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Talking to Tito: the Eden visit to Yugoslavia, September 1952

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2009

John Young
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Extract

Josip Tito first met a leading British statesman, in August 1944, when he had discussions in Naples with Winston Churchill about the future of the Yugoslav resistance movements.1 After the war however the Yugoslav communist leader did not meet another leading statesman from the West until September 1952. The visitor on that occasion was Churchill's Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden. Between the two dates there had been remarkable changes in Anglo-Yugoslav relations. In the years 1944–1948, as the world slipped towards Cold War, the British aid given to Tito's guerillas in wartime seemed to have been wasted; Yugoslavia apparently became firmly rooted in the Soviet bloc. Many now argue that Churchill ought to have supported other Yugoslav resistance groups who were supporters of the Yugoslav monarchy and, presumably, more pro-western. British support for Tito during the war, however, had logical force: Tito was popular with his countrymen and able to unite them, a capable leader who knew how to use the geography of his country against its enemies, and a man who was ultimately able to liberate Yugoslavia without large-scale Soviet assistance.2 And, in 1948, to the surprise of many in the West he proved that he was no mere Russian puppet either. He opposed attempts from Moscow to extend its influence over Yugoslav government and politics and, in June, was expelled by Stalin from the Soviet-led ‘Cominform’ Faced by economic blockade from the East, Tito turned increasingly to the West for support. In November 1951 he took a major step by accepting American military aid. As yet there were limits to his western commitment: he was still a communist, on poor terms with some of his western neighbours (especially Italy), and determined, whilst accepting western aid, to keep his distance from both power blocs. But it seemed that he could be won over securely to the West in the long-term. Recently released British files on the Eden visit reveal much about the state of Tito's relationship with the West at this time.

Type
Research Article
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , January 1986 , pp. 31 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 1986

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References

1. See Churchill, Winston S., The Second World War, Vol. V (London, 1954), pp. 78–84Google Scholar, and Woodward, Sir Llewelyn, British Foreign Policy in the Second World War, Vol. III (London, 1971), pp. 336–343Google Scholar.

2. On British policy in Yugoslavia during the war see Woodward, Ibid., pp. 278–382, Barker, Elizabeth, British Policy in S.E. Europe in the Second World War (London, 1976), pp. 149–172CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Auty, P. and Clogg, R., British Policy towards Wartime Resistance in Greece and Yugoslavia (London, 1975).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3. Brilej had already made a courtesy call on Churchill and had hoped to see Eden, but the Foreign Secretary was otherwise engaged: Public Record Office, Kew, F.O. 371/102178/1051/1 (21 and 25 Feb.). On Bevan's visit see Foot, Michael, Aneurin Bevan, Vol. II 1945–60 (London, 1973), pp. 347–348Google Scholar.

4. F.O. 371/102178/1051/2 (17 April).

5. F.O. 371/102179/1052/2(17 June and 5 July) and 3 (11 and 12 June). Fitzroy Maclean was later the author of Josip Broz Tito: a Pictorial Biography (London, 1980)Google Scholar.

6. Acheson, Dean, Present at the Creation (London, 1970), p. 572Google Scholar.

7. F.O. 371/102179/1052/2(11 July), 3 (12 and 13 June) and 6 (17 July).

8. The visit to Turkey also became less desirable after a proposed visit of the Turkish premier to Britain was cancelled. F.O. 371/102179/1052/3 (12 June) and 6 (19 July).

9. F.O. 371/102179/1052/3 (12 June), 5 and 10 (25 July). On US views in 1948–50 see, for example, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, vol. IV (Washington, 1974), pp. 1079–1083Google Scholar and 1950, vol. IV, pp. 1360–1 and 1400–4; and on Bevin, see Bullock, Alan, Ernest Bevin: Foreign Secretary, 1945–51 (London, 1983), pp. 598–599Google Scholar and 719–20.

10. F.O. 371/102179/1052/2 (11 and 14 July) and 6 (19 July).

11. F.O. 371/102179/1052/7 (25 July) and 8 (22 July). Brioni remained a problem for British diplomats. In 1953 Ivone Kirkpatrick (who had just been appointed head of the Foreign Office) holidayed in Yugoslavia, and was taken by Ivo Mallet to see Tito on Brioni, but the Italians immediately reacted by sending an envoy to Trieste to meet Kirkpatrick, to ensure that he understood their view on problems. Kirkpatrick, Ivone, The Inner Circle (London, 1959), pp. 256–257Google Scholar.

12. F.O. 371/102179/1052/7 (28 and 29 July) and 8 (22 July).

13. F.O. 371/102179/1052/7 (28 and 29 July) and 8 (22 July).

14. F.O. 371/102179/1052/11 (31 July) and 12(1 August).

15. Mallet was more concerned that talks on economic aid to Yugoslavia should be progressing well than with Trieste: F.O. 371/102179/1052/13.

16. F.O. 371/102179/1052/15, 17, 28 and 102180/1052/38.

17. F.O. 371/102180/1052/35 (15 September), 36 (12 September) and 40 (18 September); Eden, Anthony, Full Circle (London, 1960), p. 180Google Scholar.

18. F.O. 371/102180/1052/26.

19. F.O. 371/102180/1052/39, 41 and 43; 102181/1052/45, 49 and 53, Eden, op. cit., pp. 180–2; Milovan Djilas, 77/o (London, 1981), pp. 147–8; and see also reports in The Times, 18–20, 22 and 24 September 1952. Aster, Sidney, Anthony Eden (London, 1976), p. 106Google Scholar is mistaken in attributing the start of the visit to 18 September. Eden was married only a month before the Yugoslav visit—so Tito's marriage announcement must have been doubly irksome: see Carlton, David, Anthony Eden (London, 1981), pp. 318–319Google Scholar. Carlton makes some brief but intelligent comments on the visit.

20. F.O. 371/102181/1052/57 (9 October); see also Broad, Lewis, Sir Anthony Eden: the chronicles of a career (London, 1955), pp. 206–207Google Scholar. (Broad is mistaken in saying that Eden visited Rome at this time.)

21. F.O. 371/102181/1052/48, 51 and 52.

22. F.O. 371/102181/1052/64 (10 October).

23. Public Record Office, CAB. 128/25, C.C.(52) 82nd (30 September).

24. F.O. 371/102181/1052/51 (8 and 15 October).

25. F.O. 371/102181/1052/47 (6 October).

26. The Times, 19 September 1952.

27. The Times, 20 September 1952.

28. Broad, op. cit., pp. 206–7.

29. The course of Russo-Yugoslav relations is best traced in Clissold, Stephen, ed., Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union: a documentary survey (London, 1975)Google Scholar.