A liberal regime?
Sir: Please allow me some space to comment on the issues raised by your contributor Richard West (February 21). He has exaggerated in his criticism of Bernard Levin's article in the Times (January 30) and has misrepresented a number of important points in the article, and offended many Yugoslays who cherish the ideals of justice and liberty. Mr West has been known as a writer of soothing tales and a whitewasher of crimes of the Yugoslav communist regime. He attempted, six years ago, to smear the evidence of your distinguished contributor, the late Tibor Szamuely, in his celebrated article: 'Enter Tito's policeman'. However the overwhelming evidence in the columns of your
journal has silenced Mr West. As one who was born and educated in Yugoslavia and has been keeping in touch with the country [would like to put the following points on record:
1. Mr Levin has supplied factual, true evidence in the Times, and gave only a fraction of the purges, oppression and repression that have been taking place in the last four years in Yugoslavia. Indeed Tito has gone further along the road of repression than Franco, for the latter at least recognised the authority of God above him, whereas Tito does not recognise such accountability. And 4,000 political prisoners, as mentioned by Mr Levin, is a very conservative estimate, for informed sources in Yugoslavia put the figure four to five times higher. The Yugoslav paper Politika, quoted by Mr West, is an unreliable source of information for it is merely the mouthpiece of the communist regime.
2. The analogy between Ireland and Yugoslavia—as quoted by your contributor —although plausible is historically inaccurate, untrue and out of place. May I ask him: When in history did Serbia rule Croatia? The true answer is, never. The two countries, with other provinces, formed a union in November 1918, it is true, with a preponderantly Serbian political elite, but Croatian ministers sat in all administrations between December 1918 and April 1941. His 'historical hatred' is the old wornout cliché coined by Goebbels, repeated by the Ustashe and the Yugoslav communist party before the war and during the war. Again: it is historically untrue that Yugoslav communists came to power 'largely because they stood above the sectarian squabbles'. Mr West should reread the history of the Teheran, Moscow and Yalta conferences when Yugoslavia was sold down the river by western allies in order to appease Stalin.
3. It is astonishing that Mr West— instead of denouncing—connives at Titoist squads' murders in western Europe. Tito's secret police murder not only Ustashe, but all other political opponents; twenty murders since 1969. Not even Hitler and Stalin at the height of their power, have gone as far in this direction as Tito has done with his murders abroad. Are not the Titoist murders the same as those committed by Ustashe? The method is the same: terrorism; and there is little to choose between the two parties.
4. Mr West did not inform your readers that Yugoslav Communists and the fascist Ustashe were allies of long standing; allies against the Yugoslav state (1918-1941) 'the hateful creature of Versailles'; and he did not explain why Titoism is breeding Ustashism and is an actual source of supply of recruits for the latter.
5. While to his credit Mr West acknowledges the sincerity of Mihajlov and M.
Djilas, at the same time he arrogantly denies sincerity to those Yugoslays who agree with the two writers. In accordance with his sectarian yardstick (black : white) he lumps
them into one lot, 'the nastiest people in Yugoslav politics'. He would do well to withdraw this insulting remark for he wrongly considers Tito's opponents as being rogues. Yugoslav people are in a difficult position. They are oppressed by their own tyranny and are threatened from without by the Soviet one. As to Tito's cruelty, Mr West will do well to talk to the survivors of the Titoist Katyns of May and June 1945. He will also be able to find some evidence in the Public Record Office about the murder of more than 150,000 Yugoslav opponents.
Finally Mr West is entitled to defend Tito's 'socialism' from the capitalist and soviet machinations. But he should also be aware that Tito was fattened and rescued from bankruptcy by the western capitalists. Donald Mirkovich
7 Clarence Road, Moseley,
Birmingham
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