Uloga muzičkog folklora u spoljnoj politici Socijalističke Jugoslavije 1950–1952.
The Role of Musical Folklore in Socialist Yugoslavia’s Foreign Policy 1950–1952

Author(s): Ivan S. Hofman
Subject(s): Cultural history, Customs / Folklore, Music, Diplomatic history, Political history, Sociology of Culture, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
Published by: Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije
Keywords: Musical Folklore; Folklore Groups; International Congress of Ethnomusicologists in Opatija; Foreign Policy; Yugoslavia
Summary/Abstract: The conflict with Cominform in 1948 was a turning point in the history of socialist Yugoslavia. In complete isolation and difficult economic crisis, after initial vacillation and desire to prove its Stalinist orthodoxy Yugoslavia has started to seek new ways in the development of socialism, on the basis of its own revolutionary experience. On the foreign policy plan, its diplomatic activity was aimed toward restoration of previously severed ties with the West, in an effort to get necessary aid from this side and thus free itself from the heavy pressure of the USSR and its satellites. Musical folklore got its place in the new foreign-policy orientation of Yugoslavia. In the 1950–1952 period the Government of the FPRY sent leading professional and certain amateur folklore groups to competitions and tours in the West lasting several weeks, and in September 1951 organized an international congress of ethnomusicologists in Opatija. The government of the FPRY regarded tours of folklore ensembles and the international congress as one of the means to overcome isolation of the country, as well as a way to present Yugoslavia as a new leader of international labour movement, after the Soviet communists, as it was believed, betrayed fundamental principles of Marxism and international proletarian solidarity.

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