297-713: The Informbiro period was an era of Yugoslavia 's history following the Tito–Stalin split in mid-1948 that lasted until the country's partial rapprochement with the Soviet Union in 1955 with the signing of the Belgrade declaration . After World War II in Yugoslavia , Yugoslavia's new leadership under Josip Broz Tito pursued a foreign policy that did not align with the Eastern Bloc . Eventually, this led to public conflict, but
594-539: A Cold War asset of value to US policy. Still, US aid was reduced as Yugoslav cooperation with the Eastern Bloc increased. In light of the new situation on the ground, the United States Congress sought to eliminate aid to Yugoslavia altogether to cut costs, but President Dwight Eisenhower opposed the idea fearing Yugoslavia might be unable or unwilling to maintain independence and forced to turn completely to
891-484: A market economy under the leadership of Prime Minister Ante Marković , who advocated shock therapy tactics to privatize sections of the Yugoslav economy. Marković was popular, as he was seen as the most capable politician to be able to transform the country to a liberalized democratic federation, though he later lost his popularity, mainly due to rising unemployment. His work was left incomplete as Yugoslavia broke apart in
1188-671: A one-party state and was considered in its earliest years a model of Communist orthodoxy. The Yugoslav government allied with the Soviet Union under Stalin and early in the Cold War shot down two American airplanes flying in Yugoslav airspace, on 9 and 19 August 1946. These were the first aerial shootdowns of western aircraft during the Cold War and caused deep distrust of Tito in the United States and even calls for military intervention against Yugoslavia. The new Yugoslavia also closely followed
1485-475: A "very close friend" of a Socialist Revolutionary , Alexander Arosev , who shared his exile in Vologda. In 1937, fearing arrest, Arosev tried three times to ring Molotov, who refused to speak to him. He was arrested and shot. In the 1950s, Molotov gave Arosev's daughter his signed copies of her father's books, but later wished he had kept them. "It appears that it was not so much the loss of his 'very close friend' but
1782-550: A 'land of the Slavs '. Thus, a translation of Jugoslavija would be 'South-Slavia' or 'Land of the South Slavs '. The federation's official name varied considerably between 1945 and 1992. Yugoslavia was formed in 1918 under the name Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes . In January 1929, King Alexander I assumed dictatorship of the kingdom and renamed it the Kingdom of Yugoslavia , for
2079-460: A Moscow communist party conference on 23 February 1929, Molotov emphasised the need to undertake "the most rapid possible growth of industry" both for economic reasons and because, he claimed, the Soviet Union was in permanent, imminent danger of attack. The argument over how fast to expand industry was behind the rift between Stalin and the right, led by Bukharin and Rykov, who feared that too rapid
2376-587: A Yugoslav satellite state. The Soviet–Yugoslav relations took a significant turn to worse when Bulgaria and Yugoslavia signed a friendship and mutual assistance treaty in Bled in August 1947. The agreement, calling for greater integration between the two countries, was negotiated without consulting the USSR, leading Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov to denounce it. The conflict gradually grew until 1948 when it culminated in
2673-548: A bomb never seen before, Stalin relayed the conversation to Molotov and told him to speed up development. On Stalin's orders, the Soviet government substantially increased investment in the project. In a collaboration with Kliment Voroshilov , Molotov contributed both musically and lyrically to the 1944 version of the Soviet national anthem . Molotov asked the writers to include a line or two about peace. The role of Molotov and Voroshilov in
2970-512: A clique with the intention of taking power. That year (1966), more than 3,700 Yugoslavs fled to Trieste with the intention to seek political asylum in North America , United Kingdom or Australia . Ranković was forced to resign all party posts and some of his supporters were expelled from the party. Throughout the 1950s and '60s, the economic development and liberalization continued at a rapid pace. The introduction of further reforms introduced
3267-453: A committee where the concerns of each republic would be addressed and from it, collective federal policy goals and objectives would be implemented. The head of the collective presidency was rotated between representatives of the republics. The collective presidency was considered the head of state of Yugoslavia. The collective presidency was ended in 1991, as Yugoslavia fell apart. In 1974, major reforms to Yugoslavia's constitution occurred. Among
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#17328518682723564-442: A common market with Yugoslavia and required the teaching of Serbo-Croatian to students in high schools. At this time, the concept of creating a Balkan Federation was being discussed between Yugoslavia, Albania and Bulgaria. Albania at this time was heavily dependent on economic support of Yugoslavia to fund its initially weak infrastructure. Trouble between Yugoslavia and Albania began when Albanians began to complain that Yugoslavia
3861-680: A common state with Serbia and Montenegro. In public, pro-state media in Serbia claimed to Bosnians that Bosnia and Herzegovina could be included a new voluntary union within a new Yugoslavia based on democratic government, but this was not taken seriously by Bosnia and Herzegovina's government. On 9 January 1992, the Bosnian Serb assembly proclaimed a separate Republic of the Serb People of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the soon-to-be Republika Srpska ), and proceeded to form Serbian autonomous regions (SARs) throughout
4158-448: A conflict between the political principle and economic priorities. There was a proposal led by Ranković in 1949 to introduce oblasts as an intermediate-level administrative bodies designed to reduce power of federal republics, but it was dismissed by the KPJ central committee following Slovene objections. In 1952, Deputy Prime Minister Edvard Kardelj drafted constitutional amendments to reflect
4455-620: A corridor to Czechoslovakia —and against Italy in the Julian March area, including Trieste. The immediate vicinity of the city was organised as the Free Territory of Trieste under divided military administration by Yugoslavs and Western Allies , while the latter controlled the city itself. Following the Tito–Stalin split, the Soviets withdrew their support for Yugoslavs in further resolution of
4752-453: A drive to completely oust the Germans and the remaining collaborating forces. By the end of April, the remaining northern parts of Yugoslavia were liberated, and Yugoslav troops occupied chunks of southern German (Austrian) territory and Italian territory around Trieste. Yugoslavia was now once more a fully intact state, with its borders closely resembling their pre-1941 form, and was envisioned by
5049-412: A failed coup against Khrushchev in 1957, after which he was dismissed from all of his positions. Molotov was sent to Mongolia as an ambassador before being expelled from the party in 1961. He continued to defend Stalin's legacy until his own death in 1986. Molotov was born Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Skryabin in the village of Kukarka , Yaransk Uyezd , Vyatka Governorate (now Sovetsk, Kirov Oblast ),
5346-592: A few occasions in the 1980s he made inflammatory speeches in support of Albanians in Kosovo against the Yugoslav government, when public sentiment in Albania was firmly in support of Kosovo's Albanians. The armed forces of SFR Yugoslavia consisted of the Yugoslav People's Army ( Jugoslovenska narodna armija , JNA), Territorial Defense (TO), Civil Defense (CZ) and Milicija (police) in wartime. Socialist Yugoslavia maintained
5643-602: A formal non-aggression treaty. Although the treaty is known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , it was Stalin and Hitler, not Molotov and Ribbentrop, who decided the content of the treaty. The most important part of the agreement was the secret protocol, which provided for the partition of Poland, Finland and the Baltic States between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and for the Soviet annexation of Bessarabia (then part of Romania, now Moldova ). The protocol gave Hitler
5940-537: A group within the Communist leadership to advocate greater decentralization. These liberals were opposed by a group around Aleksandar Ranković. In 1966 the liberals (the most important being Edvard Kardelj, Vladimir Bakarić of Croatia and Petar Stambolić of Serbia) gained the support of Tito. At a party meeting in Brijuni , Ranković faced a fully prepared dossier of accusations and a denunciation from Tito that he had formed
6237-851: A haven for the resistance. On 17 June 1944, the Partisan base on the island of Vis housed a conference between Prime Minister Tito of the NKOJ (representing the AVNOJ) and Prime Minister Ivan Šubašić of the royalist Yugoslav government-in-exile in London. The conclusions, known as the Tito-Šubašić Agreement , granted the King's recognition to the AVNOJ and the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (DFY) and provided for
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#17328518682726534-538: A hug and said: 'Be well. If everything goes well with you, it will go well for all Jews everywhere.' " Zhemchuzhina was imprisoned for a year in the Lubyanka and was then exiled for three years in an obscure Russian city. She was sentenced to hard labour, spending five years in exile in Kazakhstan. Molotov had no communication with her except for the scant news that he received from Beria, whom he loathed. Zhemchuzhina
6831-529: A large company. These were organized into enterprises which in turn associated into composite organizations of associated labor , which could be large companies or even whole-industry branches in a certain area. Most executive decision-making was based in enterprises , so that these continued to compete to an extent, even when they were part of a same composite organization. Vyacheslav Molotov Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov ( né Skryabin ; 9 March [ O. S. 25 February] 1890 – 8 November 1986)
7128-604: A leading role in the Non-Aligned Movement, as well as maintaining cordial relations with the United States and Western European countries. Stalin considered Tito a traitor and openly offered condemnation towards him. Yugoslavia provided major assistance to anti-colonialist movements in the Third World. The Yugoslav delegation was the first to bring the demands of the Algerian National Liberation Front to
7425-553: A majority to Slovenia and Croatia if strictly applied, while ensuring equal representation of each federal unit in the assembly to counterbalance this. Ultimately, the KPJ accepted decentralisation and rebranded itself as the League of Communists of Yugoslavia ( Savez komunista Jugoslavije , SKJ) at its sixth congress held in Zagreb in 1952 to reflect the prevailing spirit. The constitutional amendments, adopted on 13 January 1953, were only
7722-460: A new Balkan Federation would see Bulgaria and Yugoslavia as a whole uniting on equal terms. As these negotiations began, Yugoslav representatives Edvard Kardelj and Milovan Đilas were summoned to Moscow alongside a Bulgarian delegation, where Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov attempted to browbeat them into accepting Soviet control over the merger between the countries, and generally tried to force them into subordination. The Soviets did not express
8019-563: A new, unique economic system, and a diplomatic policy of non-alignment. Yugoslavia refused to take part in the Communist Warsaw Pact and instead took a neutral stance in the Cold War, becoming a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement along with countries like India, Egypt and Indonesia, and pursuing centre-left influences that promoted a non-confrontational policy towards the United States. The country distanced itself from
8316-665: A number of issues, but after the Moscow meeting, an open confrontation was beginning. Next came an exchange of letters directly between the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ). In the first CPSU letter of 27 March 1948, the Soviets accused the Yugoslavs of denigrating Soviet socialism via statements such as "socialism in the Soviet Union has ceased to be revolutionary". It also claimed that
8613-671: A pace would cause economic dislocation. With their defeat, Molotov emerged as the second most powerful figure in the Soviet Union. During the Central Committee plenum of 19 December 1930, Molotov succeeded Alexey Rykov as the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars , the equivalent of a Western head of government . In that post, Molotov oversaw the implementation of the First Five-Year Plan for rapid industrialisation. Despite
8910-512: A pan-Yugoslav referendum on the question. Among other decisions, the AVNOJ formed a provisional executive body, the National Committee for the Liberation of Yugoslavia (NKOJ, Nacionalni komitet oslobođenja Jugoslavije ), appointing Tito as prime minister. Having achieved success in the 1943 engagements, Tito was also granted the rank of Marshal of Yugoslavia . Favourable news also came from
9207-536: A peaceful resolution of the Arab–Israeli conflict . His plan called for Arab countries to recognize the State of Israel in exchange for Israel returning territories it had gained. The Arab countries rejected his land for peace concept. However, that same year, Yugoslavia no longer recognized Israel. In 1968, following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia , Tito added an additional defense line to Yugoslavia's borders with
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9504-576: A reconstituted state known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , or FR Yugoslavia, but this state was not recognized internationally as the sole successor state to SFR Yugoslavia . " Former Yugoslavia " is now commonly used retrospectively. The name Yugoslavia , an anglicised transcription of Jugoslavija , is a compound word made up of jug ('yug'; with the 'j' pronounced like an English 'y') and slavija . The Slavic word jug means 'south', while slavija ("Slavia") denotes
9801-418: A rift in his own party. Communist officials Andrija Hebrang and Sreten Žujović supported the Soviet view. Tito, however, saw through it, refused to compromise his own party, and soon responded with his own letter. The KPJ response on 13 April 1948 was a strong denial of the Soviet accusations, both defending the revolutionary nature of the party and re-asserting its high opinion of the Soviet Union. However,
10098-592: A second front against Germany. After signing the Anglo–Soviet Treaty of 1942 on 26 May, Molotov left for Washington . He met US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and agreed on a lend-lease plan. Both the British and the Americans only vaguely promised to open a second front against Germany. On his flight back to the Soviet Union, his plane was attacked by German fighters and later mistakenly by Soviet fighters. There
10395-504: A separatist momentum, but they were unsuccessful, sometimes even gaining the animosity of fellow Roman Catholic Croatian Yugoslavs. From 1971 on, the republics had control over their economic plans. This led to a wave of investment, which in turn was accompanied by a growing level of debt and a growing trend of imports not covered by exports. Many of the demands made in the Croatian Spring movement in 1971, such as giving more autonomy to
10692-487: A significant alteration, and it was reported that many Yugoslavs openly mourned his death. In the Split soccer stadium, Serbs and Croats visited the coffin among other spontaneous outpourings of grief, and a funeral was organized by the League of Communists with hundreds of world leaders in attendance (See Tito's state funeral ). After Tito's death in 1980, a new collective presidency of the Communist leadership from each republic
10989-562: A significant military industry of its own. With the American response in the Korean War serving as an example of the West's commitment, Stalin began backing down from war with Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia began a number of fundamental reforms in the early 1950s, bringing about change in three major directions: rapid liberalization and decentralization of the country's political system, the institution of
11286-406: A significant number of members of Yugoslavia's security apparatus and its military. This break with the Eastern Bloc caused significant economic difficulties for Yugoslavia as the country relied on trade with the USSR and Soviet allies. Economic pressures within the country led to reforms that would ultimately result in the introduction of socialist self-management and increased decentralisation of
11583-405: A small-minded intriguer and accomplice in terror. Molotov was succeeded in his post as premier by Stalin. At first, Hitler rebuffed Soviet diplomatic hints that Stalin desired a treaty; but in early August 1939, Hitler allowed Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop to begin serious negotiations. A trade agreement was concluded on 18 August, and on 22 August Ribbentrop flew to Moscow to conclude
11880-401: A socialist policy for the emancipation of women, targeting in particular the most backward rural areas. AFŽ activists were immediately confronted with the gap between officially proclaimed rights and women's daily lives. The reports drawn up by local AFŽ sections in the late 1940s and 1950s testify to the extent of patriarchal domination, physical exploitation and poor access to education faced by
12177-408: A specific view on Yugoslav-Bulgarian unification but wanted to ensure Moscow approved every decision by both parties. The Bulgarians did not object, but the Yugoslav delegation withdrew from the Moscow meeting. Recognizing the level of Bulgarian subordination to Moscow , Yugoslavia withdrew from the unification talks and shelved plans for the annexation of Albania in anticipation of a confrontation with
Informbiro period - Misplaced Pages Continue
12474-453: A strong military force. The JNA was the main organization of the military forces, and was composed of the ground army, navy and aviation. Militarily, Yugoslavia had a policy of self-sufficiency. Due to its policy of neutrality and non-alignment, efforts were made to develop the country's military industry to provide the military with all its needs, and even for export. Most of its military equipment and pieces were domestically produced, while some
12771-506: A variant of market socialism , which now entailed a policy of open borders. With heavy federal investment, tourism in SR Croatia was revived, expanded, and transformed into a major source of income. With these successful measures, the Yugoslav economy achieved relative self-sufficiency and traded extensively with both the West and the East. By the early 1960s, foreign observers noted that the country
13068-467: A visa on arrival and, later onward, were issued a tourist card for short stays. Numerous reciprocal agreements for abolishing visas were implemented with other countries (mainly Western European), through the decade. For the International Year of Tourism in 1967 Yugoslavia suspended visa requirements for all countries it had diplomatic relations with. In the same year, Tito became active in promoting
13365-414: A week later by Tito on 9 June during his televised speech. In 1971 the leadership of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, notably Miko Tripalo and Savka Dabčević-Kučar , allied with nationalist non-party groups, began a movement to increase the powers of the individual federated republics. The movement was referred to as MASPOK, a portmanteau of masovni pokret meaning mass movement , and led to
13662-455: A week. There were numerous victims of persecution beyond Žujović and Hebrang. Real or perceived supporters of Stalin were termed "Cominformists" or " ibeovci " as a pejorative initialism based on the first two words in the official name of the Cominform. Thousands were imprisoned, killed, or exiled. In response to the situation in the country, Ranković established a special anti-Cominform staff in
13959-550: Is most commonly called by that name, which it held for the longest period. Of the three main Yugoslav languages, the Serbo-Croatian and Macedonian names for the state were identical, while Slovene slightly differed in capitalization and the spelling of the adjective Socialist . The names are as follows: Due to the name's length, abbreviations were often used for the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, though it
14256-440: Is no evidence that Molotov ever persuaded Stalin to pursue a different policy from that on which he had already decided. Volkogonov could not find one case where any of the elite in government openly disagreed with Stalin. There is some evidence that, although Stalin realised he needed Molotov, Stalin did not like him. Stalin's one-time bodyguard, Amba, stated: "More general dislike for this statesman robot and for his position in
14553-560: The 20th Congress of the Communist Party. Khrushchev attacked Stalin over the purges of the 1930s and the defeats of the early years of the Second World War, which he blamed on Stalin's overly-trusting attitude towards Hitler and the purges of the Red Army command structure. Molotov was the most senior of Stalin's collaborators still in government and had played a leading role in the purges, so it became evident that Khrushchev's examination of
14850-456: The 20th Party Congress in 1956, Khrushchev told delegates that Stalin had plans for "finishing off" Molotov and Mikoyan in the aftermath of the 19th Congress. Following Stalin's death, a realignment of the leadership strengthened Molotov's position. Georgy Malenkov , Stalin's successor in the post of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, reappointed Molotov as Minister of Foreign Affairs on 5 March 1953. Although Molotov
15147-544: The Axis powers and promoting Communist ideas . Nonetheless, Soviet advisers arrived in Yugoslavia in the autumn of 1944 and promised economic and military assistance—specifically arms and aid to the defence industry . By February 1947, little aid had arrived. In September 1947, when the Soviets formed the Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties , also known as the Cominform, they insisted on headquartering it in
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#173285186827215444-572: The Croatian Spring . Tito responded to the incident by purging the League of Communists of Croatia , while Yugoslav authorities arrested large numbers of the Croatian protesters. To avert ethnically driven protests in the future, Tito began to initiate some of the reforms demanded by the protesters. At this time, Ustaše -sympathizers outside Yugoslavia tried through terrorism and guerrilla actions to create
15741-486: The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (later renamed " Serbia and Montenegro "). The Badinter Commission later (1991–1993) noted that Yugoslavia disintegrated into several independent states, so it is not possible to talk about the secession of Slovenia and Croatia from Yugoslavia. In September 1992, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (consisting of Serbia and Montenegro ) failed to achieve de jure recognition as
16038-569: The Greek Civil War and concluded the Balkan Pact , an agreement of cooperation and defence with Greece and Turkey . The period had an impact on Yugoslavia's contemporary art and popular culture, as artists were encouraged to seek inspiration in the wartime struggle of the Yugoslav Partisans and the construction of new infrastructure. Decades later, many literary works and films covered
16335-581: The Katyn massacre . In November 1940, Stalin sent Molotov to Berlin to meet Ribbentrop and Hitler. In January 1941, British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden visited Turkey in an attempt to get the Turks to enter the war on the Allies' side. The purpose of Eden's visit was anti-German, rather than anti-Soviet, but Molotov assumed otherwise. In a series of conversations with Italian Ambassador Augusto Rosso, Molotov claimed that
16632-492: The League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY/SKJ), becoming a federation of six republican Communist parties. The result was a regime that was somewhat more humane than other Communist states. However, the LCY retained absolute power; as in all Communist regimes, the legislature did little more than rubber-stamp decisions already made by the LCY's Politburo. The UDBA, while operating with considerably more restraint than its counterparts in
16929-460: The Manhattan Project and its importance, Stalin handpicked Molotov to be the man in charge of the Soviet atomic bomb project . However, under Molotov's leadership, the bomb and the project itself developed very slowly, and he was replaced by Beria in 1944 on the advice of Igor Kurchatov . When Roosevelt's successor as U.S. President Harry S. Truman told Stalin that the Americans had created
17226-616: The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany , and during the Second World War was deputy chairman of the State Defense Committee and Stalin's main negotiator with the Allies . After the war, he began to lose favour, losing his ministership in 1948 before being criticized by Stalin at the 19th Party Congress in 1952. Molotov was reappointed foreign minister after Stalin's death in 1953, but his staunch opposition to leader Nikita Khrushchev 's de-Stalinization policy led him to join
17523-413: The Non-Aligned Movement , and transitioned from a command economy to market-based socialism . The country was renamed Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1963. After Tito died on 4 May 1980, the Yugoslav economy began to collapse, which increased unemployment and inflation. The economic crisis led to rising ethnic nationalism and political dissidence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. With
17820-406: The People's Front represented all the Yugoslav people. The People's Front coalition, headed by the KPJ and its general secretary Tito, was a major movement within the government. Other political movements that joined the government included the "Napred" movement represented by Milivoje Marković. Belgrade , Yugoslavia's capital, was liberated with the Soviet Red Army 's help in October 1944, and
18117-493: The Politburo in 1921 and held the office of Responsible Secretary . Alexander Barmine , a minor communist official, visited Molotov in his office near the Kremlin while he was running the secretariat, and remembered him as having "a large and placid face, the face of an ordinary, uninspired, but rather soft and kindly bureaucrat, attentive and unassuming." Molotov was criticised by Lenin and Leon Trotsky , with Lenin noting his "shameful bureaucratism" and "stupid behaviour". On
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#173285186827218414-503: The Principality of Serbia gained diplomatic recognition in 1830. The sentiment was reinforced in Montenegro since the Russian Empire acted, or was perceived to have acted, to protect the Principality of Montenegro against the Ottoman Empire in the mid-18th century. By extension, this support was given to the USSR. The exact number of those arrested remains uncertain, but in 1983, Radovan Radonjić stated that 16,288 were arrested and convicted, including 2,616 belonging to various levels of
18711-455: The Republic of China were established with the Soviet Union's permission. Simultaneously, Yugoslavia maintained close contacts with the Chinese Communist Party and supported its cause in the Chinese Civil War . The Tito–Stalin, or Yugoslav–Soviet split, took place in the spring and early summer of 1948. Its title pertains to Tito, at the time the Yugoslav Prime Minister (President of the Federal Assembly), and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. In
19008-406: The Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK) on 19 December 1991. The influence of xenophobia and ethnic hatred in the collapse of Yugoslavia became clear during the war in Croatia. Propaganda by Croatian and Serbian sides spread fear, claiming that the other side would engage in oppression against them and would exaggerate death tolls to increase support from their populations. In the beginning months of
19305-462: The Rhineland . Derek Watson believed that it was Molotov's statement on foreign policy that offended Stalin. Molotov had made it clear that improved relations with Germany could develop only if its policy changed and stated that one of the best ways for Germany to improve relations was to rejoin the League of Nations . However, even that was not sufficient since Germany still had to give proof "of its respect for international obligations in keeping with
19602-459: The Russian Civil War , which had broken out. Since he was not a military man, he took no part in the fighting. In summer 1919, he was sent on a tour by steamboat of the Volga and Kama rivers, with Lenin's wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya to spread Bolshevik propaganda. On his return, he was appointed chairman of the Nizhny Novgorod provincial executive, where the local party passed a vote of censure against him, for his alleged fondness for intrigue. He
19899-511: The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1906 and was arrested and internally exiled twice before the October Revolution of 1917. He briefly headed the party's Secretariat before supporting Stalin's rise to power in the 1920s, becoming one of his closest associates. Molotov was made a full member of the Politburo in 1926 and became premier in 1930, overseeing Stalin's agricultural collectivization (and resulting famine ) and his Great Purge . As foreign minister from 1939, Molotov signed
20196-406: The Stalinist Soviet model of economic development in this period, some aspects of which achieved considerable success. In particular, the public works of the period organized by the government rebuilt and even improved Yugoslav infrastructure (in particular the road system) with little cost to the state. Tensions with the West were high as Yugoslavia joined the Cominform , and the early phase of
20493-437: The Stalinist architecture . The same approach was applied to the Assembly of Slovenia and the Zagreb Assembly buildings. The split with the Eastern Bloc opened the country to Western popular culture and the revival of Yugoslav comics. There were also two early examples of treatment of the break with the USSR and the Cominform in Yugoslav cinema. Both are satirical works filmed in 1951. One is Tajna dvorca I. B. (The Secret of
20790-408: The State Security Administration ( Uprava državne bezbednosti , UDB) consisting of his deputy, and nominal head of the UDB, Svetislav Stefanović Ćeća, Veljko Mićunović, Jovo Kapičić, Vojislav Biljanović, Mile Milatović, and Jefto Šašić as the head of the Counterintelligence Service ( Kontraobaveštajna služba , KOS). In 1948–51 alone, 55,663 KPJ members were registered as Cominformists, or 19.52% of
21087-484: The Tito–Stalin split —pitting Yugoslavia against the USSR, supported by the rest of the Eastern Bloc through the Cominform, in the period of conflict or at least tense relations with all pro-Western Yugoslav neighbours, the United Kingdom and the United States . Following the military conquests of Trieste and a part of Carinthia in the final days of World War II, Tito pressed territorial claims against Austria —specifically Carinthia and Burgenland hoping for
21384-485: The United Nations Charter using only Yugoslavia as an official name, with no reference to either a kingdom or a republic. Acting as head of state on 7 March, the King appointed to his Regency Council constitutional lawyers Srđan Budisavljević, Ante Mandić , and Dušan Sernec. In doing so, he empowered his council to form a common temporary government with NKOJ and accept Tito's nomination as prime minister of
21681-684: The Yugoslav Partisan Supreme Headquarters escort battalion. Forty-nine Yugoslav Army graduates of the Voroshilov , the Frunze , and other Soviet military academies were deemed potential Soviet supporters. Many of those attending such academies in the USSR at the time of the Tito–Stalin split never returned to Yugoslavia. The split particularly affected the Air Force . Almost all Air Force officers had Soviet training, and some of them fled
21978-525: The fall of communism in Eastern Europe , efforts to transition into a confederation failed; the two wealthiest republics, Croatia and Slovenia, seceded and gained some international recognition in 1991. The federation dissolved along the borders of federated republics, hastened by the start of the Yugoslav Wars, and formally broke up on 27 April 1992. Two republics, Serbia and Montenegro, remained within
22275-468: The republic -or- kingdom question open. In 1945, King Peter II was officially deposed, with the state reorganized as a republic, and accordingly renamed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPR Yugoslavia or FPRY), with the constitution coming into force in 1946. In 1963, amid pervasive liberal constitutional reforms, the name Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was introduced. The state
22572-459: The "Goli Otok literature" after the prison. In Yugoslavia, the period of purges following the 1948 Yugoslav–Soviet rift became referred to as the Informbiro period. The Informbiro period was also revisited by Yugoslav plays and films especially in the 1980s. The most significant play on the topic was The Karamazovs by Dušan Jovanović which premiered in 1980. The most significant Yugoslav films on
22869-507: The "greatest crime in contemporary history". Yugoslavia's military academies trained left-wing activists from both Swapo (modern Namibia ) and the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania as part of Tito's efforts to destabilize South Africa under apartheid . In 1980, the intelligence services of South Africa and Argentina plotted to return the favor by covertly bringing 1,500 anti-communist urban guerrillas to Yugoslavia. The operation
23166-659: The 1943 Session of AVNOJ that coincidentally fell on the same date. The first Yugoslav post-World War II elections were set for 11 November 1945 . By that time, the coalition of parties backing the Partisans, the People's Liberation Front ( Jedinstveni narodnooslobodilački front , JNOF), had been renamed the People's Front ( Narodni front , NOF). The People's Front was primarily led by the KPJ and represented by Tito. The reputation of both benefited greatly from their wartime exploits and decisive success, and they enjoyed genuine support among
23463-450: The 1948 party membership. However, in the same period, the membership was augmented by the introduction of more than half a million new members. The number and proportion of Cominformists in the KPJ membership varied substantially by federal constituent republics and regions, and as by ethnicity. More than half the members were registered in Serbia proper , while the highest proportion relative to
23760-713: The 1950 Yugoslav Emergency Assistance Act granting $ 50 million worth of food. This aid helped Yugoslavia overcome poor harvests of 1948, 1949 and 1950, but there would be almost no economic growth before 1952. In 1950, Yugoslav authorities sought to combat unsustainable labour practices and improve production efficiency through the introduction of compulsory employment contracts and the reduction of labour quotas while maintaining production goals, and requiring factories to balance goods, available cash, and labour through workers' councils . The system would later become known as " self-management ". The push to increased efficiency led to lay-offs of workers deemed less productive—including women,
24057-413: The 1970s, the economy was reorganized according to Edvard Kardelj's theory of associated labor, in which the right to decision-making and a share in profits of worker-run cooperatives is based on the investment of labour. All companies were transformed into organizations of associated labor . The smallest, basic organizations of associated labor , roughly corresponded to a small company or a department in
24354-451: The 1974 Constitution. Public opinion in Slovenia in 1987 saw better economic opportunity in independence from Yugoslavia than within it. There were also places that saw no economic benefit from being in Yugoslavia; for example, the autonomous province of Kosovo was poorly developed, and per capita GDP fell from 47 percent of the Yugoslav average in the immediate post-war period to 27 percent by
24651-467: The 1980s only due to the safety valve provided by sending one million guest workers yearly to advanced industrialized countries in Western Europe . The departure of Yugoslavs seeking work began in the 1950s, when individuals began slipping across the border illegally. In the mid-1960s, Yugoslavia lifted emigration restrictions and the number of emigrants increased rapidly, especially to West Germany . By
24948-521: The 1980s, but its good relations with the United States led to an American-led group of organizations called the "Friends of Yugoslavia" to endorse and achieve significant debt relief for Yugoslavia in 1983 and 1984, though economic problems would continue until the state's dissolution in the 1990s. Yugoslavia was the host nation of the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. For Yugoslavia, the games demonstrated Tito's continued vision of Brotherhood and Unity , as
25245-465: The 1980s. However, economic issues have not been demonstrated to be the sole determining factor in the break up, as Yugoslavia in this period was the most prosperous Communist state in Eastern Europe, and the country in fact disintegrated during a period of economic recovery after the implementation of the economic reforms of Ante Marković's government. Furthermore, during the break up of Yugoslavia,
25542-415: The 1990s. Tensions between the republics and nations of Yugoslavia intensified from the 1970s to the 1980s. The causes for the collapse of the country have been associated with nationalism, ethnic conflict, economic difficulty, frustration with government bureaucracy, the influence of important figures in the country, and international politics. Ideology, and particularly nationalism, has been seen by many as
25839-528: The Albanian administration of SAP Kosovo. Milošević had been, up to this point, a hard-line Communist who had decried all forms of nationalism as treachery, such as condemning the SANU Memorandum as "nothing else but the darkest nationalism". However, Kosovo's autonomy had always been an unpopular policy in Serbia, and he took advantage of the situation and made a departure from traditional Communist neutrality on
26136-624: The Albanian-Yugoslav border, making it a focal point of contention within the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War . Additionally, Enver Hoxha also ordered the expulsion of all Yugoslav politicians and military personnel from across Albania . Prior to 1948, the Yugoslav economy relied on state-controlled trade of agricultural products and raw materials to the USSR in exchange for processed goods and machinery. Overall shortages of machinery and local shortages of labour—especially skilled experts—plagued
26433-422: The Cold War began with Yugoslavia pursuing an aggressive foreign policy. Having liberated most of the Julian March and Carinthia , and with historic claims to both those regions, the Yugoslav government began diplomatic maneuvering to include them in Yugoslavia. The West opposed both these demands. The greatest point of contention was the port city of Trieste . The city and its hinterland were liberated mostly by
26730-422: The Cold War". In the immediate aftermath of the Tito–Stalin split, Yugoslav artists were encouraged to cover topics thought more fitting to the glorification of the ideology touted by the KPJ. In response, themes such as various aspects of then recent wartime struggle and contemporary construction of important infrastructure became popular among artists. The encouragement took the form of preferential treatment in
27027-440: The Communist Party. In 1962, all of Molotov's party documents and files were destroyed by the authorities. In retirement, Molotov remained unrepentant about his role under Stalin's rule. In 1968, United Press International reported that Molotov had completed his memoirs but that they would likely never be published. The first signs of Molotov's rehabilitation were seen during Leonid Brezhnev 's rule, when information about him
27324-496: The Congress of Soviets "We have never refuted the fact that healthy prisoners capable of normal labour are used for road building and other public works. This is good for society; it is also good for the peasants themselves." The famine caused by the disruption of agricultural output and the emphasis on exporting grain to pay for industrialisation, and the harsh conditions of forced labour killed an estimated 11 million people. Despite
27621-556: The Croatian government and Serbian newspapers joined in the warmongering. Serbia had by now printed $ 1.8 billion worth of new money without any backing of the Yugoslav central bank . In the Slovenian independence referendum , held on 23 December 1990, a vast majority of residents voted for independence. 88.5% of all electors (94.8% of those participating) voted for independence – which was declared on 25 June 1991. Both Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence on 25 June 1991. On
27918-605: The Croatian government and the rebel ethnic Serbs of the SAO Krajina (heavily backed by the by-now Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army). On 1 April 1991, the SAO Krajina declared that it would secede from Croatia. Immediately after Croatia's declaration of independence, Croatian Serbs also formed the SAO Western Slavonia and the SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia . These three regions would combine into
28215-648: The DSE could count on further help. In the immediate aftermath of the Tito–Stalin split, the leadership of the ruling Communist Party of Yugoslavia ( Komunistička partija Jugoslavije , KPJ) was faced with uncertainty over personal loyalty. Interior minister Aleksandar Ranković noted it was impossible to know who to trust and that one's closest comrades may now be the enemy. Even as Tito and Stalin exchanged letters which led to their open split in early 1948, Tito called for action against central committee member Sreten Žujović and former minister of industry Andrija Hebrang . Žujović
28512-590: The Eastern Bloc. The date of the meeting, 28 June, was carefully chosen by the Soviets as the triple anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo Field (1389), the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo (1914), and the adoption of the Vidovdan Constitution (1921). Tito, personally invited, refused to attend under a dubious excuse of illness. When an official invitation arrived on 19 June 1948, Tito again refused. On
28809-509: The European Community would ensure that Serbs outside of Serbia would be protected. Milošević refused to agree to the plan, as he claimed that the European Community had no right to dissolve Yugoslavia and that the plan was not in the interests of Serbs as it would divide the Serb people into four republics (Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Croatia). Carington responded by putting
29106-475: The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the SFRY mission, continuing work in various United Nations organs. It was only after the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević , that the government of FR Yugoslavia applied for UN membership in 2000. The Yugoslav Constitution was adopted in 1946 and amended in 1953 , 1963 , and 1974 . The League of Communists of Yugoslavia won the first elections, and remained in power throughout
29403-512: The Free Territory of Trieste offset this. Trading with the United States began in 1948 when Yugoslavia purchased a steel blooming mill , fifteen oil drills , industrial mixers required to set up a tire production facility, five mobile repair workshops and several thousand tractor tires in exchange for various minerals and ores. By the end of the year, it concluded trade agreements with several West European countries. The Export–Import Bank of
29700-521: The Great Purge, he approved 372 documented execution lists, more than any other Soviet official, including Stalin. Molotov was one of the few with whom Stalin openly discussed the purges. When Stalin received a note denouncing the deputy chairman of Gosplan , G.I.Lomov , he passed it to Molotov, who wrote on it: "For immediate arrest of that bastard Lomov." Before the Bolshevik revolution, Molotov had been
29997-406: The I.B. Castle), a ballet pantomime written by Fadil Hadžić and directed by Milan Katić, while the other is Walter and Norbert Neugebauer's cartoon Veliki miting (The Big Meeting). The period of the purges following the Tito–Stalin split was more extensively covered by Yugoslav writers, playwrights, and filmmakers since 1968 when Dragoslav Mihailović wrote his novel Kad su cvetale tikve (When
30294-785: The KPJ leadership. According to Ranković, 51,000 people were killed, imprisoned or sent to forced labour. A majority of them were sentenced without a trial. Prisoners were held at numerous sites including actual prisons, as well as prison camps in Stara Gradiška and the repurposed Ustaše concentration camp in Jasenovac . A special-purpose prison camp was built for Cominformists on the uninhabited Adriatic islands of Goli Otok and Sveti Grgur in 1949. The secret police themselves were among organisations targeted by purges. Yugoslav sources indicate that 1,722 UDB servicemen and officers were convicted. Particularly wide-ranging purges were carried out against
30591-614: The KPJ noted also that "no matter how much each of us loves the land of socialism, the Soviet Union, he can in no case love his own country less". In a speech, the Yugoslav Prime Minister stated: We are not going to pay the balance on others' accounts, we are not going to serve as pocket money in anyone's currency exchange, we are not going to allow ourselves to become entangled in political spheres of interest. Why should it be held against our peoples that they want to be completely independent? And why should autonomy be restricted, or
30888-561: The KPJ organisation there, large segments or entire organisations in Kolašin , Berane , Cetinje , Nikšić , Bar , and Danilovgrad voiced support for the Cominformists. A special task force, headed by Komnen Cerović, was added to the Montenegrin government to persecute the insurgents. They suppressed the rebellion but only temporarily. In 1949, Cerović's force took out insurgent strongholds in
31185-451: The KPJ was not "democratic enough", and that it was not acting as a vanguard that would lead the country to socialism. The Soviets said that they "could not consider such a Communist party organization to be Marxist-Leninist, Bolshevik". The letter also named a number of high-ranking officials as "dubious Marxists" ( Milovan Đilas , Aleksandar Ranković , Boris Kidrič , and Svetozar Vukmanović-Tempo ) inviting Tito to purge them, and thus cause
31482-557: The Kremlin could scarcely be wished and it was apparent that Stalin himself joined in this feeling". A party was silenced by Molotov's arrival, the merriment resuming when he had left. Stalin could be rude to Molotov. In 1942, Stalin took Molotov to task for his handling of the negotiations with the Allies. He cabled Molotov on 3 June stating how displeased he was and how Molotov had failed to provide details of his actions while talking to Churchill and Roosevelt. When Beria told Stalin about
31779-427: The League of Communists of Yugoslavia (January 1990), effectively dissolving the all-Yugoslav party. Along with external pressure, this caused the adoption of multi-party systems in all of the republics. When the individual republics organized their multi-party elections in 1990, the ex-Communists mostly failed to win re-election. In Croatia and Slovenia, nationalist parties won their respective elections. On 8 April 1990
32076-565: The MDAP, the Yugoslav military held an exercise near Banja Luka in 1951 which hosted US observers, including the Chief of Staff of the United States Army General J. Lawton Collins . In November, the United States provided aid under the MDAP and successfully persuaded the British and French to sell arms to Yugoslavia. The United States provided a large quantity of military hardware; the bulk of
32373-671: The Monetenegrin part of Sandžak . Further uprisings took place in the Zeta River valley and the area between the republic's capital, Titograd and Nikšić. Ultimately, the insurgents failed. Two more insurrections, led by ethnic Serb veterans of the Partisan forces and former army officers, took place in the areas of Kordun , Lika , Banovina in Croatia , and just across the federal unit's border in Bosnia and Herzegovina where rebellion centered on
32670-528: The Moscow Communist Party and held that position until 15 August 1929. Trotsky and his supporters underestimated Molotov, and the same went for many others. Trotsky called him "mediocrity personified," and Molotov himself pedantically corrected comrades referring to him as "Stone Arse" by saying that Lenin had actually dubbed him "Iron Arse." However, that outward dullness concealed a sharp mind and great administrative talent. He operated mainly behind
32967-546: The Muslim people maybe into extinction. Because the Muslim people cannot defend themselves if there is war here. In the meantime, behind the scenes, negotiations began between Milošević and Tuđman to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina into Serb and Croat administered territories to attempt to avert war between Bosnian Croats and Serbs. Bosnian Serbs held the November 1991 referendum which resulted in an overwhelming vote in favor of staying in
33264-502: The Partisans as a "Democratic Federation", including six federated states : the Federated State of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FS Bosnia and Herzegovina), Federated State of Croatia (FS Croatia), Federated State of Macedonia (FS Macedonia), Federated State of Montenegro (FS Montenegro), Federated State of Serbia (FS Serbia), and Federated State of Slovenia (FS Slovenia). But the nature of its government remained unclear, and Tito
33561-636: The Partisans in 1945, but pressure from the western Allies forced them to withdraw to the so-called " Morgan Line ". The Free Territory of Trieste was established and separated into Zones A and B, administered by the western Allies and Yugoslavia, respectively. Yugoslavia was initially backed by Stalin, but by 1947 he had begun to cool toward its ambitions. The crisis eventually dissolved as the Tito–Stalin split started, with Zone A granted to Italy and Zone B to Yugoslavia. Meanwhile, civil war raged in Greece – Yugoslavia's southern neighbour – between Communists and
33858-477: The Partisans' standing and granted them a favourable reputation among the Yugoslav populace, leading to increased recruitment. On 8 September 1943, Fascist Italy capitulated to the Allies , leaving their occupation zone in Yugoslavia open to the Partisans. Tito took advantage of this by briefly liberating the Dalmatian shore and its cities. This secured Italian weaponry and supplies for the Partisans, volunteers from
34155-574: The People's Front, which received an average of 85% of the vote in each federated state . On 29 November, the second anniversary of the Second Session of the AVNOJ, the Constituent Assembly of Yugoslavia formally abolished the monarchy and declared the state a republic. The country's official name became the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPR Yugoslavia, FPRY), and the six federated states became "People's Republics". Yugoslavia became
34452-523: The Provisional Assembly. The Tito-Šubašić agreement of 1944 declared that the state was a pluralist democracy that guaranteed democratic liberties; personal freedom; freedom of speech , assembly , and religion ; and a free press . But by January 1945, Tito had shifted his government's emphasis away from pluralist democracy, claiming that though he accepted democracy, multiple parties were unnecessarily divisive amid Yugoslavia's war effort, and that
34749-463: The Pumpkins Blossomed) and especially in the 1980s. Particularly notable literary works were written by Puriša Đorđević , Ferdo Godina , Branko Hofman , Antonije Isaković , Dušan Jovanović , Dragan Kalajdžić, Žarko Komanin, Krsto Papić , Slobodan Selenić , Abdulah Sidran , Aleksandar Tišma , and Pavle Ugrinov contributing to what literary and social commentator Predrag Matvejević named
35046-643: The Royal Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and the Communist Yugoslav Partisans . The Partisan supreme commander was Josip Broz Tito . Under his command, the movement soon began establishing "liberated territories" that attracted the occupying forces' attention. Unlike the various nationalist militias operating in occupied Yugoslavia, the Partisans were a pan-Yugoslav movement promoting the " brotherhood and unity " of Yugoslav nations and representing
35343-537: The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) published the SANU Memorandum . In it, Serbian writers and historians voiced "various currents of Serb nationalist resentment." The SKJ was at the time united in condemning the memorandum, and continued to follow its anti-nationalist policy. In 1987, Serbian Communist official Slobodan Milošević was sent to bring calm to an ethnically driven protest by Serbs against
35640-597: The Serbian Prime Minister Dragutin Zelenović , who contended that Dubrovnik was historically Serbian, not Montenegrin. The international media gave immense attention to the bombardment of Dubrovnik and claimed this was evidence of Milošević pursuing the creation of a Greater Serbia as Yugoslavia collapsed, presumably with the aid of the subordinate Montenegrin leadership of Bulatović and Serb nationalists in Montenegro to foster Montenegrin support for
35937-414: The Soviet Union . Molotov was responsible for telling the Soviet people of the attack when he, instead of Stalin, announced the war. His speech, broadcast by radio on 22 June, characterised the Soviet Union in a role similar to that articulated by Winston Churchill in his early wartime speeches. The State Defence Committee was established soon after Molotov's speech. Stalin was elected chairman and Molotov
36234-415: The Soviet Union, North Korea and finally China, where the post-Mao leadership finally made peace with him after more than 20 years of denouncing the SFRY as "revisionists in the pay of capitalism". This was followed by a tour of France, Portugal, and Algeria after which the president's doctors advised him to rest. In August 1978, Chinese leader Hua Guofeng visited Belgrade, reciprocating Tito's China trip
36531-538: The Soviet Union. From the beginning, the foreign policy of the Yugoslav government under Tito assigned high importance to developing strong diplomatic relations with other nations, including those outside the Balkans and Europe. Yugoslavia quickly established formal relations with India , Burma , and Indonesia following their independence from the British and Dutch colonial empires . Official relations between Yugoslavia and
36828-467: The Soviets in 1948 and started to build its own way to socialism under the strong political leadership of Tito, sometimes informally called " Titoism ". The economic reforms began with the introduction of workers' self-management in June 1950. In this system, profits were shared among the workers themselves as workers' councils controlled production and the profits. An industrial sector began to emerge thanks to
37125-556: The Soviets within the Yugoslav Army ranks is difficult to determine. Low-end estimates indicate that 10–15% of the army's personnel favoured the Soviet position. Yugoslav sources estimate the number of military members arrested is in a range from 4,153 officers and soldiers put forward by Radonjić, to 7,000 imprisoned officers estimated by Milovan Đilas . The purge included 22 officers in the presidential guard regiment reporting directly to Tito, including Momčilo Đurić, wartime commander of
37422-454: The Soviets would soon be faced with an Anglo–Turkish invasion of the Crimea . The British historian D.C. Watt argued that on the basis of Molotov's statements to Rosso, it would appear that, in early 1941, Stalin and Molotov viewed Britain, rather than Germany, as the principal threat. The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact governed Soviet–German relations until June 1941, when Hitler turned east and invaded
37719-585: The Soviets. Colonel General Arso Jovanović , who was chief of Tito's wartime Supreme Headquarters and later the chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army headed it, supported by Major General Branko Petričević Kadja and Colonel Vladimir Dapčević . Border guards killed Jovanović near Vršac while he was attempting to flee to Romania, Petričević was arrested in Belgrade, and Dapčević was arrested just as he
38016-553: The Stalin years. In 1960, he was appointed Soviet representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency , which was seen as a partial rehabilitation. However, after the 22nd Party Congress in 1961, during which Khrushchev carried out his de-Stalinisation campaign, including the removal of Stalin's body from Lenin's Mausoleum , Molotov, along with Lazar Kaganovich , was removed from all positions and expelled from
38313-673: The Tehran Conference when the Allies concluded that the Partisans would be recognized as the Allied Yugoslav resistance movement and granted supplies and wartime support against the Axis occupation. As the war turned decisively against the Axis in 1944, the Partisans continued to hold significant chunks of Yugoslav territory. With the Allies in Italy, the Yugoslav islands of the Adriatic Sea were
38610-525: The Trieste dispute, and switched from backing Yugoslavia in favour of Austria. Since 1947, Yugoslavia provided increasing aid to the Democratic Army of Greece (Δημοκρατικός Στρατός Ελλάδας, Dimokratikós Stratós Elládas , DSE) in the Greek Civil War . Even after Stalin obtained assurances from Yugoslav leadership that the aid would cease, Tito informed Nikos Zachariadis of the Communist Party of Greece that
38907-710: The Tsarist regime – it being thought that the old name sounded too German. Molotov became a member of the Bolshevik Party's committee in Petrograd in 1916. When the February Revolution occurred in 1917, he was one of the few Bolsheviks of any standing in the capital. Under his direction, Pravda took to the "left" to oppose the Provisional Government formed after the revolution. When Joseph Stalin returned to
39204-548: The UDB in Sarajevo after all of the UDB personnel of Sarajevo's second district declared their support for the Cominform. Their action was echoed by UDB chiefs in Mostar and Banja Luka . At least seventeen UDB officers holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel or higher in high-profile positions in the federal bodies or in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina , and Montenegro were arrested, and several UDB officers escaped to Romania . Support for
39501-480: The USSR planned any military intervention in response to the Tito–Stalin split. Hungarian Major General Béla Király , who defected to the United States in 1956, claimed that there were such plans, but research carried out in the 2000s demonstrated his claims were false. Regardless of any Soviet plans, Yugoslavs believed an invasion was likely and planned accordingly. It would appear from a message from Stalin to Czechoslovak president Klement Gottwald in 1948 that his aim
39798-631: The USSR. US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles met with Tito at the Brijuni Islands in November 1955 and was able to confirm to Eisenhower that Yugoslavia would keep its distance from the Eastern Bloc. Yugoslavia's independence was further supported through aid, thus denying the USSR a strategic position in Southeast Europe and preventing the consolidation of the Eastern Bloc. This led Eisenhower to declare Yugoslavia "one of our greatest victories of
40095-561: The United Nations. In January 1958, the French Navy boarded the Slovenija cargo ship off Oran , whose holds were filled with weapons for the insurgents. Diplomat Danilo Milic explained that "Tito and the leading nucleus of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia really saw in the Third World's liberation struggles a replica of their own struggle against the fascist occupants. They vibrated to
40392-689: The United States (Ex-Im Bank) approved its first loan in late August 1949, when the Soviet blockade took full effect. It reflected the decision to "keep Tito afloat" made in February. The United States switched to full support by September. Soon, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank approved loans as well, albeit requiring Yugoslavia to use them to repay pre-war debts to Britain, France , Italy and Belgium . The United States pressured Belgium to accept payment in kind instead of cash. By
40689-399: The Warsaw Pact countries. Later in 1968, Tito then offered Czechoslovak leader Alexander Dubček that he would fly to Prague on three hours notice if Dubček needed help in facing down the Soviet Union which was occupying Czechoslovakia at the time. Yugoslavia had mixed relations towards Enver Hoxha 's Albania . Initially Yugoslav-Albanian relations were forthcoming, as Albania adopted
40986-452: The West in return for increased trade. In February 1949, the US decided to provide Tito with economic assistance and, in return, the US would demand Tito to cut support to the DSE when the internal situation in Yugoslavia allowed such a move without endangering his position. Ultimately, Secretary of State Dean Acheson took the position that the Yugoslav five-year plan must succeed if Tito was to prevail against Stalin and that, regardless of
41283-471: The West, Tito was thought of as a loyal Communist leader, second only to Stalin in the Eastern Bloc. However, having largely liberated itself with only limited Red Army support, Yugoslavia steered an independent course and was constantly experiencing tensions with the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav government considered themselves allies of Moscow, while Moscow considered Yugoslavia a satellite and often treated it as such. Previous tensions erupted over
41580-413: The Yugoslav Army completed its pull-out from Slovenia. Negotiations to restore the Yugoslav federation with diplomat Lord Peter Carington and members of the European Community were all but ended. Carington's plan realized that Yugoslavia was in a state of dissolution and decided that each republic must accept the inevitable independence of the others, along with a promise to Serbian President Milošević that
41877-476: The Yugoslav ambassador to Romania, Radonja Golubović, led them. In addition to Golubović, the group included diplomats posted to Hungary, Sweden , Norway , and the United States. By late 1949, Popivoda was established as the undisputed leader of the exiled opposition, and the group named itself the League of Yugoslav Patriots for the Liberation of the Peoples of Yugoslavia from the Yoke of the Tito-Ranković Clique and Imperialist Slavery. Soviet authorities organised
42174-456: The Yugoslav capital of Belgrade , expanding their agents' access to Yugoslavia. After the war, Stalin and Tito, and by extension the USSR and Yugoslavia , had increasingly divergent objectives and priorities in the areas of foreign relations, economic policies, and even in ideological approaches to the development of a Communist society . Despite these conflicting objectives, Stalin supported Yugoslav policy towards Albania, which treated it like
42471-452: The Yugoslav leadership decided not to acquiesce to Soviet demands, despite significant external and internal pressures. The period saw the persecution of the political opposition in Yugoslavia, resulting in thousands being imprisoned, exiled, or sent to forced labour. 100 Yugoslav citizens were seriously wounded or killed between 1948 and 1953 while some sources claim 400 victims during the existence of Goli otok prison camp. The purges included
42768-511: The Yugoslav political spectrum's republican, left-wing, and socialist elements. The coalition of political parties, factions, and prominent individuals behind the movement was the People's Liberation Front ( Jedinstveni narodnooslobodilački front , JNOF), led by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ). The Front formed a representative political body, the Anti-Fascist Council for the People's Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ, Antifašističko Veće Narodnog Oslobođenja Jugoslavije ). The AVNOJ met for
43065-432: The Yugoslav reformist elite to respond to rising social disorder. The collapse of communism throughout Eastern Europe in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 undermined the country's ideological basis and encouraged anti-communist and nationalist forces in the Western-oriented republics of Croatia and Slovenia to increase their demands. Nationalist sentiment among ethnic Serbs rose dramatically following
43362-432: The Yugoslav resistance once and for all. In the Battle of the Neretva and the Battle of the Sutjeska , the 20,000-strong Partisan Main Operational Group engaged a force of around 150,000 combined Axis troops. In both battles, despite heavy casualties, the Group evaded the trap and retreated to safety. The Partisans emerged stronger than before, occupying a more significant portion of Yugoslavia. The events greatly increased
43659-424: The Yugoslav-Soviet rift and, in 1949 commenced a flow of economic aid, assisted in averting famine in 1950, and covered much of Yugoslavia's trade deficit for the next decade. The United States began shipping weapons to Yugoslavia in 1951. Tito, however, was wary of becoming too dependent on the West as well, and military security arrangements concluded in 1953 as Yugoslavia refused to join NATO and began developing
43956-409: The advice of Molotov and Nikolai Bukharin , the Central Committee decided to reduce Lenin's work hours. In 1922, Stalin became General Secretary of the Bolshevik Party with Molotov as the de facto Second Secretary . As a young follower, Molotov admired Stalin but did not refrain from criticising him. Under Stalin's patronage, Molotov became a full member of the Politburo in January 1926. During
44253-518: The agreement, would not be reliable allies against German expansion. That made him decide instead to seek to conciliate Nazi Germany . In May 1939, Maxim Litvinov , the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, was dismissed; Molotov was appointed to succeed him. Relations between Molotov and Litvinov had been bad. Maurice Hindus in 1954 stated that Molotov "always detested Litvinov" and resented both his fluency in languages and his ease with foreigners. Litvinov had no respect for Molotov, regarding him as
44550-417: The appearance of the Red Army there). This time, the Soviets named Tito and Edvard Kardelj as the principal "heretics", while defending Hebrang and Žujović. The letter suggested that the Yugoslavs bring their "case" before the Cominform. The KPJ responded by expelling Hebrang and Žujović from the party, and by answering the Soviets on 17 May 1948 with a letter which sharply criticized Soviet attempts to devalue
44847-431: The authorities, with numerous arrests and prison sentences handed down over the years for separatist activities. Dissent from a radical faction within the party led by Milovan Đilas, advocating the near-complete annihilation of the state apparatus, was at this time put down by Tito's intervention. In the early 1960s concern over problems such as the building of economically irrational "political" factories and inflation led
45144-404: The birth of 'illegitimate' children. Article 24 of the Constitution affirmed the equality of women in society, stating that: "Women have equal rights with men in all areas of state, economic and socio-political life." At the end of the 1940s, the Women's Antifascist Front of Yugoslavia (AFŽ), an organization founded during the Resistance to involve women in politics, was tasked with implementing
45441-420: The border into Yugoslavia—160 of whom were captured and 40 killed in combat. The Yugoslav security apparatus also faced armed insurrection in several areas—most notably in Montenegro. As a result, an entire UDB division was deployed to Montenegro in the summer and autumn of 1948 to combat the insurrection led by former secretary of the KPJ organisation Ilija Bulatović, in the town of Bijelo Polje . In addition to
45738-438: The border with the Hungarian People's Republic , while the Hungarian People's Army was quickly increased in size from 2 to 15 divisions. The UDBA began arresting alleged Cominformists even under suspicion of being pro-Soviet. However, from the start of the crisis, Tito began making overtures to the United States and the West. Consequently, Stalin's plans were thwarted as Yugoslavia began shifting its alignment. The West welcomed
46035-514: The borders, the Slovenians were able to establish defensive positions against an expected YPA attack. This meant that the YPA would have to fire the first shot. It was fired on 27 June at 14:30 in Divača by an officer of YPA. The conflict spread into the Ten-Day War , with many soldiers wounded and killed, in which the YPA was ineffective. Many unmotivated soldiers of Slovenian, Croatian, Bosnian or Macedonian nationality deserted or quietly rebelled against some (Serbian) officers who wanted to intensify
46332-418: The capital, he reversed Molotov's line, but when Lenin arrived, he overruled Stalin. However, Molotov became a protégé of and a close adherent to Stalin, an alliance to which he owed his later prominence. Molotov became a member of the Military Revolutionary Committee , which planned the October Revolution and effectively brought the Bolsheviks to power. In 1918, Molotov was sent to Ukraine to take part in
46629-463: The changes was the controversial internal division of Serbia, which created two autonomous provinces within it, Vojvodina and Kosovo. Each of these autonomous provinces had voting power equal to that of the republics, and were represented in the Serbian assembly. The 1946 Yugoslav Constitution aimed to unify family law throughout Yugoslavia and to overcome discriminatory provisions, particularly concerning economic rights, inheritance, child custody and
46926-421: The cities previously annexed by Italy, and Italian recruits crossing over to the Allies (the Garibaldi Division ). After this favourable chain of events, the AVNOJ decided to meet for the second time, in Partisan-liberated Jajce . The Second Session of the AVNOJ lasted from 21 to 29 November 1943 (right before and during the Tehran Conference ) and came to a number of conclusions. The most significant of these
47223-479: The city of Cazin in 1950. In the Cazin area, the bulk of the insurgents were actually Muslim peasants. The motivation for the twin rebellions appears more diverse, including real or perceived inadequate appreciation of the wartime efforts of the rebellion leaders, promises to abolish various taxes, and the restoration of King Petar II to the throne. Yugoslav authorities captured ten infiltrators, including eight former Chetniks , coming from Austria to support
47520-495: The conflict. It also marked the end of the YPA, which was until then composed by members of all Yugoslav nations. After that, the YPA consisted mainly of men of Serbian nationality. On 7 July 1991, whilst supportive of their respective rights to national self-determination, the European Community pressured Slovenia and Croatia to place a three-month moratorium on their independence with the Brijuni Agreement (recognized by representatives of all republics). During these three months,
47817-419: The continuation of the Socialist Federal Republic in the United Nations. It was separately recognised as a successor alongside Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia. Before 2000, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia declined to re-apply for membership in the United Nations and the United Nations Secretariat allowed the mission from the SFRY to continue to operate and accredited representatives of
48114-477: The controversial nationalist leader Radovan Karadžić of the largest Serb faction in the parliament, the Serb Democratic Party , gave a grave and direct warning to the Bosnian parliament should it decide to separate, saying: This, what you are doing, is not good. This is the path that you want to take Bosnia and Herzegovina on, the same highway of hell and death that Slovenia and Croatia went on. Don't think that you won't take Bosnia and Herzegovina into hell, and
48411-432: The country in air force planes. The defectors included Major General Pero Popivoda, who was the head of the air force operational service. Batajnica , Zemun , and Pančevo airbases near Belgrade saw several attacks by groups of saboteurs, while the Zemun airbase commander and his deputy fled to Romania. In the immediate aftermath of the split, there was at least one failed attempt of a military coup d'état supported by
48708-416: The country through constitutional amendments formalising the reforms. The United States saw the rift between the Eastern Bloc and Yugoslavia as an opportunity during the Cold War to fragment the Eastern Bloc further and consequently provided economic and military aid, loans, and diplomatic support to the country. The new foreign policy circumstances led Tito to end Yugoslav support of Communist forces in
49005-492: The country's Eastern Bloc-oriented economy began to falter. At the same time, Stalinist Yugoslavs, known in Yugoslavia as "cominformists", began fomenting civil and military unrest. A number of cominformist rebellions and military insurrections took place, along with acts of sabotage. However, the Yugoslav security service (UDBA) led by Aleksandar Ranković, was quick and efficient in cracking down on insurgent activity. Invasion appeared imminent, as Soviet military units massed along
49302-403: The country's liberation, King Peter II was deposed, the monarchical rule was ended, and on 29 November 1945, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed. Led by Josip Broz Tito , the new communist government sided with the Eastern Bloc at the beginning of the Cold War but pursued a policy of neutrality following the 1948 Tito–Stalin split ; it became a founding member of
49599-408: The death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Molotov engaged in talks with the new American President Harry S. Truman ; these talks, despite not being hostile, came to be mythologised decades later as an early crack in US-Soviet relations, presaging the Cold War. From 1945 to 1947, Molotov took part in all four conferences of foreign ministers of the victorious states in the Second World War. In general, he
49896-436: The defendants – who had been forced to confess to crimes of which they were innocent – said that they had conspired to kill Stalin and seven other leading Bolsheviks, but not Molotov. According to Alexander Orlov , an NKVD officer who defected to the west, Stalin personally crossed Molotov's name out of the original script. In May 1936, Molotov went to the Black Sea on an extended holiday under careful NKVD supervision until
50193-402: The defense of Yugoslavia against a potential Soviet military invasion. It also made the option of Yugoslavia's NATO membership more plausible at its time. Under this pact, any potential Soviet invasion of Yugoslavia could also lead to NATO intervention to help defend Yugoslavia due to the NATO memberships of Greece and Turkey. However, the foreign policy disagreements between the three countries in
50490-408: The direction of driving the occupying forces from our country, when the homeland has been razed to the ground when we have nothing but our awareness and our hands ... we have no time for that now. And here is a popular movement [the People's Front]. Everyone is welcome within it, both communists and those who were Democrats and radicals, etc., whatever they were called before. This movement is the force,
50787-503: The disruption of the Soviet-Yugoslav relations and promised to rebuild them on new foundations. They signed the Belgrade Declaration recognising Yugoslav socialism as a legitimate variant of the political system, and the Cominform was dissolved in 1956. The United States saw the visit as a setback to their defence cooperation with Yugoslavia, but noted it was the Soviets who backed down and appeared to have accepted Tito's terms of cooperation. In that light, they continued to view Yugoslavia as
51084-453: The early 1970s, 20% of the country's labor force or 1.1 million workers were employed abroad. This was also a source of capital and foreign currency for Yugoslavia. Due to Yugoslavia's neutrality and its leading role in the Non-Aligned Movement, Yugoslav companies exported to both Western and Eastern markets. Yugoslav companies carried out construction of numerous major infrastructural and industrial projects in Africa, Europe and Asia. In
51381-600: The economy. As the conflict with Stalin progressed, Yugoslavia decided to become self-sufficient and develop its military capabilities, which led to greater budget expenditures for infrastructure and personnel, and the establishment of research and development institutions. To offset the lack of machinery, third shifts were introduced in factories. Authorities mobilised, under threat of imprisonment, those not otherwise employed, and peasants not actively doing agricultural work, to work in mines extracting coal or ores for export, or at construction sites. Food and fuel were stockpiled for
51678-404: The editorial staff of a new underground Bolshevik newspaper, Pravda , and met Joseph Stalin for the first time in association with the project. That first association between the two future Soviet leaders proved to be brief, however, and failed to lead to an immediate close political association. Molotov worked as a so-called "professional revolutionary" for the next several years, wrote for
51975-426: The elderly and even maintenance crews, which did not actually produce anything—resulting in a sharp rise in unemployment. Even though Soviet and Cominform propaganda drew attention to inequalities in the economic development of various parts of Yugoslavia alleging restoration of capitalism, and national oppression of the underdeveloped nations, the clash between strict centralisation and decentralisation appeared as
52272-448: The election in protest of the hostile atmosphere, which caused the three royalist representatives, Grol, Šubašić, and Juraj Šutej , to secede from the provisional government. Indeed, voting was on a single list of People's Front candidates with provision for opposition votes to be cast in separate voting boxes, a procedure that made electors identifiable by OZNA agents. The election results of 11 November 1945 were decisively in favour of
52569-407: The end of August, when Stalin apparently changed his mind and ordered Molotov's return. Two explanations have been put forward for Molotov's temporary eclipse. On 19 March 1936 Molotov gave an interview with the editor of Le Temps concerning improved relations with Nazi Germany. Although Litvinov had made similar statements in 1934 and even visited Berlin that year, Germany had not then reoccupied
52866-402: The end of the year, stocks of grain, fertilisers, and agricultural machinery were running very low. At the same time, export income declined by 36% requiring the extension of rationing. Consequently, a $ 20 million Ex-Im Bank loan was used to buy food in October 1950, and the United States sent nearly twice the amount of food as aid in November. In late December, President Harry S. Truman signed
53163-425: The equipment was given to the Army. The Yugoslav Air Force was particularly low on equipment in 1951, but within two years it received 25 Lockheed T-33 As, and 167 Republic F-84 Thunderjets . In view of the defence cooperation, the United States Forces in Austria proposed a plan for joint American-Yugoslav defence against Soviet advances from Hungary to Austria through Slovenia, but such plans were never approved. By
53460-485: The era's events. The descriptor "Informbiro period" arose from the Communist Information Bureau , an organisation initiated by Stalin that had aimed to reduce divergence among communist governments. Relations between Joseph Stalin and Josip Broz Tito were often strained during World War II as the Soviet Union and the Yugoslav Partisans , a resistance movement established following Axis occupation of Yugoslavia , pursued divergent interests other than defeating
53757-400: The establishment of a joint Yugoslav coalition government headed by Tito with Šubašić as the foreign minister, with the AVNOJ confirmed as the provisional Yugoslav parliament. Peter II's government-in-exile in London, partly due to pressure from the United Kingdom, recognized the state in the agreement, signed by Šubašić and Tito on 17 June 1944. The DFY's legislature, after November 1944, was
54054-402: The famine, in September 1931, Molotov sent a secret telegram to communist leaders in the North Caucasus telling them the collection of grain for export was going "disgustingly slowly." In December, he travelled to Kharkov , then the capital of Ukraine, and, ignoring warnings from local communist leaders about a grain shortage, told them that their failure to meet their target for grain collection
54351-423: The federation. Initially, there were initiatives to create several autonomous units within some federal units, but that was enforced only in Serbia, where two autonomous units (Vojvodina and Kosovo) were created (1945). In alphabetical order, the republics and provinces were: Under Tito, Yugoslavia adopted a policy of nonalignment in the Cold War. It developed close relations with developing countries by having
54648-440: The first Israeli envoy to the Soviet Union. There are unsubstantiated claims that, being fluent in Yiddish , Zhemchuzhina acted as a translator for a diplomatic meeting between Meir and her husband, the Soviet foreign minister. However, this claim (of being an interpreter) is not supported by Meir's memoir My Life . Presentation of her ambassadorial credentials was done in Hebrew, not in Yiddish. According to Meir's own account of
54945-444: The first day of the meeting, 28 June, the Cominform adopted the prepared text of a resolution, known in Yugoslavia as the "Resolution of the Informbiro" ( Rezolucija Informbiroa ). In it, the other Cominform (Informbiro) members expelled Yugoslavia, citing "nationalist elements" that had "managed in the course of the past five or six months to reach a dominant position in the leadership" of the KPJ. The resolution warned Yugoslavia that it
55242-454: The first inscription of cultural and natural landmarks in Yugoslavia. Tito died on 4 May 1980 due to complications after surgery. While it had been known for some time that the 87-year-old president's health had been failing, his death nonetheless came as a shock to the country. This was because Tito was looked upon as the country's hero in World War II and had been the country's dominant figure and identity for over three decades. His loss marked
55539-514: The first multiparty elections in Slovenia (and Yugoslavia) since the Second World War were held. Demos coalition won the elections and formed a government which started to implement electoral reform programs. In Croatia, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won the election promising to "defend Croatia from Milošević" which caused alarm among Croatia's large Serbian minority. Croatian Serbs , for their part, were wary of HDZ leader Franjo Tuđman 's nationalist government and in 1990, Serb nationalists in
55836-440: The first normal government. The Regency Council thus accepted Tito's nomination on 29 November 1945 when FPRY was declared. By this unconditional transfer of power, King Peter II abdicated to Tito. This date, when the second Yugoslavia was born under international law, was thereafter marked as Yugoslavia's national holiday Day of the Republic , but after the Communists' switch to authoritarianism , this holiday officially marked
56133-406: The first time in Partisan-liberated Bihać on 26 November 1942 ( First Session of the AVNOJ ) and claimed the status of Yugoslavia's deliberative assembly (parliament). In 1943, the Yugoslav Partisans began attracting serious attention from the Germans. In two major operations, Fall Weiss (January to April 1943) and Fall Schwartz (15 May to 16 June 1943), the Axis attempted to stamp out
56430-457: The first time making "Yugoslavia"—which had been used colloquially for decades (even before the country was formed)—the state's official name. After the Axis occupied the kingdom during World War II, the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ) announced in 1943 the formation of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (DF Yugoslavia or DFY) in the country's substantial resistance-controlled areas. The name deliberately left
56727-449: The first to open fire. By this time, the Slovenian government had already put into action its plan to seize control of both the international Ljubljana Airport and the Slovenia's border posts on borders with Italy, Austria and Hungary. The personnel manning the border posts were, in most cases, already Slovenians, so the Slovenian take-over mostly simply amounted to changing of uniforms and insignia, without any fighting. By taking control of
57024-413: The formation of a new Yugoslav government was postponed until 2 November 1944, when the Belgrade Agreement was signed. The agreements also provided for postwar elections to determine the state's future system of government and economy. By 1945, the Partisans were clearing out Axis forces and liberating the remaining parts of occupied territory. On 20 March, the Partisans launched their General Offensive in
57321-433: The government's implementation of industrial and infrastructure development programs. Exports of industrial products, led by heavy machinery , transportation machines (especially in the shipbuilding industry), and military technology and equipment rose by a yearly increase of 11%. All in all, the annual growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) through to the early 1980s averaged 6.1%. Political liberalization began with
57618-426: The governments of Croatia and Slovenia, along with the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo ( SR Bosnia and Herzegovina and SR Macedonia remained relatively neutral). Fed up by Milošević's manipulation of the assembly, first the delegations of the League of Communists of Slovenia led by Milan Kučan , and later the League of Communists of Croatia , led by Ivica Račan , walked out during the extraordinary 14th Congress of
57915-466: The governments of Vojvodina, Kosovo, and the neighboring Socialist Republic of Montenegro in what was dubbed the " Anti-Bureaucratic Revolution " by the Serbian media. Both the SAPs possessed a vote on the Yugoslav Presidency in accordance to the 1974 constitution, and together with Montenegro and his own Serbia, Milošević now directly controlled four out of eight votes in the collective head-of-state by January 1990. This only caused further resentment among
58212-487: The great human cost, the Soviet Union under Molotov's nominal premiership made large strides in the adoption and the widespread implementation of agrarian and industrial technology. Germany secretly purchased munitions that spurred a modern armaments industry in the USSR. Ultimately, that arms industry, along with American and British aid, helped the Soviet Union prevail in the Second World War . Molotov also oversaw agricultural collectivisation under Stalin's regime . He
58509-418: The green light for his invasion of Poland , which began on 1 September. The pact's terms gave Hitler authorisation to occupy two thirds of Western Poland and the whole of Lithuania . Molotov was given a free hand in relation to Finland. In the Winter War , a combination of fierce Finnish resistance and Soviet mismanagement resulted in Finland losing much of its territory but not its independence. The pact
58806-452: The hiring and firing of managers. The occupation and liberation struggle in World War II left Yugoslavia's infrastructure devastated. Even the most developed parts of the country were largely rural, and the little industry the country had was largely damaged or destroyed. Unemployment was a chronic problem for Yugoslavia: the unemployment rates were amongst the highest in Europe during its existence and they did not reach critical levels before
59103-407: The individual republics, became reality with the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution . While the constitution gave the republics more autonomy, it also awarded a similar status to two autonomous provinces within Serbia: Kosovo , a largely ethnic Albanian populated region, and Vojvodina , a region with Serb majority but large numbers of ethnic minorities, such as Hungarians . These reforms satisfied most of
59400-561: The inter-war period. Yet full equality was far from being achieved. Internally, the Yugoslav federation was divided into six constituent states . Their formation was initiated during the war years, and finalized in 1944–1946. They were initially designated as federated states , but after the adoption of the first federal Constitution, on 31 January 1946, they were officially named people's republics (1946–1963), and later socialist republics (from 1963 forward). They were constitutionally defined as mutually equal in rights and duties within
59697-523: The issue of Kosovo. Milošević assured Serbs that their mistreatment by ethnic Albanians would be stopped. He then began a campaign against the ruling Communist elite of SR Serbia, demanding reductions in the autonomy of Kosovo and Vojvodina. These actions made him popular amongst Serbs and aided his rise to power in Serbia. Milošević and his allies took on an aggressive nationalist agenda of reviving SR Serbia within Yugoslavia, promising reforms and protection of all Serbs. Milošević proceeded to take control of
59994-425: The issue to a vote in which all the other republics, including Montenegro under Momir Bulatović , initially agreed to the plan that would dissolve Yugoslavia. However, after intense pressure from Serbia on Montenegro's president, Montenegro changed its position to oppose the dissolution of Yugoslavia. With the Plitvice Lakes incident of late March/early April 1991, the Croatian War of Independence broke out between
60291-413: The largest ethnic group in the country as a whole. From 1967 to 1972 in Croatia and 1968 and 1981 protests in Kosovo , nationalist doctrines and actions caused ethnic tensions that destabilized the country. The suppression of nationalists by the state is believed to have had the effect of identifying nationalism as the primary alternative to communism itself and made it a strong underground movement. In
60588-539: The late 1980s as protests against the alleged injustice and bureaucratization of the political elite. Members of the political elite managed to redirect these protests against "others". Serb demonstrators were worried about the disintegration of the country and alleged that "the others" (Croats, Slovenes, and international institutions) were deemed responsible. The Slovene intellectual elite argued that "the others" (Serbs) were responsible for "Greater Serbian expansionist designs", for economic exploitation of Slovenia, and for
60885-523: The late 1980s, the Belgrade elite was faced with a strong opposition force of massive protests by Kosovo Serbs and Montenegrins as well as public demands for political reforms by the critical intelligentsia of Serbia and Slovenia. In economics, since the late 1970s a widening gap of economic resources between the developed and underdeveloped regions of Yugoslavia severely deteriorated the federation's unity. The most developed republics, Croatia and Slovenia, rejected attempts to limit their autonomy as provided in
61182-432: The latter refused to resign unless a Central Committee plenum decided so. In the plenum, which met from 22 to 29 June, Molotov and his faction were defeated. Eventually he was banished, being made ambassador to the Mongolian People's Republic . Molotov and his associates were denounced as "the Anti-Party Group " but notably were not subject to such unpleasant repercussions that had been customary for denounced officials in
61479-519: The leaders of Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, all declined an unofficial offer by the European Community to provide substantial economic support to them in exchange for a political compromise. However, the issue of economic inequality between the republics, autonomous provinces, and nations of Yugoslavia resulted in tensions with claims of disadvantage and accusations of privileges against others by these groups. Political protests in Serbia and Slovenia, which later developed into ethnic-driven conflict, began in
61776-403: The list "and he was often deprived of his initials", and that when he was photographed receiving a delegation, he was never alone, but always flanked by his deputies, Janis Rudzutaks and Vlas Chubar . "In Soviet ritual all these are signs of paramount importance," Trotsky noted. Another startling piece of evidence was that the published transcript of the first Moscow Show Trial in August 1936,
62073-440: The loss of part of his own book collection ... that Molotov continued to regret." Late in life, Molotov described his role in purges of the 1930s, arguing that despite the overbreadth of the purges, they were necessary to avoid Soviet defeat in World War II. In 1939, Adolf Hitler 's invasion of the rest of Czechoslovakia , in violation of the 1938 Munich Agreement , made Stalin believe that Britain and France, which had signed
62370-511: The majority of women, particularly in the countryside. AFŽ also led a campaign against the full veil, which covered the whole body and face, until it was banned in the 1950s. By the 1970s, thirty years after women's rights were enshrined in the Yugoslav Constitution, the country had undergone a rapid process of modernisation and urbanisation. Women's literacy and access to the labour market had reached unprecedented levels, and inequalities in women's rights had been considerably reduced compared to
62667-426: The making of the new Soviet anthem was, in the words of the historian Simon Sebag-Montefiore , acting as music judges for Stalin. Molotov accompanied Stalin to the Teheran Conference in 1943, the Yalta Conference in 1945, and, after the defeat of Germany, the Potsdam Conference . He represented the Soviet Union at the San Francisco Conference , which created the United Nations . In April 1945, shortly after
62964-481: The meeting with a secret telegram ordering the Ukrainian leadership to intensify grain collection. Between the assassination of Sergei Kirov , the head of the Party organization in Leningrad , in December 1934, and the start of the Great Purge , there was a significant but unpublicised rift between Stalin and Molotov. In 1936, Trotsky, in exile, noted that when lists of party leaders appeared in Soviet press reports, Molotov's name sometimes appeared as low as fourth in
63261-496: The mid-1950s, the military aid provided by the United States amounted to a half a billion dollars. In 1952, as Greece and Turkey joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the US ambassador approached the Yugoslav ambassador to Turkey in Ankara and suggested strengthening military ties between Yugoslavia with Greece and Turkey. The idea was discussed through 1952 at various levels, with all three countries expressing interest in cooperation, although Yugoslavia employed
63558-429: The military, leading to market shortages. By June 1948, Yugoslavia reached an agreement with the United States, allowing Yugoslav authorities to access their gold reserves held in the United States. At the same time, Yugoslavia announced it would like to trade with the West. Yugoslavia first requested assistance from the United States in summer 1948. In December, Tito announced strategic raw materials would be shipped to
63855-413: The morning of 26 June, units of the Yugoslav People's Army 's 13th Corps left their barracks in Rijeka , Croatia, to move towards Slovenia's borders with Italy. The move immediately led to a strong reaction from local Slovenians, who organized spontaneous barricades and demonstrations against the YPA's actions. There was, as yet, no fighting, and both sides appeared to have an unofficial policy of not being
64152-524: The most cautious approach to an alliance. In February 1953, Yugoslav, Greek and Turkish foreign ministers signed the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in Ankara, later also known as the Ankara Agreement, formalising an agreement to cooperate in defence matters. A military alliance agreement building on the Ankara Agreement was signed by the three in Bled on in August 1954, but it did not attach Yugoslavia to NATO. Instead, it allowed Yugoslavia to retain an independent policy. Tito signed this pact to bolster
64449-414: The multiple nationalities of Yugoslavia remained united in one team, and Yugoslavia became the second Communist state to hold the Olympic Games (the Soviet Union held them in 1980 ). However, Yugoslavia's games had Western countries participating, while the Soviet Union's Olympics were boycotted by some. In the late 1980s, the Yugoslav government began to deviate from communism as it attempted to transform to
64746-475: The nature of his regime, Tito was in the United States' interest. In October 1949, Yugoslavia received backing by the United States and won its bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council , despite Soviet opposition. The Soviet-led blockade of Eastern Bloc trade with Yugoslavia came into effect gradually and remained incomplete until 1949. It first took the form of stoppage of oil from Albania , Hungary and Romania, but purchases from Allied authorities in
65043-558: The new leader of the Soviet Union . He presided over a gradual domestic liberalisation and a thaw in foreign policy, as was manifest in a reconciliation with Josip Broz Tito 's government in Yugoslavia , which Stalin had expelled from the communist movement. Molotov, an old-guard Stalinist, seemed increasingly out of place in the new environment, but represented the Soviet Union at the Geneva Conference of 1955 . Molotov's position became increasingly tenuous after February 1956, when Khrushchev launched an unexpected denunciation of Stalin at
65340-483: The new Soviet leadership. As a sign of normalisation of mutual relations, the USSR and Yugoslavia exchanged ambassadors and re-established economic relations by the end of 1953. On 1 July 1954, as signing of the Bled agreement was imminent, a Soviet ambassador delivered Nikita Khrushchev 's message to Tito indicating an urgent desire to restore relations between the USSR and Yugoslavia. Khruschev and Nikolai Bulganin visited Yugoslavia where they expressed regret over
65637-504: The newly established Bosnian Serb government; it was also largely boycotted by the Bosnian Serbs. According to the official results, the turnout was 63.4%, and 99.7% of the voters voted for independence. It was unclear what the two-thirds majority requirement actually meant and whether it was satisfied. Following the separation of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 27 April 1992, the SFR Yugoslavia had, de facto, dissolved into five successor states: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia and
65934-539: The north, Bulgaria and Romania to the east, and Albania and Greece to the south. It was a one-party socialist state and federation governed by the League of Communists of Yugoslavia , and had six constituent republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina , Croatia , Macedonia , Montenegro , Serbia , and Slovenia . Within Serbia was the Yugoslav capital city of Belgrade as well as two autonomous Yugoslav provinces: Kosovo and Vojvodina . The country emerged as Democratic Federal Yugoslavia on 29 November 1943, during
66231-415: The only force which can now lead our country out of this horror and misery and bring it to complete freedom. While the elections themselves were fairly conducted by a secret ballot, the campaign that preceded them was highly irregular. Opposition newspapers were banned on more than one occasion, and in Serbia, opposition leaders such as Milan Grol received threats via the press. The opposition withdrew from
66528-412: The organisation's radical Bolshevik faction, which was led by Vladimir Lenin . Skryabin took the pseudonym "Molotov", derived from the Russian word molot (sledge hammer) since he believed that the name had an "industrial" and "proletarian" ring to it. He was arrested in 1909 and spent two years in exile in Vologda . In 1911, he enrolled at Saint Petersburg Polytechnic Institute . Molotov joined
66825-403: The pact eventually crippled the alliance itself, thus ending the possibility of Yugoslavia's NATO membership. Stalin's death in March 1953 resulted in a reduction of Soviet pressure against Yugoslavia. In turn, within months, Tito moved to halt further SKJ reforms advocated most vocally at that point by Milovan Đilas. His expulsion from the SKJ in early 1954 was seen as a favourable development by
67122-446: The party press, and attempted to improve the organisation of the underground party. He moved from St. Petersburg to Moscow in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War . It was in Moscow the following year that Molotov was again arrested for his party activity and was this time deported to Irkutsk , in eastern Siberia . In 1916, he escaped from his Siberian exile and returned to the capital city, which had been renamed Petrograd by
67419-426: The past would probably result in the fall from power of Molotov, who became the leader of an old-guard faction that sought to overthrow Khrushchev. In June 1956, Molotov was removed as Foreign Minister; on 29 June 1957, he was expelled from the Presidium (Politburo) after a failed attempt to remove Khrushchev as First Secretary. Although Molotov's faction initially won a vote in the Presidium 7–4 to remove Khrushchev,
67716-435: The period 1969 to 1986 was published in 1993 by Felix Chuev as Molotov Remembers: Inside Kremlin Politics . In June 1986 Molotov was hospitalised in Kuntsevo Hospital in Moscow, where he eventually died, during the rule of Mikhail Gorbachev , on 8 November 1986. During his life, Molotov had suffered seven heart attacks, but survived to the age of 96. At the time of his death, he was the last surviving major participant in
68013-409: The persecution against her by abstaining from the vote to condemn her, but later recanted, stating: "I acknowledge my heavy sense of remorse for not having prevented Zhemchuzhina, a person very dear to me, from making her mistakes and from forming ties with anti-Soviet Jewish nationalists", and divorced Zhemchuzhina. Polina Zhemchuzhina befriended Golda Meir , who arrived in Moscow in November 1948 as
68310-475: The point of view of international politics, it has been argued that the end of the Cold War contributed to the break up of Yugoslavia because Yugoslavia lost its strategic international political importance as an intermediary between the Eastern and Western blocs. As a consequence, Yugoslavia lost the economic and political support provided by the West, and increased pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reform its institutions made it impossible for
68607-420: The populace. But the old pre-war political parties were also reestablished. As early as January 1945, while the enemy was still occupying the northwest, Tito commented: I am not in principle against political parties because democracy also presupposes the freedom to express one's principles and one's ideas. But to create parties for the sake of parties, now, when all of us, as one, must direct all our strength in
68904-435: The power struggles after Lenin's death in 1924, Molotov remained a loyal supporter of Stalin against his various rivals: first Leon Trotsky , later Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev , and finally Nikolai Bukharin . In January 1926, he led a special commission sent to Leningrad (St Petersburg) to end Zinoviev's control over the party machine in the province. In 1928, Molotov replaced Nikolai Uglanov as First Secretary of
69201-455: The primary source of the break up of Yugoslavia. Since the 1970s, Yugoslavia's Communist regime became severely splintered into a liberal-decentralist nationalist faction led by Croatia and Slovenia that supported a decentralized federation with greater local autonomy, versus a conservative-centralist nationalist faction led by Serbia that supported a centralized federation to secure the interests of Serbia and Serbs across Yugoslavia – as they were
69498-429: The ratification of the 1974 Constitution, which reduced the powers of SR Serbia over its autonomous provinces of SAP Kosovo and SAP Vojvodina . In Serbia, this caused increasing xenophobia against Albanians. In Kosovo (administered mostly by ethnic Albanian Communists), the Serbian minority increasingly put forth complaints of mistreatment and abuse by the Albanian majority. Feelings were further inflamed in 1986, when
69795-698: The real interests of peace in Europe and peace generally." Robert Conquest and others believe that Molotov "dragged his feet" over Stalin's plans to purge the party and put Old Bolsheviks like Zinoviev and Kamenev on trial. After his return to favor, in August, Molotov supported Stalin throughout the purge, during which, in 1938 alone, 20 out of 28 People's Commissars in Molotov's Government were executed. After his deputy, Rudzutak, had been arrested, Molotov visited him in prison, and recalled years later that... "Rudzutak said he had been badly beaten and tortured. Nevertheless he held firm. Indeed, he seemed to have been cruelly tortured" ...but he did not intervene. During
70092-422: The reality of the economic reforms of 1950–51 leading to a debate which would extend for more than a year. The 1953 Yugoslav constitutional amendments established an additional legislative chamber composed of representatives of socially-owned economic operators who debated and voted on all economic matters—including the budget. Furthermore, it sought to reflect the economic power of each constituent republic, giving
70389-510: The rebels. The insurrections were put down quickly, and Yugoslav authorities ascribed them to Cominformism. Also, a likewise unsuccessful, small-scale rebellion took place in Slovenia at the same time. Throughout the Informbiro period, spanning from 1948 to 1954, Albania and Yugoslavia were embroiled in a series of armed confrontations fueled by territorial disputes and ideological differences between their leaders, Josip Broz Tito and Enver Hoxha . This era witnessed heightened tensions along
70686-412: The reception given by Molotov on 7 November, "Mrs. Zhemchuzhina has spent significant time during this reception not only talking to Golda Meir herself but also in conversation with Mrs. Meir's daughter Sarah and her friend Yael Namir about their life as kibbutzniks. They have discussed the complete collectivization of property and related issues. At the end Mrs. Zhemchuzhina gave Golda Meir's daughter Sarah
70983-438: The recognition of Montenegrins and Macedonians as independent nationalities, as Serbian nationalists had claimed that there was no ethnic or cultural difference separating these two nations from the Serbs that could verify that such nationalities truly existed. Tito maintained a busy, active travelling schedule despite his advancing age. His 85th birthday in May 1977 was marked by huge celebrations. That year, he visited Libya ,
71280-502: The reduction of the massive state (and party) bureaucratic apparatus, a process described as the "whittling down of the state" by Boris Kidrič, President of the Yugoslav Economic Council (economics minister). On 2 November 1952, the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia introduced the "Basic Law", which emphasized the "personal freedom and rights of man" and the freedom of "free associations of working people". The Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ) changed its name at this time to
71577-526: The replacement for the Politburo, the Presidium , but was not listed among the members of the newly established secret body known as the Bureau of the Presidium, which indicated that he had fallen out of Stalin's favour. At the 19th Congress, Stalin said "there has been criticism of comrade Molotov and Mikoyan by the Central Committee," mistakes that included letting the British ambassador publish "bourgeois newspapers in our country". At his 73rd birthday, Stalin treated both men with disgust. In his speech to
71874-514: The republics, especially Croatia and the Albanians of Kosovo and the minorities of Vojvodina. But the 1974 constitution deeply aggravated Serbian Communist officials and Serbs themselves who distrusted the motives of the proponents of the reforms. Many Serbs saw the reforms as concessions to Croatian and Albanian nationalists, as no similar autonomous provinces were made to represent the large numbers of Serbs of Croatia or Bosnia and Herzegovina . Serb nationalists were frustrated over Tito's support for
72171-419: The rest of Eastern Europe, was nonetheless a feared tool of government control. UDBA was particularly notorious for assassinating suspected "enemies of the state" who lived in exile overseas. The media remained under restrictions that were somewhat onerous by Western standards, but still had somewhat more latitude than their counterparts in other Communist countries. Nationalist groups were a particular target of
72468-413: The retaking of Dubrovnik . In Vukovar , ethnic tensions between Croats and Serbs exploded into violence when the Yugoslav army entered the town in November 1991. The Yugoslav army and Serbian paramilitaries devastated the town in urban warfare and the destruction of Croatian property. Serb paramilitaries committed atrocities against Croats, killing over 200, and displacing others to add to those who fled
72765-418: The rhythm of the advances or setbacks of the FLN or Vietcong ." Thousands of Yugoslav military advisors travelled to Guinea after its decolonisation and as the French government tried to destabilise the country. Tito also covertly helped left-wing nationalist movements to destabilize the Portuguese colonial empire . Tito saw the murder of Patrice Lumumba by Belgian-backed Katangan separatists in 1961 as
73062-478: The right-wing government, and the Yugoslav government was determined to bring about a Communist victory. Yugoslavia dispatched significant assistance—arms and ammunition, supplies, and military experts on partisan warfare (such as General Vladimir Dapčević )—and even allowed the Greek Communist forces to use Yugoslav territory as a safe haven. Although the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, and (Yugoslav-dominated) Albania had also granted military support, Yugoslav assistance
73359-436: The scenes and cultivated an image of a colourless bureaucrat. Molotov was reported to be a vegetarian and teetotaler by the American journalist John Gunther in 1938. However, Milovan Djilas claimed that Molotov "drank more than Stalin" and did not note his vegetarianism although they had attended several banquets. Molotov and his wife had two daughters: Sonia, adopted in 1929, and Svetlana, born in 1930. Addressing
73656-408: The second session of the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia midst World War II in Yugoslavia . Recognised by the Allies of World War II at the Tehran Conference as the legal successor state to Kingdom of Yugoslavia , it was a provisionally governed state formed to unite the Yugoslav resistance movement to the occupation of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers . Following
73953-399: The second step in a series of five constitutional reforms reflecting the social development of Communist-ruled Yugoslavia, but the principles introduced in 1953 were retained all the way to socialist Yugoslavia's final constitution adopted in 1974 . Even though the Yugoslavs initially avoided asking for military aid, believing it would be a pretext for a Soviet invasion, it is unclear whether
74250-462: The selection of works for various state-sponsored exhibitions. The policy was abandoned in the early 1950s in favour of Modernism and proclaimed artistic freedom. The break with the USSR also led to abandoning the monumentalist architecture style in favour of designs found in the West. The overall design of the new KPJ central committee building was changed to give the structure the appearance of an American skyscraper in an effort to contrast it from
74547-407: The socialist economy of Yugoslavia was much different from the economy of the Soviet Union and the economies of the Eastern Bloc , especially after the Yugoslav–Soviet break-up of 1948. Though they were state-owned enterprises , Yugoslav companies were nominally collectively managed by the employees themselves through workers' self-management , albeit with state oversight dictating wage bills and
74844-465: The son of a merchant. Contrary to a commonly-repeated error, he was not related to the composer Alexander Scriabin . Throughout his teenager years, he was described as "shy" and "quiet" and always assisted his father with his business. He was educated at a secondary school in Kazan , where he became friends with fellow revolutionary Aleksandr Arosev . Molotov joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) in 1906, and soon gravitated toward
75141-516: The southern Croatian town of Knin organized and formed a separatist entity known as the SAO Krajina , which demanded to remain in union with the rest of the Serb populations if Croatia decided to secede. The government of Serbia endorsed the Croatian Serbs' rebellion, claiming that for Serbs, rule under Tuđman's government would be equivalent to the World War II fascist Independent State of Croatia (NDH) which committed genocide against Serbs during World War II. Milošević used this to rally Serbs against
75438-461: The state's existence. It was composed of individual Communist parties from each constituent republic. The party would reform its political positions through party congresses in which delegates from each republic were represented and voted on changes to party policy, the last of which was held in 1990. Yugoslavia's parliament was known as the Federal Assembly which was housed in the building which currently houses Serbia's parliament. The Federal Assembly
75735-424: The state. The Serbian referendum on remaining in Yugoslavia and the creation of Serbian autonomous regions (SARs) were proclaimed unconstitutional by the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The independence referendum sponsored by the Bosnian government was held on 29 February and 1 March 1992. That referendum was in turn declared contrary to the Bosnian and federal constitution by the Federal Constitution Court and
76032-403: The states of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and later evolved into the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). In the postwar period, Molotov's power began to decline. A clear sign of his precarious position was his inability to prevent the arrest for " treason " in December 1948 of his Jewish wife, Polina Zhemchuzhina , whom Stalin had long distrusted. Molotov initially protested
76329-447: The subject of dispute? We will not be dependent on anyone ever again! The 31-page-long Soviet answer of 4 May 1948 admonished the KPJ for failing to admit and correct its mistakes, and went on to accuse it of being too proud of their successes against the Germans, maintaining that the Red Army had "saved them from destruction" (an implausible statement, as Tito's partisans had successfully campaigned against Axis forces for four years before
76626-417: The successes of the Yugoslav resistance movement. On 19 May 1948, a correspondence by Mikhail Suslov informed Tito that the Cominform ( Informbiro in Serbo-Croatian ), would be holding a session on 28 June 1948 in Bucharest almost completely dedicated to the "Yugoslav issue". The Cominform was an association of Communist parties that was the primary Soviet tool for controlling the political developments in
76923-455: The suppression of Slovene national identity. These redirection actions of the popular protests allowed the authorities of Serbia and Slovenia to survive at the cost of undermining the unity of Yugoslavia. Other republics such as Bosnia & Herzegovina and Croatia refused to follow these tactics taken by Serbia and Slovenia, later resulting in the defeat of the respective League of Communists of each republic to nationalist political forces. From
77220-435: The time an ally of Milošević, appealed to Montenegrin nationalism, promising that the capture of Dubrovnik would allow the expansion of Montenegro into the city which he claimed was historically part of Montenegro, and denounced the present borders of Montenegro as being "drawn by the old and poorly educated Bolshevik cartographers". At the same time, the Serbian government contradicted its Montenegrin allies through claims by
77517-784: The topic are 1985 feature When Father Was Away on Business with its screenplay written by Sidran, and directed by Emir Kusturica ; and Happy New Year '49 , released a year later, written by Gordan Mihić and directed by Stole Popov . Other notable films dealing with the period are Evening Bells (1986) based on a novel by Mirko Kovač and directed by Lordan Zafranović , Dancing in Water (1986) written and directed by Jovan Aćin, and Balkan Spy (1984) co-directed by cinematographer Božidar Nikolić and playwright Dušan Kovačević . Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia ), commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia ,
77814-443: The total population was found in Montenegro . Such high numbers of Cominformists in Serbia in absolute terms, and in Montenegro in relative terms compared to its population, are explained by the Russophilia traditionally observed there. The origins of this sentiment are linked to Imperial Russian aid in 1804–1815 during the Serbian Revolution coinciding with the 1806–1812 Russo-Turkish War , and subsequently, diplomatically as
78111-402: The town in the Vukovar massacre. With Bosnia's demographic structure comprising a mixed population of Bosniaks , Serbs and Croats, the ownership of large areas of Bosnia was in dispute. From 1991 to 1992, the situation in the multi-ethnic Bosnia and Herzegovina grew tense. Its parliament was fragmented on ethnic lines into a plurality Bosniak faction and minority Serb and Croat factions. In 1991,
78408-504: The war, the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army and navy deliberately shelled civilian areas of Split and Dubrovnik, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as nearby Croat villages. Yugoslav media claimed that the actions were done due to what they claimed was a presence of fascist Ustaše forces and international terrorists in the city. UN investigations found that no such forces were in Dubrovnik at the time. Croatian military presence increased later on. Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Đukanović , at
78705-481: The year before. This event was sharply criticized in the Soviet press, especially as Tito used it as an excuse to indirectly attack Moscow's ally Cuba for "promoting divisiveness in the Non-Aligned Movement". When China launched a military campaign against Vietnam the following February, Yugoslavia openly took Beijing's side in the dispute. The effect was a rather adverse decline in Soviet Union-Yugoslavia relations . During this time, Yugoslavia's first nuclear reactor
79002-566: The émigrés along several lines. They supported the publication of several newspapers advocating anti-Titoist efforts, the most influential being Za socijalističku Jugoslaviju (For Socialist Yugoslavia) and Nova borba (New Struggle). Radio Free Yugoslavia aired daily propaganda broadcasts from Bucharest . Various non-military experts were trained for a future takeover of the government, while military personnel were organised into four international brigades deployed to Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria near their Yugoslav borders, and an air force unit
79299-403: Was "booming", and that all the while the Yugoslav citizens enjoyed far greater liberties than the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc states. Literacy was increased dramatically and reached 91%, medical care was free on all levels, and life expectancy was 72 years. On 2 June 1968, student demonstrations led to wider mass youth protests in capital cities across Yugoslavia. They were gradually stopped
79596-460: Was a Soviet politician, diplomat, and revolutionary who was a leading figure in the government of the Soviet Union from the 1920s to the 1950s, as one of Joseph Stalin 's closest allies. Molotov served as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (head of government) from 1930 to 1941, and as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1939 to 1949 during the era of the Second World War , and again from 1953 to 1956. An Old Bolshevik , Molotov joined
79893-418: Was a country in Central and Southeast Europe . It was established in 1945 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia , following World War II , and lasted until 1992, breaking up as a consequence of the Yugoslav Wars . Spanning an area of 255,804 square kilometres (98,766 sq mi) in the Balkans , Yugoslavia was bordered by the Adriatic Sea and Italy to the west, Austria and Hungary to
80190-400: Was about to cross the Hungarian border. Tito faced opposition from a group of émigrés—Yugoslav nationals who were out of the country at the time of the split. According to Yugoslav sources, the group consisted of 4,928 people including 475 specifically chosen military and civilian experts sent to the USSR and elsewhere in the Eastern Bloc for training, and comparably few defectors. Initially,
80487-452: Was adopted. At the time of Tito's death the Federal government was headed by Veselin Đuranović (who had held the post since 1977). He had come into conflict with the leaders of the republics, arguing that Yugoslavia needed to economize due to the growing problem of foreign debt. Đuranović argued that a devaluation was needed which Tito refused to countenance for reasons of national prestige. Post-Tito Yugoslavia faced significant fiscal debt in
80784-441: Was again allowed to be included in Soviet encyclopaedias. His connection, support and work in the Anti-Party Group were mentioned in encyclopaedias published in 1973 and 1974, but eventually disappeared altogether by the mid-to-late-1970s. Later, Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko further rehabilitated Molotov. In 1984, Molotov was even allowed to seek membership in the Communist Party. A collection of interviews with Molotov from
81081-439: Was aimed at overthrowing Tito and was planned during the Olympic Games period so that the Soviets would be too busy to react. The operation was finally abandoned due to Tito's death and the Yugoslav armed forces raising their alert level. After World War II, Yugoslavia became a leader in international tourism among socialist states, motivated by both ideological and financial purposes. In the 1960s, many foreigners were able to get
81378-412: Was also of Jewish origin. Molotov never stopped loving his wife, and it is said he ordered his maids to make dinner for two every evening to remind him that, in his own words, "she suffered because of me." According to Stalin's daughter, Molotov became very subservient to his wife. Molotov was a yes-man to his wife just as he was to Stalin. At the 19th Party Congress in 1952, Molotov was elected to
81675-428: Was an example of a successful military aircraft design by Yugoslavia before the Yugoslav wars. Beside the federal army, each of the republics had their own respective Territorial Defense Forces. They were a national guard of sorts, established in the frame of a new military doctrine called "General Popular Defense" as an answer to the brutal end of the Prague Spring by the Warsaw Pact in Czechoslovakia in 1968. It
81972-419: Was composed entirely of Communist members. The primary political leader of the state was Josip Broz Tito, but there were several other important politicians, particularly after Tito's death. In 1974, Tito was elected President-for-life of Yugoslavia. After Tito's death in 1980, the single position of president was divided into a collective Presidency, where representatives of each republic would essentially form
82269-443: Was distinguished by an unco-operative attitude towards the Western powers. Molotov, at the direction of the Soviet government, condemned the Marshall Plan as imperialistic and claimed it was dividing Europe into two camps: one capitalist and the other communist. In response, the Soviet Union, along with the other Eastern Bloc nations, initiated what is known as the Molotov Plan . The plan created several bilateral relations between
82566-425: Was due to their incompetence. He returned to Kharkov in July 1932, with Lazar Kaganovich , to tell the local communists that there would be no "concessions or vacillations" in the drive to meet targets for exporting grain. This was the first of several actions that led a Kyev Court of Appeal in 2010 to find Molotov, and Kaganovich, guilty of genocide against the Ukrainian people. On 25 July, the same two men followed up
82863-406: Was effectively a Yugoslav satellite. Neighboring Bulgaria was under increasing Yugoslav influence as well, and talks began to negotiate the political unification of Albania and Bulgaria with Yugoslavia. The major point of contention was that Yugoslavia wanted to absorb the two and transform them into additional federated republics . Albania was in no position to object, but the Bulgarian view was that
83160-415: Was elected deputy chairman. After the German invasion, Molotov conducted urgent negotiations with the British and then the Americans for wartime alliances. He took a secret flight to Scotland, where he was greeted by Eden. The risky flight in a high-altitude Tupolev TB-7 bomber flew over German-occupied Denmark and the North Sea . From there, he took a train to London to discuss the possibility of opening
83457-403: Was far more substantial. But this Yugoslav foreign adventure also came to an end with the Tito–Stalin split, as the Greek Communists, expecting Tito's overthrow, refused any assistance from his government. Without it, they were greatly disadvantaged, and were defeated in 1949. As Yugoslavia was the country's only Communist neighbour in the immediate postwar period, the People's Republic of Albania
83754-433: Was freed immediately after the death of Stalin. In 1949, Molotov was replaced as Foreign Minister by Andrey Vyshinsky but retained his position as First Deputy Premier and membership in the Politburo. Being appointed Foreign Minister by Stalin to replace the Jewish predecessor Maxim Litvinov to facilitate negotiations with Nazi Germany, Molotov was thus dismissed from the same position at least in part because his wife
84051-460: Was imported both from the East and the West. The regular army mostly originated from the Yugoslav Partisans of World War II. Yugoslavia had a thriving arms industry and exported to nations, primarily those who were non-aligned as well as others like Iraq , and Ethiopia . Yugoslav companies like Zastava Arms produced Soviet-designed weaponry under license as well as creating weaponry from scratch, ranging from police pistols to airplanes. SOKO
84348-454: Was later amended to allocate Lithuania to the Soviets in exchange for a more favourable border in Poland for Germany. The annexations led to horrific suffering and loss of life in the countries occupied and partitioned by both dictatorships. On 5 March 1940, Lavrentiy Beria gave Molotov, along with Anastas Mikoyan , Kliment Voroshilov and Stalin, a note proposing the execution of 25,700 Polish anti-Soviet officers in what has become known as
84645-403: Was most commonly known simply as Yugoslavia . The most common abbreviation is SFRY, though "SFR Yugoslavia" was also used in an official capacity, particularly by the media. On 6 April 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers led by Nazi Germany ; by 17 April 1941, the country was fully occupied and was soon carved up by the Axis . Yugoslav resistance was soon established in two forms,
84942-446: Was on the path back to bourgeois capitalism due to its nationalist, independence-minded positions, and accused the party itself of " Trotskyism ". This was followed by the severing of relations between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, beginning the period of Soviet–Yugoslav conflict between 1948 and 1955 known as the Informbiro Period . After the break with the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia found itself economically and politically isolated as
85239-425: Was organized on republic, autonomous province, municipality and local community levels. Given that its role was mainly defense, it had no formal officer training regime, no offensive capabilities and little military training. As Yugoslavia splintered , the army factionalized along ethnic lines, and by 1991–92 Serbs made up almost the entire army as the separating states formed their own. Despite their common origins,
85536-476: Was paying too little for Albania's natural resources. Afterward, relations between Yugoslavia and Albania worsened. From 1948 onward, the Soviet Union backed Albania in opposition to Yugoslavia. On the issue of Albanian-populated Kosovo, Yugoslavia and Albania both attempted to neutralize the threat of nationalist conflict, Hoxha opposed Albanian nationalism , as he officially believed in the world communist ideal of international brotherhood of all people, though on
85833-411: Was reluctant to include the exiled King Peter II in post-war Yugoslavia, as Winston Churchill demanded. In February 1945, Tito acknowledged the existence of a Regency Council representing the King, but the council's first and only act was to proclaim a new government under Tito's premiership. The nature of the state was still unclear immediately after the war, and on 26 June 1945, the government signed
86130-441: Was seen as a likely successor to Stalin in the immediate aftermath of his death, he never sought to become leader of the Soviet Union. A Troika was established immediately after Stalin's death, consisting of Malenkov, Beria, and Molotov, but ended when Malenkov and Molotov deceived Beria. Molotov supported the removal and later the execution of Beria on the orders of Khrushchev. The new Party Secretary, Khrushchev, soon emerged as
86427-411: Was set up in the Ural Mountains . The international brigades included thousands of personnel drawn from various Eastern Bloc countries touted as volunteers. The Soviet allies blockaded their borders with Yugoslavia—where 7,877 border incidents took place. By 1953, Soviet or Soviet-backed incursions resulted in the killing of 27 Yugoslav security personnel. More than 700 agents are thought to have crossed
86724-417: Was the establishment of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, a state that would be a federation of six equal South Slavic republics (as opposed to the allegedly Serb predominance in pre-war Yugoslavia). The council decided on a "neutral" name and deliberately left the question of "monarchy vs. republic" open, ruling that Peter II would be allowed to return from exile in London only upon a favourable result of
87021-422: Was the isolation and decline of Yugoslavia. Following a shift of United States policy to "all-out support" for Yugoslavia, on 17 November 1949, the National Security Council pledged to help Yugoslavia defend against invasions. By 1951, Yugoslav authorities became convinced that a Soviet attack was inevitable and Yugoslavia joined the Mutual Defense Assistance Program (MDAP). Shortly before Yugoslavia joined
87318-618: Was the main speaker at the Central Committee plenum in 10–17 November 1929, at which the decision was made to introduce collective farming in place of the thousands of small farms owned by peasants, a process that was bound to meet resistance. Molotov insisted that it must begin the following year, and warned officials to "treat the kulak as the most cunning and still undefeated enemy." In the four years that followed, millions of 'kulaks' (land-owning peasants) were forcibly moved onto special settlements to be used as slave labour. In 1931 alone almost two million were deported. In that year, Molotov told
87615-476: Was the only person openly supporting Stalin when the central committee discussed Stalin's direct accusations and who was his source of information. Tito alleged Hebrang was the main source for Soviet mistrust and tasked Ranković with charging him. Ranković fabricated charges that Hebrang became an Ustaše spy during his captivity in 1942 and that the Soviets subsequently blackmailed him using that information as leverage. Both Žujović and Hebrang were apprehended within
87912-400: Was transferred to Donetsk , and in November 1920, he became secretary to the Central Committee of the Ukrainian Bolshevik Party and married the Soviet politician Polina Zhemchuzhina . Lenin recalled Molotov to Moscow in 1921, elevated him to full membership of the Central Committee and Orgburo , and put him in charge of the party secretariat. Molotov was voted in as a non-voting member of
88209-586: Was under construction in Krško , built by US-based Westinghouse . The project ultimately took until 1980 to complete because of disputes with the United States about certain guarantees that Belgrade had to sign off on before it could receive nuclear materials (which included the promise that they would not be sold to third parties or used for anything but peaceful purposes). In 1979, seven selection criteria comprising Ohrid , Dubrovnik , Split , Plitvice Lakes National Park , Kotor , Stari Ras and Sopoćani were designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites , making it
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