Review article
Providential Politics Croatian Catholic Movement and Politics (1903—1929)
Zlatko MATIJEVIĆ
; Hrvatski institut za povijest, Zagreb
Abstract
The instigator of the Croatian Catholic Movement was the Bishop of Krk,
Antun Mahnić (1903). It was on his own initiative that the Croatian Catholic
Seniority — an exclusive organisation of secular and clerical intelligence —
was established. In December 1912, the seniors — a circle around Dr Petar
Rogulja — published their “political programme article” in which they
declared themselves to be in favour of the “national unity” of the Slovenes,
Croats and Serbs. After the “May Declaration” of 1917 had been published
— whose ultimate goal was the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian
Monarchy and the constitution of the Yugoslav state — the Seniority
accepted its political principles. In proportion to their numerical strength,
the Seniors joined the National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and actively participated in the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
and the constitution of the first Yugoslav union of states — the Kingdom of
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1918). In the Parliamentary life of the Kingdom
of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1919 — 1929), the Croatian People's Party
also participated. It was a “political branch” of the Croatian Catholic
Movement, thus its integral part. Although the Yugoslav Catholic episcopate
approved of the principles on the basis of which the party's politics was
supposed to be led, that did not — in the least — mean that it accepted
responsibility for the concrete political activity of the Croatian People's
Party. Partaking in the political life of the then state, the Croatian People's
Party reached its peak in the elections for the Constituent Assembly (1920).
In their “detached view” of the draught of the Government's Constitution,
the members of the Croatian People's Party advocated the autonomous
system of government of the Yugoslav union of states. After the
assassination of Stjepan Radić and his party members, the president of the
Croatian People's Party, Stjepan Barić, joined the coalition government of
the Rev Anton Koroπec, president of the Slovene People's Party (1928).
Barić's move caused the definite disappearance of the party from the
Croatian political stage.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
66364
URI
Publication date:
10.12.2009.
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