The Anatomy of a Forbidden Manuscript: Unpacking Milovan Djilas’s "Nova Klasa" (The New Class)

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Verdict

The "Red Bourgeoisie"

The New Class

According to Djilas, is defined by three characteristics:

While the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Djilas’s thesis has proven remarkably durable. Political scientists argue that his model fits not just Stalinist Russia, but also:

3. Libertarian and Anarchist Literature

• Definition of the new class: Party-bureaucrats who centrally allocate resources, command the state apparatus, and secure privileges (housing, access, consumption) that distinguish them from ordinary workers.
• Mechanism of class formation: Revolutionary monopoly of political power creates incentives and institutions (appointments, distribution systems, secrecy) that concentrate control and reproduce a privileged caste.
• Property without ownership: Although formal private property is abolished, the new class effectively controls society’s productive assets via administrative command — a form of collective but exclusive control that functions like ownership.
• Ideology and legitimation: Official socialist ideology (equality, proletarian rule) masks the emergence of the new class. Rituals, propaganda, and party mythology legitimize elite rule while preventing democratic accountability.
• Corruption and degeneration: Bureaucratic power breeds corruption, careerism, and a detachment from revolutionary goals; revolutionaries become guardians of the system rather than its servants.
• Prospects for change: Djilas was pessimistic about internal reform under entrenched bureaucracies; he suggested that only democratization, decentralization, and the revival of civil society could check the new class.