Was there a “cult of personality” around Tito in Yugoslavia as their was among Stalin and his “Little Stalins” in the various other Iron Curtain countries?

by nowlan101
Lemon_Murder

In answering your question, it's important to note that, while Yugoslavia had a form of communism (or at least syndicalism) in place, Yugoslavia and Tito was NOT aligned with Stalin. The two leaders had a great falling out around 1948, and I thought I should clear this up because the wording of your question implied that Yugoslavia was a part of the Soviet Bloc (whether you meant this or not, I wanted to clear it up anyway).

There was most definitely a cult of personality around Tito. He was very similar to those such as Stalin with their propaganda techniques and while Tito did not arguably need the propaganda to create the cult around him, he certainly wanted it.

Historian Sabrina Ramet states that Tito implemented a cult of personality upon the people as a form of propaganda so as to unify every Republic under him. He already, to an extent, had the nation praising him however, to ensure those feelings lasted; he decided to act and keep the momentum going.

Ramet says that "if you go to Serbia or Croatia or Bosnia-Herzegovina today -- even, to some extent, Slovenia, though to a much, much lesser extent -- you'll find that there is still a cult of Tito. Tito continues to be ranked as very popular among people; there's a certain nostalgia for the Tito era among the people there".

Even before the propaganda began, Tito had great support from the people of Yugoslavia. After the failures of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, it seemed that the nation was doomed to fall into Croatian oppression under the Ustaše. Hundreds of thousands of deaths fell at the hands of the new rulers following the capitulation of Yugoslavia. Two resistance factions emerged; a group known as the Chetniks, and the National Liberation Army (or the Yugoslav Partisans) led by Josip Broz Tito. This resistance group grew to be the largest resistance in all of Europe, with several victories against the Axis in several cities. The Yugoslav Partisans would ultimately succeed with blinding glory in 1945 with the Axis removed from Yugoslavia. The failures of the Kingdom paved the way for the rise of Tito, who was hailed a brilliant strategist, charismatic leader and patriotic war hero. Because of this, it was arguable that Tito did not require the cult of personality because the public viewed him as a great man who could do no wrong.

In reality, Tito was a communist-nonaligned dictator who imposed propaganda similar to Joseph Stalin, despite Tito's constant remarks the two were completely different. A commonly referred to example of his propaganda techniques are his speeches and specifically his ‘Speech at the First Congress of Worker’s Councils’ due to his attempts of unification; proclaiming the successes of socialism in Yugoslavia and their objectively good intentions.

Further examples of his cult of personality were the renaming of cities across Yugoslavia, four to be exact, all of which had great importance during the resistance against the Axis. All of which were named after Tito himself.

However, it is also VERY important to note that, while Tito's influences and propaganda techniques were similar to Stalin's, the methods of repression were not. Tito was by no means a "brutal" dictator such as Stalin. Historian Predrag Markovic states: "He was loved by the British for his Second World War anti-fascism, by many due to his resistance to Stalin, and by his people for high living standards, freedom of travel and life under very soft or liberal dictatorship".

So to answer your question: Yes and No. Tito DID implement a cult of personality utilising various degrees of propaganda, but he did NOT have it in the same way that Stalin did. Stalin built his cult on fear and security, but Tito built his on loyalty, nostalgia and admiration for a legendary figure.