Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-05-25
REUNION IN BELGRADE?
Tito Seems I 90 Shrewd
To Cut Ties With West
By WILLIAM y. RYAN.

BY WILLIAM L. RYAN,
Associated Press Foreign News Analyst
President Tito, looking like an
American banker in his trim,
dark suit, was bristling with an
noyance when I saw him last.
His anger seemed added EVIL
dence that, If the matter was one
for Marshal Tito alone to decide.
there would be no full family re-
Cancellation with the cominform.
The big question remained, how
ever, whether it would be mat
ter for Tito alone to decide.
The target of Tito's anger was
Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov.
At the time Georgi Malenkov was
deposed as Soviet Premier, Mr..
Molotov made a speech. Touch
ing on Yugoslavia. he limited
just hinted-that Yugoslav Com
munists were sorry for their past
deviations.
Speaking to his Parliament,
Marshal Tito, grown gray. portly
and florid, lit into Molotov for
such innuendo. Molotov. he in
dicated, was trying to push the
notion that Yugoslavia's moves
toward normal relations with
Moscow betrayed a willingness
to correct" past errors of dog
ma. This sort of thing. said Tito,
was nonsense" throwing doubt
on the sincerity of other state
ments by Eastern leaders.
Reneging Indicated
There was an implication in
this that during the Malenkov
regime Tito won his battle with
Moscow, that his price for full
naturalization was an open Mos
COW admission that Stain had
been wrong from the start in
his feud with Belgrade. Molo-
TOYS speech thus seemed to in
dictate that, with Malenkov gone.
Moscow was reneging on the
deal.
Thus it is q matter Of note
that Moscow's delegation to Bel
grade, ostensibly asking that by
cones be bygones. does not in
clude Molotov. He Is a reminder
of the Stain era, when Yugo-
slavia was outlawed.
Evidence at hand indicates
Marshal Tito will not "redefect"
completely to the East. He was
educated by Moscow. He would
know the risks involved.
But Western observers detect
some danger. They suspect a d.
vision in the Yugoslav Commu-'
mist Party and that large num-
Der of Yugoslav Communists
would be happy to collaborate
closely with Moscow again.
View on Economic Aid
What about the ties with the
West. the arms and the economic
aid which came from the West?
Here is one view:
1.-THE arms we receive from the
West? What Of it? This is sent
to us by the workers of America
and England and not by some
capitalists seeking to exploit the
people. This material is sent not
for use against the people Of
Russia, but against the exploiters
of the workers everywhere"
This was the answer some resi-
dent Yugoslavs in Istanbul, Tur-
key, said they received from a
Communist leader visiting there
from the homeland. Whether the
quotation is exact or not. it rep
resents school of Communist
thought in Belgrade.
Even Tito Is not immune from
such thinking. He has expressed
gratitude to the United States
for food sent when Yugoslavia
faced hunger, and for other aid.
But he added: I'VE do not con-
slider aid as some sort Of bride;
we consider it as thing involv-
ing humane feelings on the one
hand, and on the other, some
thing which our people have de-
served for all their sacrifices. 80"
Will Stay Communist
Belgrade's Communists will tell
you Yugoslavia is Communist
and will remain that way. AS for
arms aid, the reaction one gets
is that the Yugoslavs did not
ask collaboration with the West:
II the West wants it, the West
must accept the regime and what
goes with it.
It is against such a background
that the Soviet Union carries its
peace offensive to Belgrade with
an unprecedented and humbling
visit by three Of the most i'm
portant Moscow rulers.
Marshal Tito announced the
Soviet leaders could not expect
him to jeopardize his good rela-
tions with Western countries.
The Soviet reply was a soft one:
OF course, they wanted no such
thing. They wanted only to help
Yugoslavia improve her relations