Which Way Tito?
WILLEN, PAUL
WHICH WAY TITO? Yugoslavia is neither returning to the East nor moving toward the West, but is set on strengthening its present independent position, a recent visitor concludes By Paul Willen In...
...This stubborn fact of Yugoslav independence makes it possible for one to say--after a three-week tour of this country--that Yugoslavia is still definitely and firmly on this side of the Iron Curtain...
...The Yugoslavs, apparently hoping to exploit Rakosi's guilt as one of the most violent anti-Titoists, demanded over $100 million in unfulfilled reparations...
...But the people went one step further...
...The device was unsuccessful, and only provoked tension between the two delegations...
...Interviewing the new Soviet Minister of Culture...
...When I told one high Yugoslav official that many Americans thought Yugoslavia was "going back" to the Kremlin, he laughed and said: "If it's true, then I think America is 'going back' as well...
...We have a better understanding of their methods than you Americans possibly could," he remarked, almost belligerently...
...it would have meant taking a day off from work...
...Relieved of the threat of invasion from the East, the pressures on Tito for cooperation with the West have inevitably diminished...
...He returned from his most recent visit there only a week ago...
...Furthermore, despite the trenchant criticisms, the Yugoslav reports were basically restrained in tone...
...Have you ever seen a crowd of 100,000 people stand for a few moments in absolute motionlessness...
...This organization would exist only to "exchange experiences...
...Everywhere in the American press I read discussions of the change in Soviet foreign policy, exactly as it has been analyzed in our press...
...Nobody in the world builds as luxuriously as you do," one Yugoslav said with an irony which eluded the Russian...
...A complete victory for either bloc in the struggle for Europe might mean disaster for Tito's peculiar social system...
...Much to the annoyance of the Yugoslavs, the Poles insisted on expressing their unbounded enthusiasm for everything they had seen in the Soviet Union...
...The Yugoslavs find it difficult to specify any way in which they might profit from recent Soviet experience...
...Most surprising of all, I heard the British trade unions criticized for clinging to old conceptions of class struggle and American trade unions praised for rising above these conceptions toward a more responsible and management-oriented view...
...Good," he said, obviously at ease, "that means that we can get right down to business...
...he has every interest therefore in the status quo...
...The regime had given orders that there was to be no cheering of the foreign guests...
...While walking through the celebrated Postojna caves, I met the guide who had conducted Khrushchev and his cabal through its many lurid corridors...
...in fact, my impression was that criticisms of regime policies were more explicit than on my last visit a year ago...
...This self-appraisal is both revealing and accurate...
...Functionaries throughout the country are eager to acquaint the foreign traveler with the peculiar "Yugoslav position" on all questions of world politics...
...Yet the fact is that in Yugoslavia today, on all lev-els of life and administration, there is much more flexibility in human relations than in the Iron Curtain countries...
...The shocked Yugoslavs didn't say anything but simply sat, took notes and let Mikhailov write his own indictment of Soviet cultural policy...
...Personal regard for the Soyiet leaders is not much greater among the officials I met than it is with the man in the street...
...To realize Tito's achievements, one must recall that at Teheran only 12 years ago, Churchill and Stalin bargained for a 50-50 division of Yugoslavia between British and Soviet spheres of influence...
...Tito's major speeches in the past two years have dealt almost exclusively with threats to Yugoslav national interest--his angry reaction to the Anglo-American decision in October 1953 to settle the Trieste question in Italy's favor, his blast at Molotov's effort in March 1955 to blame Tito for the Yugoslav-Soviet rift, his sharp attack last July on certain Czech and Hungarian Communists still conducting anti-Yugoslav policies...
...the Yugoslavs asked how much the Government interferes with the work of its writers...
...The reorientation of Yugoslav foreign policy is real, and so long as Soviet policy toward Yugoslavia remains essentially pacific, it is probably irrevocable...
...but admiration for him is tinged with many doubts and colored by many stories of his efforts to intrude Stalinist conceptions into the Belgrade talks...
...The Yugoslav press and radio nearly every day offer public lectures to Americans...
...The memory of the years in which Yugoslav youth groups were persecuted by the Stalinist-controlled World Federation of Democratic Youth (in whose foundation the Yugoslavs had played a prominent role) still rankled...
...By the time I arrived, the whole Khrushchev extravaganza was treated with remarkable casualness...
...One observer described Tito's foreign policy as "yugocentric...
...one person told me...
...How did they react...
...Not only didn't they cheer--but when the Russians walked out of the station, there wasn't even the normal commotion you expect when a crowd sights what it has been waiting for...
...In the course of his travels, he spoke not only to officials of the Government, but to provincial dignitaries, peasants and factory workers...
...On the contrary, one critic admitted, "they are letting more people out of jail...
...When the Khrushchev-Bulganin visit was first announced, many were frightened, but this wore off quickly...
...As a French diplomat remarked: "It was one of the greatest effronteries in the history of international diplomacy...
...The most excited recollection of the Khrushchev-Bulganin visit was from those who had watched them emerge from the Zagreb station...
...In Belgrade, it is said that when Khrushchev was in Yugoslavia he offered a toast to Stalin at a luncheon with Tito's two right-hand men, Kardelj and Ranko-vic, in the hope of uncovering latent Stalinist leanings...
...All social institutions are described and explained in terms of the unique "Yugoslav conception" of social development...
...There is no perceptible tightening up of the political atmosphere...
...Visiting a new rest-home on the Black Sea, the Yugoslavs were appalled at its palatial magnificence, which they considered very wasteful...
...Even the announced "annulment" this summer by the WFDY of the 1950 decision to expel the Yugoslav youth could not erase old feelings...
...it is clear that the Government wants to remain circumspect in all matters of internal Soviet policy...
...and the day when Tito was a semi-ally of the United States, loosely linked to the NATO structure, has definitely passed...
...on nearly every question under the sun...
...And I heard American industrial relations--particularly the Guaranteed Annual Wage--held up as a model of progressive social thinking by prominent Yugoslav Communists...
...When the Poles proposed an extravagant toast to Soviet achievements, the Yugoslavs responded with a tost to "the policy of non-interference in each other's internal affairs," a clear slap at the Poles...
...Willen has published articles in Antioch Review, Commentary, Encounter, the Reporter and many oilier periodicals...
...After completing a tour of a relatively successful Slovenian town, I told a leading Communist that it was unfortunate Khrushchev had missed this town on his tour, as he would have been impressed by the amount of new construction...
...In particular, they cheered every sign that Stalin's name and works are losing prominence...
...and Yugoslav practice is inevitably cited as a model for Great Power emulation...
...This is the first of two articles on conditions inside Yugoslavia by Paul Willen, who has made several trips to that country since World War II...
...Even today one is reminded of such incidents as the raping of Communist girls who went out from the villages to greet "liberating" Russian soldiers in 1944...
...Describing the incident later, the Yugoslav journalist remarked: "Naturally the capitalists wouldn't--they are much more practical...
...it would have no other powers or duties...
...When the Hungarian negotiators in Belgrade offered to pay only a fraction of this enormous sum, the Yugoslavs abruptly broke off negotiations...
...Khrushchev personally gained some prestige as a new "positive force" in the Soviet Union...
...of course, amusing to hear the Soviets criticized for their failure to under stand democratic methods by the very people who so recently silenced Milovan Djilas for his bold adyocary of a two-party system...
...Official dance groups and sporting teams have made visits behind the Iron Curtain, but more intimate organizational contacts seem still some way off...
...Touring Georgia, the Yugoslavs were invited to visit Gori, Stalin's birthplace...
...the term is apt...
...They described such crucial points as the inequalities of the wage sys-tem.the inadequacy and paucity of Soviet statistics, the monumental waste of Soviet planning, the over-centralization of ministerial decisionmaking, the narrow-mindedness of many Soviet officials...
...thinking he was among friends, proceeded to cite instance after instance of outright Government meddling with artistic freedom, almost as if he were proud of his ability to control his artists...
...It is...
...Russians, Poles, Englishmen, etc...
...The gap between the Yugoslav and Soviet mentality produced some amusing interchanges...
...Yes, yes," the Russian replied, "the capitalists will never be able to build anything like this...
...The complete unfamiliarity of Soviet functionaries with the give-and-take of democratic processes is also frequently mentioned...
...Yet Tito remains suspect in the West, as if there were something sinister about his alleged neutralism...
...We have burned our fingers once," is a continuous refrain I heard from nearly every official I encountered...
...It is true, of course, that as a result of the recent changes in the international climate, Yugoslav foreign policy has undergone a definite reorientation...
...The head of the Yugoslav Parliamentary delegation which toured the USSR in August, Bakaric, frankly told his Russian hosts on one occasion: "We have seen hard days after 1948...
...The traces of the "hard days after 1948" to which Bakaric referred were particularly evident in those fields where direct State interests were not involved, in youth, sport, and cultural organizations...
...As Tito phrased it: "We cannot struggle, even in the domain of propaganda, against so enormous a force as the Soviet Union...
...Nevertheless, Yugoslav independence from the Western military-diplomatic network does not inevitably mean subservience to the Soviets...
...Whereas in 1943 the Great Powers were ready to dispose of Yugoslavia without consulting a single Yugoslav politician, in 1955 the same Great Powers are busily courting Yugoslav leaders simply in order to insure the country's "neutrality" in the struggle for Europe...
...The Yugoslavs were surprised at the tactlessness of the request, and politely refused...
...yet it is interesting that it is to the United States that they are presently looking for new and fresh developments in this field...
...and the desire to reduce their influence over smaller nations is very intense...
...It is also clear that Khrushchev's memorable whirlwind trip through Yugoslavia last May was not as barren of results as many then optimistically supposed...
...The foreign traveler looks closely for corroboration of these suspicions, but they are difficult to find...
...Not until full democratic rights are assured for all members," he flatly stated...
...The fear of "blocs" is almost pathological in Belgrade...
...Incredible...
...The phrase "exchange of Socialist experiences"--first mentioned in a Belgrade communique last June--aroused much curiosity among foreign observers...
...Mikhailov...
...Nothing is cherished as highly by the present regime as the fact of its independence...
...Yugoslavia is neither returning to the East nor moving toward the West, but is set on strengthening its present independent position, a recent visitor concludes By Paul Willen In an interview with 30 American students last July, Marshal Tito summed up the achievements of his regime as follows: "Out of a war-devastated and destroyed country we have created a Yugoslavia with a reputation in the world...
...the satellite leadership is frequently spoken of with the greatest contempt...
...Their correspondence was both critical and objective...
...Perhaps the person who feels this most keenly now is Hungary's Communist dictator, Matyas Rakosi, who must explain to his Kremlin bosses why recent economic negotiations with Yugoslavia fell through...
...Indeed, it is possible to assert that the general drift of Yugoslav internal policy over the past five years reflects a far greater influence of John Dewey and John Mill than of Marx, Lenin or Stalin...
...His reply: "I'm glad he didn't come...
...It would not be sincere to say that the tragic events have not left any traces...
...It is even said that Yugoslav pressure was partly responsible for the Soviet decision to give up its Austrian outpost last March...
...When I interviewed the foreign officer in charge of East European relations, I prefaced our discussion of Yugoslavia's relationship to the satellites with this remark: "Before we begin, I wish to state that I am already convinced that Yugoslavia is an independent country, taking dictation from no one...
...He replied, as if a little bored by the subject: "They had to walk, like everyone else, and I guess they got tired...
...this was, everyone said, one of the most popular commands it ever issued...
...Why...
...The utter amazement of the Soviet delegation at the attention given workers' housing in Yugoslavia is reported as a reflection of the backwardness of Soviet conceptions of public welfare...
...The gulf between Yugoslay and Soviet Communism became particularly apparent when a group of Yugoslav journalists, who had toured Russia in July, returned and reported on their trip...
...Someone present proposed a toast to Stalin...
...on the other hand, they see much in their own experience which the Soviets might fruitfully study...
...for when all is said and done, Yugoslavia's present "reputation in the world" will probably be history's greatest tribute to Yugoslav Communism...
...The rest of the Soviet leadership seems to enjoy little prestige...
...Both the Government and the people appear to be going about their business as if nothing extraordinary were happening in the realm of foreign policy...
...Without even free trade unions, it is doubtful that the Yugoslavs can implement the progressive industrial relations they praise in the U.S...
...There is much evidence that the Yugoslav policy of "independence from both blocs, East and West," is genuine, and that the same internal forces and fears which kept Tito out of the NATO structure guarantee that he will make no organizational commitments to the Soviet bloc...
...it has, indeed, become something of a fetish...
...In Rustali, a Georgian town, the Yugoslavs were given a great dinner, which was also attended by some touring Polish journalists...
...A rising young specialist on Soviet affairs, Mr...
...the Yugoslavs again balked...
...Mikhailov...
...The Yugoslavs today favor a youth organization "removed from all blocs, East and West," in line with the general Yugoslav demand for the abolition of both the Cominform and the Socialist International and their replacement by a global socialist organization embracing all Left parties...
...The relatively generous terms of the recent long-term Soviet loan to Yugoslavia, and Russian eagerness to flatter Yugoslavia's national pride, indicate that, so long as the Russians do not demand anything more than "active neutralism" in return for this generosity, the present policy may pay off handsomely for Belgrade...
...Yugoslav impatience with the ubiquitous question of "going back" derives from more than the memory of past debacles...
...Toward the end of my visit, I began to realize I was wasting my time asking such questions...
...We had the impression that our hosts were offended by our refusal to visit this modern Mecca," the Yugoslavs observed later...
...So far as internal conditions are concerned, there was unanimous agreement?even on the part of regime opponents, traditionally suspicious of the Tito-Stalin break--that the new foreign policy has had no repercussions...
...I asked one Yugoslav youth leader whether organizational communications with Soviet and satellite youth organizations were being restored...
...One may expect further indignant outbursts from Tito as soon as another nation refuses, in one way or another, to acknowledge the full stature of Yugoslav sovereignty...
...Yet this does not preclude the continuation of objective reporting, especially in Yugoslavia, with its huge reservoirs of bitterness toward the Soviet Union...
...The Yugoslav correspondents, it should be noted, stressed that there were many signs of improving conditions: trends toward decentralization, less fear of foreigners, indications that the police are less powerful...
...So far as I could gather, the Yugoslavs conceive of this "exchange" as a strictly one way affair...
...they remained completely silent, simply staring fixedly at the emerging entourage...
Vol. 38 • October 1955 • No. 40
