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Stjepan Radić, Yugoslavism, and the Habsburg Monarchy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2009

Mark Biondich
Mark Biondich
Affiliation:
Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A1.
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Extract

The idea that the South Slavs constituted a single ethnic whole has long received considerable support in Croat intellectual circles. Ljudevit Gaj's Illyrian movement of the 1830s and 1840s, which represented the initial stage of the Croat national awakening, recognized this idea and attempted to construct a common culture for all South Slavs under the neutral Illyrian name. Given the increased pressure of Magyarization in the first half of the nineteenth century, the linguistic and regional particularisms of the Croats resulting from the breakup of Croat lands in the medieval and early modern periods, and the presence of a considerable Serb minority in the Croat lands, the Illyrian idea became a necessity. It enabled the “awakeners” to overcome the particularisms that complicated the creation of a national consciousness among the Croats and deeply implanted in this consciousness the commonality of the South Slavs. Illyrianism eventually became a political force that found expression in the revolutions of 1848–49, but it was largely rejected by the Slovene intelligentsia and the Serbs of the Serbian principality and the Vojvodina. It remained a force and retained its significance only in the Croat lands.

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Articles
Information
Austrian History Yearbook , Volume 27 , January 1996 , pp. 109 - 131
Copyright
Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 1996

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References

I would like to express my gratitude to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for its financial assistance, without which the research for this article would not have been possible. I would also like to thank Andrew Rossos and Robert C. Austin for reading and commenting on an earlier draft of this article.

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4 See, for example, Bogdanov, Vaso, Historija političkih stranaka u Hrvatskoj od prvih stranačkih grupiranja do 1918 (The history of political parties in Croatia from the first party formations to 1918) (Zagreb, 1958), 782–89Google Scholar.

5 Šidak, Studije iz hrvatske povijesti XIX stoljeća 55. See also Strossmayer, Josip J. and Rački, Franjo, Politčtki spisi (Political writings), compiled by Vladimir Košćak (Zagreb, 1971), 7–86Google Scholar.

6 Banac, The National Question in Yugoslavia, 90–91.

7 For studies of Starčević and his movement, see Gross, M., Povijest pravaske ideologije (The history of the ideology of the Party of Right) (Zagreb, 1973)Google Scholar; Gross, M., “O nacionalnoj ideologiji A. Starčcevica i E. Kvaternika” (About the national ideology of A. Starčcević and E. Kvaternik), Časopis za suvremenu povijest (Journal of contemporary history) 4, no.1 (1972): 25–46Google Scholar; Starčević, Ante, Politički spisi (Political writings), compiled by Tomislav Ladan (Zagreb, 1971), 7–75Google Scholar; and Horvat, Josip, Ante Starčević. Kulturno-povjesna slika (Ante Starčević: A cultural-historical picture) (Zagreb, 1940)Google Scholar.

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9 For the Progressive Youth and the new course, see Lovrenčić, Rene, Geneza politike “Novog kursa” (The genesis of the policy of the “new course”) (Zagreb, 1972)Google Scholar; and Šidak et al, Povijest hrvatskog naroda, 152–55, 211–13.

10 For studies relating to these two individuals, see Pavelić, Ante Smith, Dr. Ante Trumbić Problemi hrvatsko-srpskih odnosa (Dr. Ante Trumbic: The problems of Croato-Serb relations) (Munich, 1959)Google Scholar; and Supilo, Frano, Politički spisi (Political writings), compiled by Šepić, Dragovan (Zagreb, 1970), 7–95Google Scholar.

11 Gross, Mirjana, Vladavina Hrvatsko-srpske koalkije 1906–1907 (The rule of the Croato-Serb Coalition, 1906–1907) (Belgrade, 1960), 5–6Google Scholar.

12 Ibid., 11–12, 14, 19–20.

13 Ibid., 21–22.

14 Bertić, Živan, Hrvatska politika (Croatian politics) (Zagreb, 1927), 19Google Scholar.

15 Gross, Vladavina Hrvatsko-srpske koalicije, 70, 81.

16 Banac, The National Question in Yugoslavia, 98–99.

17 Gross, Vladavina Hrvatsko-srpske koalicije, 226. Trialism, as understood in Croatia, meant the creation of a Greater Croatia, encompassing Croaria-Slavonia, Dalmatia, Istria, the Slovene lands, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and its constitutional elevation to a status equal to that of “Austria” and Hungary.

18 Gross, Povijest pravaške ideologije, 338–39, 350–51.

19 Ibid., 362.

20 Ibid., 354, 360.

21 Ibid., 369, 370–72.

22 Ibid., 404–5.

23 Acting on instructions from the Hungarian government, Cuvaj proclaimed the commissariat on April 3, 1912. Cuvaj suspended the constitution, introduced press censorship, and banned all public rallies, thus effectively establishing an absolutist regime in Croatia-Slavonia. With the appointment of Nikola Skerlecz to the position of commissar (later ban) in the summer of 1913, political freedoms were gradually reintroduced. For a discussion of these events, see Šidak et al., Povijest hrvatskog naroda, 276–79, 284–92.

24 For detailed studies of the revolutionary youth and their ideological development, see the excellent article by Mirjana Gross, “Nacionalne ideje studentske omladine u Hrvatskoj uoči I. svjetskog rata” (The national ideas of the student youth in Croatia on the eve of World War I), Historijski zbomik (Historical journal) 21–22 (1968–69): 75–144; and Vice Zaninović, “Mlada Hrvatska uoči I. svjetskog rata” (Young Croatia on the eve of World War I), Historijski zbornik 11–12 (1958–59): 65–104.

25 Gross, “Nacionalne ideje,” 112–24, 127–34. It should be noted that after the second Balkan war many Young Croats returned to the Starčevićist fold, their brief flirtation with Yugoslavism having been punctured by the Serbo-Bulgarian conflict. Others did not abandon Yugoslavism outright, although they now advocated a different form. No longer advocates of the “hybridization” of the South Slavs, they still believed that Croat individuality could be preserved under the rubric of Yugoslavism.

26 Radić, Stjepan, “JuŽni Slaveni, njihovo narodno jedinstvo i njihova snaga” (The South Slavs, their national oneness and their strength), Hrvatska misao (Croat thought) 4, no.2 (1904): 55Google Scholar.

27 Ibid., 63. See also Radić, Stjepan, Savremena Evropa ili Karakteristika evropskih drŽava i naroda (Contemporary Europe; or, Characteristics of the European states and nations) (Zagreb, 1905), 246Google Scholar.

28 Stjepan Radić, Polittčcki spisi, comp. KulundŽić, 264.

29 Ibid., 145–46.

30 Ibid., 148.

31 Ibid., 270–72 All italics are in the original.

32 Ibid., 272.

33 Radić, Stjepan, “Uzroci hrvatsko-srbskomu sporu i njegovo rješenje ili Hrvatsko državno pravo i srbska iredenta” (The causes of the Croato-Serb struggle and its resolution; or, Croat state right and Serb irredentists), Hrvatska misao 5, no. 3 (1905): 158–60Google Scholar.

34 Radić, Stjepan, “Što vi zapravo mislite o srbskom pitanju?” (What do you in fact think of the Serb question?), Hrvatska misao 4, no. 4 (1905): 183–85Google Scholar.

35 Radić, “Uzroci hrvatsko-srbskomu sporu i njegovo rjeŠenje,” 161.

36 Radić, “Što vi zapravo mislite o srbskom pitanju?,” 180–81.

37 Ibid., 177,179.

38 For interpretations about Radić's plans for the monarchy's reorganization, see Matković, Stjepan, “Vidjenje Stjepana Radića o preobražaju HabsburSke monarhije 1905–1906” (Stjepan Radić's vision about the transformation of the Habsburg monarchy), Časopis za suvremenu povijest 25, no. 1 (1993): 125–39Google Scholar; Krizman, Bogdan, “Plan Stjepana Radića o preuredjenju HabšburSke monarhije” (Stjepan Radić's plan for the reorganization of the Habsburg monarchy), Istorija XX veka. Zbornik radova (History of the twentieth century: Collection of works) 12 (1972): 31–84Google Scholar.

39 Radić, Stjepan, Slavenska politika u Habsburžkoj monarkiji (Slavic policy in the Habsburg monarchy) (Zagreb, 1906), 13Google Scholar.

40 Ibid., 15. For more on Radić's views of Slavic reciprocity and the need for political cooperation among the monarchy's Slavs, see his Moderna kolonizacija i Slaveni (Modern colonization and the Slavs) (Zagreb, 1904), 232–40, 250–52Google Scholar.

41 Radić, Slavenska politika, 40. Common “civil” matters included uniform legislation pertaining to freedom of the press and association, as well as a single imperial electoral law. Language, peasant and worker rights, and bureaucratic responsibility would all fall under imperial juris-diction. Trade and finance were to be common affairs.

42 Ibid., 48, 52–53.

43 Ibid., 37–38.

44 Ibid., 39.

45 Ibid., 43, 46–47.

46 Ibid., 68–69.

47 For Radić's assessment of the Rijeka Resolution and the new course, see Radić, “Uzroci hrvatsko-srbskomu sporu i njegovo rješenje,” 152–54; and Radić, Stjepan, Hrvati i Madjari ili Hrvatska politika i “Riečka rezolucija” (Croats and Magyars; or, Croatian politics and the “Rijeka Resolution”) (Zagreb, 1905)Google Scholar.

48 Radić, Stjepan, Savremena ustavnost. Temelji, načela, jamstvo, obilježje (Contemporary constitutionality: Foundations, principles, guaranty, character) (Zagreb, 1910), 128Google Scholar.

49 Dom, 03 25, 1908, 1Google Scholar. Dom (Home) was the HPSS's official weekly party paper.

50 Dom, 10 21, 1908, 1–2Google Scholar.

51 Dom, 11 11, 1908, 1Google Scholar.

52 Dom, 11 25, 1908, 1Google Scholar. See also Radić's, Živo hrvatsko pravo na Bosnu i Hercegovinu (The living Croat right to Bosnia-Herzegovina) (Zagreb, 1908)Google Scholar, written shortly after the monarchy's annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

53 Dom, 11 11, 1908, 1Google Scholar. For Radić's views about Frank, see Radić, Stjepan, Frankova politička smrt (Frank's political death) (Zagreb, 1908)Google Scholar.

54 Dom, 02 10, 1909, 2Google Scholar.

55 Dom, 12 9, 1908, 1Google Scholar.

56 Dom, 04 22, 1909, 1Google Scholar.

57 Dom, 09 22, 1909, 1Google Scholar.

58 Ibid., 1–2; Oct. 19, 1910, 2.

59 Dom, 07 20, 1910, 1Google Scholar.

60 Dom, 08 31, 1910, 1Google Scholar.

61 Dom, 10 19, 1910, 2Google Scholar.

62 Dom, 11 9, 1910, 2Google Scholar.

63 Dom, 03 1, 1911, 1Google Scholar.

64 Dom, 02 7, 1913, 1Google Scholar. Radić, greeted the Bulgarian advance on Adrianople as a great victory for “the whole of Slavdom.” Dom, 03. 31, 1913, 2Google Scholar.

65 Dom, 07 9, 1913, 1Google Scholar.

66 Dom, 06 17, 1914, 1Google Scholar.

67 Dom, 04 15, 1914, 1Google Scholar.

68 Ibid., 2.

69 Dom, 04 22, 1914, 2Google Scholar.

70 Dom, 05 6, 1914, 2Google Scholar.

71 Dom, 05 13, 1914, 1Google Scholar.

72 Dom, 07 1, 1914, 1Google Scholar. According to Vladko Maček, Radić's close collaborator and eventual successor, at the outset of the world war Radić told him that he hoped the monarchy would be thoroughly defeated but remain intact. Such a defeat would, he believed, force the dynasty to reorganize the monarchy internally. A complete victory by imperial Germany and the monarchy would be a “catastrophe” for all of the nations of the monarchy, except for the Germans and Magyars. The collapse of the monarchy, on the other hand, would be a catastrophe for all of its peoples, including the Germans and Magyars. Maček, Vladko, Memoari (Memoirs), ed. Urbić, Boris (Zagreb, 1992), 38Google Scholar.