Public lecture by Saša Vejzagić about large Production Enterprises in Yugoslavia

Organized by the Centre for Cultural and Historical Research of Socialism at Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, a public guest lecture entitled Large Production Enterprises in Yugoslavia: Business Systems, Development Strategies and Social Transformations was held on Wednesday, 28 January 2026, at the Faculty of Humanities in Pula. The lecture was delivered by Dr Saša Vejzagić of the Institute of Art History in Zagreb, a collaborator and member of the project team of the ERC project Housing.Yu – The Right to Housing: The Production of Everyday Living Space in Yugoslavia (1945–1991).

The lecture analysed the emergence and development of the business sector in the context of socio-economic changes in Yugoslavia from the 1960s onwards. Starting at the example of large production enterprises, the lecture opened a discussion on the role of business systems in twentieth-century socialist society, as well as on their internal organizational and development-strategic dynamics. Particular emphasis was placed on comparing the business strategies and practices of GK Međimurje from Čakovec and Industrogradnja from Zagreb. This comparison explored the processes through which large enterprises were formed, their economic and political relations with local communities, impact they had on housing construction and broader processes of social modernization, as well as experiences of workers’ self-management.