Informbiro period

rdf:langString Informbiro period

rdf:langString Location map of the Eastern Bloc, 1948

rdf:langString Photograph of Joseph Stalin

rdf:langString Photograph of Josip Broz Tito

rdf:langString The Eastern Bloc countries at the time of the Tito–Stalin split; The Free Territory of Trieste is not shown

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rdf:langString Yugoslav–Soviet split became open through exchange of three letters between Stalin and Tito in early 1948.

rdf:langString JStalin Secretary general CCCP 1942 flipped.jpg

rdf:langString Josip Broz Tito uniform portrait.jpg

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rdf:langString The Informbiro period was an era of Yugoslavia's history following the Tito–Stalin split in mid-1948 that lasted until the country's partial rapprochement with the Soviet Union in 1955 with the signing of the Belgrade declaration. After World War II in Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia's new leadership under Josip Broz Tito pursued a foreign policy that did not align with the interests of the Eastern Bloc. Eventually, this led to public conflict, but the Yugoslav leadership decided not to acquiesce to Soviet demands, despite significant external and internal pressures. The period saw the persecution of the political opposition in Yugoslavia, resulting in thousands being imprisoned, exiled, or sent to forced labour. 100 Yugoslav citizens were seriously wounded or killed between 1948 and 1953 while some sources claim 400 victims during the existence of Goli otok prison camp. The purges included a significant number of members of Yugoslavia's security apparatus and its military. This break with the Eastern Bloc caused significant economic difficulties for Yugoslavia as the country relied on trade with the USSR and Soviet allies. Economic pressures within the country led to reforms that would ultimately result in the introduction of socialist self-management and increased decentralisation of the country through constitutional amendments formalising the reforms. The United States saw the rift between the Eastern Bloc and Yugoslavia as an opportunity during the Cold War to fragment the Eastern Bloc further and consequently provided economic and military aid, loans, and diplomatic support to the country. The new foreign policy circumstances led Tito to end Yugoslav support of Communist forces in the Greek Civil War and concluded the Balkan Pact, an agreement of cooperation and defence with Greece and Turkey. The period had an impact on Yugoslavia's contemporary art and popular culture, as artists were encouraged to seek inspiration in the wartime struggle of the Yugoslav Partisans and the construction of new infrastructure. Decades later, a great many literary works and films covered the era's events. The descriptor "Informbiro period" arose from the Communist Information Bureau, an organisation initiated by Stalin that had aimed to reduce divergence among communist governments.