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Prof. Ondřej Vojtěchovský, PhD
Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

 

YUGOSLAV COMINFORM EMIGRATION: A VIEW FROM CZECHOSLOVAKIA

Vol. XLIV, 1/2026, pp. 125–146
https://doi.org/10.29362/ist20veka.2026.1.voj.125-146

 

ABSTRACT/RESUME:

This ar­tic­le sum­ma­ri­ses and eva­lu­a­tes the re­sults of re­se­arch on Yugoslav Co­min­for­mist emi­gra­ti­on in the co­un­tri­es of the So­vi­et bloc. In do­ing so, it adopts a Czec­ho­slo­va­k per­spec­ti­ve, as the aut­hor has conducted extensive research on this topic in Czecho­slo­vak party and se­cu­rity arc­hi­val col­lec­ti­ons. On the basis of this re­se­arch, the aut­hor chal­len­ges the do­mi­nant nar­ra­ti­ve originating in so­ci­a­list Yugo­sla­via, which cla­i­med that Comin­for­mist emi­grants were non-in­de­pen­dent to­ols of So­vi­et po­licy, used in a cam­pa­ign against the Yugo­slav party le­a­ders­hip led by Ti­to. The ar­tic­le instead pre­sents the Cominformist emi­grants as au­to­no­mo­us hi­sto­ri­cal ac­tors who, in a cri­ti­cal si­tu­a­ti­on, spo­ke out in favor of the So­vi­et Uni­on for dif­fe­rent, yet ne­vert­he­less the­ir own, mo­ti­ves and who, de­spi­te the of­ten li­mi­ting ro­om for ma­no­e­u­vre, exer­cised the­ir own ini­ti­a­ti­ve and co-de­ter­mi­ned the­ir own de­sti­ni­es.  The ar­tic­le fo­cu­ses on key mo­ments and key is­su­es in the li­fe and ac­ti­vi­ti­es of the Co­min­for­mist emi­gra­ti­on.

 

KEYWORDS: Yugo­slav-So­vi­et Split 1948; Co­min­form; Co­min­for­mist Emi­gra­ti­on; Communist party of Yugo­sla­via; po­li­ti­cal exile from Yugo­sla­via; Czec­ho­slo­va­kia

 

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