The whole system was run by the party machine, which drew up the lists of candidates at every stage. The problem with the republican administrations was that greater independence for them could fuel nationalist hatreds, particularly the persistent hostility between Serbs and Croats. It could be broken only by allowing another, albeit socialist political party to exist and run candidates.
He also kept the lid on the mutual hostilities of the various Yugoslav nationalities. People felt safe. Yugoslavia did not long survive him. Tito elected President of Yugoslavia. The Balkans Communism. Popular articles. It was then that he adopted the name Tito. Although the core of his partisan army was Communist, Tito's rapidly growing forces included many non-Communists. Among the causes of his success were his swift guerrilla tactics, his own magnetic personality, and the appeal of his political program—a federated Yugoslavia—to the non-Serbian elements of the population.
By , Tito headed a large army and controlled a sizable part of Yugoslavia, centered in Bosnia. In Nov. The deep economic crisis, greatly exacerbated by the insurmountable foreign debt, accelerated the long-silenced centrifugal forces in the country, and put an end to the Yugoslav state. This became even more dramatic as Khrushchev came to visit Yugoslavia on May 13, and approached the Yugoslav leadership with conciliatory rhetoric.
While this move led to some easing of the bilateral tensions between Yugoslavia and the USSR, the Soviets were told clearly that Yugoslavia and its people had no intention of joining the Warsaw Pact. Tito realized the importance of his country and was able to maintain a balanced, although at times fluctuating, position between the two blocks. The External Threat and Yugoslavia's Stability It is certainly true that an independent Yugoslavia located in the strategic Balkans Peninsula was important for the regional balance of power.
The fierce competition between the U. Although important, the epic struggle of the partisans was already seen as history, and the new generation together with the disillusioned communists became increasingly more demanding of reforms.
These reforms were most often advocated along ethnic lines. By s, for example, many intellectual groups operating within Croatia were voicing their opposition to the federal government in the media Lane, Consequently, opposition voices were becoming increasingly loud. Encouraged by the events of the Prague Spring, Croat intellectuals prepared a declaration and presented it to the local communist authorities. They requested the official recognition of a separate Croatian language in places where Croats lived Lane, The movement, however, was not only confined to linguistic and cultural reforms, it also targeted the federalist and centralized nature of the country.
All this amounted to what is often referred as the Croatian Spring, a period of student protests, inflammatory nationalistic rhetoric and general political crisis in the country.
For the first time Tito and his closest collaborators realized the real danger the renewed Croatian nationalism posed for the stability and unity of Yugoslavia. It was then that Tito decided to purge the deviating communists in Croatia and put an end to the flourishing public debate, which for some time had been left unchecked Lane, The international arena played an indispensable role in keeping the ethnic discontent limited, as it did in many other occasions when there was social unrest and inter-ethnic tensions in Yugoslavia.
The tumultuous times of the late s, culminating with the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, enabled Tito to use one of his strongest tools in maintaining internal cohesion: the external threat. Tito effectively mobilized the entire eligible population, both men and women, and made small army units ready for an armed invasion from the Soviets.
The threat was credible and further helped Tito demobilize the nationalist leaders in both Croatia and Serbia proper Lane, This last point is essential to understanding the internal stability of Yugoslavia during the Cold War period. The Yugoslav people were prone to believe that, despite the many problems that existed in the country, a potential weakening of the state, which might invite a Soviet invasion, could have far more debilitating effects on their particular regions.
The intimidating Soviet army, and the exaggerated threat it posed, allowed Tito to dissuade regional leaders from pushing for major reforms along nationalistic lines. The sense of a common destiny reinforced by a sense of a common peril deterred the nationalistic leaders from pushing too far. Being the fourth constitution produced in less than thirty years, this one made extensive provisions for local self-management to the six republics.
It also granted Kosovo the status of a province Woodward, As the former U. The key role that Yugoslavia played during the Cold War enabled both its federal and its republican leaders to borrow extensively from foreign banks and international monetary organizations Woodward, ; Tepavac, , Bennet ; Crnobrnja, For example, the U.
With the help of these funds, for a few decades Yugoslavia was able to invest in the newest technologies coming from Western Europe and to improve its competitive advantage in certain sectors of the economy Lane, The borrowing had the desired effect in the short run, as it ameliorated the internal economic crisis, which was deepening by the time the oil shock occurred in due to wrong economic policies, ineffective bureaucracy, and decreasing firm productivity Woodward, However, the borrowing had devastating long-term economic effects and their political consequences are discussed in the next section.
It should be noted that the Soviets agreed with the balance of power Yugoslavia provided, and were very reluctant to provoke a military clash with the U. The US had made it clear in few occasions after the invasion of Czechoslovakia in that it would not tolerate further Soveit aggression against any neutral country in Europe Woodward, ; Ullman, ; Pribicevic, Granting that the reasons for the Western support were multidimensional and played many functions, the West tried to discourage Yugoslavia with its generous financial and other forms of aid, from aligning to closely with the ideologically similar superpower: the Soviet Union.
The crisis was further deepened because the republics, after gaining significant control over their regions from the constitution, had borrowed individually and uncontrollably from abroad Woodward, From the total amount borrowed, only 35 percent was borrowed by the central government, whereas the six republics and the two autonomous provinces had borrowed the remaining 65 percent.
Oftentimes, the central government was not aware of the borrowing spree happening at lower levels of government Bennett,
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