Yugoslavia

New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 472, 9 July 1948, Page 5

Yugoslavia

denly into the news_ last week, and so sensationally, that it is still not safe to assume that the whole story has been told. It is however clear that Russia is very angry, that Moscow has been putting on the pressure and Belgrade resisting, and that the news came out only because Belgrade kept on resisting. The crisis is therefore important as well as interesting, but we shalJ not know how important until we have seen where Tito goes from here. It is just wishful thinking to suppose that every government which quarrels with Moscow draws nearer to London and Washington. All we can say is that it frees itself from one of the obstacles to a mearer approachthat it has one reason less for not drawing nearer. The meaning of the crisis is not that Yugoslavia is now looking west, or has suddenly become democratic, but that it remains tough, and independent, and nationalistic, and is not willing to play Russia’s game unless it is Yugoslavia’s game too. Its importance depends therefore on the strength of Yugoslavia’s re-sistance-its strength and its permanence. We must hope that Russia’s violence is a good signan indication that Moscow no longer expects Yugoslavia’s leaders "to correct their errors,’ but is determined to "encourage the others." But it may just as easily be a bad sign-mean that Russia was sure of success before calling publicly for a recantation. The only sure comfort it is permissible to allow ourselves yet lies in the clear evidence the world now, has that the Communist front is under severe strain. It would be better not to find significance in the Time report that Tito is learning English and is getting so fond of English verse that he can now recite Edward Lear. : came so sud-