World: Revisionists Prefer Blondes

When Columnist Drew Pearson interviewed Marshal Tito recently at the island retreat of Brijoni, he was surprised to discover that the dictator’s aides were more interested in getting details about the death of Marilyn Monroe than in discussing nuclear testing or Berlin. Last week Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev arrived in Belgrade for a ten-day state visit, and the Yugoslavs again allowed themselves to be distracted from world affairs by a lovely female figure.

The object of their appreciation was the visitor’s daughter, Galina Brezhnev, a tall, striking blonde of 18, who could well turn out to be the Kremlin’s answer to Jackie Kennedy. While Papa toured collective farms and industrial plants, Galina stole the show in her dazzling French dresses, Italian spike heels, and huge, dangling earrings. Making her debut on the diplomatic circuit, she completely overshadowed Nikita Khrushchev’s daughter Rada, wife of Izvestia Editor Aleksei Adzhubei, who was also along on the trip. In contrast to Galina’s exhibition of haute couture, Rada “left the impression,” sniffed one Yugoslav, “that she does not consider dressing important.”

Moving Closer. Still, there was more to Brezhnev’s visit than a glamour competition. Ever since Tito’s break with the Cominform in 1948, Soviet-Yugoslav relations have been the touchstone for Moscow’s relations with the world’s other Communist parties. While Stalin lived, satellite leaders were ruthlessly purged if they were suspected of sympathizing with Tito’s nationalistic ideas. Under Khrushchev’s more flexible policy, which allows other Communist rulers greater domestic independence but still preserves the political supremacy of the Soviet Union. Tito has been steadily wooed closer to the Kremlin. Said Tito last week, passing lightly over the past, “This fog was never so thick that it hid what was underneath: namely, the deep sympathy that exists between the peoples of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.” Brezhnev responded with equally sweet talk.

Besides ideology, there is a matter of money. In 1958 Russia suspended $285 million in credits to Yugoslavia, whose economy is now shakier than ever. In the U.S., which has often bailed out Yugoslavia in the past, Congress threatened to eliminate tariff concessions Belgrade has long enjoyed; and the Common Market, which has attracted about 30% of Yugoslavia’s foreign trade and is a prime source of hard currency, is raising higher barriers against outsiders. The Russians would like nothing better than to use Yugoslavia’s trade troubles with the West as a means of splitting Belgrade completely from Western Europe. But Moscow would have to go a long way before it could outdo the attractions of the Common Market, whose member nations flood Belgrade with a wide variety of products that are missing in Moscow.

Harsh Words. By the laws of Communist meteorology, when Soviet-Yugoslav relations get warmer, Soviet-Chinese relations automatically grow more turbulent. Last week the Red Chinese and their distant Albanian allies renewed their blistering criticism of Tito and that “modern revisionist,” Khrushchev. Peking was especially angry over Tito’s interview with Columnist Pearson, in which Tito called the Chinese warmongers. Rising to Peking’s defense, the Albanians lashed out at Khrushchev for agreeing to sell MIG jet fighters to India, for possible use against “innocent” Chinese.

Brezhnev and Tito ignored the outbursts. Looking remarkably robust for his age (70) and his long career in the Communist jungle, Tito made plans to repay the courtesy call with his own trip to Moscow within six months. Probable companion on the return visit: Tito’s wife, a stunning, black-haired ex-officer in the partisan army, whose silk gowns and jewels wowed Moscow during a previous visit as impressively as Galina’s style distracted Belgrade last week.