Evening star., 1949-11-13
|Yugoslavia Is
|3PerCentRed|
By BIoir Moody
Specioi to The Sunday Stor

BELGRADE. - Yugoslavia is
not a country of Communists.
It is country ruled by a Com
munist political machine.
1t is ruled, to be explicit, by
an inner clique of 122 men at
the apex of the Communist
Party, who. in turn, are domi-
mated by one man, Josef Broz
Tito.
These 122 members Of the
Yugoslav Politburo, the Com
munist Party Central Commit
tee and its Central Supervisory
Committee hold among them
1893 powerful positions in the
party organization and the
economic structure OF the
country. That is slightly more
than an average OF seven big
jobs each.
Many Recruits
From these key positions they
control every phase of national
Ife-it's manufacture and its
commerce, its labor unions and
its agriculture, its foreign pol
icy and its political life.
Only about 3 per cent of the
Yugoslav people-468,175 out of
1871, ,935-are members of the
Communist Party. OF these
many are new recruits. Only
per cent are old revolptionaries
brought up in the Moscow
school. Thirty per cent came
in from war service under Tito
and nearly 10 per cent are
bandwagon jumpers with more
clamoring to get in) and re-
Gently converted Zealots.
In country whose officials
only a year ago were coldly
snubbing the Americans, one
would think there would be a
holdover Of aloofness among
the people even though the big
wigs from Tito down have now
become warmly cordial.
= To. the contrary, the Yugo-
slav people, a racially mixed
but universally proud, obsti-
nate and Woodworking lot, are
notoriously friendly to the
United States and other West
ern countries of Europe.
Talking to workers and peas
ants. one finds that mere rec
ognition as Americans brings a
beaming smile to the face of
most non-oficial Yugoslavs.
The tie between the peoples, at
least on their side, is much
closer than between the gov
ernments.
Tito's Grip Firm
That in part is due to the
large number of Yugoslavs in
the United States, about 1,000.-
900 from a country of less than
100000; in part to the Amer
ican equipment and food poured
into the country in its darkest
postwar moments through
UNRRA; in part to news over
the Voice OF America, which
ripples swiftly through the
towns by ord-of-mouth; in
part to awe Of Americas pro-
ductive prowess which the war
drove home all over the world.
and, in part. undoubtedly. to
sheer economic need. The Rus
slams have choked off trade with
the East almost completely and
American credit and capital
equipment are desperately
lacking.
Many Yugoslavs are said by
the experts to nourish q hope
that in some miraculous man
ner America may liberate them
from both Moscow and Tito
and from the Karageorgeviches
and install by remote control
q real democracy.
The chance that this will
happen under present circum-
stances is zero. Yugoslavia Is :
tight in Tito's wise. Above all
else, he is a party organizer.
The inside figures in his rigidly
knit organization are scarcely
less eloquent than the fact that
he has defied Moscow and Is
still walking around with an
undented skin.
To the Yugoslavs. Tito repre-
sents many things, including
liberation from the Nazis and
defiance Of the new Russian
menace. but not freedom.