“Stalin: Stop sending people to kill me! We’ve
already captured five of them, one with a bomb and another with a rifle … If
you don't stop sending killers, I’ll send one to Moscow, and I won’t have to
send another.” - Tito.
Josip Broz
died on May 4th 1980 -forty years ago today. Better known as “Tito”, this son
of a Croat Father and a Slovene Mother was one of the most important political
figures of the 20th century for three sound reasons:
First was his
role as a guerrilla leader in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia during the Second World
War. His Partisans were the most effective resistance organisation in
German-occupied Europe.
Second was
his creation of a socialist model which while not of the liberal democratic
tradition -he was claimed by some to be an authoritarian despot and by others
to be a benevolent dictator- nonetheless rejected the totalitarian features of
the Soviet Union.
Third was his
championing of the Non-Aligned Movement during the years of the Cold War.
His funeral
was attended by the largest gathering of world leaders at such an event:
Brezhnev, Thatcher, Arafat, Saddam, Kaunda, Schmidt, Cossiga and Kim il-Sung
were present. The noticeable absentees were US President Jimmy Carter and the
Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
© Adeyinka
Makinde (2020).
Adeyinka
Makinde is a London-based writer interested in history and geopolitics.
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