Evening star., 1945-07-16
Report From Belgrade
BY Ne1oboid Noyes, I.,
Star War Correspondent.

have watched the thing all the way
through are the first to- concede that
Tito's men have earned the right to
try. They not only expected them to-
they wanted them to. For they be-
heved, along with many Yugoslays, that
Tito's movement stood for the hope
that the arbitrary politics of tyranny
might at last give way in Yugoslayia
to political system which recognized
the peoples right to something more
than obedience.
So far there is nothing to indicate
that the hope has been realized. Nor
does the apparent tendency of the Tito
government to camoufiage this present
fact bode well for the future.
The government has promised that
genuine election will be held at the
earliest possible moment. Two minis
ters informed me that it was hoped this
election could be held before next
winter.
Obvious questions with regard to the
election are: Who will be allowed to
vote? And for whom will they be al
lowed to vote? In answer to the first
question, members of the government
say it is certain that everybody who
did not actively collaborate with the
enemy will have vote. No answer to
the second question can be as simple
and straightforward.
was told, for example, that the peo-
pie will probably express themselves po-
litically within the framework of the
national liberation front. Saya Ko-
sanovitch, Minister of Information, pro-
vided me with the best impression got
of how this might be expected to work
when he said the present front would
be broadened to include yet more parties
and groups, and that in voting selec-
lively for the various candidates along
the line of this political spectrum, the
voters would have a real way of choos-
ing their own form of government.
4 Il
The safe candidate" technique will,
in other words, be again employed.
Where the group in power can deter
mine the nature of its opposition" it
is hard to believe that any effective
opposition can exist at all. And con-
sidering the facts of political life in
present-day Yugoslavia, there is no get
ting around the truth that such an elec-
ton would not differ materially from
those held to choose the national liberia
ton committees, described above.
For although the national liberation
front looks very nice on paper as coa-
lition Of many political parties, it must
be understood that it is, in fact, COM
pletely dominated by Tito's Communists,
for whom it merely acts as a sort of
cover organization. The Communists
have, in fact, the only organized party
in Yugoslavia.
Whereas the organization of the Com
munist party is SO extensive that it quite
literally makes itself felt in the life of
every individual, the other political par
ties exist largely in name only, or as
personified by handful of political fig
ures who have chosen to collaborate
with Tito and his boys. True, a few
parties own newspapers. But none of
them has effective party organization.
None has effectively preserved it's iden-
tity within the front"
The issue as to the form of the cleo
ton, SO far as know, has not yet been
officially decided. But if it proceeds
along the general lines described above,
most observers doubt that it can pro-
vide means for the free expression Of
the will of the Yugoslav people