Katolici i politika: Spor izmedju stranackoga Hrvatskoga katolickog pokreta i izvanstranacke Katolicke akcije (1912.-1929. godine)

In: Časopis za suvremenu povijest: Journal of contemporary history, Band 29, Heft 3, S. 437-456

Abstract

Petar Rogulja's article "Before the Dawn" (1916) led to an intense debate about the organization of the Croatian Catholic Movement (Hrvatski katolicki pokret - HKP). He is important because he elaborated the ideology of the movement, which played an important role for Catholicism in the political life of Croatia. Rogulja and his supporters (the 'nacionalci' or 'nationalists') tried to reorganize he HKP into a "total system" (potpuni sistem). This meant that cultural and economic organizations were to be included as integral parts of a future political party. His opponents (the integralists or 'integralci') were not successful in attacking his policy. After the "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes", the first Yugoslavia, was formed (1918), the seniors of the Church organized their own political party - Hrvatska pucka stranka (HPS - Croatian Popular Party). The party claimed to represent "positive elements of the Christian congregation", but also claimed that it was "non-confessional". The seniors made a commitment to "interconfessionalism". The creation of the "Catholic Action - Katolicka akcija" (KA) by Pius XI. provided official support for those Catholics that did not support the policy direction taken by the HKP. Unlike the HKP, which was organized from below, that is to say, by the laity outside of the auspices of the Church hierarchy, the organization of the KA was initiated from above, by the Church hierarchy as a whole. The KA, as defined by the encyclical "Ubi arcano Dei" (1922), along with other acts of the Holy See and the Catholic Church hierarchy, was not to include organizations intending to achieve "mundane objectives", thus, political parties. A political party was at the heart of the HKP, but even though this was the case, Rogulja's supporters contributed to the organization of the KA. Though the KA was meant to be non-political, this did not mean that it was indifferent to politics generally, or to those who based their political activity on Christian/Catholic tenets. Seniors faithful to Rogulja's orientation believed that members of the KA would support their party in political matters. In any case, the leaders of the Catholic Church throughout Croatian lands never obligated its members to support the HPS. Opponents of the seniors' political party, mainly adherents of the Croatian Union of the Eagle (1923), accused them of anti-clericalism. The political disputes among Catholic activists in Croatia was brought to an end, but not resolved, by the Yugoslav Monarch's suspension of the Vidovdan constitution in 1929, at which time political parties where outlawed. (SOI : CSP: S. 455f.)