THE PROVISIONAL DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT

AT this juncture, the Yugoslav Liberation Front took a historic step. A Congress was called at Jajce, in the heart of Bosnia. There, delegates from every part of Yugoslavia met. In a large hall that was formerly a gymnasium, peasant leaders and working class leaders, priests and Communists, old political leaders and young military men sat side by side. It was fitting that they should meet there, in one of the oldest and loveliest Yugoslav towns, under the picturesque castle of old King Tvtkas.

The town had a festive air; this was free Yugoslav soil. Here was a school, a hospital, even a college hastily set up. Everywhere flags hung, most of them homemade, the American flag, the British, the Soviet flag, and the Partisan battle banner with its single five-pointed star.

Here, on December 4th, 1943, Marshal Tito proclaimed a provisional democratic Yugoslav government, and disowned the government in exile. The Free Yugoslavia Radio told the world that 140 elected delegates had met in a parliament representative of free Yugoslavia. Dr. Ivan Ribar was announced as the head of this government, and General Joseph Broz (Tito) was elevated to the rank of Field Marshal and made chairman of a new committee for national defense.

As might be expected, the Yugoslav Government in Exile screamed with rage, disowned Tito and the Liberation Front, and hysterically told the world that they were still the legal rulers of Yugoslavia. By this time, however, both Britain and the United States were too weary to listen. Tito and his men were killing Germans; the Partisans had driven the enemy from two-thirds of the land—and they had proved that the people of Yugoslavia supported them. Yet only a few days before this goes to press, the Yugoslav Government in Exile announced, with complete contempt for the truth, that Mikhailovich’s army numbered 250,000 men—waiting for an allied invasion to attack the Germans.

Actually, Mikhailovich has ceased to be a factor in Yugoslavia—except for a certain nuisance value to the Germans. He harries the Partisans when he can; he is no longer strong enough to oppose them directly.