All Dressed Up

In small towns (and some large towns) a high degree of excitement can be generated by the question: Why did Flora-belle get (or not get) an invitation to the party? The diplomats, pundits, newsowls*and unclassified quidnuncs who keep a sharp eye on Communist doings have recently been in a dither about an invitation sent (or not sent) by Ho Chi Minh, Red rebel leader of Indo-China, to Tito's Yugoslavia.

Somewhere in Siam is the man who knows the answer: an Indo-Chinese named Nguyen Due Quy, who acts as a kind of underground foreign minister or social secretary for Ho. Last month Nguyen Due Quy sent an invitation to all the "people's democracies" (i.e., Soviet stooge nations) asking them to recognize Ho's gang as the government of Indo-China, or Viet Nam, as it is now called. Whether at Ho's orders or by carelessness, Nguyen Due Quy included Tito in the list. Eyebrows rose. Everyone (possibly excepting Nguyen Duc Quy) knew that Tito was no longer a people's democracy; he had lost his good name in Communist circles and was no better than a fascist beast (i.e., a man who disagrees with the Kremlin).

With joyous alacrity, Tito accepted the invitation, declaring "we should prefer to go naked" rather than betray Yugoslavia's socialist principles by failing to recognize Ho or by recognizing the legal government of former Emperor Bao Dai, who is on the mailing list of the Western powers. Nguyen Duc Quy replied politely to Tito: "We take good note of your answer."

Did this mean that Ho, who has been recognized by Moscow (which ought to know him, sce Quy's friends inside IndoChina tried to erase such an impression; their radio began to make catty remarks about the purity of Tito's socialism. Last week Ho's radio came right out and called Tito "a spy for the American imperialists." The radio said further that Ho never had had any intention of recognizing Belgrade.

Some newsowls explained that Ho had been called to Peking and there given a sharp lesson in Communist deportment. Others said that poor Nguyen Due Quy had just neglected to keep his lists up to date.

In any event, things were back where they started, except that Tito was (as they say in small towns) all dressed up and nowhere to go.

*Former newshawks who have ruined their eyesight reading the footnotes in Arnold Toynbee's A Study of History.

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