Alija Sirotanović

Alija Sirotanović was a very famous Yugoslav miner, perhaps the most famous of all Yugoslav udarniks. He was held up by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia to be a model of a hard-worker in the former Yugoslavia.

A coalmining contest

A worker in a coal mine in Breza, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sirotanović became famous when he beat another "model worker", Soviet miner Aleksei Stakhanov, in a coal mining contest, in the process setting a coal mining world record.

Political implications

As Yugoslavia was in political confrontation (see: Tito-Stalin split) with the Soviet Union around the time of the contest, his accomplishment was widely praised and publicised by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. Tito is said to have offered to fulfill any wish Sirotanović had, but all Alija is reported to have requested was a bigger shovel. Tito granted his wish, and the larger shovel that was designed for him was later named after him: "Sirotanovićka". The state also built him a new house in his village Trtorići. In 1987 Zabranjeno Pušenje recorded a song titled "Srce, ruke i lopata" ("Heart, Hands and a Shovel"), paying tribute to Comrade Alija, the model of a hard working, modest man.

Banknote

He was pictured on the 20,000 Yugoslav dinar banknote, but was often wrongly claimed to be pictured on the 10 Yugoslav dinar banknote. Despite the obvious similarities, the 10 dinar banknote is significantly older (circa 1968) and showed Arif Heralić, a metal worker working on a blast furnace in Zenica. The newer 20,000 dinar banknote was published on May Day in 1987.

External links

* http://www.bhdani.com/arhiva/102/citanka02.htm
* http://www.bhdani.com/arhiva/186/t18611.shtml
* [http://www.leksikon-yu-mitologije.net/read.php?id=674 Alija on Leksikon YU mitologije]
* [http://www.svastara.com/muzika/?tekst=2962 Text of song "Srce, ruke i lopata"]