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Background
Milovan Djilas was one of the leading figures in Yugoslavia’s post-World War II communist regime and a close ally of Josip Broz Tito. He initially believed in the ideals of Marxism but grew disillusioned with the reality of how communism was practiced. The New Class is his groundbreaking critique of the communist system — not from a capitalist or Western perspective, but from an insider who once helped build it.

The book was banned throughout the Eastern Bloc and led to Djilas's imprisonment in Yugoslavia. In the West, however, it caused a stir for its bold and honest dissection of authoritarian socialism.

🧠 Core Argument
Djilas’s central thesis is that communist revolutions, instead of creating a classless society, create a new ruling class — the “new class” — composed of party officials, bureaucrats, and state managers.

In theory, communism abolishes private ownership of the means of production. In practice, however, the Communist Party takes collective ownership — which translates into political control over resources, labor, and society. Those who manage this system form a privileged class that behaves much like the old capitalist elites, despite claiming to serve the proletariat.

Who Is the “New Class”?
According to Djilas, the new class includes:

Senior Communist Party leaders

State bureaucrats and administrators

Military leaders

Managers of state-owned industries

This group monopolizes political power, economic control, and cultural influence. It is not defined by wealth, as in capitalism, but by access to political privilege, perks, and decision-making power.

Their authority comes not from property, but from their positions within the Communist Party and state apparatus.

How the New Class Maintains Power
Djilas provides examples of how the new class consolidates and protects its dominance:

Centralized control of media, education, and ideology

Privileged access to housing, healthcare, consumer goods, and travel

Suppression of dissent through censorship, purges, and propaganda

Creation of a pseudo-meritocracy, where loyalty to the Party trumps competence

He argues that this class is deeply conservative in the sense that it seeks to preserve the status quo and avoid any reform that might weaken its position — even if that means betraying the revolutionary ideals that brought it to power.