Croatian Spring
Encyclopedia
The Croatian Spring was a political movement from the early 1970s that called for greater rights for Croatia
which was then part of Yugoslavia
as well as democratic and economic reforms.
in 1967. After 1968 the patriotic goals of that document morphed into a generic Croatian movement for more rights for Croatia
which received grassroots support, especially amongst many student organizations which actively started to voice their support for the cause.
Among the main demands were greater civil rights for Croatian citizens; the right to take pride in one's history was prominently featured. This irritated Tito's communist government which, though not banning nationalist feelings, did not parade them around, as wounds from the Second World War were still fresh.
of Croatia would have allowed for a fairer distribution of profits. By waiving the right to use the federal bank of Yugoslavia, the republic would also have to waive its right to use the federal fund for underdeveloped regions. However, because Croatia was much wealthier than the other republics, with the exception of Slovenia, it used only 16.5% of the money from the federal solidarity fund between 1965 and 1970, while Serbia
used 46.6% almost exclusively for its undeveloped autonomous region of Kosovo i Metohija which, for itself was a province with high level autonomy. Concerns were also raised about the monopoly of the Yugoslav Investment Bank and the Bank for Foreign Trade from Belgrade
on all foreign investments and trade.
The Croatians also protested against general economic issues such as the increased economic emigration
into Western Europe. They objected that the Yugoslav government did too little to curb such trends. Among the issues raised was the usual practice of Yugoslav People's Army
sent people for mandatory military service into other republics rather than leaving them in the one they originated from.
into Croatia
to the attention of the authorities (similar to the Banovina of Croatia
that existed within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
from 1939 to 1941), but this was far from anything that the movement leaders were proposing. In fact, such red herrings were often used to denounce the demands related to decentralization and autonomy as expansionist and ultimately separatist.
The movement organized demonstrations in 1971 and thousands of Zagreb
students publicly protested.
, Božidar Finka and Milan Moguš
, published a spelling and grammar textbook in 1971 called Hrvatski pravopis (Croatian Orthography), rather than the accepted Srpskohrvatski (Serbo-Croatian). It was summarily banned. However, one copy survived and found its way to London
where it was printed and published.
The Yugoslav leadership interpreted the whole affair as a restoration of Croatian nationalism
, dismissed the movement as chauvinistic
and had the police suppress the demonstrators. In 1971, Soviet Union
leadership applied additional pressure on Josip Broz Tito
directly by Leonid Brezhnev
and indirectly by its ambassadors to Yugoslavia, to assert control of the Communist party within Yugoslavia, ostensibly adhering to the Brezhnev Doctrine
.
After the calls to the student strike, in December 1971 Tito persuaded to resign some unreliable, in his view, public figures like Savka Dabčević-Kučar, Miko Tripalo
and Dragutin Haramija and make a sweep in Croatian communist party and local administration. Many student activists were detained and some were even sentenced to years of prison. Some estimate that up to two thousand people were criminally prosecuted for participation in these events. Among those arrested at this time were future president of Croatia Franjo Tuđman and dissident journalist Bruno Bušić
. There were several other notable political prisoners in Croatia
from this period.
Several student leaders from the Croatian Spring later emerged as influential political figures after the collapse of communism. Ivan Zvonimir-Čičak became the leader of the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
. Dražen Budiša
became the leader of the Croatian Social Liberal Party
. Savka Dabčević-Kučar, Miko Tripalo and Dragutin Haramija became founding members of the new Croatian People's Party.
The fourth edition of the Babić-Finka-Moguš Hrvatski pravopis is used today as a standard definition of the Croatian language
.
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
which was then part of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
as well as democratic and economic reforms.
History
The movement was set in motion when a group of influential Croatian poets and linguists published a Declaration on the Status and Name of the Croatian Standard LanguageDeclaration on the Status and Name of the Croatian Standard Language
The Declaration on the Status and Name of the Croatian Literary Language was a document brought by Croat scholars. The declaration was published on March 13, 1967 in the Telegram, Yugoslav newspapers for social and cultural issues, nr. 359, 17 March 1967...
in 1967. After 1968 the patriotic goals of that document morphed into a generic Croatian movement for more rights for Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
which received grassroots support, especially amongst many student organizations which actively started to voice their support for the cause.
Among the main demands were greater civil rights for Croatian citizens; the right to take pride in one's history was prominently featured. This irritated Tito's communist government which, though not banning nationalist feelings, did not parade them around, as wounds from the Second World War were still fresh.
Economical development
Some in the movement also voiced demands for the decentralization of the economy, which would have allowed the republic to keep more of the profits made from tourism within Croatia. According to some sources, as much as 50% of all foreign currency that entered Yugoslavia came through Croatia, but Croatia itself kept only 7% of it. An independent National BankNational bank
In banking, the term national bank carries several meanings:* especially in developing countries, a bank owned by the state* an ordinary private bank which operates nationally...
of Croatia would have allowed for a fairer distribution of profits. By waiving the right to use the federal bank of Yugoslavia, the republic would also have to waive its right to use the federal fund for underdeveloped regions. However, because Croatia was much wealthier than the other republics, with the exception of Slovenia, it used only 16.5% of the money from the federal solidarity fund between 1965 and 1970, while Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
used 46.6% almost exclusively for its undeveloped autonomous region of Kosovo i Metohija which, for itself was a province with high level autonomy. Concerns were also raised about the monopoly of the Yugoslav Investment Bank and the Bank for Foreign Trade from Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
on all foreign investments and trade.
The Croatians also protested against general economic issues such as the increased economic emigration
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
into Western Europe. They objected that the Yugoslav government did too little to curb such trends. Among the issues raised was the usual practice of Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
sent people for mandatory military service into other republics rather than leaving them in the one they originated from.
Unification
There were also attempts to bring the notion of including HerzegovinaHerzegovina
Herzegovina is the southern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While there is no official border distinguishing it from the Bosnian region, it is generally accepted that the borders of the region are Croatia to the west, Montenegro to the south, the canton boundaries of the Herzegovina-Neretva...
into Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
to the attention of the authorities (similar to the Banovina of Croatia
Banovina of Croatia
The Banovina of Croatia or Banate of Croatia was a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1939 and 1943 . Its capital was at Zagreb and it included most of present-day Croatia along with portions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia...
that existed within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
from 1939 to 1941), but this was far from anything that the movement leaders were proposing. In fact, such red herrings were often used to denounce the demands related to decentralization and autonomy as expansionist and ultimately separatist.
The movement organized demonstrations in 1971 and thousands of Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
students publicly protested.
Political unrest
Three Croatian linguists, Stjepan BabićStjepan Babic
Stjepan Babić is a Croatian linguist and academic.-Biography:He was born in the small town of Oriovac in Brod-Posavina County, even though his biological parents are from Hrvatsko Zagorje. He attended primary school in Oriovac, and gymnasium in Slavonski Brod, Osijek and finally in Zagreb...
, Božidar Finka and Milan Moguš
Milan Moguš
-Biography:He is born in Senj, where he finished primary school and high school. In the academic year 1948/49 he attended in Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb and he graduated in 1953...
, published a spelling and grammar textbook in 1971 called Hrvatski pravopis (Croatian Orthography), rather than the accepted Srpskohrvatski (Serbo-Croatian). It was summarily banned. However, one copy survived and found its way to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
where it was printed and published.
The Yugoslav leadership interpreted the whole affair as a restoration of Croatian nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
, dismissed the movement as chauvinistic
Chauvinism
Chauvinism, in its original and primary meaning, is an exaggerated, bellicose patriotism and a belief in national superiority and glory. It is an eponym of a possibly fictional French soldier Nicolas Chauvin who was credited with many superhuman feats in the Napoleonic wars.By extension it has come...
and had the police suppress the demonstrators. In 1971, Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
leadership applied additional pressure on Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
directly by Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...
and indirectly by its ambassadors to Yugoslavia, to assert control of the Communist party within Yugoslavia, ostensibly adhering to the Brezhnev Doctrine
Brezhnev Doctrine
The Brezhnev Doctrine was a Soviet Union foreign policy, first and most clearly outlined by S. Kovalev in a September 26, 1968 Pravda article, entitled “Sovereignty and the International Obligations of Socialist Countries.” Leonid Brezhnev reiterated it in a speech at the Fifth Congress of the...
.
After the calls to the student strike, in December 1971 Tito persuaded to resign some unreliable, in his view, public figures like Savka Dabčević-Kučar, Miko Tripalo
Miko Tripalo
Miko Tripalo was a Croatian and Yugoslav politician.A son of well-to-do farmers' family near Sinj, he joined Tito's Partisans as a teenager...
and Dragutin Haramija and make a sweep in Croatian communist party and local administration. Many student activists were detained and some were even sentenced to years of prison. Some estimate that up to two thousand people were criminally prosecuted for participation in these events. Among those arrested at this time were future president of Croatia Franjo Tuđman and dissident journalist Bruno Bušić
Bruno Bušic
Ante Bruno Bušić was a Croatian writer and critic of Yugoslav communism. He was one of the best-known victims of UDBA killing.Bušić was born in the village of Vinjani Donji near Imotski...
. There were several other notable political prisoners in Croatia
Political prisoners in Croatia
Political imprisonment in Croatia was a factor in Croatian history during its time in the Yugoslavian state.Croatia's political prisoners' law recognizes those who were imprisoned during the period between December 8, 1918 and October 8, 1991...
from this period.
Constitution
In 1974, a new federal constitution was ratified that gave more autonomy to the individual republics, thereby basically fulfilling the main goals of the 1971 movement.Several student leaders from the Croatian Spring later emerged as influential political figures after the collapse of communism. Ivan Zvonimir-Čičak became the leader of the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
The Helsinki Committees for Human Rights exist in many European countries as volunteer, non-profit organizations devoted to human rights and presumably named after the Helsinki Accords...
. Dražen Budiša
Dražen Budiša
Dražen Budiša is a Croatian politician who used to be leading opposition figure in the 1990s and a two-time presidential candidate.-During Yugoslavia:...
became the leader of the Croatian Social Liberal Party
Croatian Social Liberal Party
Croatian Social Liberal Party or HSLS is a conservative liberal political party in Croatia. The party is a member of Liberal International and the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party. Its current president is Darinko Kosor, elected to that post in November 2009.-Chronology:The HSLS was...
. Savka Dabčević-Kučar, Miko Tripalo and Dragutin Haramija became founding members of the new Croatian People's Party.
The fourth edition of the Babić-Finka-Moguš Hrvatski pravopis is used today as a standard definition of the Croatian language
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
.