Original scientific paper

RAILWAY WORKERS IN CROATIA (1903)

Ljiljana Dobrovšak ; Institute of Social Sciences "Ivo Pilar", Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

The construction of railways in the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia was determined by businessmen in Budapest and Vienna. The direction of these railways had to conform to the interests of the two centres of power in the Dual Monarchy. As a result, railway lines in Croatia were not conducive to domestic economic development, because densely inhabited regions and areas of natural wealth were often not linked to the railway lines. The construction of railway lines in Croatia was influenced by the “Society of Southern Railways”
and the “Hungarian State Railway” as well as private business circles. The lack of influence by Croatian political and economic groups on the development of railways in Croatia resulted in the employment of mostly Magyar nationals on the Croatian railways, who used Hungarian as their official language, against all the regulations laid out in the Compromise of 1868. During the national uprising of 1903-1904, the most common targets of demonstrators were the personnel and buildings of the railways, where Hungarian flags were
displayed. Of the total number of personnel employed by the railways in Croatian and Slavonian counties in 1903, 65.27% were Hungarian, 34.39% were Croatian, and 0.34% Cisleithanian nationals. Of that number, 57.63% of them spoke or were familiar with the Croatian language.

Keywords

railways; 1903, workers; occupations; Croatian nationals; Hungarian nationals; nationalities

Hrčak ID:

30609

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/30609

Publication date:

7.10.2008.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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