An old Indian proverb says that "only the sky is higher than the Himalayas". Let me remind you, in Indian culture, the mountain is a symbol of divine power as well as human power. I guess the wise proverb meant to say that man's visions are boundless, that his possibilities are even higher than the Himalayas.
But the proverb also has some more hidden, important, down-to-earth messages. And that, first of all, is that every person - like every mountain - must be tied with two feet to the earth, to the soil, to life, to the flows of life. And that - further - means that a person must be guided towards the discovery of numerous and diverse realities of life.
On the other hand, the wisdom of the proverb instructs man to always look up, to the sky, to the future, towards utopias, towards new ideas.
All of this - collectively speaking - directs the "mountain" (man) to go up again and again and differently, towards "heaven" in order to resist decay and social decay. Resisting rot and decay is one of the most important tasks of politics.
Let us conclude here that from the Indian proverb we have easily arrived at politics as man's rational and combative response in the balance of human possibilities between: the real ("mountain"), on the one hand, and the vision of man ("sky"), on the other.
The fight for the highest recognition
In order not to engage in excessive speculation, let's cite a specific case of the "mountain" - which was called Josip Broz Tito, - and his struggle in 1973 to climb to the glory of "heaven" if he were to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Normally, in a few dashes.
Josip Broz was a born politician. No one was even close to his equal. Especially among small nations. He went through all the experiences in politics that are necessary to get and stay in power. He successfully overcame all challenges, survived and became a leader.
He was a man of great courage, permanent talkativeness, selective attention, focused concentration, planetary agon, quick and adaptable intelligence, sense of danger, expert in appropriating other people's ideas, creator of his own a priori truths.
He was also a man with a single-minded (static) vision of the world that he had in front of him and above him (it is a single-sex ideological-materialistic vision of building the world known as communism).
Broz was the genius of that policy that knew how to make a "dead nature" out of the spirit of the people. In other words, he knew how to deaden democracy, how to reduce it to a room (closed) decoration.
So, Broz was a man for whom the "heaven" (from the Indian proverb, from the beginning of the text) was too narrow for the dimensions of his political character. Not to mention the anxiety of tiny Yugoslavia.
He breathed politics.
Therefore, it was only natural for him to consider "political death" the most terrible of all "kinds" of death. This is how Broz explained the political decline to foreign journalists Milovan Đilas January 1954 and his intended death.
Broz achieved in his life everything that a man can achieve. He started as a mechanical locksmith from Zagorje and at the end of his life he reached - Tita. They worshiped him both from the political East and from the political West, South, North. Many statesmen were jealous of him. They even envied him that he had achieved everything in his life and they could not. Because power in politics, or more precisely power over politics, is not easy to achieve. Especially to have the absolute power that Broz built and achieved.
In short, Broz liked to "hear" the political silence around him, that no one was allowed to him shrill.
In the end, Broz won and Hitler (1945. g.) i Stalin (1948) almost in one fell swoop. No one managed to do that. Some have managed to beat one but not the other (V. Churchill, for example). Tito beat both of them, almost in a "package".
The only "thing", the only "heaven" that he did not achieve, is - the Nobel Peace Prize. What Broz and the "new-class" people around him did to get that prestigious (ahem) recognition will be listed in a few lines.
Careful planning of the campaign
The idea and the first information about the Nobel Prize for Tito date back to May 1955. The idea was submitted in writing to Tito's cabinet, i.e. Titu himself. The creator of the idea is (it seems) Mihailo Javorski, head of the Second Department of the State Secretariat of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
For a long time the "paper" was archived and kept confidential. But the "paper" was not forgotten. On the contrary. He was waiting for an opportune moment to activate.
Normally, everything was "strictly normal". Each step had to have and did have Tito's initial (curved Latin letter "V" underlined with a middle line).
It is interesting that the activation of this initiative took place in several time waves, culminating at the end of 1972 and throughout 1973. It was precisely this year that was determined as the right time when Broz could receive the Nobel, because at that time he was turning 80 years old (glory within glories, the so-called "Titus and our jubilees").
The first concrete appearance and spread of the importance of "paper" at the top of the Yugoslav government was in March 1959, when the idea of Tito as a possible future Nobel laureate was opened to a very narrow circle of party and state officials (E. Kardelj, A. Ranković, K. Popović). A little later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and some diplomatic services also got involved, i.e. embassies (reputable ambassadors).
Reading the relevant literature in this area, as well as Tito's (personal) archive (KPR, V-5k.117... Str.pov.150/32 and others), one gets the impression that Broz has not yet fully included the state and party apparatus in in order to win the Nobel Prize. This means that a detailed plan has not yet been made in the country and abroad on how to use the state in the president's Nobel campaign.
It is interesting that receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature Ivo Andrić October 1961 was not enough of a "trigger" to move towards "heaven". But action spreads in "silence" (silence in politics is always a sign of significance. Noise, on the other hand, still points to the wrong side).
This "silence" with larger or smaller oscillations lasted until 1972.
Planetary lobbying begins
At the end of 1972. Head of the Press Department in Tito's Cabinet (Blazo Mandic) in cooperation with the Executive Bureau of the SKJ Presidency, which he chaired Rato Dugonjić, they write Information on detailed and mandatory instructions to all party, state bodies and individuals, on directions, ways and means for Tito's Nobel Prize (Tito put his initials on this Information).
The information was supplemented several times in the direction of the formation of Working and Coordination bodies.
All state-party structures and the so-called "respectable" individuals flew all over the planet to lobby for Josip Broz. Special attention is paid to Norway (which awards the Nobel Peace Prize, the others are awarded by Sweden) and the "historical" ties between Norway and Yugoslavia. Friendship Caravans are being made with this country at the expense of Yugoslavia.
Tito's archive and professional journalism in our country abound with numerous data about personalities who, at the beginning of 1973. supported the candidacy of Josip Broz. Let's list only a small part of media celebrities: Ivo Andrić, Miroslav Krleža, Vili Brant, Čarli Čaplin, Indira Gandi, Ficroj Meklejn, Habib Bugiba, Leopol Sengor, Norodom Sihanuk, Makarios, Gi Mole, Bertrand Rasel and his wife, Orson Welles, Pablo Picasso, Max Chagall, Khachaturian, Shostakovich, Sophia Loren, Alberto Moravia, Josephine Baker, Richard Barton, Zygmind Riblecki and another (exactly) 179 planetary celebrities.
Certain personalities have promised to support Tito's candidacy, among them Salvador Aljende, Alfonso Rodriguez, Oto Werner, Kenet Kaunda, Seku Toure and another (exactly) 142 planetary celebrities.
Tito's candidacy was supported by all statesmen of non-aligned countries, numerous pacifist organizations, veterans' organizations, the so-called non-governmental sector, etc.
It is interesting that Josip Broz's opponents were (among others): Richard Nixon, Haile Selasije, king of Ethiopia, Julius Nyerere, Jomo Kenyatta, Nicolae Ceausescu.
There were a total of 1973 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize in 94, of which 14 were statesmen.
Nomination proposals are submitted by February 12 for the current year. Proposal with documentation on Tito's Nobel nomination it had 200 pages, and thematically it was divided into several units, into several chapters and subchapters. Normally, the Proposal has a historical character, not Tito's biography.
Surprising laureates
But everything was bad. The news that they had won the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973 came like a bolt from the blue get Henry Kissinger i Le Duc To, by a narrow majority (3 members "for", compared to 2 members "against"). The deciding vote was the voice of the lady Dare Lyons, who was said to have been a frequent guest at the Israeli Embassy in Oslo.
As in the ancient dramas, the "heaven" laughed in chorus at the "mountain". Because "the hero often wants to make the clear sky laugh with thunder" (Njegos).
Let's conclude.
In this laughter of the "mountain" from "the sky", there is also something prophetic. Because it is no accident that it is said that God from heaven knows everything and sees everything. And this means that "God" sees even what is to come.
And it came to pass that after the death of the "hero" (Tito) there was nothing left that the "mountain" (Tito) had been building from 1945 onwards. His state (Yugoslavia) collapsed, his brotherhood-unity fell apart in streams of brotherly blood, his non-aligned fell apart, his economy and self-governance fell apart, his Party fell apart, a huge part of SKJ members suddenly became Ustashas, Chetniks, ballistics, the heart of Yugoslavia fell apart because it is not a state.
But again, Tito remained in the memory as one of the greatest figures in the history of the 20th century. Therefore, Broz was remembered as a historical figure. But not as a historical figure.
Because historical figures were liberal critics, opponents and prophets of his government, for example Milovan Đilas, Mihajlo Mihajlov, Dušan Makavejev, prof. Milos Djuric and only a few other people.
All in all, Tito remains a legend who is "trusted" even today. Just like in Ford's movie "The Man Who Killed Liberty Valance" in a filmed story about a false legend that persists and becomes "truth" over time.
Bonus video:
