Velika Britanija i „Slučaj Đilas” 1954.
Great Britain and the „Djilas Case” 1954

Author(s): Katarina Spehnjak
Subject(s): Diplomatic history, Political history, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
Published by: Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije
Keywords: Great Britain; Yugoslavia; Milovan Djilas
Summary/Abstract: The paper presents offi cial British positions on the „Djilas case” in 1954. From the review of reports of the Embassy in Belgrade and Foreign Office’s deliberations of the development of events concerning Djilas, it is obvious that offi cial Britain, although interested in his ideas, did not consider them desirable. This referred both to mutual relations between the two countries, with Yugoslavia treating this case as a strictly internal matter, and to general stability of Yugoslavia. According to British offi cial positions, Djilas’s views and particularly the possibility of expanding and accelerating events in this context, threatened to complicate the situation in Yugoslavia. Internal liberalization of the regime, although only partial according to a range of FO’s analyses, recognized in a series of measures, and particularly openness of Yugoslavia for a number of new strategic foreign-policy initiatives, were considered promising policy shifts which could be threatened by „premature” or „too fast” liberalization – as it was perceived on the basis of Djilas’s ideas. Therefore, the Yugoslav authorities were supported in formal and in less formal forms of communication, in their approach to this issue in 1954.

• Details
• Contents