A Canadian Looks at Yugoslavia

Abstract

Yugoslavia occupies a unique place in the world today. It is the only country ravaged by both war and internal strife, which was dedicated to a radical domestic reformation, and which has nevertheless seen fit to embark on an independent and unaccompanied course through the troubled waters stretching between the two poles of current economic thought. Whether such a course is navigable without jettisoning at least some of the fundamental principles of the new state is highly conjectural. Certainly no insurance company would take a risk on the cargo but sometimes the incalculable virtues can give a different complexion to cold facts. A willingness for personal sacrifice, a boundless energy, and a tremendous confidence may succeed in piloting the ship to its socialistic shore. At any rate, it is these spiritual qualities that the traveller in Yugoslavia today is likely to find the most outstanding, and the most optimistic, in a great mass of variegated impressions. Approaching Yugoslavia by land from the west, one perforce goes through the city of Trieste. Nothing could be more calm than that area which scarcely a year ago was torn by opposing factions. The American army is now very definitely in complete ascendancy, and the population accepts the fact with considerable satisfaction. Personal security is guaranteed and the normal business relationships of a capitalist economy proceed in the traditional pattern. Predominately Italian, the people of the city feel that the presence of the Americans is an assurance that the communist element will not seize control with aid from adjacent Yugoslavia. On the other hand, the Yugoslavs in the hinterland are partially consoled by the fact that although Trieste has not become part of the federated Fatherland, it has also not been assigned through American influence to Italy, as statements prior to the Italian elections last year seemed to forecast. So long as the United States remains the occupying power, the door is not entirely closed. Negotiation and events may yet