Tell Comrade Tito that if he once more makes such an attack against the Soviet Union, we will be compelled to respond to him with criticism in the press and to disavow him.

Girenko Yu.S. Stalin — Tito. P. 275.

Note

The occasion for such a stern directive was a speech by I. Broz-Tito in Ljubljana on May 27, 1945, in which he in particular said: "They want to force upon us the opinion that we used this war for some kind of conquest. They want to force upon us the opinion that we are confronting our allies with accomplished facts... I firmly reject... on behalf of all the peoples of Yugoslavia, that we intend to seize anything by force... But we firmly demand a just conclusion [of the war. — Ed.], we demand that each be master in his own house; we will not pay on others' accounts, we will not be small change, we do not want to be drawn into a policy of spheres of interest... We will be dependent on no one, whatever may be written or said... The present Yugoslavia will not be an object of deals and bargaining."

In his telegram reporting the fulfillment of this assignment — in a conversation with E. Kardelj — the Soviet Ambassador informed Stalin of the following: "Today, June 5, I conveyed to E. Kardelj what you charged me with (Tito has not yet returned). This information made a heavy impression on him.

Having reflected, he said that he considers such an assessment of Tito's speech to be correct. He also agrees that the Soviet Union can no longer tolerate such statements. In the present difficult period for Yugoslavia, open criticism of Tito's statement would have grave consequences for them, and therefore they will try to ensure that such statements are not made in the future.

But the Soviet Union will be right to come forward with open criticism in the event of a recurrence. Such criticism will be beneficial to them. Kardelj asked that you be thanked for this timely criticism"...