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COLD WAR: 1945-49 (4 of 9)

Where the communists had come to power without the Soviet army – in Yugoslavia – resentment arose over the Soviet Union's attempt at domination, threatening in Stalin's eyes the unity that was needed among Slavs. There was tension, too, concerning the economics between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. In 1947 the Yugoslavs discovered that from the Soviet Union they could not get the machinery they wanted. Instead they received bad quality consumer items at a price well above retail prices in Western Europe.

Stalin was offended by Tito's independence. This was the nationalism the Soviet Communist Party disliked. The Soviet army moved to Yugoslavia's border. The Soviet Union charged Tito with "pursuing an unfriendly policy to the Soviet Union." It ceased trade with Yugoslavia, called Tito a Trostkyite and tried to encourage anti-Tito communists within Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav Communist Party was expelled from Cominform. And in 1950, Tito was to join Yugoslavia to Marshall Plan assistance.