Tito Turns West
The horns of a dilemma are never a comfortable resting-place, SIX:1 Marshal Tito may be forgiven the lack of grace with which he has made his enforced switch from eastern to western economy. In his speech at Pola on Monday he explained that he will trade with the West and borrow from it, but only if no political strings
are attached to the credits he receives ; if he no longer gives his support to the Greek rebels it is not to please the Americans but because the rebels are so mistaken and ineffective that they are no longer worth supporting. In other words, like the good Communist he claims to be, he is prepared to make a temporary arrangement with his political enemies, but not to lose sight of his ultimate political goal. And the West, rightly believing that Tie's Com- munism is preferable to the Cominform brand, is prepared to deal with him as tactical ally malgre itti. The result of this marriage of convenience will probably be the signature in the near future of a new Anglo-Yugoslav trade agreement on a much larger scale than the present one, which expires in September, and the grant to Yugoslavia, with American backing, of a considerable loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Develop- ment. But Tito has, in fact, only avoided being asked to make political concessions to the West by making them without being asked. In his speech he dealt with the three points at which Yugoslav policy abroad meets, and conflicts with, the West. Greece is the most important of these, and here Tito announced the sealing of Yugoslavia's southern frontier. This is the first positive gesture against the rebels that Tito has made, though he has for a year ceased to give them active encouragement, and they have all the time abused him as a renegade. At the other two points, Austria and Trieste, Tito showed himself unprepared to surrender on principle, but hinted at accommodation on detail. This should be enough to keep diplomatic relations between Yugoslavia and the West reasonably sweet while they try out their new experiment in horse-trading.
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