Original scientific paper
GAVRO GRÜNHUT – PUBLISHER, PUBLICIST AND AGITATOR FOR THE PARTY OF RIGHT
Jasna Turkalj
; Croatian Institute of History, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Gavro Grünhut (Senj 1849 – Vienna 1906) belongs among the ranks of the lesser known Croat politicians, even though he was an important figure for the propagation of the ideas of the influential Party of Right (Hrvatska stranka prava – SP) during the 1880s, when the Party of Right becomes a national movement. Grünhut’s contribution to the spread and popularization of the SP after 1878 on the territory of Civil Croatia, and after 1881 on the territory of the reintegrated Military Frontier, is for the most part related to the party’s publicistic writings. Grünhut was the first editor of Sloboda [Freedom], the political organ of the Party of Right which began to come out in Sušak on 1 September 1878, and the publisher of the literary journal Hrvatska vila [Croatian nymph] which was after 1882 likewise printed in Sušak. After moving to Zagreb at the beginning of 1883, Grünhut owned a bookstore on Jelačić square, which became the meeting place of Party of Right supporters; he also owned the humouristic-satirical paper Bič [Whip] whose first issue was published 1November 1883. Even during his time in Sušak he traveled throughout Croatia obtaining voters and supporters for the Party of Right and subscribers for Sloboda; upon his arrival in Zagreb he was prominent in the organization of election campaigns, and agitation in the Zagreb public houses and cafes on the eve of elections to the Croatian Sabor in 1884. The results of this election confirmed that the Rightist movement was at its apex, but at this very time Grünhut’s businesses were hit by crisis. The Khuen regime applied heavy pressure to the Rightist press and Grünhut’s lack of financial acumen led first of all to the demise of his bookstore, and following that the end of Bič and Hrvatska vila in mid 1885. Soon after the election in 1887, in which the opposition was broken, Grünhut finally broke with the Party of Right and moved to Vienna, where he died in 1906.
Keywords
Party of Right; humouristic-satirical paper Bič; literary journal Hrvatska vila; political agitation
Hrčak ID:
103025
URI
Publication date:
31.10.2003.
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