Tito and His Comrades

The Postwar Period 231

Miroslav Krleža launched the slogan “creative liberty.” Although he lamented
the detachment from social commitment of those who proclaimed that “revo-
lutions come and go, lyric poetry remains,” he also condemned those who
thought that only “politically engaged” literature was legitimate. His speech is
a typical example of the intellectual atmosphere found in Yugoslavia in the
early fifties. The Agitprop Department was transformed into the Commission
for Culture and Education, which controlled the media, schools, and cultural
and artistic activity. Although preventive censorship was abolished, this did not
include the duty to follow the party line for all those working in radio, publish-
ing houses, and other cultural sectors. Nevertheless, Western influ ences began
to increase in intellectual and artistic life. The authorities observed this ferment
with a mixture of approval and apprehension, in fear that the intelligentsia
would be seduced by bourgeois values. Thus it is no wonder that, before being
delivered, Krleža’s speech, with its opening and warning, had been checked and
approved by Kardelj, Djilas, and even Tito himself.^412

The Sixth Congress of the CPY

The secession from the Bolshevik concept was signaled most authoritatively by
the Sixth Congress of the CPY, at which the Yugoslav Communists proclaimed
themselves the only true heirs to Karl Marx, determined to create the first
socialist country in the world.^413 After lively discussions among the quartet
in power, the congress was convened in Zagreb on 2 November 1952, with all
the pomp of similar assemblies. Indian and Indonesian socialists were invited
to participate as guests of honor. Tito and his most influential comrades met
with them on the eve of the congress. The minutes of their discussion are of
interest because they show how far they went in their speculation, but also
how separated they already were from one another, without being fully aware
that this was the case. During the conversation, Tito stressed that the Popular
Front was assuming a pronounced socialist character, going so far as to envi-
sion its promising future: “We will transform the Popular Front into a Socialist
Alliance of the working people, which will contact other socialist parties and
could, sooner or later, join the Socialist International.” With 8 million mem-
bers, it would have been one of the most numerous parties.
Tito continued:

Another important topic for our internal life is the health of our party, and the

development of the theory and practice of socialism, which are bound into the

change of the name of the CPY to the Yugoslav League of Communists. This will

have a new role and a new task at the current stage of our social development: it

will have an increasingly didactic character. If we would proceed along the current