The manuscript itself was written in 1956, while this most famous book by Djilas was published in 1957 in the United States, and later it had dozens of editions in many languages. Djilas presented his theoretical explanation of the concept of the “new class,” which was born just after the revolution in the newly established communist societies. He considered the emergence of the “new class” as a social reality that is deeply rooted in ideological theories about the establishment of social egalitarianism. This was a new communist elite created by the Yugoslav revolution  at the top of society in order to collectively manage all social resources. The main conclusion of Djilas is that this “new class” had, paradoxically, been transformed into the exploitative class against which it had itself fought during the social revolution. Thus, Djilas's reflections on “the revolution betrayed” by the communist avant-garde was similar what Trotsky had already observed. By doing so, he seriously shook the legitimacy of the ideological foundations of Tito's Yugoslavia and the countries of the Eastern communist bloc, as the first dissident who was labelled the main enemy of communism. However, although Djilas condemned totalitarian communism and single-party dictatorship, he had maintained his socialist beliefs until the end of his life, believing that socialism could be achieved through reform in a democratic order.