Original scientific paper
THE SYNDICATE MOVEMENT IN THE PERIOD 1933—1936 IN THE LIGHT OF THE POLICY OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF YUGOSLAVIA
Bosiljka Janjatović
Abstract
In 1933 the Syndicate movement in Croatia, as in Yugoslavia, was heterogeneous and disunited, dragged in several political directions. There were syndicates that worked under the influence of political parties and groups connected with the workers' movement, the Ujedinjeni radnički sindikalni savez Jugoslavije (URSSJ — The United Workers Syndicate Coalition of Yugoslavia) and the Opći radnički savez (ORS — General Workers' Union), others which were under the direction of the opposition bourgeous parties, the Hrvatska seljačka stranka (HSS — The Croatian Peasant Part)r) and the Jugoslavenska radikalna zajednica (JRZ — The Yugoslav Radical Union) directed by the regime. The Hrvatski radnički savez (HRS — The Croatian Workers' Union) worked under the influence of the HSS, and the Jugoslovenski radnički savez (JUGORAS — The Yugoslav Workers' Union) under the influence of the JRZ.
Because of this situation the basic aim of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia was to attain unity of organization and even more of action among workers through joint action within the syndicate framework. The Communist Party laid great stress on strikes, tariff movements, demands for a shorter working day, higher pay etc. — in short, on organizing the working class struggle through the syndicates. This meant that it also had to try to attract unorganized workers into the syndicates. These basic concepts of the Communist Party were not accepted by any of the existing syndicates, not even by those -where communists worked. After the proclamation of the Dictatorship in 1929 the Communists were left without their own syndicates, and so entered the socialist ones, especially the URSSJ and to some extent the ORS. These syndicates were in the hands of the socialists and at first they bitterly opposed the entry of communists. When their opposition had no success they tried in every way to thwart the realization of the policy of the Communist Party in the syndicates. But during the period 1933—1936. the communists and their sympathisers, together with other workers, gradually became the deciding force in the URSSJ syndicates throughout almost the whole of Croatia, which vas best shown at the Regional Conference of the URSSJ held in March 1936 in Zagreb. The relations between various forces in the syndicate movement and their ideas were most clearly seen during strikes. The strike movement, even though it developed within the existing social, political and economic situation in the country, showed the undoubted influence of the communists in the URSSJ syndicates, because there Unions organized and led most of the strikes.
Because of these conditions in the syndicate movement in Croatia the idea of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia concerning organizational unity in the syndicate movement could not be attained. But in practice — particularly during strikes — unity of action of both organized and unorganized, and sometimes unity of action of workers organized in the URSSJ and workers organized in other syndicate organizations was realized.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
164927
URI
Publication date:
8.1.1970.
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