World Politics

Table of Contents - January 1952 - Volume 4, Issue 02  

Research Article

Stalinism and the Meaning of Titoism

Roy Macridisa1

a1 Northwestern University

The Soviet-Yugoslav dispute and the subsequent defection of the Yugoslav Communist Party from the ranks of the Cominform early in 1948 took the world by surprise. This surprise was in itself indicative of our belief that Stalinist control was to be taken for granted at least in the areas where the local Communist parties had come to power through direct or indirect help from the Soviet Union and particularly from the Red Army. Even when no such help had been given, the ideological affinities of Communist states and their need of alliances to preserve the Communist power structures would lead, it was believed, to a tightening of relations with the Soviet Union and to Soviet predominance. In other words, we tended to accept without question the premises of Stalinism.

Roy Macridis is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. He is currently on leave of absence on a Ford Foundation Fellowship for the purpose of studying the Soviet society and ideology.