The German sociologist and anthropologist Helmuth Plessner has tried to explain the ascent of national-socialism in Germany with the belated formation of the German nation. Not only was it formed later than other West European nations, it was formed in a different manner. While West European nations were formed by countering monarchy with the novel concept of the state as a republic, the German nation was founded on the culture within the Reich which was "a great power devoid of the idea of the state". The author has tried to prove the limited analytical value of Plessner's distinction between the belated and the timely nations by pointing out that culture and tradition are an essential medium for the formation of nations. (SOI : PM: S. 206)
In the period 1945-1950, the oldest educational and cultural organization of the Croatian peasantry, "Seljacka Sloga" (Peasant Unity), renewed its work throughout Croatia and Bosnia and Hercegovina. In terms of the extent of the organization, the number of local branches (over 600) approached the prewar figure, and an equally respectable number of people (over 60,000) participated in the various educational and cultural activities it offered. These activities primarily followed traditional patterns: instruction in reading and writing, advice on economic and health issues, promotion and preservation of cultural customs and heritage, and assistance to amateur peasant artists of all kinds. But the very existence and work of the organization in this period was in large part determined by the political objectives of the new socialist government, which saw in the organization's activities the possibility of strengthening its influence in the countryside. is thus possible to conclude that "Sloga" at this time was made an instrument of politics, and this shaped the content of its work and determined the nature of its organization. The new government forced "Sloga" to join the pro-communist National Front and make its policies according to the set principles of, at first, national democracy, and later, socialism. The leaders of "Sloga" were under constant pressure from the state. Nonetheless, the author concludes that the "Sloga" played an important role in the postwar era, a time of extreme poverty, when other institutions did not exist. In the countryside, its revived cultural and educational activities satisfied basic needs. (SOI : CSP: S. 146)
