The Presidential Years 309
Russia has today. The most progressive.... I am trying to help him, because I
am sure that he will never be favorable to war.”^231
Kardelj in Disgrace with TitoDuring the Non-Aligned Conference, Kardelj remained in the shadows, as he
was in disgrace with Tito. In the past, he had spoken with admiration about the
marshal: “In Tito’s character,” he had said, “there is something profoundly
human. He can be violent, harsh, but this is a manifestation of fleeting senti-
ments.”^232 In 1952, on the occasion of Tito’s sixtieth birthday, he sent him the
following greeting card: “Your sixty years—with all that you have given to our
party and our country, in its yearning for a better future—are a reason for pride,
not just for you but for all of us who, under your guidance, have fought and won
for socialism, and who respect and love you as the soul and body of this fight.”^233
This paean had been written when Kardelj was still considered his natural
successor. Among the Yugoslav communists the opinion spread that the he was
second only to Tito. The Slovenian ideologue was so sure of this that during a
visit to London at the end of 1945 he introduced himself to the secretary gen-
eral of the British Communist Party as the “vice-president.” In short, he did
not have to fight for power, since everybody knew that he already had it.^234
“This conviction,” said Vladimir Dedijer in an interview on the occasion
of Kardelj’s death, “lasted till 1954, when new pretenders appeared who hoped
to put on Tito’s cloak after his departure.”^235 First among them was Aleksandar
Ranković. The new power relationships started to appear in the period when
relations with Stalin’s successors had been established, and Tito had begun
making decisions without asking the opinion of his comrades. Kardelj was
ready to review his critical attitude toward the Soviet Union and Stalin himself,
whose policy, in his opinion, was not entirely negative. In spite of everything,
thanks to Stalin, something of the October Revolution had remained alive.
This historical judgment could not, however, mitigate his preoccupation with
the excessive impetus given by Tito to his dialogue with the Russians.^236
In his memoirs, Kardelj wrote that during the Belgrade discussions in 1955
the Yugoslavs refused every proposal regarding new forms of the international
proletarian movement under Soviet aegis advanced by Khrushchev. He added:
“For who knows what reason, [Khrushchev] has discovered in me the fiercest
adversary to Yugoslavia’s return to the socialist camp, and the stronger sup-
porter of the non-aligned policy. In reality, our entire leadership, without excep-
tion, thought in this way, but Khrushchev kept attacking me, trying even to sow
discord in our ranks. And he continued this policy, although without success.”^237
It is questionable whether this last sentence was completely honest. From
other sources, we know that the first disagreements between Tito and Kardelj