Communist revolution in Yugoslavia during World War II

Communism: Poland and Yugoslavia

Rise of Communism in Yugoslavia

The rise of Communism in Yugoslavia was an external affair that started during the Nazi's invasion of the country in the time of the Second World War. The Nazi's, of course, were fighting for the spread of Communism and were supported by Josip Broz Tito who led the (Narodno Oslobodila-ka Vojska or NOV) against the rule of the reigning king. The opposing party was led by largely Dragoljub "Draza" Mihailovi? who was the head of the royal guerilla army named Chetniks and had the large ethnic majority of the Serb group. The NOV was the party that came out on top and by 1944 they had freed Serbia from the ruling authorities of Axis as well as the remaining parts of Yugoslavia by the end of the following year. The Red Army had no choice but to draw back after the war ended but they were able to free some territories like Belgrade before withdrawing. NOV, by the end of May 1945, had taken control of the Trieste territory (allowing the NLA to withdraw by June the same year) as well as the Austrian southern regions of Styria and Carinthia and had already assembled with the allied forces that had been stationed outside the prior Yugoslavian boundaries (Cohen, 1993).

The fresh constitution for the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was structured and instituted on January 31, 1946. The new setup in Yugoslavia followed the design that the Soviet Union was following at the time, i.e.: Belgrade was named the federal capital, a new Socialist Autonomous District that included SR and Serbia as its part was formed, along with the establishment of a Socialist Autonomous Province and six other Socialist Republics (Cohen, 1993).

The social-political support

Nov didn't have much social base to work with; nonetheless, the guerilla movement that they initially instigated led the greatest revolution against the Western and Central European powers but was not at all supported by the Chetniks or the Allies. Instead the Chetniks and the Allies were treated brutally for the attacks that they made by the Germans who exercised the policy to execute 100 civilians for each soldier killed and 50 for every injured; it was because of this that they later joined the NOV in their efforts instead of leading their own individual efforts (Cohen, 1993).

The political allies

NOV had the initial support of the Red Army in freeing certain state along with Belgrade. By the mid of 1945, NOV had also had successful talk with the allied forces that had occupied the prior Yugoslavian boundaries (Hayden, 2000).

The political antagonists and the association thereof

The power lay in the hands of a few as the Communist government took over namely, Josip Broz Tito who had the highest authority along with other republican and provincial leaders and Communist Party Heads which worked against people like Edvard Kardelj or Stane Dolanc who served the government as ministers, Interior Minister Aleksandar Rankovi? And Slobodan Penezi? Krcun, Tito's chief of secret police in Serbia with their lives and jobs just because they disagreed with what the more powerful leaders had in mind (Hayden, 2000).

Revolutionary incidents against the communist regime

It was not till the 1970s that a significant revolution was led against the Communist ruling party. In 1970-71 a large number of students from Zagreb led organized rallies and walks demanding social and Croatian sovereignty and freedom. Their efforts though were controlled and piped down there were many who stealthily and steadily worked for the same cause and forced the government to adjoin more civil duties on the state in the regions of Serbia and Yugoslavia (Hayden, 2000).

Rise of communism in Poland

The Second World War had left Poland with half of its populations, a destroyed and ruined capital city in the face of Warsaw and a depletion of 30% of all the resources, infrastructure and capital that the state had had before the War. In addition to all that, their was a distrust amongst the people for the new administration that was taking over the country. The Soviet pressure and manipulation forced the Polish government to decline the Marshall Plan that was suggested by the U.S.A., and join the communist form of rule under the Soviet Union conquered Comecon by the end of 1949. The manipulation and its success allowed the Soviet Union to relocate the significant and momentous factories, capital, and manufacturing machinery to Soviet Union (Martin, 2001)

The political allies

The Polish government was finally setup in the aftermath of the 1947 elections on June 28th. Miko-ajczyk was elected as the Deputy Prime Minister but the real power, particularly within the Polish Workers' Association framework, still remained in the hands of the Red Army because of the support they received from the Soviet-advocate organizations (Tadeusz, 1997).

The political antagonists and the association thereof

The main threats for the Communist Party were the Armia Krajowa Association and the Miko-ajczyk's Polish Peasant Party. All of these opposition parties were dealt with by slowly and forcefully taking away all their political and civil rights. Some of the influential leaders in the threateningly strong parties were killed; the most prominent of these was Witold Pilecki who had planned the Auschwitz opposition. The Trial of Sixteen was also one of the administrative moves to eliminate and get rid of numerous principals of the Armia Krajowa Party as well as the Council of National Unity. Numerous other leaders faced the punishment of banishment. The number of opposition slowly decreased and most went into seclusion and it was only when an official pardon was declared for the members that an astounding 53,000 of them cam forward and surrendered (Tadeusz, 1997).

Revolutionary incidents against the communist regime

The revolution was somewhat of a loss of foresight in what was important and led to the self-destruction of the government in power. Poland by the end of 1960 was in serious political and economical turmoil as too much was spend on the industrial input and output, machinery, infrastructure and not much attention was given to the consumer section. This shifted the power into the hand of the farmers but the agricultural grounds were very limited in their annual yield and productivity so they mainly remained inefficient to bring the necessary changes and the economic dealings were further hampered with West Germany because of the Oder-Neisse line incident. Gomu-ka, who was in power, chose to remain ignorant to downward spiral of the economic conditions and hence worsened the situations. And even though Gomulka's rule was far more moderate than most other government setups, it didn't eventually affect the fall in his reputation as well as his Communist ideal and traditions (Tadeusz, 1997).

Conclusion

The historical events leading to the communist invasion of both territories, Poland and Yugoslavia were external influences and occurred as the aftermath of the Second World War when the Nazis were attempting to create a communist power block. The takeover was somewhat willing in Poland based on the manipulative skills of the Soviet Government while in Yugoslavia the Red Army had to force their way into the territory, in both cases, however, they had to force their authority to maintain control over the captured territory. Neither of them offered much support nor got much support form the local parties in fact, in both cases, the Nazis tried eliminating the opposing parties. They each faced serious antagonism and their way of dealing with it was forceful eradication in both cases. The only difference perhaps lies in the fact that the public in Yugoslavia was the one to bring about an administrative change and modification in reforms while in Poland it was the lack-luster and ignorant attitude of the government in power that led to the fall of eth communist ideal.