Suchergebnisse

The thirtieth anniversary of the Casopis za suvremenu povijest published by the Hrvatski institut za povijest (Croatian Institute for History) in Zagreb (1969-1999) gives the occasion for a review and analysis of its contents, looks, and accomplishments. Casopis was initiated at the then Institute za historiju radnickog pokreta Hrvatske (The Institute for History of the Workers Movement in Croatia) in order to expand the research beyond workers and their political and union organisations and beyond the period of the World War II, which were dominant themes at the Institute. This intention resulted in the expansion of the research and in the publication of the results in the journal. The tradition of co-operation with researchers outside of the Institute and with those abroad continued. The journal published numerous themes from national history as well as history of other nations and minorities. The problems of historical methodology and of evaluation of books and other works were not neglected. One of the marks of the journal is the presence of polemics. The journal succeeded in maintaining these characteristics in spite of changes of the political situations, by which it was stamped. (SOI : CSP: S. 459)

This article uses archival and newspaper sources along with basic secondary literature to examine legal proceedings conducted against Stjepan Radic', the leader of Croatia's strongest opposition party - The Croatian People's Peasant Party (HPSS). During 1919 and 1920, Radic was held in custody without trial, released, then rearrested and given a harsh sentence for politically opposing the creation of a unitaristic and centralized state under the Serbian Karadjordjevic dynasty. Radic wanted the distinctiveness of the Croatian nation to be recognized, so he sought automony for Croatia as the basis for its economic, political, and cultural development. Radic's trial, carried out inspite of the fact that some jurists felt it was unlawful, revealed the crux of the conflict between the regime and the HPSS, in effect, the Croatian opposition. Radic worked to ensure that the internal organization of the state would be based on national self-determination. For him, the upcoming election of a Constituent Assembly was all-important because it would determine the nature a Slovene-Croat-Serb state. Contrary to this, the Karadjordjevic regime assumed all the main national and constitutional questions had been settled on December 1, 1918, when a common kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes had been proclaimed. As far as the government was concerned, only the formality of writing a constitution had to be handled by the Constituent Assembly. Even though he was released on the very day of the election, Radic's trial showed that the Karadjordjevic' regime intended to solve political problems by the use of force, and not according to the rule of law. (SOI : CSP: S. 126f.)

In the process of an accelerated government centralization and national unitarization in the period 1918-1928, Croatia lost its autonomy, territorial integrity, and the right to national identity. This resulted in grave consequences, particularly in inequality of Croatia and Croats with Serbia and Serbs in political, economic, and cultural domains. (SOI : CSP: S. 76)