Standpoint magazine in its current issue has reprinted a letter from Milena Borden who is also one of our readers. She was commenting on an article in the magazine’s November issue as explained in her letter. Here is the text of her letter:
Robin Harrisâs fine report from Zagreb, âTitoâs Crimes Should Never be Forgottenâ (Standpoint, Nov 2017) would have been applauded by Evelyn Waugh. Fifty five years ago almost to the date, in his Sunday Express article âOur Guest of Dishonourâ (30 Nov 1952). he asked, âWho is the man?â. Waugh argued that âTito was simply his Comintern code-word. Marshal was a rank of the Red Army unknown in Yugoslavia. He had Stalinâs commission and Stalin sent him his marshalâs cap.â
Waugh protested to Anthony Edenâs invitation to Tito to visit London and was against the âEnglish Conservative courtshipâ of the Yugoslav leader. This was intensified by the split with Stalin in 1948, correctly judged by Harris as a matter of personal ambition rather then principal disagreement. [No doubt Waugh would have also enjoyed hearing more about Titoâs undignified personal life as he jokingly referred to him as a âsheâ presumably meaning among other things that he was not a real âmanâ. ]
The main agreement he would have had with Harris is the deceptive misconception that Tito was a heroic âantifascistâ rather than a communist dictator. Waugh himself wrote an important report about the brutal elimination of Catholic priests by Titoâs partisans. He immortalised the British alliance with Tito in Unconditional Surrender (1961), the third part of his war trilogy Sword of Honour as the ultimate betrayal: âHe was busy then, as now, in the work for which he has a peculiar aptitude â hoodwinking the British.â
The bracketed text above was deleted from the version reprinted in Standpoint. Waugh’s 1952 Sunday Express article is collected in Essays, Articles and Reviews. Â Thanks to Milena for passing this along.