TITO'S COMEBACK

AIM Zagreb, 5 May, 1998

Tito triumphantly returned to Croatia. Eighteen years after the death of the "greatest son of our nations and ethnic groups" and eight years after introduction of multiparty democracy, after the war and after Croatia had become independent, Tito is present more than he had ever been in the course of the past years. Tito is written and spoken about, there are public polemics about him, investigations are carried out about his personality and deeds, but also about the heritage he has left, television discussions are organised, party leaders are declaring their stands on him, a society for protection of his person and promotion of tradition of his deeds has been founded, and Tito has even been used by Tudjman as a strong argument in international policy of Croatia. The years in the course of which efforts were made to forget Tito, to obliterate him and delete him from history and present him as the greatest villain of the Croats and Croatia have irretrievably retreated in front of the newly discovered public and secret adoration of the Marshal who returned like a boomerang to the new Croatian authorities and the current Croatian president.

In summer 1996, when a group of elederly communist officials and survived veterans of the National Liberation War of Yugoslavia founded Josip Broz Tito Society, the public received them with unconcealed aversion as a group of Yugo-nostalgic Reds who did not "comprehend the course of historic development and changes which are taking place on the modern political scene in the world". It should not be forgotten that it was the time when Croatia was intoxicated by liberation of Krajina, "the glorious victory of Croatian politics and armed forces". Although it was already clear at the time that this "victory" contained elements any normal state would be ashamed of, there was simply no end to self-adoration of Tudjman, who claimed all the merits for it for himself and his Croat Democratic Community (HDZ). Mentioning of Tito and foundation of a society which would be engaged in "protection of the personality and deeds" of the late marshal inevitably caused odium of the public.

Two years later, a mediocre television show has become the social and political event of the season the reflection of which is clearly crystallizing in the entire society. Denis Latin, in his talk show called Latinica, which equally immaturely deals with folk-music in Croatia and high death rate among patients in hospitals, brought both advocates and critics of Tito and his deeds to his studio, and offered to the spectators a badly seasoned mixture of praises and reproaches of the one who is for 18 years already resting in Dedinje. And while the guests in the television studio passionately quarrelled about the late object of adoration and disgust, spectators were given the possibility to vote by phone for one of the two offered options - "pro" and "con" Tito. It was the evening when the post office registered the highest frequency of calls: in less than two and a half hours for as long as the show lasted, almost one hundred thousand spectators voted, and Tito's opponents were routed. Three quarters of the calls were "pro" Tito!

Pantovcak (where Tudjman resides), synonym for the new evil which has stricken Croatia, had plenty of reason to panic. Simply, a banal tv show showed that the ground was slipping from under the feet of the new, so-called democratic authorities. Neither independent Croatia, no introduction of multiparty system, nor proclaimed market economy, not even "the glorious victory of the small, but powerful" military force and the "regional factor" can nowadays help Tudjman and the HDZ to preserve power. It seems that the citizens have become aware that Croatia has never had such a low international rating, that concealed behind the screen of the multiparty system is ruthless autocracy and domination of a single party in all segments of political and economic life of the entire country, that the glorious military victories were just an introduction to plunder of enormous proportions on a large part of the territory, that protection of Croatian interests in B&H is actually just a form of division of the neighbouring state, and that the market economy has transformed into the worst form of tycoonism and a means for acquiring of enormous wealth by a small elite headed by the President's family and that there is no place in it for ordinary people whose "enjoyment in democracy" is best illustrated by long queues for free meals, people digging in rubbish containers in search for food, and eager expectations of plates of free beans soup distributed at 1st-of-May festivities.

The entire HDZ machinery in charge of propaganda was engaged once again in the attempt to make the gloomy reality look better, headed by the central daily news program on state television, the obscure program called Motrista (Views) and regime daily Vjesnik. It turned out that the whole effort was useless, and the severest, almost final blow was dealt Tudjman and his policy by a public opinion poll conducted by weekly Globus which is quite close to the ruling Croatian party. The team of Globus conducted a big poll all around Croatia which sought answer to a single question - who the Croats believed to be a greater statesman - Tito or Tudjman? The late communist marshal won again. To the question: "When you compare the whole personality and deeds of persident Tudjman with that of president Tito, who do you personally believe is a more successful statesman?" 34 per cent of the pollees chose Tudjman, and 34.5 per cent chose Tito. But, when the pollees were asked whether they thought that Tudjman was imitating Tito, only a quarter of them denied, while almost 60 per cent said that Tudjman was an imitator - 28 per cent think that this was a coincidence, and 30.5 per cent think that Tudjman is doing it on purpose.

Comparing virtues of the two men from Zagorje who had soared to the presidential heights, the pollees proclaimed Tito more handsome, more courageous, more cunning, more elegant, a better writer, a greater Croat, more attached to his family, more tolerant, humane, more pious and a better leader of the party. The commentator of Globus, the chameleon sociologist Slaven Letica, commented briefly that "the pollees judged well what human and statesman's advantages one president had and what the other". However, Letica (accidentally) failed to see that mostly traditional and patriarchal values are in favour of Tudjman, while the question in what way Tudjman uses his education was not even opened, nor what Tudjman's tolerance is reflected in, except in the fact that he has not yet opened penitentiaries Tito used to have even after the end of the Second World War.

In the end, Tudjman himself was forced to admit that he was defeated, and that his extremist nationalistic policy has no future in the long run. After the "Sakic scandal" erupted, there was nothing else left for Tudjman to do but to pull out of his sleeve as the main witness of Croatian antifascism and antifascist heritage of the Second World War - Tito himself. On the occasion of receiving the diplomatic letter of credit of the Israeli ambassador in Croatia Nathan Meron, Tudjman pronounced his historical tribute to Tito by saying that the antifascist movement in former Yugoslavia was "one of the most powerful in Europe, and it was headed by Croats Josip Broz Tito and Ivan Ribar". At the time of new counting of remains in Jasenovac, at the height of Tudjman's idea about mixing the remains of "victims and murderers" - partisans and Ustashas in that very same Jasenovac, and at the moment when the whole world is informing about the Jasenovac commander and executioner Dinko Sakic, Tudjman was forced to grant amnesty to Tito whom he blamed in the past several years for all Croat tragedies "since the seventh century".

But Tudjman has come to the end. Tito is his last argument he resorted to under pressure of the world, pressure Croatia has never been exposed to before. It is much more important and above all indicative that Tito was forgiven by the Croats, who are nowadays remembering with nostalgy "the great leader" whose policy of non-alignment and the so-called peaceful coexistence had made communist Yugoslavia a true factor of international politics of world powers. Contrary to that, Tudjman's Croatia is sentenced to isolation and miserably living on the margins of world developemnts as a dark zone of the Balkan powder peg in which the lighted fuse of a new war for redistribution of B&H is smouldering. Alone, with no friends and support Tudjman's Croatia is living through its most difficult moments, and the people, hungry, impoverished and deprived of their rights are gathering in Kumrovec, singing in glory of Tito and writing messages to him to come back to them. Tito has been forgiven.

MILIVOJ DJILAS