League of Communists of Croatia
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League of Communists of Croatia Savez komunista Hrvatske | |
---|---|
Marxism-Leninism Titoism | |
Political position | Left-wing to far-left |
National affiliation | League of Communists of Yugoslavia |
Colours | Red |
Party flag | |
Croatian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia |
League of Communists of Croatia (
History
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The party was formally founded in 1937 with Pavle Gregorić as its first general secretary. The reasons for KPJ to have its specifically Croatian branch were partly ideological, partly practical. Croatia, just as Slovenia, which would have its Communist Party at the same time, was the most industrialised part of the country, with the biggest percentage of working class in the population, and, therefore, more likely to adopt communism than rural Serbia.
The other, more practical, reason was in the increased marginalisation of Communists in Croatian political life due to public more preoccupied with ethnic issues and position of Croatia within Yugoslavia (cf.
Prior to the formation of the Communist Party of Croatia there was a Croatian-Slavonian Provincial Committee of the Socialist Workers Party of Yugoslavia (Communists) and there was a developed party structure of the Socialist Party of Croatia and Slavonia. Dalmatia had its own structures up to 1937.
KPH, just like KPJ, was illegal and, therefore, remained marginalised, especially after the 1939 Cvetković–Maček Agreement and the creation of the banovina of Croatia within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
Party's fortunes dramatically changed with the 1941
SFR Yugoslavia
In 1945 Yugoslavia was indeed federalised with Croatia becoming a republic, but its nominal autonomy was of little importance with KPJ being heavily centralised and KPH – renamed into SKH in 1952 – being its integral part.
Things began to change in late 1960s with Tito allowing for reformist policies embodied of new generation of Communist leaders. This generation included SKH leaders
The movement, however, created a lot of ethnic tension and increasing opposition from the more conservative Party members. In December 1971, on the
As a result, SKH in the 1970s became one of the most conservative sections of SKJ and remained interested in maintaining ideological and political status quo even when other branches of SKJ began to explore new ideas.
Because of that[clarification needed], SKH in late 1980s was slow to react when League of Communists of Serbia under Slobodan Milošević aimed to reassert[clarification needed] internal Serbian interest. SKH began to openly condemn Milošević only in 1989 after Serbian nationalist demonstrations in areas that would later become Republic of Serbian Krajina.
It is estimated that in the 1980s, during its zenith, the SKH had around 300-400,000 members. Subsequent surveys showed that most of the membership left the party in 1990, with only minority remaining active in politics. Of those, majority joined the
Party of Democratic Changes
With increasingly apparent prospect of SKH being forced to allow some form of
In January 1990 the Croatian Party delegation led by Ivica Račan left the 14th Congress of SKJ, a few hours after the Slovenian Party delegation did so over a row with the Serbian Party delegation.
In the next few months, SKH tried very hard to present itself as modern and reformist party, rebranding itself into a new party called the League of Communists of Croatia - Party of Democratic Changes (Savez komunista Hrvatske - Stranka demokratskih promjena, SKH-SDP), then to just Party of Democratic Changes (Stranka demokratskih promjena, SDP).
Those and other changes, however, weren't very convincing to the Croatian electorate and SKH lost power to Croatian Democratic Union of Franjo Tuđman.
In 1991, it was renamed to Socialdemocratic Party of Croatia–Party of Democratic Changes (Socijaldemokratska partija Hrvatske–Stranka demokratskih promjena, SDPH), that would ultimately become the Social Democratic Party of Croatia in 1993.
Ethno-nationalist issues
Another reason why the Party lost support in Croatia was because it was accused of being dominated by the Serb minority. The Serb influence was indeed disproportionate at times. In 1989, 30% of the members of the Croatian League of Communists were Serbs, while their overall percentage in the republic was less than 13%.
Serbs held the presidency of the party twice, one up to 1942 with Rade Končar, the other from 1986 until 1989 by Stanko Stojčević.
Ethnic composition of the governments
Government of April 14, 1945
- 5 Croats
- 1 Serb
- 8 members of unknown or undeclared ethnicity
Government of October 22, 1949
- 13 Croats
- 3 Serbs
- 1 Yugoslav
- 7 members of unknown or undeclared ethnicity
Executive Committee of February 7, 1953
- 18 Croats
- 3 Serbs
- 3 members of unknown or undeclared ethnicity
Executive Committee Spring 1958
- 16 Croats
- 2 Serbs
- 6 members of unknown or undeclared ethnicity
Executive Committee of 1963
- 5 Croats
- 6 members of unknown or undeclared ethnicity
Party leaders
- Andrija Hebrang(1942 – October 1944) (1899–1949)
- Vladimir Bakarić (October 1944 – 1969) (1912–1983)
- Savka Dabčević-Kučar (1969–1971) (1923–2009)
- Milka Planinc (14 December 1971 – May 1982) (1924–2010)
- Jure Bilić (May 1982 – 1 July 1983) (1922–2006)
- Josip Vrhovec (1 July 1983 – 15 May 1984) (1926–2006)
- Mika Špiljak (15 May 1984 – May 1986) (1916–2007)
- Stanko Stojčević (May 1986 – December 1989) (1929-2009)
- Ivica Račan (13 December 1989 – 1990) (1944–2007)
Revival
On 29 November 2004 – the date specifically chosen as Republic Day, former public holiday in
This new party should not be mistaken with KPH/SKH, because, unlike Social Democratic Party of Croatia, it is not its formal successor.
Congresses
Congress | Start date | End date | Duration | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 1 August | 2 August 1937 | 2 days | Samobor |
2nd | 21 November | 25 November 1948 | 5 days | Zagreb |
3rd | 26 May | 28 May 1954 | 3 days | Zagreb |
4th | 7 April | 10 April 1959 | 4 days | Zagreb |
5th | 26 April | 29 April 1965 | 4 days | Zagreb |
6th | 5 December | 7 December 1968 | 3 days | Zagreb |
7th | 7 April | 9 April 1974 | 3 days | Zagreb |
8th | 24 April | 26 April 1978 | 3 days | Zagreb |
9th | 13 May | 16 May 1982 | 4 days | Zagreb |
10th | 16 May | 18 May 1986 | 3 days | Zagreb |
11th | 11 December | 13 December 1989 | 3 days | Zagreb |
12th | 3 November 1990 | 1 day | Zagreb |
See also
- History of Croatia
- League of Communists of Yugoslavia
- List of leaders of communist Yugoslavia
- Praxis School
References
- ^ (Glišić & Borković 1975, p. 24):"... Александар Ранковић. Он је око три месеца вршио дужност секретара ЦККПЈ Хрватске,"
- ^ "KOMUNISTIČKA PARTIJA HRVATSKE". komunisti-hrvatske.com (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 2005-12-03.
- ^ Glasistre.hr: Registrirana Komunistička partija Hrvatske, preuzeto 20. listopada 2013.
Sources
- Glišić, Venceslav; Borković, Milan (1975). Komunistička partija Jugoslavije u Srbiji 1941-1945. Rad.