What Was Tito's Separate Way?

The aim of this essay is to show how Josip Broz Tito created and maintained the socialist system in Yugoslavia, which was some kind of way between the Soviet socialism and Western capitalism. The main attention will be focused on the reasons of the Tito’s break with Stalin, on the origins of the separate way, and the developments of this way.

The Situation in 1945-1948

Early in November 1944, Tito, who was supreme commander of the National Liberation Army and Secretary-General of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) and Subasic, who was a representative of the Royal Yugoslav Government concluded a draft political agreement that elections should be held to a Constituent Assembly which would decide on the future form of the government in Yugoslavia. A new Yugoslav Provisional Government was created on 7 March 1945. Tito became the last Royal Yugoslav Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. The new government was immediately recognised by the British, American and Soviet governments.

In August 1945 the People’s Front was formed. It was an �umbrella organisation’ in which those non-communist parties that still existed would collaborate with the CPY. It organised a single list of candidates for the elections held on 11 November 1945 for a Constituent Assembly. About 90% of the electorate voted for the official candidates.

The first act of the Constituent Assembly was to abolish the monarchy and declare Yugoslavia a Federal People’s Republic.

Even before that the centre of political power already was the Politburo of the CPY. From April 1945 currency reform, confiscation of the property of former collaborators, the nationalisation of most existing industry, and the strict control of rents were put into force.

The new Constitution of 31 January 1946 was based largely on the 1936 constitution of the SU. It had nationalised all industrial, commercial and financial enterprises, limited individual landholdings to 60 acres and organised the surplus agricultural land into collective farms. About 1.6 million hectares of land were expropriated.

So, in the first years of Tito’s government Yugoslavia was a highly centralised one-party state. The centre of political power was the Politburo of the CPY. The first Five Year Plan for 1947-1952 was published and put into effect early in 1947. With the reorganisation of federal, republican and local government to cope with the first Five Year Plan, the Yugoslav political-economic system came even closer to its Soviet model and became a single, giant, countrywide and monopolistic trust.

The Origins of the Separate Way

A few important factors and differences could be named as the origins of the Tito’s break with Stalin and of the evolution of Tito’s separate way.

The biggest difference between Yugoslavia and the other East European countries was that in Yugoslavia - and only in Yugoslavia - had the Communists established themselves in power without important assistance from the SU. Secondly, Stalin did not want to help Yugoslavia to build up a balanced economy. It suited for him better to conclude long-term agreements under which Yugoslavia bound itself to sell raw materials at low prices, and ceased to process them. Thirdly, Stalin failed to give Yugoslavia full support in its demands for the cession of Trieste from Italy. Finally, Stalin’s aim was to create a monolithic socialist bloc under firmer Soviet control. Stalin wished to secure in Yugoslavia a regime as obedient as any other in East Europe.

The basic issue was very simple: whether Tito or Stalin would be dictator of Yugoslavia. What stood in Stalin’s way was Tito’s and hence the Yugoslav regime’s autonomous strength.

The first sign the Yugoslavs had that their relations with the SU were moving towards a serious crisis came in February 1948, when Stalin abruptly summoned high-level Yugoslav and Bulgarian delegations to Moscow. Tito sent Kardelj and Bakaric to join Djilas, who was already there for talks about Albania and Soviet military aid to Yugoslavia. But the only treaty signed was a Soviet text binding the Yugoslav government to consult with the Soviet government on all foreign policy issues. Soon after that Stalin postponed negotiations for a renewal of the Soviet-Yugoslav trade agreement which was the keystone of Yugoslav economical policy. It became clear to the Yugoslav leaders that there was no prospect of healing their rift with the SU except by accepting total subordination. At this point Tito took the conflict before the Central Committee of the CPY, on 1 March 1948. There the Politburo received a vote of confidence for their rejection of Soviet demands.

The Soviet responded after a few weeks.