Joška Broz | |
|---|---|
Јошка Броз | |
 Broz in 2014 | |
| President of theCommunist Party of Serbia | |
| In office 23 November 2010 – 25 January 2022 | |
| Member of theNational Assembly | |
| In office 3 June 2016 – 1 August 2022 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Josip Broz (1947-12-06)6 December 1947 |
| Died | 3 June 2025(2025-06-03) (aged 77) Belgrade, Serbia |
| Political party | Communist Party (2009–2022) Serbian Left (2022–2025) |
| Relations | Josip Broz Tito (grandfather) |
| Alma mater | University of Belgrade |
Josip "Joška"Broz (Serbian Cyrillic:Јосип "Јошка" Броз; 6 December 1947 – 3 June 2025) was a Serbian politician. A self-professedYugoslav, Broz was the grandson ofYugoslav presidentJosip Broz Tito and one of the most prominent supporters of theTitoist legacy within the formerYugoslavia.
Broz led Serbia'sCommunist Party from its formation in 2009 and served in theNational Assembly of Serbia from 2016 to 2022, sitting with theSocialist Party of Serbia (SPS) parliamentary group.
Broz was born inBelgrade, in what was then thePeople's Republic of Serbia in theFederal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He was the eldest son of Tito's son Žarko Broz and Tamara Veger, aRussian. He earned a degree from theBelgrade University Faculty of Forest Management, and at different times worked at military game preserves (where he learned to cook wild game) and as a forester, metal worker, and policeman in charge of security for his grandfather.[1] Although he was in frequent contact with Tito, he was not raised in affluent conditions and did not become wealthy by inheritance; a 2002 newspaper profile described him as living in a small, dilapidated house inBelgrade'sDedinje area and working as a cook inZemun. "I am not sorry because the family has nothing," he was quoted as saying. "My grandpa raised me to be a modest man, not different from ordinary people." He added that his modesty helped him to survive the tragedies that befell Serbia and Yugoslavia in the 1990s.[2]
Broz consistently defended Tito's political legacy and rejected charges that his grandfather was adictator. At a memorial ceremony for Tito in 2000, he argued that his grandfather had permitted the1968 student demonstrations in Yugoslavia to take place and subsequently addressed the underlying issues behind the protests by political means. He also remarked that Tito had confided to him in 1978 that his greatest mistake was allowingnationalists in Yugoslavia to present their beliefs for public discussion.[3] Broz later welcomed the founding of the (ceremonial) "Republic of Titoslavia" inRakovica,Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2005; he was quoted as saying, "This does not reflect some fashion trend or nostalgic feelings about Tito's state, which has been and forever gone. This reflects nostalgia about the time when we all lived well, when we all, generally, lived happy and dignified lives. Today, we are nobody and nothing."[4] In 2010, he said that the Tito years were "a time of safety and security; a working father could support a whole family, education and healthcare was free for all [and] Yugoslavia had a good reputation around the globe."[5]
Broz campaigned for a coalition of four minor left-wing parties in the In the2003 parliamentary election.[6] He used Tito's image and the motto, "Where I stopped, you continue," in the campaign.[7] Ultimately, the coalition did not win any seats.
On 23 November 2009, Broz was elected as the leader of Serbia's newly formedCommunist Party, created via a merger of his own political organization withNovi Sad's Union of Social Democrats andZrenjanin's New Communist Party.[8] In an interview withDanas, Broz said that the new party would try to reconnect all of the former Yugoslav republics on social and economic issues; he added that he accepted the need for greater integration with theEuropean Union but that onlyRussia could be a strategic partner forSerbia.[9] The party was officially registered in December 2010.[10]
In 2011, theJamahiriya News Agency reported that Broz sent a cable of condolence toMuammar Gaddafi, his family, and theLibyan people following the death ofSaif al-Arab Gaddafi in aNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) bomb strike in the2011 military intervention in Libya. According to the report, Broz described the attack on Libya as a criminal act.[11]
Broz led the Communist Party'selectoral list of sixty candidates in the2012 Serbian parliamentary election.[12] The party received 28,977 votes (0.74%), well below the five per cent threshold needed to enter the assembly. For the2014 parliamentary election, he formed an alliance with the smallMontenegrin Party and appeared in the second position on its electoral list.[13] This list also failed to win any mandates.
Broz contested the2016 parliamentary election on an electoral list led by theSocialist Party of Serbia, appearing in the twenty-eighth position.[14] The list won twenty-nine mandates, and Broz was elected to the assembly. Although he was the leader of the Communist Party, he served as part of the Socialist Party's parliamentary group. The Socialist Party is a part of Serbia'scoalition government, and Broz accordingly served as part of the government's parliamentary majority. During his first term, he was a member of the committee on labour, social issues, social inclusion, and poverty reduction; a deputy member of the environmental protection committee; and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups withAlgeria,Belarus,China,Cuba,Greece,Iran,Palestine,Russia,Ukraine,Venezuela,Syria, and the countries ofSub-Saharan Africa.[15] He was re-elected in the2020 parliamentary election, again on the list of the Socialist Party.
In 2022, he helped to established theSerbian Left (SL) as a successor to the Communist Party. The Serbian Left did not participate in the2022 parliamentary election, and his term in office ended that year.
Broz was anEastern Orthodox Christian.[16] Broz died in Belgrade on 3 June 2025, at the age of 77.[17][18]
Media related toJosip Joška Broz at Wikimedia Commons
| ||
| Life and politics |  | |
| Premiership | ||
| Presidency | ||
| Family |
| |
| Legacy | ||
