Tito's personal files, which were considered Russian state secret for over 70 ye

ars and held in Stalin's archives (currently the Presidential Archives of the Kr
emlin) have recently been made public. According to these documents, which detai
l a large part of the Komintern's activities, Tito is said to have participated
in the Spanish Civil War. This is something that Tito consistently omitted from
his numerous biographies. The mistery was all the greater considering that all t
he other veterans of the Spanish Civil War proudly promoted theur roles in this
endeavour, considered to be a great achievement.
Tito, on the other hand, consistently avoided the subject like the plague. He ha
d only two public phrases to share with the world about the Spanish Civil War. N
amely, in a biography for Life Magazine - 5 May 1959, he is reported as saying :
"Although there are rumours to the contrary, I am not a veteran of the Spanish
Civil War, even though I would have liked to be. I was in Spain only on one occa
sion, briefly, when I spent a day in Madrid". A year later, Tito instructed the
author of his biography, Vladimir Dedijer, who had helped him prepare the articl
e for Life Magazine, to make no mention whatsoever of these two sentences in a b
ook published in Yugoslavia in 1953.
Indeed, all journalists were prohibited from engaging in public speculations abo
ut his role in the Spanish Civil War. The Moscow Presidential Archives, which ar
e off limites to foreigners, recently transferred a number of documents concerni
ng Tito to the Rissian National Archive of Socio-Political History. Tito's polit
ical heritage can as of now be found in a single place, accessible to both Russi
an and foreign researchers.
We can at last come to grips with one of Tito's most closely kept secrets. A rep
orter from « Novosti » informs us that his research has uncovered a document which c
learly confirms that "... Josip Broz Tito participated in the Spanish Civil War
from 1936 to 1939.". And so we uncover another of the Grate Magician's secrets,
which has been a source of conjecture for many decades throughout the world and
in Yugoslavia.
Speculation was increasingly public near the end of Tito's life when in a book a
bout him entitled "Great Achievements" was published containing a letter he wrot
e in late 1937 to Moscow in which he suggested that Moscow accept a Croat Commun
ist - Ivan Krajacica, for "specialised political instruction" claiming that Kraj
acica had proven his valour during the Spanish Civil War. Tito made another reco
mmendation on the same grounds for Slovenian Communist Josip Kopinic.
Another document was found in which Tito's closest associate, Edvard Kardelj cla
imed that he remembers how the Leader of the Yugoslav Communists spoke well of t
he Slovenian Communist Franc Rozman, whom he remembered as a good man from the S
panish Civil War.
Tito's participation in the Spanish Civil War was also confirmed by the Chief of
the Spanish Communists Dolores Ibaruri. Nevertheless, Toto consistently negated
his presence in Spain.
Now that the truth has finally been uncovered in the Russian archives, the natur
al question that arises is why Tito so vehemently negated his participation in a
War that all others openly bragged about. The most logical answer is that Tito
wanted to cover up his real role in this war, which wasn't one of combat but of
"special actions" which would have polluted his otherwise rich biography.