380 The Presidential Years
From Tito’s point of view the meeting with the Croats did not end satisfac-
torily, because of the nineteen members of the delegation, only Vladimir Bakarić
and seven others rallied behind him, whereas the majority supported Savka
Dabčević-Kučar and Miko Tripalo and were not ready to bow. For this reason,
the discussion continued on 1 and 2 December within the framework of the
enlarged presidency of the League of Communists, chaired by Stane Dolanc.
This time, Tito was more aggressive. He asserted that the goal of the maspok was
to eliminate the Socialist Alliance of Working People and to gradually trans-
form the party into a nationalistic organization. “Are we not far from national-
socialism,” he asked, “and edging closer to Nazi ideals?”^638 He concluded the
session with a speech widely reported in the media condemning the Zagreb
power elite and accusing it of insufficient vigilance, superficiality, and rotten
liberalism with harmful consequences. In his opinion, the Croat communists’
plan of action was unclear and foreign to the decisions of the Ninth Congress
of the LCY, as shown by the dramatic increase in maspok. There was a danger
that criminal proletarian elements, nationalists, chauvinists, dogmatists, and
“the devil knows who else” would be drawn to such a movement. He called the
attention of those present to the foreign support that such enemy forces could
count on, having the Ustaša in mind, but also the Eastern and Western secret
services. He condemned the Croat press for writing in an unconstitutional and
illegal way, and he blamed “Matica Hrvatska” in particular for its seditious activi-
ties that had turned out to be extremely troublesome. More in sorrow than
anger, Tito leveled the severe criticism that the Croat leadership in the past had
been ineffective, as shown by the inability of their members to self-criticize.^639
Tito was rebuked on that occasion too: in his contribution to the discus-
sion, Kardelj reproached him for having supported the leaders of maspok for too
long, and asserted that he was jointly responsible for the situation created in
Croatia. But these words were not recorded.^640
The marshal’s speech was broadcast that same day on radio and TV, and was
approved of almost unanimously. The only ones who tried to defend the Croats
were the Serb liberals, headed by Latinka Perović and Marko Nikezić, as they
had become conscious (although too late, as Savka Dabčević-Kučar observed
in her memoirs) that they would be the next victims. In fact, they had already
quarreled violently with Tito during a confidential meeting in May when he
had voiced the supposition that an atmosphere hostile to him was spreading in
Belgrade.^641
Toward dusk on 2 December, Tito received Savka Dabčević-Kučar, Miko
Tripalo, and their collaborators, to find out if they were ready to accept the
decisions of the enlarged presidency. The two flatly refused, stressing that they
needed to discuss this in Croatia before they gave a definitive answer. Tito