Marshal Tito: Rise to Power and Yugoslav Leadership

Introduction

Originally named Josip Broz, Josip Broz Tito was a revolutionary and statesman born on May 7, 1892, in Austria-Hungary in what is currently Croatia. He died almost 88 years later to the day, on May 4, 1980, in Yugoslavia, in what is currently Slovenia (Josip Broz Tito, 2015). During the period from 1939 to 1980, Tito served alternately as secretary-general and then president of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. From 1941 to 1945, he was the supreme commander of the Yugoslav Partisans, and then commander of the Yugoslav People's Army from 1945 to 1953 (Josip Broz Tito, 2015). He assumed the title of Marshal during the period 1943 to 1980, then served as premier from 1945 to 1953, and finally as president of Yugoslavia from 1953 to 1980 (Josip Broz Tito, 2015).

Tito was the chief architect of the "second Yugoslavia," a socialist federation that lasted from World War II until 1991 (Josip Broz Tito, 2015). He was the first Communist leader in power to defy Soviet hegemony, a champion of independent roads to socialism — sometimes referred to as "national communism" — and a promoter of the policy of nonalignment between the two hostile blocs in the Cold War (Josip Broz Tito, 2015). This paper reviews the relevant literature concerning Tito's rise to power and the circumstances that confronted him. A summary of the research and key findings about Tito's life are provided in the conclusion.

Early Life and Political Awakening

Josip Broz, later known as Marshal Tito, was born of humble origins but would go on to become the president of post-World War II Yugoslavia (Pribic, 2013). Tito was also responsible for rebuilding Yugoslavia following the devastation it experienced during World War II and for forging a unified Yugoslav nation until his death in 1980 (Marshal Tito biography, 2015). Josip Broz was born into a large peasant family as the seventh of 15 children (Marshal Tito biography, 2015), to a Slovene mother and a Croat father (Josip Broz Tito, 2015). In 1907, he apprenticed as a locksmith and completed his apprenticeship in 1910, at which point he became a member of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia-Slavonia, headquartered in Zagreb (Josip Broz Tito, 2015). Following several years of sporadic employment in this trade, Tito was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1913, attended a noncommissioned officer academy, was promoted to sergeant, and served in the Serbian war in 1914 (Josip Broz Tito, 2015).

In early 1915, Tito was assigned to the Russian front, where he became a casualty and prisoner of war in April 1915 (Josip Broz Tito, 2015). Following a lengthy period of convalescence, he was held in various internment camps, which provided him with his first exposure to Bolshevik propaganda (Josip Broz Tito, 2015). Thereafter, Tito would remain an ardent communist, but of a distinctly independent character. His involvement with the communist movement began early when he took part in the July Days demonstrations in Petrograd in 1917, and following the successful October Revolution, he became a member of an Omsk, Siberia-based Red Guard unit (Josip Broz Tito, 2015). According to one biographer, "Following a White counteroffensive, [Tito] fled to Kirgiziya (now Kyrgyzstan) and subsequently returned to Omsk, where he married a Russian woman and joined the South Slav section of the Bolshevik party" (Josip Broz Tito, 2015, para. 3). Tito's future role as a prominent Yugoslav statesman began when he returned to Croatia and became a member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (Josip Broz Tito, 2015).

In 1920, Tito's activities on behalf of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) were outlawed in December of that year, whereupon he returned to his metalworking trade in various capacities until 1923, when he renewed his ties with the CPY and served in local and regional leadership positions in Serbia and Croatia (Josip Broz Tito, 2015). In 1927, Tito became a member of Zagreb's CPY committee and was rapidly elevated first to organizational secretary — a role in which he gained notice from communist leaders in Moscow — and then to the committee's political secretary (Josip Broz Tito, 2015). Following his leadership of street demonstrations against civil authorities in June 1928, he was arrested in August 1928 (Josip Broz Tito, 2015).

Trial, Imprisonment, and Heroic Status

On November 6, 1928, after spending three months in prison, Tito was tried for a number of serious crimes, including: holding active membership in the illegal Communist Party; disseminating Communist propaganda; and the illegal possession of bombs and firearms (MacLean, 1957).

According to MacLean, "The trial, which was prominently reported in the local press, was remarkable for one thing in particular: for the first time a prisoner openly glorified the Communist cause" (1957, p. 38). Indeed, Tito made his commitment to communism absolutely clear during the proceedings, despite the serious consequences of doing so. Although he initially launched into a declaration about the role the Communist Party would play in bringing about much-needed reforms, he was cut short by the court president, who refused to allow Tito or his lawyer to speak further, bringing the proceedings to an abrupt conclusion (MacLean, 1957). The defendant's passionate conviction is evident in his response to this action, when he shouted, "What better proof could there be that this is a police state? Long live the Communist party! Long live the World Revolution!" (cited in MacLean, 1957, p. 137). The courtroom was cleared after this outburst, and Tito and his four co-defendants were removed by force (MacLean, 1957).

On November 14, 1928, Tito was sentenced under Article I of the Law for the Defense of the State and received five and a half years' imprisonment on the grounds that he had conspired to overthrow the ruling regime (MacLean, 1957). His response to the sentence echoed his earlier courtroom remarks: he leapt to his feet and shouted three times, "Long live the Communist party! Long live the Third International!" before being forcibly removed from the courtroom (MacLean, 1957). According to MacLean, "All this was reported at length in the press, and the published accounts were widely read and passed from hand to hand by discontented people all over the country. As a result, the Communist cause was exalted and to many people Josip Broz became a hero" (1957, p. 42).

Conclusion

The research showed that Josip Broz Tito first achieved heroic status in Yugoslavia during his trial for anti-government activities in 1928 and never relinquished that status. His actions in defeating the Nazis during World War II were followed by his political stalemate with the Soviet Union, during which he even managed to secure military and economic assistance from the United States, much to the dismay of Soviet leaders. His contributions to Yugoslav development after World War II were especially notable, as he guided his country along a very fine line between the Soviet brand of communism and the free-market economies that were proliferating elsewhere on the European continent. In the final analysis, it is reasonable to suggest that Tito's stature is comparable to that of a true founding father — much as George Washington was for the United States — in the history of his nation.

References

Granville, J. (1998, Spring). Tito and the Nagy affair in 1956. East European Quarterly, 32(1), 23–31.

Josip Broz Tito. (2015). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/597295/Josip-Broz-Tito

MacLean, F. (1957). The heretic: The life and times of Josip Broz-Tito. New York: Harper & Brothers.

Marshal Tito biography. (2015). Encyclopedia of World Biography. Retrieved from

Pribic, R. (2013, September). Hoodwinking Churchill: Tito's great confidence trick. The Historian, 75(2), 365–371.

Tito, J. B. (1946, October). Features peculiar to the liberation struggle and revolutionary transformation of the New Yugoslavia. Kommunist, cited in Military thought and work: Selected writings [of Josip Broz Tito] (1936–1979), ed. B. Pejcinovic. Belgrade: Vojnoizdavacki Zavod, 1982.