Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-08-27
Life IS Grim in Communist iYuoosIoyo

turned from an automobile trip
through ITALY and YHgOslGDiG. He has
cOHrte0usly giuen The Star permission
to print the f0Ilo1Din0 article, gtDieg
some OF his Impressions OF YugoslGDiG.
By Harry I. Byrd, j.
BELGRADE - Yugoslavia probably
gives the best insight into conditions
behind the Iron Curtain. ~
Until i've years ago it, too. was d
Russian satellite. Today it is still q
Communist dictatorship and d ruthless
one. Yet its ties with Moscow have
been severed.
Since Marshal Tito's break with
Stain. nearly $700 million Of American
aid has gone to this nation Of IL million
persons, with an area approximately
that of the State Of Wyoming.
Undoubtedly, this aid has been a
major factor in the improved conditions
one finds today as compared to four
years ago when, according to reliable
reports, stores contained little more
than photographs of Tito and meat
supplies were depleted by 4 am. An
other factor in bringing about improved
conditions is certain relaxing Of con-
SAVACs AVSA6AAC0 w Ctkkuu&dtG WOIk6IS 10
greater production.
Still, this Communist country is
deeply depressing. Individual liberty
is almost nonresident. With limited
exceptions there is no private owner
ship. Factories stores. hotels. apart
ments, homes, banks, automobiles,
trucks-al are owned by the govern
ment.
The average wage is about $25
month. The manager Of top-grade
hotel is paid about $45 q month; doc
tors earn about 500.
Rents are very low, but housing is
scarce. The price of food is reasonable.
but the cost of clothing and shoes is
very high, and the materials are of
poor quality.
A farmer in the Croatian area. who
worked nine years in Cleveland, told
this writer that the people in his village
pay the equivalent of $12 pair for
shoes. more than two weeks salary. OF
the same ratio between price and salary
existed in the United States, q pair Of
shoes would cost about 5000
In and around the capital city of Bel
grade. about 20 per cent of the people
are barefooted. and the same situation
exists In the farming areas. We saw
young women breaking rock for road
construction barefooted. We were told
that shoes were being saved for the
severe winter which Yugoslavia always
experiences.
Party officials live nicely, however.
They have the only luxurious homes.
Their wives, many Of whom fought as
Communist guerrillas in the mountains.
wear clothes made from material pur-
chased in England France and Italy.
Tito himself has Is to 20 houses (no
one knows exactly how many. He has
five in and around Belgrade. Even the
best informed seldom know his where
abouts. One division of the army, $4,000
to $4,000 men, is assigned as his per-
sonal guard.
Agriculture employs about 10 per
cent of the population, women working
the fields as vigorously as do men. The
principal crops are wheat, corn, barley.
rye, sugar beets. hemp and fruit.
4
It was embittered farmers whose
lands were conflscated in 1945 who
forced Tito to relax one Of the basic
tenets OF communism. thus precipitat-
ing the break between Tito and Stain:
Socialized farming.
The farmers weapon was passive re-
sistance. They Just didn't produce
blamed it on the weather. Farmers In
the collective did not work with the
same enthusiasm as private owners" q
high party official admitted.
In Russia, tens Of thousands Of farm
ers who resisted collectivism were muir
dered: in East Germany farmers are
imprisoned If production quotas are not
met. Tito was unwilling-or unable
to 60 this far.
Today the government permits a
farmer to own a maximum of Is acres.
has conceded to him the right to sell his
produce either direct to the consumer
(which is uneconomical, but which
many do) or through the government
bureau which has taken the place of
the middleman. The middleman has
been eliminated, his role having been.
according to the Communists. one of
exploitation of the workers.
But while the Specialization of farms
has been curtailed. it has not been
abandoned. According to Yugoslav au-
thorities. about 1900 collectives have
been dissolved but some $500 remain.
In an effort to offset the farmers ira
ditional desire to work for himself and
his family, special incentives are pro-
vided the collective farms, such as tax
advantage, liberal credit, tractors and
fertilizer
nliteracy is high in Yugoslavia. one
quarter Of the population being unable
to read or write. Another 80 per cent
are classified by official government
statistics as barely literate, meaning
they read and write only with difficulty.
Schools are inadequate, transporta-
ton facilities negligible. Then, too.
children are needed by their parents
to work the land and help maintain
the home. Another difficulty is that
there are four official languages: Serb
and Macedonian written in Cyrillic let
tiers like Russian: Croat and Slovene
written in Latin. The Serb in. the
south and the Croat in the north find
it difficult to read the others writing.
The roads for the most part are dirt.
There Is some new construction, par
ticularly in the north, but generally
little effort is being put toward road
paving.
The one good road in Yugoslavia
connects the principal cities of Bel
grade and Zagreb, distance Of 240
miles. It was completed only four
years ago. During the 24O-mile drive
this writer saw only nine automobiles.
Gasoline can be obtained only at CO.