860h.00/12–645
The Ambassador in Yugoslavia (Patterson) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 19.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose a memorandum94 concerning the Yugoslav elections to the Constituent Assembly on November 11, 1945, [Page 1296] prepared by Vice-Consul Peter Constan, containing evidence of the intimidation of voters and commenting on the official election returns. The Embassy believes that this and other evidence it has received justify Mr. Constan’s conclusion that the elections of November 11 were the least free ever held in Yugoslavia and that the results announced bear no resemblance to the votes cast.
Embassy members visited some 20 polling places in Belgrade on election day and saw practically no unfairness at these places. This apparent decency was made much of in Yugoslav news releases, which freely quoted statements of Left-Wing Members of Parliament and British journalists brought here by the Yugoslav government to observe the elections. This point, however, is unimportant in judging whether the elections gave the people of Yugoslavia a free opportunity to express their will at the polls. The decisive facts are that masses of people were frightened into voting for the National Front ticket; that the election machinery was entirely in the hands of the National Front; that there were no opposition or neutral observers in a position to verify the results; and that the unscrupulousness shown by the National Front in pre-election activities supports the belief that its members showed equally low ethical standards in submitting election returns.
The Embassy has received masses of detailed figures from unofficial observers indicating that in all localities reported upon the official returns were untrue. There is reason to believe that many, at least, of these reports are true since they come from observers in villages where the inhabitants are personally known to them.
Before the election several peasants came to the Embassy from considerable distances to tell us of the situation in their home villages. They generally told us that they came secretly and in fear of Ozna to beg us not to recognize the results of the elections, since, although nearly all the villagers were opposed to the regime, the majority would probably vote for it out of fear of what might happen to them or their families if they did not.
There is no good reason to doubt the evidence of intimidation reported by Mr. Constan since even government leaders went so far as to publicly state that it would be traitorous to vote against the Front. A threat of this kind is quite sufficient to intimidate a voter when he is convinced that his job, his clothing, food, shelter and freedom from prison for himself and his family depend upon his being known as a supporter of the National Front.
Mr. Constan’s memorandum contains much first hand information, including examples of two Yugoslav soldiers of American birth whose registration applications he had taken, and one of whom served twenty days in jail for falling out of formation while his unit was being marched to the polling booth to vote.
[Page 1297]Mr. Constan offers the following comment on one Yugoslav propaganda item:
“Tito is proclaiming that this was the freest and quietest election ever held in Yugoslavia. I submit that a deadly quiet election in the Balkans, and I have seen many of them during the last 25 years, is proof positive of the lack of freedom. When Balkanites cannot have a fight during an election it means that they are afraid to speak their minds. As a matter of fact, in what part of the world, where freedom reigns, do people walk along silently and solemnly and separately, without the slightest show of demonstration, on an election day?”
There was, as the Yugoslav press announced, dancing in the streets far into the evening of election day, but its lack of the usual spontaneity indicated that numbers were dancing, as they had voted, under duress. Teraziye Square, Belgrade, on election night was reminiscent of a Times Square, New York, election night only because of the contrast.
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩