Иза кулиса совјетско-југословенских односа (јул-децембар 1966)
Behind The Scenes Of Soviet-Yugoslav Relations (JULY-DECEMBER 1966)

Summary/Abstract: The 60s of the last century marked for Josip Broz Tito and his closest associates, who came to power in Yugoslavia during 1944-1945, a special stage in their battle to keep their leadership position in the country and Party. They endeavored to build an opti-mal model of a multinational state that would be different from the command-administrative Soviet system as well as the Western democra cies. However, the reforms they initiated only sped up the further disin tegration of the country. The removal of A. Rankovićand the purges carried out among his highly positioned supporters did not have fundamental bearing on the relations between two countries but had serious consequences. Apart from having a negative stand on the events in Yugoslavia in 1966 the Soviet side restrained itself from reacting by solely stressing the further strengthening of J. B. Tito’s position as the guarantee for the further development of Soviet-Yugoslav relations. The Soviet side considered that Yugoslavia would not become a „demoralizing example“ for the other countries of the Soviet socialist system as a country where the communists lost power for the first time. Such a soft reaction was not surprising since a similar process was taking place within the Soviet leadership: in that period Brezhnev began to distance from the principles „of collective leadership“ proclaimed in October 1964 and started concentrating all the power into his own hands. Soon using the Yugoslav experience of „Rankovic’s case“ he dealt harshly with his rivals - I. Shelepin and P. Semichastny.

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