Croatian Bloc (coalition)

The Croatian Bloc (Croatian: Hrvatski blok) was a political coalition of Croatian political parties in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes in existence from 1921 to 1923. The principal member of the group was the Croatian Republican Peasant party (HRSS)^[a] led by Stjepan Radić, mainly supported by the Croatian Union, and the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP).^[b]

The coalition was formed as a protest against the parliament's failure to apply decision-making by a qualified majority in the process of adoption of the first country's constitution. The HRSS as the dominant partner in the coalition also sought to pressure its partners, especially the Croatian Union, and the central government to introduce republicanism – at least at the sub-national level. The Croatian Bloc issued a number of public statements primarily intended create an atmosphere conductive to negotiations with the Serb-dominated Democratic Party on reform of the constitution. Radić ejected the HSP from the coalition after the party criticised the Croatian Bloc's strategy. The coalition ended in the run up to the 1923 parliamentary elections.

The work of the Croatian Bloc strengthened the position of the HRSS and Radić. At the same time, divisions within the Democratic Party deepened over the readiness of the party's president Ljubomir Davidović to discuss and potentially accommodate Radić's demands for a confederation in place of a highly-centralised state. While Radić–Davidović negotiation was in progress, the HSP negotiated with the People's Radical Party, another Serb-dominated political party, to undermine the HRSS's dominant position in Croatian politics.

Background

The 1920 parliamentary elections held in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed Yugoslavia) were called to elect members of the assembly tasked with drawing up the country's first constitution within the framework of creation of Yugoslavia. In the run up to the election, the most significant political division in Yugoslavia appeared around the degree of centralisation of the government – the issue of what authority will be exercised by the central government and provinces respectively.^[7] The election established the Croatian Republican Peasant party (HRSS) as the leading political party in Croatia-Slavonia, one of the country’s provinces. It outperformed the Croatian Union and the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) combined by about 45 percentage points.^[8] The HRSS thus established itself as the main political representative of the Croats in Yugoslavia, taking over that role from the Croatian Union.^[9]

At a rally held on 8 December 1920, only days after the election, HRSS leader Stjepan Radić announced that the HSS would not participate in the work of the Constitutional Assembly because the party members advocated establishment of a republic instead of the monarchy and held the parliament a sovereign institution. Therefore, they would not swear an oath of allegiance to the king,^[1] as required by the assembly's standing orders.^[7] Radić's HRSS chose to refrain from parliamentary work even though the party won 50 seats. They hoped to compel the government to give up on its intention to concentrate the bulk of the power in the central government and to initiate genuine negotiations on the system of government.^[9] The HSP followed the HRSS and decided not to participate in the parliament,^[10] adding their two seats to the list of abstentionists.^[9]

The Croatian Union's four elected representatives took part in the work of the assembly, in opposition to the government's draft constitution leading to a highly-centralised state and trying to entice Radić to follow their example and work from within the parliament.^[9] In May 1921, the Croatian Union also walked out of the parliament, protesting against the decision-making by a simple majority. The Croatian Union claimed that a qualified majority was needed for passage of the country's constitution based on the 1917 Corfu Declaration and the acts of the Croatian Sabor authorising separation from Austria-Hungary and unification of the South Slavs.^[11] On 12 May, Mate Drinković issued a declaration on behalf of the Croatian Union accusing the government of trying to impose its will on the Croats and denied the assembly's legitimacy to adopt any constitiution that would be binding for Croatia and the Croats.^[12] In October, Radić proposed "fusion" of the three parties, essentially a takeover of the Croatian Union and the HSP by the HRSS, but the offer was declined.^[13]

Establishment

On 21 May, the HRSS, the HSP, and the Croatian Union drew up a declaration named the Message to the Croatian People (Poruka hrvatskom narodu). The declaration, largely reflecting Radić's opinions at the time, stated that they have formed the Croatian Bloc coalition for the purpose of safeguarding of Croatian national individuality.^[14] The coalition parties denied that the remaining assembly was legitimate or entitled to enact a constitution binding for Croats or Croatia.^[15]

Following the declaration, leaderships of the three parties spent the entire months of June and July in talks regarding a joint political programme. In addition to Radić, HRSS representatives in the negotiations were Ljudevit Kežman and Vladko Maček. Drinković was joined by Ivan Lorković on behalf of the Croatian Union, while Mirko Košutić and Fran Milobar represented the HSP. Additionally, Juraj Šutej, Bariša Smoljan, Ivan Pavičić, and Stjepan Janković as representatives of the Croatian Husbandmen's Party – a political party active in Bosnia and Herzegovina, closely tied with the Croatian Union.^[16][17] The HRSS-sponsored Croat Workers' Union supported the coalition.^[18] The parties held different views regarding Croatia's future. The HRSS advocated a Yugoslav confederal republic or, failing that, Croatian republic within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The HSP agreed with the HRSS in advocating a republic. The HSP were ready to support the HRSS in demanding de-centralised Yugoslavia as a step towards an independent Croatia. The Croatian Union also supported de-centralisation of Yugoslavia, but did not support establishment of a republic.^[16][17] While the coalition talks were in progress, the national assembly adopted the so-called Vidovdan Constitution.^[14] The decision was made by a simple majority of parliamentarians and it established Yugoslavia as a highly centralised monarchy without participation and contrary to the will of the majority of non-Serb parties.^[19] This made Yugoslavia subjectively illegitimate in view of most Croats.^[20]

In early August, after failing to agree on a common political programme, Radić accepted Croatian Union's proposal for a common committee to coordinate activities towards the central government in Belgrade. Under that proposal, the individual parties would continue to pursue their own programmes while recognising HRSS as the leading partner in their joint efforts in relation to Belgrade. The HRSS received six out of twelve seats on the board, while the Croatian Union and the HSP received three each. Radić, Drinković and Košutić formed the presidency of the committee.^[21] In practice, the committee was dominated by Radić alone,^[22] but the coalition was hindered by mutual competition of its members and their ideological divisions.^[23]

Activities

Memorandum

On 13 January 1922, Belgrade-based Politika daily newspaper published a working draft of Croatian Bloc's memorandum intended as message to Prime Minister Nikola Pašić. The draft was accepted by Croatian Bloc's elected parliament members the next day before being modified insignificantly and formally approved on 25 February.^[24] The document declared unity in terms of foreign policyand called for an agreement on the internal policy matters. Finally, the Croatian Bloc called on Pašić to include Croatian experts in the Yugoslav delegation to the upcoming Genoa Economic and Financial Conference.^[25] While Radić believed that the conference would turn out to be deciding on a global geopolitical realignment,^[24] Pašić thought of the conference as a good venue to engage Italy regarding resolution of the Fiume question left over after the two countries first settled their border through the Treaty of Rapallo in 1920.^[25]

Pašić ignored the Croatian Bloc's memorandum and Radić presented a new one to the coalition on 25 March believing it would help Yugoslav delegation to the conference to defend Croatian territory in talks with Italian diplomats.^[25] The document pointed out Croatia’s history and examined situation since 1918. Radić demanded through the memorandum a truly sovereign Croatia or a Croatian state within the international community of the Serbs, Croats and the Slovenes under a new constitution ensuring establishment of federal Yugoslavia.^[26] Radić avoided the mention of the official name of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, referring to it as the "internationally recognised territory of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" instead to avoid recognising it as a monarchy. In early April, the Croatian Bloc also issued a communique explaining its policy. The document described Dalmatia as indisputably Croatian and Bosnia and Herzegovina as an essential part of the Croatian question and aissue to be resolved in a future Croat–Serb agreement. He also expressed his position that Bunjevci are Croats and denied the emigré Croatian Committee to represent Croatia or Croats.^[25]

According to historian Hrvoje Matković, the memorandums and other public declarations of early 1922 were the only Croatian Bloc's public activity. He concluded that Radić, as the main author of all those documents, tried to set the scene for negotiations between himself and Pašić. The government either ignored the Croatian Bloc's activities or denounced them as acts against the state.^[25]

Dissolution

The Croatian Bloc supported Radić's idea of negotiations with some Serb-dominated political parties with the aim of bringing down the existing government and a revision of the Vidovdan Constitution. Contacts were established with the Democratic Party when HSP's Ante Pavelić brought Pavle Andjelić to Zagreb for initial talks with Radić in early November 1922. Shortly after that meeting, Drinković travelled to Belgrade with HRSS's Juraj Krnjević and Josip Predavec, carrying Radić's letter to Democratic Party president Ljubomir Davidović.^[30] On 18 November, the HSP pulled out of the talks with Davidović. On 25 November,^[31] HSP's leader Vladimir Prebeg informed Radić at a coalition meeting that the HSP considered the Croatian question an international problem and refuses to resolve it within Yugoslavia. In response, Radić, supported by Lorković, rebuked the HSP for trying to assume control over the Croatian Bloc, ejected it from the coalition and told Prebeg, Košutić and Pavelić to leave the room immediately.^[32] Radić also resented frequent contacts between the HSP's leaders and Pašić-led People's Radical Party (NRS) and interpreted it as backstabbing.^[33]

The rump Croatian Bloc outlined its conditions to Davidović requesting, among other things, three ministerial positions in a future Yugoslav government and provincial administration in Croatia-Slavonia, Dalmatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 29 November, Davidović agreed and drew up a joint statement requiring Croatian Bloc's agreement to participate in the work of the Yugoslav assembly even before any new elections. On 1 December, Radić replied that the Croatian Bloc would abstain from parliamentary work until the current government had a supporting parliamentary majority. Three days later Pašić resigned as the prime minister and new elections were called.^[31]

Croatian Bloc existed until shortly before the Yugoslav parliamentary elections held on 18 March 1923. As the election was called, the HRSS announced it would run independent of the Croatian Union, except in Zagreb if the coalition partner would provide a candidate to the top of the ticket there, stipulating that such candidate must publicly oppose monarchy. The Croatian Union instead announced it would not run in the election and called on its supporters to vote for the HRSS.^[34]

Aftermath

Following the 1923 elections, the HRSS increased the number of seats it held in the national assembly to 70 while its former Croatian Bloc partners retained no seats. The coalition had served Radić to strengthen his position as the most popular Croatian political figure and confirm the HRSS as the only relevant political representative of Croats.^[35] At the same time, the HRSS became the second largest political party in Yugoslavia measured by the number of seats won.^[36] The Democratic Party became fractured as the result of its negotiations with the HRSS: A faction led by Svetozar Pribićević criticised Davidović for the move and the divisions in the party led to its defeat in the election.^[37] In 1924, the Pribićević's faction ultimately broke away from the Democratic party over cooperation with the HRSS to form the Independent Democratic Party.^[38]

The NRS maintained contacts with the HSP after its ejection from the Croatian Bloc, providing it with financial assistance.^[39] At one point, it was proposed to transform the HSP into the Croatian Radical Party, an ally of the ruling NRS.^[40] Numerous contacts and promises of concessions to the HSP members for their alliance or joining the NRS were widely reporded by the contemporary press.^[41] The cooperation was aimed at weakening the position of the HRSS.^[42] The parties discussed "amputation" of Croatia,^[43] entailing removal of Central Croatia and Slovenia from Yugoslavia, leaving Slavonia and Dalmatia within the country and presumably solving the Croatian question.^[44] Finally, the aim of the HSP–NRS cooperation was to install the HSP leaders as the rulers of the rump Croatia.^[45] On 27 March 1925, Radić recognised the Vidovdan Constitution and the NRS stopped supporting the HSP.^[46]

The HANAO was taken over by the HSP.^[29] The move came about in 1923 after the HRSS leaders publicly distanced the party from violence, expressing their desire to pursue politics without hatred for Serbs.^[47] Subsequently, the HANAO established contacts with the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – previously rejected while under the influence or control of the HRSS.^[48][22]

The name of the Croatian Bloc was reused once more in the interwar period Yugoslavia, this time as a united front against Radić.^[40] The HSP formed a coalition with the Ante Trumbić-led Croatian Federalist Peasant Party ahead of the 1927 Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes parliamentary election. The two parties won one seat each – held by Pavelić and Trumbić.^[49]

Notes

References

Sources