Office of the Historian

740.00119 (Potsdam)/5–2446

No. 551
Briefing Book Paper
top secret

Application of Crimea Declaration on Yugoslavia

We recommend that consideration be given to the fact that Marshal Tito has not carried out the recommendations contained in the Crimea Declaration on Yugoslavia1 and we further recommend that a declaration be made of the continued adherence of the Three Powers to those recommendations and their readiness to consult with a view to assisting the Yugoslav people to enjoy the free exercise of democratic processes.

In March 1945 the Šubašić-Tito agreement2 was implemented by the appointment of a Regency Council and the formation of a National Provisional Government. However, the extension of the Anti-Fascist Assembly of National Liberation (AVNOJ) by the inclusion of members of the last legislature (Skupština) has not taken place and it has been announced that the former will be enlarged by the addition of some 250 new members, 200 of which are to be designated by the Federal Governments (see below) and 50 by the praesidium of AVNOJ. At present AVNOJ comprises 350 members.

Meanwhile, six “federal” states3 have been set up in all of which the Governments are partisan-controlled and in no case does it appear that democratic procedure was followed. It is also reported that the decisions taken by the exclusively partisan Congress which met at Jajce in November 19434 are regarded as constituting the basic and inalterable law of the land and will shortly be recognized as a “constitution”.

In brief, it appears that the Yalta Declaration on Yugoslavia is not being carried out. Unimpeachable sources cite the extermination [Page 827] of democratic political opponents of the Partisans, the confiscation of property without justification, the persecution of the clergy, etc., as indicative that elements in control there are endeavoring to thwart the exercise of democratic processes.

In the field of economics industry is being nationalized. A state film monopoly has been established and decrees assimilating productive industry to state control through the installation of “commissars” and “workmen’s” managerial boards have been promulgated. Foreign properties, for example, the American Corn Products Refining Corporation at Jabuka, the American-Yugoslav Electric Company at Novi Sad and the Socony Vacuum at Brod, have been brought under state operation. In the case of the Corn Products Corporation the American manager has been expelled from Yugoslavia.

The United States Government believes that American interests are entitled to non-discriminatory economic and commercial treatment. We impressed on Dr. Šubašić during his recent visit in Washington5 the unlikelihood of our extending economic assistance to Yugoslavia so long as this unsatisfactory political and economic situation continues to exist there.

[ Washington ,] July 5, 1945.
  1. See vol. ii, document No. 1417, section vii .↩
  2. See Foreign Relations, The Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945, pp. 251–254.↩
  3. i. e., Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia–Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Montenegro.↩
  4. See Arnold and Veronica M. Toynbee, eds., Survey of International Affairs, 1939–1916: Hitler’s Europe (London, 1954), p. 664.↩
  5. See Truman, Year of Decisions, p. 252.↩