Mr Slobodan Milosevic made a direct television appeal to the people of Yugoslavia in an attempt to rally his support as opposition strikes gripped parts of Serbia yesterday.
He made it clear he had no intention of admitting defeat, and stressed that he would stand in the run-off presidential elections called for next Sunday.
The opposition has called for him to stand down now, given the decisive lead enjoyed by its candidate, Dr Vojislav Kostunica, in the presidential poll on September 24th and widespread evidence of electoral fraud by the Milosevic camp.
Mr Milosevic gives such speeches only on rare occasions and times of crisis, such as at the end of the NATO bombing.
This time his message was highly political. He said that if the opposition came to power "Yugoslavia would inevitably break up". And he added: "Our policy guarantees peace, while theirs [guarantees] clashes and hostility. I thought it was my task to warn the people of the consequences."
The television appearance came on a day when much of Serbia was disrupted by labour protests.
The opposition had called for a general strike to pressurise Mr Milosevic to concede defeat to Dr Kostunica.
The state electoral committee ruled last week that his share of the vote fell just short of 50 percent and ordered a run-off next Sunday.
However, yesterday's protests, while widespread, failed to gather sufficient momentum to bring Serbia to a standstill.
Bastions of opposition in the Serbian provinces lived up to their record of radicalism and defiance, but in Belgrade and many other major cities people failed to boycott work.
In activist towns such as Cacak, Kraljevo, Kragujevac, roads were blocked, shops shut and businesses closed. But an opposition spokesman conceded that the day's showing was a disappointment.
In Belgrade crucial roads leading into the centre were blocked during the first few hours after the strike began at 5 a.m. But later they began to grow busy with buses and trams taking workers to offices and businesses. The staff arrived late, but many went to work.
The opposition spokesman unofficially admitted the policy had flopped: "Today we particularly failed with this general strike," he said. "People in Serbia are not ready yet to boycott everything."
In the afternoon, students disrupted major streets in the heart of the capital. Tens of thousands of them rallied and marched down Bulevar Revolucije and outside the federal parliament.
Ms Branislava Gemovic, a student, was confident that the strike would work. "This is the end of Milosevic. I think by the end of the week he will be gone," she said.
A crucial intersection in Belgrade city centre was blocked at various times by large groups of students, who were blowing whistles and horns and waving flags.
But the capital's patchy support was in sharp contrast to the commitment shown by several towns and businesses in Serbia's hinterland.
The strikers at the crucial Kolubara coal mine complex said they were under enormous pressure but that clashes with police on Sunday night had reinforced their determination.
"Everyone is 100 per cent ready to continue with the strike," said Mr Milovan Jankovic, a union member.
Some 4,500 miners downed tools at the Kostolac mine in eastern Serbia. Miners blocked off the Kostolac mine and power plant but agreed to maintain minimum output there.
And in the central Serbian town of Cacak - which has a long history of anti-Milosevic activism - a crowd of angry people threatened to demolish the tax offices.
The town was almost out of control, said a local journalist.