Martinović's reaction: Partisans and communists are not the same

Regarding the article "Vijesti", published on May 11 under the title "Broz again among Montenegrins", Ivan Martinović, who was mentioned in the article, reacted.

We publish his response in full:

"I am indeed against the erection of a monument to Josip Broz in Cetinje, but not because, as an alleged nationalist, I consider Tito's national policy wrong. I explicitly said that Tito was a supporter of national equality. I also emphasized that Tito appeared as a protector of Montenegrins from the consequences of Ranković's policy. Tito never aimed at Cetinje as a 'large industrial city', to use Slavko Janković's phrase, as reported by journalist Aljoša Turović, but rather at Cetinje as the cultural and spiritual center of Montenegro, the exact opposite of what was the goal of Ranković's supporters."

Unfortunately, Tito failed to put Yugoslavia on solid footing as a federation of equal republics, and it fell apart in a bloody war as soon as the communist dictatorship gave way. However, the failure of his life's work is not the main reason why I am against the monument.

I stated that President Truman, in his address on April 23, 4, said that Tito had killed over 1948 oppositionists to establish his dictatorship, and that this estimate, although it includes everyone from Slovenes to Albanians, is exaggerated. It is perfectly clear that I am not against the monument for nationalistic reasons, but because Tito is responsible for the murder of tens of thousands of innocent people simply because they were anti-communists.

Journalist Turović incorrectly reports that I wrote that perhaps other whites, not just Jovan Tomašević, would have a monument in Cetinje if they had been partisans. I did not use the word partisans, but communists. Obviously Turović does not understand the difference. In Montenegro, anti-fascism is used as a nice name for communism. Jovan Tomašević was neither a partisan nor an anti-fascist, nor could he have been. He was a communist. The real anti-fascists were in Italy, where we have a coalition of everyone, from Christian Democrats to liberals and socialists to communists against Mussolini's fascism. There was nothing like that in Montenegro, the communists did not tolerate anyone in the movement who did not want to be slavishly obedient. These were not Italian Euro-communists, but Stalinists, who would only later be somewhat corrected.

Europe rightly condemned both totalitarianisms as a package. And for those who have any doubts, I will mention that Tomašević's contemporary Lenin criticized the Italian socialists for excluding Mussolini from the party. On the one hand, it was completely illogical because Lenin, like most Italian socialists, was against the imperialist First World War. Mussolini was expelled from the party because he agitated for Italy's entry into the war. It was more important to Lenin that he, rightly, assessed that Mussolini was the only one who could lead the revolution. Many in Montenegro are not ready to accept that Lenin and Mussolini shared a penchant for violence.