436 Tito’s Death and His Political Legacy, 1980
Soviet methods was it possible to reject Soviet claims.”^14 During demonstra-
tions in favor of the CPY at the end of 1949, the Belgrade students sang an
atrocious and mocking refrain, playing on the name of Stalin, the “steel man”
par excellence: “Comrade Tito, you are of steel, with you is the whole of Amer-
ica. We are young members of SKOJ and do not drink wine, but we are thirsty
for the blood of mustachioed Stalin.”^15 When, however, the power elite went
to New York for the General Assembly of the United Nations and Life maga-
zine published a photo of the marshal and his circle, Aleš Bebler observed that
Tito resembled a Latin American dictator. Back home, at a session where the
results of the mission were discussed, Djilas mentioned this, embarrassing Tito,
although he was not moved to adjust his lifestyle accordingly. The authori-
ties sometimes tolerated some criticism, but it was rare. In 1962, for instance, a
group of students took part in the May Day parade, carrying an enormous mir-
ror. When they passed by the stands where Tito and other grandees of the
regime were sitting, the students turned toward them so they could see them-
selves in the mirror.^16 Ten years later, when the painter Mića Popović opened
an exhibition in which he showed two pictures, The President of the Republic
Visits the Dutch Royal Couple and Trains That Transport Workers to Germany, the
exhibition was immediately shut down “for political reasons.”^17 It was in that
period, as Koča Popović correctly noted, that the cult of personality became one
of the inhibiting factors of Yugoslav society.^18
The more Tito aged, the more dependent he was on this cult, which acquired
pharaonic dimensions. “On our planet,” lamented Dobrica Ćosić, “only Yugo-
slavia has the ‘baton’” (carried around the country by young people in a relay, to
be given to the marshal on his birthday on 25 May). It was also the only country
to use the salutation “dearest guest,” as he was ritually declared in the republics
or towns he visited.^19 “He was really convinced,” added Savka Dabčević-Kučar,
“that he was the army! He was the party! He was the state! Certainly he did not
suffer the sickness called modesty.”^20 He received compliments from crowned
heads as well as from his subjects. The parade of royal highnesses at his court
was headed by the emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, when he visited Yugo-
slavia in July 1954, at the most intense moment of the diplomatic struggle
with Italy. This was not without symbolic significance, since both countries
had been victims of Mussolini’s imperialism in the past and both had unre-
solved issues with Rome. The event was significant also because Haile Selassie
was the first head of state to come to Yugoslavia after the split with Stalin. For
that occasion, the protocol department sent the “comrades” a circular on how to
dress for the various meetings with the descendant of King Solomon and the
Queen of Sheba. The men were advised as to what kind of jacket or tuxedo
they had to wear for this or that occasion, while the women were asked to