Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States

this. Another fear was of assassination. Stalin masterminded numerous attempts
on Tito’s life, 79 as did exiled Balkan ethnic nationalists.
Tito’s lifestyle earned him envy from many, especially from Soviet leaders
who referred to him as the “communist emperor.” 80 Tito was also compared
with Franco of Spain rather than with Soviet leaders. 81 Royal palaces, a
personal chef and physicians’ council, fashionable suits and uniforms, luxury
Mercedes cars, the befriending of kings, emperors, and movie stars, and
hunting, yachting, and vacationing on private isles were some hallmarks of
Titoism. The main symbols of this lifestyle were Tito’s “private” isle of
Vanga, full of exotic plants and animals, and his flamboyant yacht Galeb
(Seagull), on which he sailed to Africa, Asia, and in the Mediterranean and
on which he organized conferences and held meetings with world leaders. 82
According to Sadat’s testimony, Tito believed that the Soviet system was not
socialism except in name and other ideological phrases—socialism, in Tito’s
words, meant above all good life for the people, so he secured a better life
for the Yugoslav peoples and he himself did not hide his luxuries as communist
leaders routinely did. 83 Yet after his death, he bequested this property
to the state rather than to his family.
From 1945 to 1990, Tito’s image was ubiquitous. Every republic and
autonomous province named a city after Tito. Every city and town had a
boulevard, plaza, avenue, or school named after the Yugoslav president-forlife.
During the erosion of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia and the
decay of communist ideology in the 1980s, the Tito cult was still vital. In
1987, the Yugoslav Federal Assembly passed a special law for the protection
of Tito’s image and the use of his name. 84 In 1988 the Belgrade weekly NIN
opened a panel about the new symbolism of the post–Titoist Yugoslavia.
According to a public opinion poll presented to the panel, the most effective
symbolic cohesive force of Yugoslavia was still the Tito cult. 85
104 balkan idols
A Patriotic Ritual: Tito’s Relay
Tito’s Relay (Titova sˇtafeta), or the Youth Relay, was a ritual of the Yugoslav
civil religion that was closely associated with both Tito’s cult and brotherhood
and unity, combined with the construction of the new nation’s image
as youthful, colorful, and sportive. In 1945, according to Party archives, “the
Alliance of Communist Youth set out to organize a sports event aimed at
reaching out to all the young in the country and thereby to consolidate
brotherhood and unity.” 86 The event was conceived as a race through the
whole of Yugoslavia. The runners carried a baton in which political organizations
and institutions enclosed messages for Tito’s birthday. In 1957, Tito
proposed that Tito’s Relay be renamed the Youth Relay. His birthday (25
May) became Youth Day, and the festival celebrated the nation’s immortality
and eternal youth.
Nonetheless, the new concept of a youth festival never superseded the