by Tucker Koch, Contributing Writer

Like democracies today, the communists of the Cold War sometimes didn’t like each other very much. Probably the most famous of these splits was the Sino-Soviet split, in which Communist China and the Soviet Union disagreed and essentially formed two separate communist blocs. Alas, that’s a story for another day. What I’d like to discuss today is the Soviet-Yugoslav split. More specifically, it refers to a single letter from that time. 

So, Yugoslavia was a nation born right after World War I. In WW2, they were invaded by the Germans and the Italians and, thus, were forced to become communist, like everyone else in Eastern Europe at the time. Stalin did this by surrounding himself with like-minded peers and expanding his sphere of influence. Unfortunately for him, Josip Broz Tito, the leader of communist Yugoslavia, preferred to focus on his people rather than suckling up to Stalin like all the other communist leaders in Europe. As such, Stalin tried to assassinate him a multitude of times and put someone more agreeable into power. 

After some time, Tito sent Stalin one of the finest letters I have ever read. The transcript, translated into English, reads (translation quoted from “Stalin: A Biography” by Robert Service): 

“Stop sending people to kill me! We’ve already captured five of them, one with a bomb and another with a rifle… If you do not stop sending killers, I’ll send a very fast-working one to Moscow, and I certainly won’t have to send another.”

This letter makes Tito one of the few people to argue with Stalin and live. This letter also miraculously stopped the flow of assassins. Let me repeat that; it bloody worked. The best part about this story is that Stalin respected the letter so much that he kept it in his personal safe until he died. That is legitimately the only reason we know about this letter: he made sure to preserve it. 

I realize it’s a simple story, but I really must spread the word about this letter because it is one of the most ridiculous historical facts I know, and I love it so much.

 Anyways, this has been Tucker Koch, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this.