The Presidential Years 337
an interview that Politika planned to publish on 29 November 1966, a public
holiday. In it, the vice-president of the republic affirmed that “the task assigned
to the party is more difficult than to govern with the help of police or military
discipline, like some South American general. To do this, ideas are not neces-
sary. But if we want to build socialism and implement it, we have to confront a
much more demanding task.”^398
Tito did not like this opinion nor the interview. Although the paper had
already been printed, it was never distributed.
Ranković’s Pardon and the
Seventh Plenum of the CCOn 9 December 1966, the Federal Assembly confirmed the decision by the
Executive Committee asserting that Aleksandar Ranković had been involved
in anti-constitutional activity and had worked against the aims of the socialist
society.^399 At the end of the year, however, Tito decided not to prosecute Com-
rade Marko or another eighteen of his collaborators out of respect for Serb
public opinion, but also because much of the evidence against them was shaky.^400
At the top of the party the opinion prevailed that the “sins” ascribed to Ranković
should be considered a struggle for power, rather than criminal activity. After
having been pardoned, Leka retired to private life. Apart from a short memo
about his “shameful exclusion from the party and political life,” which remained
secret for a long time, he did nothing that could seem compromising or bother-
some to the regime.^401 Nevertheless, he lived under police surveillance, which
from time to time warned him to beware of possible Ustaše assassination
attempts. He did not take the threat seriously, nor did he hide his low opinion
of Tito. He compared him to Joseph Fouché, the ominous minister of police
under Napoleon, quoting a French writer who had described his personality in
this way: “He is a total traitor, because the treachery is not his aim or tactical
decision, but his essence.... During my life, I have never met somebody who
could be more egotistical and more mistrustful of the others.... With time, with
years, he trusted the people around him less and less.... How often he said:
arrest, judge, condemn, kick out, remove from a high post to a lower one.”^402
At the beginning of July 1967, the Seventh Plenum of the LCY was con-
vened in Belgrade. It focused on the recent Arab-Israeli War and the military
coup in Greece, but also on internal problems related to the reorganization of
the party. Characteristic of the new atmosphere, which was critical of the strong
influence of the secret services and somewhat more liberal, was the sharp criti-
cism of Tito’s decision to allow the Soviets to use Yugoslav air space to send
military aid to Egypt, and of his decision to give a large number of tanks to
Nasser.^403 Moreover, without informing the Executive Committee the marshal