Things I Learned from Milovan Djilas

“Conversations With Stalin” is a quick read. I got through it in about a day. I gleaned a few bits that sharpened what I think I know about communism. Maybe you knew them already. I’m inclined to trust Djilas so what follows adheres to his view. My interest in Yugoslavia goes back to my Master’s thesis, in 1984, on the Yugoslav labor-managed firm model.

The book is as much a concise chronicle of Soviet-Yugoslav relations during and immediately following World War II as a portrait of Stalin. It ends before the big break between the two countries.

Here is what stands out.

Stalin was a monster, but he was not stupid. He was actually somewhat erudite. He was genuinely dedicated to socialism, subject to a few brutal constraints. The principal one was to elevate the national interest of the USSR and his own rule above all other considerations, including the spread of socialism.

Of course, my lefty background prepared me for the “socialism in one country” problem. It does become more real in the details of the Yugoslav story and the matter of Greece. Stalin decisively surrendered Greece to NATO. The revolution had a shot there, but he was not interested in pursuing it. He preferred stability in Europe, which included consolidating his hold over the nations his troops already occupied.

Stalin was not enthused with the prospect of authentic, independent revolutionary movements, as in Yugoslavia. Chased through the mountains by Nazis, Tito and his associates had ample anti-fascist street cred. Stalin intrigued to take over Yugoslavia. By contrast, in China the revolution triumphed under thoroughly independent leadership, and there was nothing Stalin could do except reconcile himself to it.

Stalin’s myriad purges were all founded on his determination to industrialize Russia and prepare it for war with the Nazis. That is not to say they were necessary, ethical, or well-advised, only that he did have a substantive motivation.

Tito’s movement was the sole national force to repel the Nazis with limited outside assistance. A nice book by British spook Fitzroy Maclean – Eastern Approaches – tells part of this story. This was a considerable accomplishment. Part of the credit goes to Churchill, who according to Maclean asked whether Tito’s partisans or the royalist forces were killing more Nazis. Hearing it was Tito, Churchill unhesitatingly directed Britain’s support to him. Yugoslavian socialism itself eventually diverged from the Soviet model, not to mention from subjugation to Stalin, in an interesting if doomed direction.

Back in the day, nobody talked at all about Tito, which was unfortunate. I suppose we had blinders founded in inflexible Marxist-Leninists doctrine, including some fealty to the extreme anti-Titoism among supporters of Stalin, Mao, Castro, or Trotsky.

Stalin killed a lot of old Bolsheviks, but by Djilas he substantially improved the leadership of the Red Army, elevating capable men to higher ranks.

For more on Djilas, here are a few interesting tidbits from the eminent Branko Milanovic.