The Tito-Stalin Split and Yugoslav Diaspora in Australia and New Zealand

Abstract The Cominform resolution was a turning point in the history of Yugoslavia. In the context of the Cold War, the conflict between Yugoslavia and the Eastern Bloc also had serious consequences on a global level, representing the first major split in the international communist movement after World War II. However, echoes of the split within the million-strong Yugoslav overseas diaspora have not drawn much scientific interest, despite the diaspora’s extensive involvement in the socio-political situation in Yugoslavia throughout the 20th century. The goal of the article is to study the Tito-Stalin split as an international crisis of enormous significance through the local politics of diaspora to better understand its nature and impact. The influence of the diaspora’s host countries’ communist parties must be emphasised in order to understand why most Yugoslav emigrants in the west supported Cominform, as shown through the analysis of sources originating from archives in Australia, New Zealand, Croatia, and Serbia.