The Postwar Period 195
become a colony of Western imperialism. He stepped down from his ambas-
sadorial post. This decision provoked a sensation and was a source of consider-
able embarrassment to the Belgrade authorities, since his j’accuse was reprinted
by Pravda and the communist press throughout the world, but also by that of
the West.^239
The confirmation that a pro-Stalinist opposition existed, which the pro-
claimed official unity was unable to hide, came a few days later from Montene-
gro. In that republic, the majority in the local government changed from one
day to the next. Without a word of explanation, the vice-president of the Mon-
tenegrin government, the president of the Control Commission, and the min-
isters of commerce, education, and industry, all of whom had been delegates to
the recent Fifth Congress, resigned and were replaced by new people. But there
were “slight deviations,” as Aleš Bebler confided to Western journalists, even
in the federal government. Seeds of resistance, more or less vigorous, were pres-
ent everywhere, and there were even cases of old Partisans who returned to the
woods in order to fight the new “Fascists.” Not to mention the Yugoslav dip-
lomats abroad, who used the occasion to take refuge under Moscow’s wings.^240
Especially dangerous was the unrest among the army officers, many of whom
were questioning the future of the People’s Army since it had lost its role as the
left wing of the Red Army. Among those seduced by the NKVD was Boško
Čolić, Tito’s first assistant, who had faithfully stayed by his side during and
after the war. After the resolution, he hid a surveillance bug in the wall of the
marshal’s office. When discovered, he would have been condemned to death if
Tito had not prevented it. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison and was
pardoned after twelve years.^241 This was, of course, kept secret, but shortly
thereafter there was another episode that had a vast echo. According to the
official version, on the night between 12 and 13 August 1948, three high ranking
army officers tried to cross the Romanian frontier illegally and take refuge in
Bucharest. The most famous of the three was Arso Jovanović, former chief of
Tito’s Supreme Staff, who had allegedly tried to organize a military coup d’état
after the Fifth Congress.^242
Conditioned as he was by his rigid mentality and his training in the Royal
Army, Arso was incapable of playing a constructive role in the Partisan ranks,
as he had already demonstrated at the beginning of the war. He was a coura-
geous and intelligent man, but with limited horizons, fanatically hostile to
everything Western and a convinced Russophile. Tito, however, appreciated his
military efficiency and often entrusted him with delicate assignments.^243 It
was Jovanović, for instance, who, together with Žujović, led the Yugoslav del-
egation that welcomed the Soviet mission when it arrived at the Supreme Staff