Down You Go
The case of Vlado Dedijer shows that Yugoslavia continues to preserve a nice balance between eastern and western political methods. It is best not to contemplate what would have happened had he put personal friendship before party loyalty in Moscow; here, the worst that could have befallen him would have been the withdrawal of the Parliamentary Labour Party whip. In Yugoslavia he is arrested; but he may suffer no worse a fate than being sent to political Coventry— like his friend, Djilas, for whose sake he was prepared to risk. disgrace. 'Risk' is hardly the word; reports suggest that he ran gaily upon the sword which he himself forged two years ago, when he helped to draft the country's propaganda code. Possibly he has come to the conclusion that uninhibited private converse with Djilas will prove more entertaining than the exchange of puerile public banalities which is all that his code permits. If that is his motive, he will have the sympathy of everybody who has seen the code in operation, or tasted its flatness in the insipid brew poured out daily by the news agency TANJUG.
Previous page
