"Dva plana i dva maršala" u svetlu jugoslovensko-američkih odnosa (1947-1951)

Abstract

Bearing in mind the character of Yugoslav foreign policy after WWII, as well as the state of Yugoslav-American relations, Yugoslavia rejected to participate in the Marshall Plan in 1947, but at the same time, it presented the First Five-Year Plan. The Tito-Stalin split in 1948 was a significant turning point in Yugoslav perception of the Marshall Plan. Although the generally negative attitude towards the Marshall Plan was still present, the absence of the main economic support from the Soviet Union conditioned the gradual Yugoslav turn towards the West and the search for new trade partners or donors of economic aid. The economic blockade of the Eastern Bloc in 1949, and the potential danger of their coordinated attack on Yugoslavia, called into question the survival of the Five-Year Plan in its originally conceived form. In such circumstances, a period of significantly changed American economic policy towards Yugoslavia began, and Yugoslav diplomacy had to engage in negotiations with the West. Such a policy was successful, and in the late 1940s and early 1950s, in addition to the intensified policy of securing export licenses, the United States granted loans to Yugoslavia through official channels and its influence in international institutions. Yugoslav criticism of the Marshall Plan at the time of the change in American economic policy was getting quieter. The newly established system of Yugoslav self-management set the ideological framework for building economic relations with both East and West. However, a far more significant legacy of the period of Yugoslav-American relations discussed in this paper was the laying of the foundations for the continuity of more intensive economic and political relations between the two countries throughout the Cold War and American policy that sought to "keep Tito afloat".