Workers' Roots as a Means of Mythicizing the Biography of a Communist Leader : The Case of Josip Broz Tito
Abstract
Workers' roots and activities in the labour movement were part of the life path of many communist politicians who came to power after the Second World War. It was also this part of the leaders' biographies that was often particularly emphasised as part of the self-presentation of state power - as an element which was intended to lend authenticity to the official image of individual leaders, and thus to reinforce the symbolic legitimacy of socialist dictatorships.
Under the conditions of the ritualization of the exercise of power and the cults of personality, workers' origins very often became a means of mythicizing the biographies of leaders. The paper focuses on the thematization of Josip Broz Tito's working-class roots in popular elaborations of his biography produced in socialist Yugoslavia and intended for the general public.
Using specific examples, we trace the way Tito's working-class origins were presented and the role of this motif in shaping and popularizing the canonical image of the Yugoslav President's life. The aim is to explain how the theme of the working-class past functioned in the semiotic system of Yugoslav communist culture and how it contributed to the mythicization of Tito as a leader.