Socialism in the Beginnings of the Workers’ Movement in Croatia and Slavonia: Between Marx and Lassalle

Abstract

The first decades of the second half of the 19th century were a turning point in the history of the Habsburg Monarchy. During the wave of changes that affected the Monarchy at the time, including modernization, the first workers’ societies were founded in Croatia and Slavonia, an early workers’ movement was formed, and modern political movements such as socialism emerged. Starting from contextualization, the author has analysed the formation and operation of the workers’ movement in Croatia and Slavonia during the 1870s. Contrary to previous research, according to which the political ideology of the workers’ movement was based on the socialism of Karl Marx and the First International, the author argues that the development of socialist thought and political practice of the workers’ movement in this period was largely influenced by the ideas of Ferdinand Lassalle and by contacts with the German working classes. Primarily using contemporary newspapers, as the only medium for disseminating ideas that was widely available at the time, the author has analysed the discourse and the main points of the publicly communicated ideology, highlighting the characteristic patterns that the workers’ and socialist movement in Croatia and Slavonia took over from the writings of Lassalle or from the tradition of Lassallian socialism. The conclusion is that the initially dominant ideology of Lassallian socialism was subsequently upgraded with ideas characteristic of Marx’s view of socialism.