m actually from a neighboring country, so i don’t pretend to have any expertise on Serbia beyond knowing how general European/Eastern European politics usually work and what i’ve seen following Serbia from afar.
I would like to hear from Serbian comrades what they think and how they assess the situation.
In particular i would like to know if my impressions are correct that
a) Vucic has been a two faced double dealer who has tried to simultaneously appease the pro-Russian and nationalist segment of the Serbian population while behind their back selling out and making deals and compromises with the EU and NATO, and
b) that most supporters of the “Student List” don’t even know what they actually want, who they are actually supporting, or what their policy agenda even is beyond just a vague “everything is bad because of corruption”, “everything will be magically fixed once we get rid of this government”.
There are definitely elements to this whole movement that smell of the typical color revolution playbook we have been seeing these past few years in various countries. We’ve seen this “youth anti-corruption protest movement” thing being weaponized too many times, so it’s hard not be be suspicious over how this all went down in Serbia.
At the same time, like i said, Vucic has been a really scummy opportunist who was not even remotely a good ally of Russia or the BRICS, so it’s hard to feel sad that he lost.
