The War of Invective
It would be underestimating the resources of Communist invective to suppose that Marshals Tito and Stalin had reached the climax of their verbal war. But, as each side has now accused the other of actively hostile intentions, it is difficult to see how much longer the tension can be heated up without an explosion. Yugoslavia has now been officially excommunicated by Russia and her satellites ; that is what the tearing-up of.the various treaties between Yugoslavia and her neighbours signifies. This symbolic act, only a step, it seems, short of the rupture of diplomatic relations, might be interpreted all the overture to a war ; on the other hand, it is quite possible that it envisages an indefinite prolongation of the verbal war. A year ago Russia was treating the Yugoslav defection as the aberration of a small clique and Tito answered in a similar strain ; today the distinc- tion between rulers and ruled has more or less ceased to be made, and the Kremlin has apparently abandoned the idea that it will be a simple matter to restore a friendly Yugoslavia. In any case, it would seem that the only thing Russia stands to lose by holding her hand until the spring is a further decline in prestige. It may well be that Tito's economic difficulties will make the winter a testing time for the patriotism of his supporters ; the winter, moreover, is not the best moment for a military enterprise, whether this takes the form of a full-scale invasion or of guerilla activities supported by arms and " volunteers " from across Yugoslavia's frontiers. Of course, it is possible that when the spring comes Tito will be receiv- ing sufficient help from the West to keep him going, but there is no sign that he has asked for, or that the West is prepared to give, the necessary arms, without which the continued independence of his country becomes daily more precarious.
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