ATTITUDE TOWARDS COMINFORM

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26512, 29 August 1951, Page 7

ATTITUDE TOWARDS COMINFORM

LONDON. August 27. Diplomatic observers interpret recent developments in Jugoslavia and the trend of Mr Averell Harriman’s week-end talks with Marshal Tito as clear indication that Marshal Tito’s Government is trying still more to obtain the support and sympathy of the Western Powers.

Mr Harriman’s evident approval of Marshal Tito's attitude towards the Cominfonn is taken to mean that the , West would have no objection to further strengthening of ties with ' Jugoslavia in an effort to protect her from being in anv way economically dependent on Russia and her satellites. Messages from Belgrade state that Mr, Harriman had a nve-hours’ talk with Marshal Tito and his leading ministers. They discussed the country’s economic and military needs and the “question of peace and war, particularly the manner in which war can be prevented.” Correspondents sav that Mr Harriman told them before he left that he was particularly impressed with Marshal Tito’s understanding of the problems facing Jugoslavia and his confidence and determination and his plans for expanding the country’s economy. Jugoslavia, said Mr Harriman, would need additional help this year, a substantial amount for industries producing defence equipment. Twc other reports from Belgrade which correspondents say show the broadening of the Jugoslav policy, are the publication of the country’s new economic charter and the Government decision to- set free the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Zagreb, Monsignor Stepinac. who was sentenced in October, 1846, to 16 years’ imprisonment for alleged "offences against the State.” . Under the new economic charter a worker will get shares in profits, a market system for determining prices will be reintroduced and individual enterprises will be given greater freedom- of action, in deciding what to produce and how much. The Belgrade correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph.” says that the Jugoslav Government told the Vatican in June that it was ready to release Monsignor Stepinac on condition that he left Jugoslavia, but the Vatican rejected the offer. “It is understood that Monsignor Stepinac will be set free in a few weeks,” says the correspondent. “He will be allowed to live in a Croat cloister, but he will not be allowed to exercise his former functions. The Jugoslav authorities hope that this solution will pacify .religious sentiments in the West.”