20 The Young Broz
This was the only way in which the monarchy could be overthrown.^67 How-
ever, these proposals bore no fruit, since after the violent death of his cousin
Aleksandar, Prince Paul assumed the regency in the name of the new king,
Petar II, who was only ten years old at the time, and managed to take control
of the situation. The ill-conceived revolutionary proposal failed, demonstrating
its hollowness, since the masses were not behind either the left- or the right-
wing extremists. At the end of February 1935, Broz finally received permission
to go to Moscow. He left on the advice of comrades in Zagreb, who thought
that in the coming years the situation in Yugoslavia would become extremely
dangerous, even more so than it had been during the years 1929–31. They there-
fore recommended that the best of their men who were not in prison should
leave the country and go to the Soviet Union to be ideologically groomed for
the inevitable upheaval.^68
On the eve of his departure, Broz nearly fell into the hands of the Viennese
police. He lived illegally in the apartment of an elderly Jewish landlady, whose
daughter tried to commit suicide with gas. Broz saved her at the last moment,
but when the gendarmes arrived, he barely managed to get away by taking
advantage of the general chaos.^69
In MoscowBroz came to the country of the victorious proletariat where, he believed, “love,
solidarity and sincerity”^70 reigned, with a presentation letter from Gorkić
addressed to Vladimir Čopić, one of the founders of the CPY who worked as
its representative at the Comintern. As Gorkić said, “He represents the best of
our movement and shortly, in six or seven months, he will be called to cover
leading positions in the CC.”^71 Although Čopić saw a possible competitor in
the newcomer, he found Broz a room in the Russian art nouveau Hotel Lux.
Only the name still hinted at its former splendor; it was crowded with foreign
communists seeking refuge in Moscow and was infested with rats, to say noth-
ing of the stench from the common kitchens situated on every floor.^72 Broz’s
first task was to write his autobiography, as was the custom in the Comintern.
He had to write it several times, so that the officials of the Cadre Department
could compare the various versions and verify his trustworthiness.^73 Later, a
certain Iakubovich, who was a representative of the OGPU (Ob’edinennoe
gosudarstvennoe politicheskoe upravlenie; the Unified State Political Director-
ate, or security police), and a Bulgarian communist called Ivan Karaivanov
had him write about the “characteristics” of the seven most important members
of the CPY, including Gorkić. He carried out this assignment commendably,
making an effort to be sincere, praising but also criticizing his comrades. He
had no critique of Čopić, of course (although to tell the truth he considered