Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-11-12
Lost Of Three Articles

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government believes he is a
unifying force. Under his lead
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Lost Of Three Articles
ership, the Communist Party
came to power in YugoSlavia
during the war.
1t was an indigenous move
ment, not brought in on the
bayonetS of Soviet troops.
AS a result. the Communist
Party in Yugoslavia is stronger
to this day than any other west
of Russia. 1t still enjoys indig-
enous support.
Stands Above Party
Marshal Tito stands above
the Communist Party in popu-
larity. Where he is not liked,
Tito is respected. He achieved
most of his stature in carry
ing off the break with the So
Wet Union in 1948.
And since 1948 Marshal Tito
has given his people frequent
reminders of his prominent role
in foreign affairs, a prestige
factor all the more remarkable
when one considers what he
has to work with.
YugoSlavia still is a back
ward, underdeveloped country.
1t would not be a major power
factor in any new general war.
Yet Marshal Tito has parlayed
his East-West bridge into one
Of the important links in world
diplomacy today.
No Longer Young
True, Marshal Tito isn't as
young as he used to be. His
doctors keep prescribing longer
and longer vacations. He is ga.
Some of the more thoughtful
Yugoslavs outside the govern
ment are wondering:
After Tito, what?
A good many Belgrade Of
flcials have pat answer: Col
lective leadership.
There already is a collective
leadership, they say. The leg
islature does participate in de-
cision making. they claim, and
the principal vice presidents,
Edward Kardelj and Alexander
Rankovic, are already leading
a Communist Party executive
committee which now acts
much as Western cabinets, ex-
ercising comparable power.
Power Struggle Pondered
Newsmen and outsiders are
wondering. however, if a strug-
gle for President Tito's pre-
ferred position might not de-
velop as in the Soviet Union
after Stains death.
Presumably Mr.. Kardelj. the
economic car. and Mr.. Ran
kovic, the boss of Yugoslavia's
police system. would be prime
candidates. If things got out
of hand. Milovan Djilas. the
jailed former vice president
who has turned into the re-
gime's principal critic. might
be a contender, assuming he
were still alive.
Many YugoSlavs who hope to
breathe more democracy and
freedom into the Communist
system are bitter about Mr..
Djilas. Acting like the fiery
Montenegran he is, he moved
too fast. talked too much, be-
fore he had any real influence.
they will tell you if the con-
versation is private enough.
The argument is that Mr..
Djilas could have done his
country much more good if he
had worked quietly within the
system, using the "gradualism"
reform technique.
Sensitive On Freedom
Yugoslavs in general, and
officials in particular, are very
sensitive about how much free
dom they have. They con-
stantly stress how much more
they have than people living
under Soviet communism. or in
most of the East European
satellites.
While this is probably true
enough. other features of Yugo-
slav life are less reassuring.
The experience of Mr.. Diilas
was no isolated instance of
the political strong arm
methods which the regime re-
serves for its critics. And
while there is no consciousness
either of police surveillance for
the casual foreign visitor, ex-
perienced hands say it exists.
President Tito took over the
extremely efficient police sys-
tenn that worked for the mon
archy before World War II and
the efficiency repeatedly has
not fallen off
Regime Is Popular
One appeal of the Tito re-
gime is the peculiar role of
cold-war mediator into which
he has worked himself in re-
cent years.
From the viewpoint of the
Yugoslav man in the street. it
has two virtues. 1t strives with
some apparent effect. to reduce