The office of leader of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY) was first established on 23 April 1919 under the name "Political Secretary of the Central Committee". However, in reality, power in this period was shared in a collective leadership with the "Organisational Secretary of the Central Committee". When the office of political secretary changed its name in November 1936 to "General Secretary of the Central Committee", the position became more powerful. It kept that name until its abolishment on 4 October 1966, when it was replaced by the "President of the Central Committee". This office lasted until 4 May 1980, when Tito died and was replaced with the "President of the Presidency of the Central Committee". With several branches having already left the LCY, the remaining members of the Central Committee of the 13th Congress established the office of "Coordinator of the Presidency of the Central Committee" on 23 May 1990. Three days later, on 26 May, the 14th Congress rejourned and elected a provisional leadership, with the leader holding the office of "Chairman of the Committee for the Preparation of the Congress of Democratic and Programmatic Renewal of the Central Committee". The officeholder was for most of its existence the de facto leader of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
The founding congress of the LCY, held on 20–23 April 1919, established the offices of political and organisational secretary.[1] The office of political secretary gradually evolved into the general secretary until it was formalised in late 1936.[2] The general secretary presided over the work of the politburo, the party's political organ, and led the work of the secretariat, the party's executive organ. The most powerful members of the politburo concurrently served as members of the secretariat.[3] The four secretaries that made up the secretariat (Tito, Aleksandar Ranković, Edvard Kardelj and Milovan Djilas) had considerable informal influence on the politburo. They would often decide on policies before meetings and get the politburo to rubber stamp them.[4] Tito, as general secretary, had considerable influence over the selection of the composition of the central committee and its politburo.[5] During the 1940s, Tito, the sitting general secretary, began abrogating the responsibilities of the politburo and centralised power in his own hands. According to Ranković, a member of both the politburo and the secretariat, exchanges between the Yugoslav party and its counterparts in Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland and the Soviet Union were hidden from the politburo. Upon asking Tito at a politburo session to publicise this information to the gathered attendees, Tito responded, "I am the [general secretary] of the party. I have the right to decide what to tell you and the others."[6] These power relations remained intact until the dissolution of the secretariat in 1966.[7]
The 5th Session of the Central Committee of the 8th Congress, held on 4 October 1966, abolished the general secretary and the executive committee and replaced them with the office of president of the LCY Central Committee and the LCY Presidency.[7] The 9th LCY Congress, held on 11–15 March 1969, adopted a statute formalising the role of the LCY president. It was the responsibility of the president of the LCY to direct the work of the presidency as well as to convene and preside over its meetings. During sessions of the presidency, the conference and at the congress, the LCY president had the right to raise questions. Up until the election of the working presidency, the LCY president was responsible for inaugurating and presiding over the congress and conference. It was the incumbent's responsibility to maintain communication with the LCY republican branches, to represent the LCY abroad, and to present and defend the LCY's policies and practices.[8] The statute adopted at the 9th LCY Congress stated that the president was elected by the congress and was responsible to it, the conference, and the presidency.[9] At the 10th Congress of the LCY, held on 27–30 May 1974, Tito was elected to serve an unlimited term as the LCY president by the 1st Session of the 10th Central Committee. This decision was later re-confirmed by the 11th LCY Congress, held on 20–23 June 1978, and the decision was incorporated into the party statute.[10] Despite serving an unlimited term, Tito as LCY president remained accountable to the LCY Central Committee.[11]
At the 2nd Conference on 25–27 January 1972, the office of "Secretary of the Executive Bureau of the Presidency of the Central Committee" was established, with the Slovene Stane Dolanc as its first officeholder, and two years before Tito's death, on 19 October 1978, the presidency established the office of "Chairman of the Presidency of the Central Committee".[12] The LCY president functioned as the primus inter pares of these three offices, but in the aftermath of Tito's death the LCY Central Committee opted to abolish the office, and rename the chairmanship to president of the presidency.[13] There were no term limits on the office of the LCY president, but the president of the presidency was limited to a one-year term, while the secretary had a two-year term limit.[14] The LCY Presidency elected the president of the presidency from among its members. The elected president of the presidency had to be from a different republic or autonomous province than the secretary of the presidency.[15] The president of the presidency was to preside over the sessions of the presidency, and in conjunction with the presidency secretary, the relevant presidency member in charge of the specific policy area in question and the executive secretaries could set the agenda for sessions of the presidency.[16] Per party rules, the officeholder had to maintain contact with individual presidency members and the presidency as a whole alongside the secretary of the presidency. Only after consulting with individual members and the secretary could the incumbent implement the work programme and decisions adopted by the LCY Central Committee and the presidency.[17] The officeholder was an ex officio member of the state presidency until the party backed constitutional amendments that removed this right.[18] By right of office, the president of the presidency was also a member of the LCY Central Committee delegation to the Conference of the Socialist Alliance of Working People.[19]
At the 26th Session of the Central Committee of the 13th Congress, held on 11 September 1989, Bosnian Croat Ivan Brigić, who led the work on formulating amendments to the party statute at the upcoming 14th Congress, proposed abolishing the presidency and replacing it with a new executive body and the office of president of the presidency and reintroducing the post of president of the LCY Central Committee, who could serve for a two-year term.[20] The 14th Congress, when it first convened on 20–22 January, failed to elect an LCY Central Committee, adopt a new programme and party statute. The sitting president of the presidency, Milan Pančevski, who was originally going to step down at the congress continued to serve until his term expired on 17 May, but no successor was elected to replace him. When the 32nd Session of the Central Committee of the 13th Congress convened on 23 May, it elected Montenegrin presidency member Miomir Grbović as coordinator instead of acting president of the presidency.[21] Three days later, on 26 May, the 14th Congress elected a provisional leadership to convene the 15th LCY Congress. It failed in its task, and on 22 January 1991, it—the last federal organ of the LCY—self-dissolved.[22]