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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 10, No. 4. April 23, 1947

[Introduction]

Steve Mason, Research Scientist at Oxford, was the British Student Labour Federation Representative on the British Youth Delegation to Jugoslavia last summer. The following is abridged from his article in "Student Forward," which is one of the many overseas student papers with which "Salient" conducts an exchange service.

"The Iron Curtain emerges as a Goebbels-inspired myth, and the Red Menace in the Balkans is just the struggle for freedom of a group of small nations—the result of centuries of oppression by Austria-Hungary and Turkey—finally brought to a climax by the Nazis. The latter aroused Croatian Fascists to fight the Serbs. At the same time the Chetniks used Nazi arms to maintain a much hated dynasty by liquidation of partisans."

During this period of Nazi-fostered petty nationalisms, the resistance movement became nation-wide. Tito and his followers, became the natural leaders of the movement because their ideas were identical with those of the people, whereas Mihailovich could offer only the old Serb-dominated autocracy. Under Tito all the various Jugoslav nationalities became united to a Federated Peoples' Republic of Jugoslavia.

Jugoslavs are today tremendously proud of their country—the result being a general activity to reorganise and rebuild it. Peasants are building schools in every village and illiteracy is disappearing rapidly among young and old alike. Peasants have also set up co-operatives for the cheap purchase of seeds and disposal of their surpluses in bulk.

Every village has its democratically elected committee, running its own affairs, and every racial community has own elected parliament. Large estates have been redistributed among the peasants and industries have been nationalised. Industries are managed by elected boards, which are responsible for output and maintenance. The Nazis destroyed 80-90% of the factories but as a result of reconstruction and [unclear: Shak]hanovite production, the output is almost back to pre-war level.