Kardelj, Edvard [key], 1910–79, Yugoslavian politician. A Slovenian schoolteacher, he early joined the Yugoslav Communist party. In 1940 he became a politburo member. He was important in the underground in World War II and was vice premier of Josip Broz Tito's provisional government, a position that he continued to hold after the formal establishment of the Yugoslav Communist state in 1945. He later served as minister of foreign affairs (1948–53), vice chairman of the federal executive council (1953–63), and president of the federal parliament (1963–67). A leading ideologist, Kardelj helped in carrying out Yugoslavia's break with the USSR in 1948 and in adapting the official ideology to the new independent course.
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