Yugoslav refugees to Tito. They, and anfurther 200,000 Croat refugees whosensurrender was refused by the British,nwere massacred by the Partisans almostnto a man, woman, and child.nEmpires, even if reluctant, oblige.nBut the British, who preferred to acquirenand maintain theirs largely bynproxy, could not accept such a rationale.nBehind the unspoken belief that ansingle British life was worth any numbernof others, lay the possible knowledgenof the fickleness of this world,nungrateful to victor and vanquishednalike. So in 1945 Czechoslovakia wasnsold once again to a successful tyrant,nas was Poland, over whose fate the warnwas ostensibly begun.nBeloff, understandably, does notndiscuss broad geopolitical issues withinnher book, but she can only be commendednfor her fidelity to the truth. Itnis only to be regretted that she has beennvehementiy attacked by those of herncountrymen who, like Basil Davidson,nFitzroy Maclean, William Deakin andnhis student, Mark Wheeler, haventurned pro-Titoism into a profession.n(By the way. Sir Fitzroy Maclean didngo to live in Yugoslavia, in a villangiven to him by Tito.)nThese paragons of dispassionate justicenseem to find nothing wrong innwanting for Yugoslavia what theynwouldn’t accept in their own homencountry. As before, during, and afternthe war, Yugoslavs are expected tonsuffer interminable hardships in ordernto fit into a “larger picture,” painted bynChurchill, MacMillan, and others. Innwhat way was Winston Churchill,nwho forged an alliance with the mostnheinous tyranny on record in order toncombat a geographically closer tyrant,nany different from those anti-CommunistnYugoslavs who collaboratednwith the Italians to contain murderousnrevolutionaries in their own midst?nYet, it was only the Yugoslavs whonwere sent back to Yugoslavia, to beninterred alive by “patriots” inspired bynMoscow.nBelofFs account of Tito is also highlynrevealing. Josip Broz is shown as anshiftless youth, a volunteer in the AustriannImperial Army, a willing NCO innthe 1914 “punitive expedition” againstnthe Serbs, a POW turned revolutionarynto improve his status, a seducer of an15-year-old Siberian girl, a renegadenfather and husband, a Cominternntoady, a hatehetman against his ownnYugoslavian “comrades,” a defiant terrorist,nas well as the leader of a partynthat, even during the Axis occupation,nmade war against its own countrymennthe principal agenda. Few, includingnWinston Churchill, believed Tito’snpledge not to turn Yugoslavia Communist;nyet in 1948 Tito was oncenagain given carte blanche by the West,nto do what Mihajlovic had been preventednfrom doing. Needless to say,npost-Soviet Yugoslavia only intensifiednits Pol Potian measures to prove itsnCommunist orthodoxy. The reign ofnterror continued well into the I950’s,nwhen the last Royalist guerrillas werenshot and their corpses exhibited to thenpopulace.nSlaughtering a cow for a pound ofnmeat has never been considered wise;nyet, time and again Yugoslavia hadnbeen traded for temporary, illusive,nand even personal gain. In 1941, thenprice was 10 days of war; in 1943 it wasnStalin’s goodwill; in 1945 it was “peacenin our time”; in 1948 it was Stalin’sndispleasure, all the way until 1980nwhen Josip Broz died, to be mournednby everyone from Qaddafi and IdinAmin-Dada to Sir Fitzroy Macleannand Margaret Thatcher.nAs Beloff ably shows, Yugoslavia’snedifice of myth, upheld by draconiann”verbal crimes” laws within its borders,nand by human corruptibilitynabroad, has pointed a way to manynsimilar ventures. For their part, thenYugoslav Communists have aided, bynarms, sanctuary, and diplomatic support,nthe following “liberation movements”naround the globe: Greek Communistsnfrom 1945-48; Algeria’s FLNnin the 1950’s, Nasser in 1956; Angolan,nMozambiquean, and Cap Verdeannrebels in the 1970’s; FLO sincenits inception, as well as Nicaragua andnSWAPO at the time of this writing.nThe list is far from complete, andnYugoslav arms are still killing peoplenfrom Shat-El-Arab to El Salvador. Innthat part of her book named “Non-nAligned Against the West,” Beloff tellsnWestern readers what the Yugoslavnmedia never hid from theirs. It was innthe late 1970’s, after all, that Titonpublicly placed Yugoslavia, as he hadnall along, on the “side of socialism,” inncase of a final showdown.nToday, the “Yugoslav syndrome” isnhard at work in Southern Africa andnCentral America, as it was previouslynin Cuba, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Innall those upheavals, Soviet-sponsorednMarxists denied any involvement, ornany desire to institute the “dictatorshipnof the proletariat.” Despite Jane Fonda’snreversion to keeping trim, hernactions in support of a crime againstnthe human race, its Vietnamese subdivision,nwere very much in accord withnthose of many British and Americannpoliticians and bureaucrats in theirndealings with Yugoslavia.nBut history does teach. To some itnteaches that a phalanx was no matchnfor a legion, while to others that weaknessesnof mind, spirit, and body arenpreludes to disaster. If the Yugoslavncase, so aptiy cited by Beloff, succeedsnin counteracting at least some of thenWest’s miraculous virginity, the wholenof Yugoslav experience, includingnover a million horribly slain, wouldnnot have been in vain. Unfortunately,nas the case of the 1389 Battle of Kossovonshows, it took three centuries ofnunmitigated disaster for the Austriansnto realize that their enemy was capablenof capturing Vienna itself.nAre we to wait for our Sobieski tondeliver us from barbarity, perchancenfrom a spaceship?nUnless we turn to gambling, thenWest’s flawed legacy on Yugoslaviancan best be overcome by making Nicaraguanthe last of such takeovers.nSchools and hospitals, after all, do notnoutweigh murder, deception, misery,nand barbarism. At least that much hasnbeen repeatedly made evident to us,nevery decade since the end of the lastncentury.nM’O’V’I’N’G’?nLET US KNOW BEFORE YOU GO!nTo assure uninterrupted delivery ofnChronicles, please notify us in advance.nSend change of address on this form withnthe mailing label from your latest issue ofnChronicles to: Subscription Department,nChronicles, P.O. Box 800, Mount Moiris,nIllinois 61054.nNamenAddressnnnCity State ZipnJANUARY 1987 / 31n