Was Tito more of a James Bond or a James Bond villain? A romantic hero, demonic villain, or both? That’s the question for today as we explore the early life of the man who would become the dictator of Yugoslavia, and who would later create the peculiar communist ideology called Titoism.
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Time/place: Southeast Europe, 1892-1945 CE
Dead Idea: Titoism
For a video of the mercury mines at Idrija, Slovenia, go here.
Slovene lands mostly covered by what is labeled Carniola and Gorizia-Gradisca in far northwest
Main Sources
Biography International. (1998, Sep 2). “Josip Broz Tito: The Rebel Communist.” Biography International. Retrieved July 14, 2017, from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAq5dBBuiD4&t=313s
CIA. (1957). “Titoism and Soviet Communism: An Analysis and Comparison of Theory and Practice.” Declassified in Part, Sanitized. Retrieved July 14, 2017, from: https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80T00246A073800530001-4.pdf
Diljas, M. (1980). Tito: The Story from the Inside. Kojic, V., and Hayes, R., Trans. New York: Harcourt Brace.
Drnovsek, M. (n.d.). “The Causes for Emigration of Slovenes in the Last Two Centuries.” The Slovenian. Retrieved July 11, 2017, from: http://www.theslovenian.com/articles/drnovsek.htm
Enrico, S. (n.d.). “Boxing Arena Sound.” SoundBible. Sound clip used according to Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Retrieved August 1, 2017, from: http://soundbible.com/1559-Boxing-Arena-Sound.html
Fine. J. V. A. (2007). “Strongmen Can Be Beneficial: The Exceptional Case of Josip Broz Tito.” In: Fischer, B., Ed. (2007). Balkan Strongmen: Dictators and Authoritarian Rulers of Southeast Europe. West Lafayette, IA: Purdue University press.
Fischer, B., Ed. (2007). Balkan Strongmen: Dictators and Authoritarian Rulers of Southeast Europe. West Lafayette, IA: Purdue University press.
Flaherty, D. (2003, May). “Self-management and Requirements for Social Property: Lessons from Yugoslavia.” In: The Work of Karl Marx and the Challenges of the 21st Century Conference held in Havana.
Retrieved July 14, 2017, from: http://www.nodo50.org/cubasigloXXI/congreso/flaherty_15abr03.pdf
Horvat, B., Markovic, M, Supek, R. (1975). Self-governing Socialism, Vol. 1 & 2. New York: International Arts and Sciences Press, Inc.
Kardelj, E. (1956, July). “Evolution in Jugoslavia.” Foreign Affairs: p. 580-602.
Laibach. (n.d.). “Biography.” Laibach. Retrieved July 14, 2017, from: http://www.laibach.org/bio/
Mrak, M., Rojeć, M., and Silva-Jáuregui, C. (2004). Slovenia: From Yugoslavia to the European Union. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.
NSK State. (n.d.). NSK State. Retrieved July 14, 2017, from: https://passport.nsk.si/en/
Patterson, P. H. (2013). “Bought and Sold: Living and Losing the Good Life in Socialist Yugoslavia.” Youtube. Retrieved July 14, 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbjAt9Z-pFo
Plut-Pregelj, L., and Rogel, C. (1996). Historical Dictionary of Slovenia. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
Repe, Božo. (1992). Das Besondere am “Titoismus” – seine Gewaltherrschaft und sein Zerfall. Aufrisse, 13, 3 “Flammenzeichen Jugoslawien”.
RSFSR. (2016). “Josip Broz Tito’s Funeral 8 May 1980 Yugoslavia – Anthem & The Internationale.” Youtube. Retrieved July 14, 2017, from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4EmqgwRmtk
Savli, J., Bor, M., Tomazić, I. (1996). Veneti: First Builders of European Community: Tracing the History and Language of the Early Ancestors of the Slovenes. Anton Skerbinc.
Slovenski Magazin. (2017, May 19). Video. RTV 4. Retrieved July 14, 2017, from: http://4d.rtvslo.si/arhiv/slovenski-magazin/174472394
Tito, J. B. (1979). Non-alignment: The Conscience and Future of Mankind. Belgrade: Socialist Thought and Practice.
Tito, J. B. (2013). The Selected Works of Josip Broz Tito. New York: Prism Key Press.
Velikonja, M. (2008). Titostalgia: A Study of Nostalgia for Josip Broz. Vuković, O., Trans. Ljubljana: Peace Institute.
Zukin, S. (1975). Beyond Marx and Tito: Theory and Practice in Yugoslav Socialism. New York: Cambridge University press.
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I wonder if you could share the reference that you used to state that Tito ordered the execution of 15,000 baby-wrapping, alley-fleeing četniks (ha, ha – I would never in my wildest dreams have been able to visualize this, I admire the context you created!). I know you mentioned your contacts on forums, but I wonder if you had any suspicions whether you were getting “Serbed.” I’ve not been able to find any non-Serb-nationalistic sources that verify this claim on the web. It is true that Tito did directly order the execution of Mihajlović, which was not a forgotten slight to the četnik establishment/history. I may be someone of Serb ethnicity and may be someone who was born and lived in the Bosnian region of former Yugoslavia during all the war years in the 1990s, and that experience may have allowed me to observe the “četnik revival” from family members. My credibility is limited, but I do have some basis for questioning. There were certainly dictatorial aspects to Tito’s regime, but this is something I had never heard of. I have not listened to the next episode yet, but am looking forward to it. Thanks for covering this topic, the anecdotes about your family are so much fun and warm my heart in all its nostalgia for “my people.” 🙂
Hi Irena. Thanks for reaching out. Skepticism is always appropriate in history, especially in situations like this. I read that estimate in several sources. All of my references are in this episode post, but I’ll flip through them again to see which ones had that figure. Glad you are enjoying the series. 🙂
So, here’s how John A. Fine puts it: “Several thousand people fled Yugoslavia into Austria at the time of the Partisan victory and were housed in camps. Although some of these refugees who were war criminals were assisted by Allied countries or South America, a large number were handed back to Tito. Many of them were Ustase and Cetniks, including some war criminals, but the largest group were family members and others (some non-political) who fearing or disliking Communism or disliking Communism had fled as well. No attempt was made to separate the people into legal categories, so guilt by association was the order of the day. Perhaps as many as 15,000 people (the actual number is not known) were executed without trial.” (p. 283)
By the way, would you be willing to be interviewed? I bet your family has experiences and stories from Tito’s days. It would be good to get a different perspective. Thanks!