Tito–Stalin Split Marshal Josip Marshal Josip Broz Tito, Tito, was the largest and took control of the count country ry by 1945, 1945, with with minima minimall Sovi Soviet et interv interven entio tion. n. At this point, Tito was loyal to Moscow. Tito’s Tito’s leadi leading ng role role in liber liberati ating ng Yugos Yugosla lavi viaa not onl only y greatly strengthened his position in his party and among the Yugoslav people, but also caused him to be more insistent that Yugoslavia Yugoslavia would get more room to t o follow its own interests than other Eastern Bloc leaders who had more more reaso reason n (and (and came came under under mo more re press pressure ure)) to recogn recognize ize Soviet efforts in helping them liberate their own countries from Axis control. This had already led to some friction between the two countries before World War II was even over. Although Although Tito was formally an ally of Stalin after World War II, the Soviets had set up a spy ring in the Yugoslav party as early as 1945, resulting in an uneasy alliance. [2]
Tito
In the immediate aftermath of World War II, there occurred several armed incidents between Yugoslavia and the Western the Western Bloc. Bloc. Fol Follow lowing ing the war, Yugoslav Yugoslavia ia successfully captured the territory of Istria Istria,, as well as the cities of Zadar of Zadar and and Rijeka Rijeka that that had formed part of Italy from from the 1920s. This move move was of direct direct benefit benefit to the Slavic populations of the regions (i.e. mainly Croats Croats and and Slovenes). Slovenes ). Yugoslav Yugoslav leadership leadership was looking to incorporate Trieste rate Trieste into into the country as well, which was opposed by the Western Western Allies and by Stalin. This led to several armed incidents, notably Yugoslav fighter planes shooting down American transport aircraft, causing angry criticis icism m from the West est and from Stalin Stalin.. From From 1945 1945 to 1948, 1948, at least four US aircraft were shot down.[3] Stalin was opposed to these provocations, provocations, as he felt felt that the USSR was unready to face the West in open war so soon after the losses of World War II.
Stalin The Tito–Stalin Split, or Yugoslav–Soviet Split, was a conflict between the leaders of SFR Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, Union, which resulted in Yugoslavia’s Yugoslavia’s expulsion expulsion from the Communist Information Bureau (Cominform (Cominform)) in 1948. This was was the beginning beginning of the Informbiro the Informbiro period,, marked by poor relations with the USSR, that came riod to an end in 1955. It was said by the Soviets to be caused by Yugoslavia’s disloyalty to the USSR, while in Yugoslavia and the West it was presented as Josip Broz Tito's Tito's national pride and refusal to submit to Joseph to Joseph Stalin's Stalin's will in making Yugoslavia a Soviet satellite state. state. Scho Scholar larss now emph emphaasize the cause was Stalin’s rejection of Tito’s plans to absorb Albania and Greece in cooperation with Bulgaria, thereby thereby setting up a powerful powerful Eastern European bloc outside Moscow’s control.[1]
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In addition, Tito was openly supportive supportive of the communist sidein sidein the the Gree Greek k Civ Civil il War ar,, while while Stalin Stalin kept kept his distan distance ce,, having agreed with Churchill with Churchill not not to support communism there with the Percentages agreement. agreement . Tito Tito planne planned d to absorb Albania and Greece in cooperation cooperation with Bulgaria with Bulgaria,, there thereby by setti setting ng up a powe powerf rful ul Easter Eastern n Europe Europe bloc bloc outsi outside de Moscow’s control. Stalin could not tolerate that threat.[4]
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Origin gins
Firs Firstt Comi Cominf nfor orm m
Howe Howeve ver, r, the worl world d still still saw saw the two count countri ries es as the closclosest of allies. This was evident evident at the first meeting of the Cominform in Cominform in 1947, where the Yugoslav representatives were the most strident critics of the national Communist
During the Second the Second World War, War, Yugoslavia was occupied by the the Axis Axis.. The The occupy occupying ing powers powers were were opposed opposed by sevseveral resistance groups; the Communist resistance, led by 1
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parties viewed to be insufficiently devoted to the cause, specifically the Italian and French parties for engaging in coalition politics. They were thereby essentially arguing Soviet positions. The headquarters for Cominform were even set up in Belgrade. However, all was not well between the two countries, due to a number of disputes.
them from destruction”. The CPY’s response on May 17 reacted sharply to Soviet attempts to devalue the success of the Yugoslav resistance movement, and suggested that the matter be settled at the meeting of the Cominform to be held that June.
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Trip to Moscow
The friction that led to the ultimate split had many causes, many of which can ultimately be linked to Tito’s regional focus and his refusal to accept Moscow as the supreme Communist authority. The Yugoslavs were of the opinion that the joint-stock companies favored in the Soviet Union were not effective in Yugoslavia. In addition, Tito’s deployment of troops in Albania to prevent the civil conflict in Greece from spreading into neighbouring countries (including Yugoslavia), carried out without consulting the Soviets, had greatly angered Stalin.
Second Cominform
Tito did not even attend the second meeting of the Cominform, fearing that Yugoslavia was to be openly attacked. On June 28, the other member countries expelled Yugoslavia, citing “nationalist elements” that had “managed in the course of the past five or six months to reach a dominant position in the leadership” of the CPY. The resolution warned Yugoslavia that it was on the path back to bourgeois capitalism due to its nationalist, independenceminded positions.
Stalin was also enraged by Tito’s aspirations to merge Yugoslavia with Bulgaria (and therefore create a true “Land of the South Slavs”), an idea with which he agreed in theory, but which had also taken place without prior So- 6 Results [5] viet consultation. He summoned two of Tito’s officials, Milovan Đilas and Edvard Kardelj, to Moscow to discuss Main article: Informbiro period these matters. As a result of these talks, Đilas and Kardelj became convinced that Yugoslav-Soviet relations had already reached an impasse. The expulsion effectively banished Yugoslavia from the international association of socialist states. After the expulsion, Tito suppressed those who supported the resolution, calling them “Cominformists”.[9] Many were 4 Letter exchange sent to a gulag-like prison camp at Goli otok (“Barren Island”).[10] Between 1948 and 1952, the Soviet Union Between the trip to Moscow and the second meeting of encouraged its allies to rebuild their military forces— the Cominform, the Soviet Communist Party and the especially Hungary, which was to be the leading force in Yugoslav Communist Party (CPY) exchanged a series of a possible war against Yugoslavia. letters detailing their grievances. The first CPSU letter, Titoism was denounced by Moscow as a heresy that said on March 27, 1948, accused the Yugoslavs of denigrating Communist countries should take a nationalist road to soSoviet socialism via statements such as “socialism in the cialism different from that of the Soviet Union. Across Soviet Union has ceased to be revolutionary”. [6] It also Eastern Europe Communist leaders suspected of Titoclaimed that the CPY was not democratic enough, and like tendencies were purged by pro-Moscow elements.[11] that it was not acting as a vanguard that would lead the country to socialism. Stalin retorted, “we cannot consider After Stalin’s death and the repudiation of his policies by this kind of organization of the Communist Party as truly Nikita Khrushchev, peace was made with Tito and YuMarxist-Leninist or Bolshevik. 'One does not feel any goslavia re-admitted into the international brotherhood of policy of class struggle in the Yugoslav Party.” [7] socialist states. However, relations between the two countries were never completely rebuilt; Yugoslavia would The CPY response on April 13 was a strong denial of the continue to take an independent course in world poliSoviet accusations, both defending the revolutionary natics, shunning the influence of both west and east. The ture of the party, and re-asserting its high opinion of the Yugoslav Army maintained two official defense plans, Soviet Union. However, the CPY noted also that “no matone against a NATO invasion and one against a Warsaw ter how much each of us loves the land of socialism, the Pact invasion. USSR, he can in no case lovehis own country less.”[8] The Soviet answer on May 4 admonished the CPY for failing Tito used the estrangement from the USSR to obtain US to admit and correct its mistakes, and went on to accuse aid via the Marshall Plan, as well as to found the Nonthe CPY of being too proud of their successes against Aligned Movement, in which Yugoslavia was a leading the Germans, maintaining that the Red Army had “saved force.[12]
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Cold War
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Eastern Bloc
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Eastern Bloc politics
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Goli otok - Tito’s prison camp for pro-Stalinists in Yugoslavia •
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[1] Jeronim Perovic, “The Tito–Stalin Split: A Reassessment in Light of New Evidence.” Journal of Cold War Studies (Spring 2007) 9#2 pp: 32-63 •
[2] Richard West, Tito (1994) [3] Air victories of Yugoslav Air Force [4] Jeronim Perovic, “The Tito–Stalin Split: A Reassessment in Light of New Evidence.” Journal of Cold War Studies (Spring 2007) 9#2 pp: 32-63 [5] Perovic, “The Tito–Stalin Split: A Reassessment in Light of New Evidence.” [6] Stephen Clissold, ed. Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, 1939-1973: A Documentary Survey (1975) p 172 [7] Edvard Kardelj, Reminiscences--the Struggle for Recognition and Independence: The New Yugoslavia, 1944-1957 (1982) p 217
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[8] Dennison Rusinow (1978). The Yugoslav Experiment 1948-1974. U. of California Press. p. 28. [9] Paul Garde, Vie et mort de la Yougoslavie, Fayard, Paris, 2000, p. 91 [10] Serge Métais, Histoire des Albanais , Fayard, Paris 2006, p. 322 [11] Alec Nove (2005). Stalinism and After: The Road to Gorbachev. Routledge. p. 97. [12] John R. Lampe , Russell O. Prickett, Ljubisa S. Adamovic (1990). Yugoslav-American economic relations since World War II . Duke University Press Books. p. 47. ISBN 0-8223-1061-9.
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Further reading •
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Banac, Ivo. With Stalin against Tito: Cominformist Splits in Yugoslav Communism (Cornell University Press, 1988) Iatrides, John O.; Linda Wrigley (2004). Greece at the Crossroads: The Civil War and Its Legacy . Penn State University Press. pp. 267–75.
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Karchmar, Lucien. “The Tito-Stalin Split in Soviet and Yugoslav Historiography,” in Wayne S. Vucinich, ed., At the Brink of War and Peace: The Tito-Stalin Split in a Historic Perspective (New York: Social Science Monographs, 1982), pp. 253–271. Lees, Lorraine M. Keeping Tito Afloat: The United States, Yugoslavia, and the Cold War, 1945-1960 (Penn State Press, 2010) Mehta, Coleman. “The CIA Confronts the TitoStalin Split, 1948–1951.” Journal of Cold War Studies (2011) 13#1 pp: 101-145. Nyrop, Richard F., ed. Yugoslavia: A Country Study. Department of the Army, Washington, D.C. 1981. Perovic, Jeronim. “The Tito–Stalin Split: A Reassessment in Light of New Evidence.” Journal of Cold War Studies (Spring 2007) 9#2 pp: 32-63, online; online at Project MUSE Ridley, Jasper. Tito. (Constable, London. 1994); popular history Stokes, Gale, ed. From Stalinism to Pluralism: A Documentary History of Eastern Europe Since 1945. Oxford University Press, New York. 1996. West, Richard. Tito: And the Rise and Fall of Yu goslavia. Sinclair-Stevenson, London. 1994. Perovic, Jeronim. “The Tito–Stalin Split: A Reassessment in Light of New Evidence.” Journal of Cold War Studies (Spring 2007) 9#2 pp: 32-63, online; online at Project MUSE
External links Behind the Tito–Stalin Clash
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File:Josip_Broz_Tito_Bihać_1942.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Josip_Broz_Tito_Biha%C4% 87_1942.jpg License: Attribution Contributors: Marxists Internet Archive Original artist: Unknown File:Stalin_lg_zlx1_(crop).jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Stalin_lg_zlx1_%28crop%29.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: [1]. This is a poorly retouched version of this photograph [2], taken from this page [3], presumably taken from the 1937 book The history of Civil War in the U.S.S.R. , Vol. 1. (translated from История гражданской войны в СССР , 1935), published in Moscow [4] Original artist: Unknown
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