454 Tito’s Death and His Political Legacy, 1980
their backs and help them to avoid being caught in the grip of the enemy.^125
“Yugoslavia will not give anybody the chance to ‘take care’ of it. It is able to take
care of itself alone.” This was the slogan of the moment. Meanwhile, behind
the scenes, a power struggle began between Bakarić’s group, which called for
his election to the party chairmanship, and the Serbs, led by Petar Stambolić
and Miloš Minić, who opposed him.^126
In order to make the transition as secure as possible, it was necessary to
prolong Tito’s agony. During a meeting between the members of the presi-
dency and his doctors, Dolanc informed them that in Bulgaria a column of
tanks had moved toward the Yugoslav border that same day. It had stopped a
few meters from the border and then, after some time, turned back. “Because
of this,” said Dolanc, “every day, every hour of the president’s life is precious,
considering the enormous work we have to do.”^127 Tito underwent intensive
medical care, which dragged on for several weeks.
“For an unbelievable amount of time” the doctors succeeded in conveying
blood to vital organs, although they were not able to prevent continuous arterial
occlusions. There were also other collateral effects that forced them to connect
Tito to a dialysis machine. To quote the autopsy report, the clinical situation
was so complex as to be “almost unknown in medical practice.” “Long before
death,” there were breathing difficulties, prompting doctors to make use of an
artificial lung, on which the patient remained dependent “for an extremely long
time.” Copious bleeding occurred, especially in the stomach, and liver compli-
cations caused a pronounced jaundice. Death came after weeks of coma, which
had been induced because of the collapse of the peripheral vascular system and
cardiac arrest. During the autopsy a tumor was found in Tito’s stomach, prob-
ably benign, but as big as an egg. The report notes that because of his long ill-
ness, many alterations in the vital organs occurred that “are rarely observed in
other patients.”^128
Josip Broz died on Sunday 4 May 1980 at 3:05 p.m. at the age of 88. The
supreme state and party authorities were informed with the coded phrase: “The
match is cancelled.”^129 Three hours later, an official announcement was broad-
cast that the “great heart” of Comrade Tito had stopped beating. After his death,
“the greatest man of the past, of the present and of the future” returned to Bel-
grade aboard his armored blue train. Tito, who was protected during his life as
Stalin had been, had, like the Boss, a pharaonic funeral—even more majestic,
since heads of state and leaders from nearly every country in the world attended.
It was, according to the British ambassador, a “probably unique assembly.”^130
The Italian communist leader, Giancarlo Pajetta, wrote in his memoirs: “An
enormous crowd waited, day and night, to see the coffin. I remember the march
of the heroic First Proletarian Brigade, with its red flag and the ribbon with