eminent in Serbia in the precommunistrnperiod, so the regime did not need to bernconcemed about my activities. But theyrndid keep tabs, by (among other things)rninstalHng Hstening devices in the roomrnradio and the telephone. My visits tornrelatives were mainly perfunctory; therernwas not much of interest in the thingsrnthat they had to say.rnBy the time we returned to Yugoslaviarnin the summer of 1971, however, thingsrnwere different. Aunt Vida had died, andrnDanica and her family had moved into arnbetter apartment in the center of town.rnHer two children, a boy and girl, werernteenagers. Adele and I decided that wernshould take the girl, Slobodanka, to a departmentrnstore and buy her a new outfit.rnShe was delighted, and we were pleased.rnIn terms of American dollars, it was notrnan expensive spree. Danica was elated,rnbut lamented that we had been overlyrngenerous.rnOver the next few years, I returned arnnumber of times to carry on my research.rnDanica now talked at length about herrngreat disappointments with the communistrnsystem. She had become a memberrnof the illegal Communist Party at age 18,rninfluenced no doubt by the actions ofrnher older brothers. During the civil warrnbetween the Chetniks and the communist-rnled Partisans that raged in 1943-45,rnshe smuggled food and other items to thernPartisans. That risky action, whichrnwould have meant death if caught, wasrnmotivated by family as well as politics,rnher two brothers being in the Partisanrnranks. She told me how she had joinedrnthe Anti-Fascist Women; as a cityrndweller she rolled up her sleeves andrnplunged into the grimy task of harvestingrnpotatoes. “I wanted everyone to work,”rnshe said, “so that all of us could live better.”rnBut early on, she observed that thernwives of the more influential party membersrndid not want to dirty their hands. Arn”new class” of rulers was forming, asrnMilovan Djilas, a onetime Tito collaborator,rndescribed in a book with that title.rnIt was published abroad in 1957, and ledrnto a ten-year prison term for the author.rnSince Danica’s family was firom Montenegro,rnI asked her and her husband ifrnthey had read their countryman’s book.rnIn hushed and subdued tones, they toldrnme that they had; but on finishing it, theyrnhad burned it in their heating stove. Itrnmust have been a Serb edition that hadrnbeen smuggled into the country, becausernneither one of them knew English.rnIncreasingly, Danica seemed eager torntalk about the communist system. Whilerncautioning me about whom I should bernseen with or whom I should try to see,rnDanica’s criticisms became bolder. Onrnone occasion, she said: “See, Alex, communismrnis no good.” Her criticisms centeredrnon various failures of the regime,rnbut the privileges enjoyed by the rulingrnclass are what peeved her the most. Sherndid not use theory to explain what hadrnhappened. It was simply greed.rnDjilas noted in The New Class howrnparty members who, during the revolution,rnhad been willing to give their all forrnthe cause, even life itself, had—once inrnpower—become “characterless wretches”rnin pursuit of material things. I oncernasked him how he explained such behavior.rnHe gave me an un-Marxian answer:rn”human nature.”rnOf all my conversations with Danica,rnthe most memorable occurred amid arnmoment of sorrow and resignation.rn”Alex,” she declared, “disillusionment isrna terrible disease . . . ” The sentencerntrailed off, her ultimate parting with thern”God That Failed.”rnAlex N. Dragnich is a retired professor ofrnpolitical science.rnMUSICrnMerle Haggard andrnthe Culture Warrnby Clark StooksburyrnHank Williams died on New Year’srnDay, 1953. He was not yet 30rnwhen he passed away in the back of arnCadillac. The circumstances of his lifernand death created the legendary aurarnthat surrounds Williams and virtuallyrnguaranteed that he would be the subjectrnof many songs as well as a writer andrnsinger of them.rnOn the sixth anniversary of Williams’rndeath, another country legend was bornrnat San Quentin State Prison in California.rnMerle Haggard actually entered thernworld in 1937, but the course of his lifernwas altered on the first day of 1959 whenrnhe attended a Johnny Cash performancernat the prison. The show reinvigorated arndesire to play and sing country musicrnthat was present at least from age 16rnwhen he mounted the stage during arnLefty Frizzell show, at Frizzell’s request,rnand sang a few songs.rnThe sort of experience that is good forrna country music career is bad for a successfulrnlife, and Haggard lived with a lotrnof pain in his early years. His father diedrnwhen he was nine. As a 14-year-old, hernserved his first time in jail, on suspicionrnof armed robbery. He spent a lot of timernin reform school and jail over the nextrnfew years before the crowning momentrnin his brief criminal career. At the age ofrn20, about to be a father for the secondrntime, Merle Haggard engaged in a pitifulrnact of drunken fecklessness. He and anrnaccomplice, under the influence of redrnwine, attempted to burglarize a highwayrnrestaurant at three o’clock in the morning.rnBut red wine can play tricks on therneyes: it was actually ten in the eveningrnand the diner was still filled with customersrnand employees. Haggard’s nextrnstop was San Quentin.rnMerle Haggard’s singing career hasrnbeen forged by several factors. He wasrnborn in Oildale, California, in 1937, tornparents who had participated in the greatrnmigration of Okies escaping the DustrnBowl. The California of his youth wasrnfilled with refugees from the Southwest,rnand like those Southerners who migratedrnto Chicago and “Detroit City,” they didrnnot abandon their roots when theyrnmoved. Bakersfield had a vibrant countryrnmusic scene in the 1950’s and 60’s,rnfeaturing artists like Buck Owens, FerlinrnHusky, and Tommy Collins, who wroternmany songs for Haggard. Haggardrnwould pay tribute to Collins years laterrnwith “Leonard,” a short biographicalrnsketch titled after Collins’ real name,rnLeonard Sipes: “He laid it all aside to followrnJesus / for years he chose to let hisrnmusic go / But preachin’ wasn’t reallyrnmeant for Leonard / But how in the hellrnwas Leonard supposed to know?”rnTo commemorate Haggard’s career, arnfour-disc boxed set, Down Every Road,rnwas released in 1996. The chronologicallyrnarranged set is filled with evidencernof Haggard’s greatness and importance asrna country singer. It begins with his firstrnsingle, “Skid Row” (1962), and concludesrnwith “In My Next Life” (1994).rnMerle Haggard is a multifaceted songwriterrnand storyteller, and Down EveryrnRoad reflects many facets of his talent.rnHaggard drew on his experience as a prisonerrnseveral times early in his career withrnJANUARY 1998/45rnrnrn