THE DAY ALL OF YUGOSLAVIA CRIED: 45 years ago Josip Broz Tito passed away!

On this day 45 years ago, on May 4, 1980, Josip Broz Tito (88), the President of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRJ) and the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ), the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA), and one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement, died.

Tito was born in Kumrovec, a place on the Slovenian-Croatian border, in May 1892, and May 25 was celebrated as his date of birth, which was proclaimed Youth Day and during which the relay race that had previously toured all of Yugoslavia would arrive in Belgrade, at the JNA stadium.

He was at the head of the federal state, composed of six republics, for almost 35 years, from the liberation of the country after World War II in 1945 until his death.

He led Yugoslavia out of the Eastern (Soviet) bloc and implemented reforms, after which the devastated and poor country became a moderately developed one, with a modern educational and social system.

However, the confiscation and nationalization of almost all private property, as well as the absence of a democratic system, free media, and free elections, produced strict state and party control over the entire post-war life, and the ideological exclusivity of the government cost the freedom and even the lives of many who did not want or could not adapt.

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Regardless of this, he enjoyed enormous popularity among the people, which lower-ranking officials of the socialist system used to build a cult of personality, hoping that it would benefit them in continuing their rule even after Tito’s death.

The Non-Aligned Movement, in whose founding he played a huge role, strengthened his position on the international stage and brought Yugoslavia closer to the inhabitants and markets of countries in Africa and Asia, which had both positive political and economic effects.

As a statesman from a relatively small country with 20 million inhabitants, he became a disproportionately significant figure in world politics, an influential, welcome, and received guest in almost all world centers, from London and Washington to Moscow and New Delhi.
The self-management system in the economy, which was introduced in the mid-seventies of the last century, however, did not stand the test of time; the economy did not become sufficiently competitive or capable of employing a sufficient part of the population.

In the last years of his life, perhaps without his decisive influence on decision-making, the country’s indebtedness grew rapidly, along with the strengthening of social and later national tensions, which would a decade later, in 1990, lead to the bloody disintegration of Yugoslavia and the formation of small national states with weak influence and miniature political power.
Tito died on May 4, 1980, at 3:05 PM, at the Clinical Center in Ljubljana, after complications following the amputation of his leg and other accumulated health problems. His body was transported by the “Blue Train” to Belgrade, and along the way, it was seen off with flowers and tears by hundreds of thousands of citizens who visited the deceased leader, laid out in state in the Assembly building, for the next few days.

More than 200 prominent figures from around the world, presidents, prime ministers, kings, rulers, and party leaders from 107 countries attended Josip Broz Tito’s funeral. Among them were Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Leonid Brezhnev, and many others.

Almost half a century after his death, Tito remains a controversial and historically extremely interesting figure. His grave, as well as the Museum of Yugoslavia in the immediate vicinity, is visited by thousands of people from the former Yugoslavia every year.

Today, on the anniversary of his death, the Museum of Yugoslavia will be open from 10 AM to 6 PM, and admission will be free for visitors.