60 World War Two and the Partisan Struggle
Yugoslavia under Pressure
and the Belgrade PutschBroz, Herta Haas, and other friends spent New Year’s Eve 1941 in the company
of Josip and Stella Kopinič, who had come from Moscow to Zagreb on behalf
of the Comintern. “We are probably celebrating the last New Year’s Day of old
Yugoslavia,” he said. “Hitler will not leave us in peace, therefore the situation
will be difficult. But, we communists are used to it.”^54
How intensely he lived that historical moment is demonstrated by the article
“Tactics and Strategy of Armed Revolt,” which Broz wrote in March 1941 for a
lecture cycle to be held at the party school. In it he exalted the proletarian revo-
lution as the “supreme manifestation” of class struggle, which must begin at the
critical moment when the “commotion of the masses” and the “swaying of the
people” could be exploited to foment war against the bourgeoisie. What moment
could be better than the crisis provoked by the probable impending attack of
the Axis against Yugoslavia? An attack would be the ideal occasion to light the
spark of a popular uprising. In the article, he stressed the need of the party, as the
workers’ avant-garde, to immediately take the initiative, to prepare the revolu-
tion in detail, and to organize combat units—the “iron fist” of the proletariat—
in order to destroy or take control of the old administrative and military order.
“The party should not allow the revolt to start spontaneously, without its orga-
nization and guidance.”^55 Many years later, when asked how he had arrived at
the idea for the partisan war that he predicted in this article, Tito answered that
he had thought about it a great deal, and was thoroughly acquainted with the
Marxist doctrine of the people at arms. He was inspired by Carl von Clause-
witz but had also studied the history of the First World War, the October
Revolution, the Chinese partisan struggle and the Spanish guerrilla war against
Napoleon. But mostly he had, before his eyes, the recent Spanish Civil War as
a warning regarding the errors to avoid and the examples to follow.^56
At the beginning of 1941, Yugoslavia was in a terrible situation. Italy and Ger-
many had it in their grip, since the Third Reich was allied with Hungary and
Romania, and Mussolini had moved into Albania, occupying it in April 1939.
With the intention of restoring the Roman Empire and transforming the
Adriatic into a mare nostrum, Mussolini also planned to occupy Yugoslavia
but was prevented from doing so by Hitler. In recent years Germany had spread
its economic influence to the Balkans and the Führer did not want the Duce’s
ambition to compromise the supply of oil and other raw materials from the
region. It was not easy to keep Mussolini at bay, however. On 28 October 1940,