{UAH} The Dictator that Scared Stalin

The Dictator that Scared Stalin

Josip Tito would not fear Stalin's assassination attempts.

When we think of dictators, a few names come to mind. Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussain, and Pol Pot are a few familiar names. If we turn our eyes to Soviet Russia, the name of Joseph Stalin still sends shivers down some people's spines.

Even Hitler was scared of Stalin. Hitler was so afraid of falling into Stalin's hands he committed suicide when the Red Army was approaching his bunker in 1945.

During Stalin's rule of the Soviet Union, he was famous for eliminating those that displeased him. Many state pictures show the early photoshop techniques that Stalin's regime used to erase those that displeased Stalin. These men were removed from group pictures of Soviet leaders, and the men were removed from society in brutal and often fatal ways.

However, when the dictator of Yugoslavia found himself on the wrong side of Stalin's wrath, many thought he would straighten up and fly right. However, Josip Broz Tito was not someone to be intimidated. And when Stalin sent assassins to remove Tito, he responded with a threat of his own.

Who Was Josip Broz Tito?

Tito, as he was often called, was born on May 7, 1892, in what is now Croatia. At the time, his homeland was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He served in the Austro-Hungarian army and fought against Serbia.

He was sent to the Russian front, where he was captured. During this time, he became a Bolshevik. He fought with the Red Guard, or Red Army, during the Russian Civil War before returning to Croatia in 1920. At this point, Croatia became part of the new country of Yugoslavia.

Tito became an active member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) and was arrested as an agitator in 1928. When he was released from prison in 1934, he traveled to the USSR to work with the Comintern.

Stalin began purges of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia between 1937–1938. In 1939 he became the secretary-general of the CPY. Luckily for Tito, he impressed the Soviet leader and survived the purges.

During World War II, Tito became a leader of partisans in resisting Nazi Germany's invasion in 1941. The Soviets liberated Yugoslavia in 1944, and a new government was established in 1945.

Tito was elected primer of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. All non-Communists were purged from the government. Tito would be the sole ruler of Yugoslavia (including the modern countries of Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Slovenia).

The "Good Dictator"

The Yugoslav republics were allowed autonomy, but Tito maintained supreme power in the region. He suppressed any opposition to his rule. He became critical of the injustices behind the Iron Curtain and began to think Yugoslavia would be better on its own.

Tito's independent streak did not please Stalin, who wanted all the Eastern Bloc nations to bow to his rule. This led to Stalin attempting to purge the Yugoslav leadership in 1948. Tito was able to maintain his power, and later that year, the CPY was kicked out of the Cominform, the confederation of the Easter European communist countries.

Cut off from the other Soviet republics, Tito was looking for allies. Western nations looked to build positive relations with Yugoslavia, and he entered an unofficial relationship with NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization). Tito took the policy of nonalignment, deciding not to take a side in the Cold War. Instead, Tito led Yugoslavia independent of either group's influence.

His neutrality made him friends in the West. After all, any enemy of Stalin was good in the eyes of Western powers.

After the death of Stalin, relations between Yugoslavia and the USSR improved, though they maintained neutrality in their conflict with the USA. Tito also sought to build ties with countries not allied with the USSR or USA, such as India and Egypt.

In 1953, Tito was elected Yugoslav president. This was a position he held until his death in 1980. Tito was remembered as one of the better soviet dictators. He did use his secret police to maintain his power and control over his country.

Even so, the people of Yugoslavia enjoyed more freedom than others in communist nations. He spearheaded the idea that Communist nations could shape their paths without Soviet dominance.

Stalin's Assassins

When Tito came into conflict with Stalin, there was only one solution the Soviet leader knew to do. As he had done with other thorns in his side, Stalin sent assassins to kill Tito. Stalin was sure that the little problem in Yugoslavia would be resolved quickly.

Stalin sent several assassins to kill Tito. All of them failed. Frustrated with the continued attempts on his life, Tito sent Stalin a letter.

"Stop sending people to kill me. We've already captured five of them, one of them with a bomb and another with a rifle. […] If you don't stop sending killers, I'll send one to Moscow, and I won't have to send a second."

Stalin got the message. He backed off Tito and terrorized "Titoists" in the USSR. Few men had the guts to stand up to Stalin at the height of his power. Tito showed no fear and an independent spirit still celebrated by his people today.

With the fall of Communism in 1991, Yugoslavia dissolved into several independent nations. Several years of war and conflict erupted between the various ethnic groups in the region, and there is still some tension today. The people of the former Yugoslavia, especially Croatia, look back at Tito's rule as a time of prosperity. Though he ruled as a dictator, they enjoyed a reasonable level of prosperity.

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