266 The Presidential Years
respective missions in New Delhi and Belgrade. The first Yugoslav ambassador,
Josip Djerdja, once installed, did not try to get in touch with the local commu-
nists, who were under Moscow’s spell, but with socialists and the ruling Con-
gress Party. He was soon attracted by Nehru’s idea of a “third force” between
the blocs, and his critical attitude both toward Western imperialism and toward
the Soviet brand of socialism. Djerdja registered with pleasure that the Indian
newspapers followed the Peace Conference organized in July 1950 in Zagreb
with interest—it was the first attempt taken by Tito’s regime to affirm its newly
discovered political autonomy on an international level. The prestigious New
Delhi Chronicle published an editorial saying that Yugoslavia had emerged after
the split with Stalin politically and economically stronger than it was before.
It could be said with good reason, the article asserted, that Yugoslavia was the
only independent country in the world.^13
The friendly attitude of Indian elites toward Yugoslavia, and the observation
that the Asian masses had a general hostility toward Europeans, suggested a
daring idea to Djerdja: Yugoslavia could find allies among the countries of the
Third World, which was in the process of emerging from the grip of colonial-
ism, if it were able to implement a new relationship with them based on mutual
respect. When he returned home in the fall of 1951, at the end of his mission,
he mentioned these thoughts to his colleagues, and they were favorably re-
ceived. “This is interesting,” said Kardelj at a Ministry of Foreign Affairs daily
meeting. “Let’s go to Tito.” He rung him on a special telephone and agreed
on a time to meet, which was followed by an exchange of thoughts without
concrete results.^14 Initially Tito was not enthusiastic about the proposal of
seeking allies in the Third World, agreeing with Koča Popović that it was not
a good idea to secure friends among these “paupers.” Popović, who in 1953 suc-
ceeded Edvard Kardelj as foreign secretary, looked instead to Finland and its
neutrality, hoping for a similar international position for Yugoslavia.^15 Kardelj,
too, was reserved toward the idea of a collaboration with the “feudal lords”
who often were in power in the Third World, but later became attracted by the
idea under the influence of his deputy, Aleš Bebler, who appreciated Nehru’s
independent foreign policy, which was already labeled “non-aligned.” The
Slovene leader developed it further, in spite of the skeptical attitude of his
colleagues: “Once again he has discovered a toy; let it be, none of this will come
to pass anyway.”^16
Only in later years did the marshal pay more attention to India and to
Nehru’s policy, which aimed to create a link between the former colonies of
Asia and Africa. This idea found expression in the so-called Doctrine of Ban-
dung, the Indonesian town where representatives of the newly emancipated
countries met in April 1955 to create a movement of mutual collaboration. Tito