Tito, Titoism and the West
| Author | George Adamkiewicz |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205000500105 |
| Date | 01 March 1950 |
| Published date | 01 March 1950 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Tito,
Titoism
and
the
West
George A
damkiewicz
A
nyone
conversant with
Slav
mentality
will
not fail
to
detect
a
falsetto
of
frustration
rising
above
the
spate
of
invective
launched
by
the
Kremlin against
Tito,
his
Serbo-Croat
Brains
Trust,
and
their
alleged
leanings
toward
the
West.
Ever
since
the
late
A.
A.
Zdhanov,
founder
of
the
"Cominform," called
upon
the
Communist
parties
throughout
the
world
in
September,
1947,
to
rally
the
"anti-Fascist,
democratic,
peace-loving
elements
against
the
new
plans
for
war
and
aggression,"'
it
has
become
increasingly
clear
that
the
effects
of
their
own
miscalculations
in
Europe
are
being
brought
home
to
the
rulers
of
Moscow
in
more
forms
than
one.
The
situation
in Yugoslavia
can
be
likened,
in
some
respects,
to
that
in
Spain
under
Franco
who,
despite
his
affiliations
with
Nazi
Germany,
managed
to
maintain
a
fairly
even
balance
between
East
and
West,
whilst establishing
a
firm
hold
on
his
own
country.
Josip
Broz
(Tito),
Stalin's
Croatian-born,
Moscow-trained
emissary-in-chief
in Yugoslavia,
found
himself
saddled
with
the
same
arduous
task
of
"sovietizing"
his homeland
in
record time,
as
was assigned
to his
fellow-appointees
in
all
the
other satellite
countries
of
Eastern
and
Central
Europe.
To
bring
them
into
a
common
front
of
so-called
people's
democracies
(i.e.
Soviet
republics),
owing
allegiance to
Moscow,
was
the
avowed
aim
of
this
centrally
directed
if
ill-advised
action.
Unlike
his
comrades,
Tito,
as
early
as
1944
was
able
to
stand
on
his
own
feet.
He
was
impelled
to
do
so
not
only
by
his
own
ambition
to
become
the
national
hero
of
his
people,
but
above
all
by
the
natural
condi-
tions
and
national
traditions
of
the
country
over
which
he
was
called
to
rule.
What
Tito
had
learnt,
and
Stalin
had
not,
was
'A.
A.
Zdhanov
on
the
international
situation
in
the
Report
Made
at
the
Conference
of
the
Nine
Communist
Parties
Held
in
Poland,
September,
1947
(London,
1947).
38
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