Marshal Tito (Josip Broz), b. May 25, 1892, d. May 4, 1980, was the leader of Communist Yugoslavia from 1945 until his death. His name is identified with "self-managing socialism," a Yugoslav variant of Soviet-style communism, and with the NONALIGNED MOVEMENT, in the creation of which he played the most decisive role.

Josip Broz was born in Kumrovec, Croatia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, of a peasant family. His mother was Slovenian and his father Croatian. After schooling he became a metalworker, and at age 18 was a member of the Social Democratic party. He was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army in 1913, and during World War I he was wounded and taken prisoner on the Russian front. After the war he returned to Croatia (by then part of Yugoslavia), where he worked to build the Communist movement. In 1927 he became secretary of the Metalworkers' Union of Croatia but was imprisoned as a subversive by Yugoslav authorities from 1928 to 1934. After his release he became a member of the Communist party politburo and about this time adopted the code name "Tito." He was in Moscow in 1936-37 and in 1937 became general secretary of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia.

When Germany and Italy invaded Yugoslavia in World War II, Tito organized the Partisan resistance group to fight the Nazis, the Croatian Ustase (fascists), the Serbian Chetniks (nationalists), and other military forces operating within the country. The Partisans made a significant contribution to the liberation of Yugoslavia, and, with the backing of the Allies, won control of the country at the end of the war. They established a Communist-dominated provisional government headed by Tito in 1943. In March 1945 he was appointed chairman of the council of ministers, minister of defense, and supreme commander of the armed forces. In November 1945 he was named chief of state. From 1953 to 1968 he was chairman of the Federal executive Council, and in 1974 he became president for life.

Tito came to power as loyal supporter of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, but after the war Stalin made it clear that to him loyalty meant subservience. Tito was not willing to be subservient, and in 1948 this led to a serious rift with Stalin, which resulted in the expulsion of the Yugoslav party from the world Communist movement. Tito then set off on an independent path, developing an alternative ideology to challenge Soviet orthodoxy. Under his doctrine--which he insisted was the purest form of communism--workers were supposed to manage their own factories, and a complex system of worker delegates was set up to put this idea into effect. In 1961, Tito joined with Egypt's President Gamal Abdel Nasser and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to form the nonaligned movement as an alternative to the American and Soviet military blocs, and used the movement as a podium for Yugoslavia's foreign policy views.

Under Tito's authoritarian rule, Yugoslavia enjoyed a period of security, inter-ethnic peace, and relative prosperity, all of which disintegrated after his disappearance from the scene.