Marshal Tito Josip Broz Tito

Marshal Tito

Josip Broz Tito

Josip Broz Tito is the main figure of Yugoslavian politics of the 20th century who was the leader of this Balkan country for more than 30 years. He is considered to be a founder of postwar communist Yugoslav federation which provided independent policy resisting Joseph Stalin's wish turn his political power into Soviet puppet-regime which had to fulfill all orders Moscow said. So, Tito's role in Yugoslav history is invaluable and his successes and failures are worth researching.

Tito's participation in WWII resistance is well-known. "Communist interwar and wartime experience created party organizations in the Balkans that were well-equipped for the resistance struggle, but poorly prepared to exercise real political power after 1945." (Twenty-Five Lectures on Modern Balkan History Lecture 20: The traditional regimes and the challenge of Communism: Patriotism vs. opportunism). After German troops were defeated Tito took the office of Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. In fact he became a real leader of Yugoslavia as he was the most popular political figure in the country. Moreover, his warm relations with victorious Soviet Union and its leader Joseph Stalin on the hand with his guerilla resistance experience caused his great authority both inside and outside Yugoslavia. Early Tito's domestic policy was directed on improving Communists' positions and eliminating political enemies such as royalists and local profascists. Very soon his rule became dictatorial as his party (Yugoslav Communist Party) won elections under unequal conditions; many of his political opponents were assassinated or incarcerated by the secret police. Also Tito provided internationalist policy to reunify the country as there were too many nationalistic movements in all Yugoslav republics especially in Catholic and Muslim regions (Kosovo and Croatia). Ultimately these measures had a success and he managed consolidating the federation which was the main goal of all peoples of multinational Yugoslavia.

Josip Tito is also known as the first leader of Socialist block who disputed Stalin's leadership in the Communist world. The main reason of that conflict was Tito's wish to be the only master in his own country and provide own policy independently from Soviet state. At the same time Stalin was convinced that he was the only leader of the Communism world and wanted every Socialist state to subordinate to official Moscow. According to Milovan Djilas Marshall Tito knew that "Without power in his own country, it was impossible to survive in the domain of Soviet ideological tyranny." (Djilas, Milovan Tito: The Story from Inside p.42). Soviets called Tito's policy "Titoism" which meant it was not devoted to Marxist theory. It is important to understand meaning of this policy correctly, without any ideological aspects. First of all Titoism "included the eventual abandonment of agricultural collectivization, workers councils, and the centralization of economic and administrative controls. Generally Yugoslavs under Tito's rule possessed more freedoms and liberties than most others living in communist regimes" (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/yugo-hist2.htm).Another idea of Titoism was national particularity of Communism which meant that Communism in different states had different features which should be taken into consideration by the government. The main point if this statement was multinational structure of Yugoslav society which could not accept Soviet kind of Communism so the main problem of Tito's domestic policy was national issue. It is known that Kosovo and Croatia were the centers of nationalistic separatism in Yugoslavia so communism and federation were not popular among their population. Tito failed establishing ethnic peace and cooperation in these regions because both Albanians and Croats resisted his plans of strengthening the federation. As the matter of fact by the end of his rule Tito's policy was directed on centralizing federation's power, harassing dissenters, suppressing nationalists, and censoring mass media. But unfortunately Tito failed creating stable socialist federation and the main reason of his failure was ethnic and religious factor: ethnic divisions and unsolved problem of existing nationalism caused several wars after his death and ultimately Yugoslav federation disintegrated. Sure, there were also serious economical problems but ethnic issue was too strong to preserve the unified state since 3 absolutely different cultures turned out to be unable to live in peace together. Yugoslavia was unified during Tito's rule only by the power of weapon:Communist ideology could not unite Orthodox Christians, Catholics and Muslims who hated each other for centuries of bloody Balkan history. The majority of historians, scientists and politicians admit the fact that Yugoslavia could not be held together after Tito's death but it was not his guilt. Nevertheless, Josip Tito is respected in modern Serbia and Montenegro and treated as a national hero who liberated Yugoslavia from Nazi occupation and who ruled tthe country for 30 years.