Directory:Josip Broz Tito

Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980) was a Croatian politician. This article is about a contemporary view of the Balkan Dictator Josip Broz Tito. There is no cold war communist rhetoric here, rather a critical look at this historic individual.

Josip Broz was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Croatia, and was the Commander of all Partisans and Communists during World War Two. He later became Yugoslavia's political leader and was the main decision maker in military and political matters. He was President for Life of Yugoslavia and played a crucial, if not the main role, in historical events of that country. He was considered by many to be, one of the prominent Eastern European Balkan Dictators of the Cold War Era.

Following are some of his many roles;

The Prime Minister of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Secretary-General of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (1939–80).
He apparently held the rank of Marshal of Yugoslavia, serving as the supreme commander of the Yugoslav military, the Yugoslav People's Army.
One of the founders of Cominform. Cominform was the beginning of the Soviet communist block (Yugoslavia got kicked out in 1948).
One of the main founders and promoters of the Non-Aligned Movement, and its first Secretary-General.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Yugoslavia, factual evidence has emerged that Josip Broz and the Yugoslav regime were actually responsible for executing mass murders, arrests and torture. The worst of these events are the;

Way of the Cross massacres
Bleiburg massacre
Foibe massacres.

Additionally there is the ethnic cleansing of Germans, Hungarians and Italians of the former Yugoslavia. The Goli Otok (Barren Island), a notorious prison on the Croatian coast, (former Yugoslavia’s Evil Island-Gulag) is where he imprisoned the regime’s enemies. The communist terror campaign lasted for about twenty years until the introduction of reforms in the 1960's.

As the leader of Yugoslavia, Tito maintained a lavish playboy lifestyle and kept several mansions. In Belgrade he resided in the official palace, (Beli Dvor), and maintained a separate private residence. He spent much time at his private island of Brijuni, an official residence from 1949 on, and at his palace at the Bled Lake. By 1974 Tito had 32 official residences.

Tito's greatest strength was acquiring money from the West. This made it possible for the creation of the "second Yugoslavia", a socialist federation that lasted from World War II until 1991. The West wanted to give support to Yugoslavia in opposition to the Soviet Union during the cold war. More money was given to Yugoslavia during the Cold war years than to Africa.

He was a backer of independent roads to socialism. As such, he supported the policy of nonalignment between the two hostile blocs in the Cold War. Such successful diplomatic and economic policies allowed Tito to preside over the Yugoslav economic boom and the expansion of the 1960s and 70s however, his presidency and leadership were authoritarian and Dictatorial while his internal policies included the suppression of nationalist sentiment. He and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia promoted the "brotherhood and unity" of the six Yugoslav nations which was achieved by Communist Dictatorship policies (and propaganda).

Directory:Josip Broz Tito

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