Jože Pucnik
Encyclopedia
Jože Pučnik was a Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

n public intellectual, sociologist and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

. During the Communist regime of 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...

, Pučnik was one of the most outspoken Slovenian critics of dictatorship and lack of civil liberties in former Yugoslavia
Former Yugoslavia
The former Yugoslavia is a term used to describe the present day states which succeeded the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia....

. He was imprisoned for a total of 7 years, and later forced into exile. After returning to Slovenia in the late 1980s, he became the leader of the Democratic Opposition of Slovenia
Democratic Opposition of Slovenia
Democratic Opposition of Slovenia, also known as the DEMOS coalition was a coalition of democratic political parties, created by an agreement between the Slovenian Democratic Union, the Social Democrat Alliance of Slovenia, the Slovene Christian Democrats, the Farmers' Alliance and the Greens of...

, a platform of democratic parties that defeated the Communists in the first free elections in 1990 and introduced a democratic system and market economy to Slovenia. He is also considered one of the fathers of Slovenian independence from Yugoslavia.

Early life and formation

Pučnik was born in the village of Črešnjevec in Slovenian Styria (now part of the municipality of Slovenska Bistrica
Slovenska Bistrica
Slovenska Bistrica is a town and a municipality south of Maribor in eastern Slovenia. It is one of the largest municipalities in Slovenia. Traditionally the area was part of the Lower Styria region. The municipality is now included in the Drava statistical region. The town was established in the...

), in what was then 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...

. He came from a Roman Catholic peasant family that had supported the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People
Liberation Front of the Slovenian People
On 26 April 1941 in Ljubljana the Anti-Imperialist Front was established. It was to promote "an international massive movement" to "liberate the Slovenian nation" whose "hope and example was the Soviet Union"...

 during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

Already as a teenager, Pučnik clashed with the Communist establishment. Because of some critical thoughts published in the high school paper Iskanja ("Quests") he was prohibited from taking his final exam. Since he couldn't enroll in the University, he was drafted in the 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...

. After completing the military service, he took the final exam, passed it and enrolled at the University of Ljubljana
University of Ljubljana
The University of Ljubljana is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. With 64,000 enrolled graduate and postgraduate students, it is among the largest universities in Europe.-Beginnings:...

, where he studied philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 and comparative literature
Comparative literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the literature of two or more different linguistic, cultural or national groups...

, graduating in 1958.

While living in Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...

, he became involved with a group of young intellectuals, known as the Critical generation, which tried to open a space for public debate and challenged the rigid cultural policies of the Titoist regime in the Socialist Republic of Slovenia
Socialist Republic of Slovenia
The Socialist Republic of Slovenia was a socialist state that was a constituent country of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1943 until 1990...

. Among Pučnik's closest collaborators from that period were the literary historian Taras Kermauner
Taras Kermauner
Taras Kermauner was a Slovenian literary historian, critic, philosopher, essayist, playwright and translator.- Life :...

, sociologist Veljko Rus
Veljko Rus
Veljko Rus is a Slovenian sociologist, writer and academic.He was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia to a prominent upper middle class family...

, and poet Veno Taufer
Veno Taufer
Veno Taufer is a Slovenian poet, essayist, translator and playwright. Together with Dane Zajc and Gregor Strniša, he is considered one of the foremost Slovenian modernist poets of the postwar era...

. Pučnik believed that the system could be changed from inside and therefore joined the Communist Party of Slovenia. At the same time, he published several articles in the Revija 57magazine, in which he openly criticised the economic policies of the Communist regime.

The dissident years

In 1958, Pučnik was arrested accused of "subversion of the Socialist system" and sentenced to 9 years in jail. At the trial, which lasted only a couple of hours, he was accused of having instigated workers to strike. Some have suggested that Pučnik's imprisonment was a deliberate attempt by the regime to silence dissident intellectuals. He was released in 1963 and immediately continued writing for the alternative journal Perspektive. At this point he was already publicly stating his disapproval of the regime. In 1964, his article Problemi našega kmetijstva ("The Problems of Our Agriculture") was published in the journal Perspektive. In it, Pučnik criticized the agricultural policy of the regime, arguing that it was inefficient using publicly available official data. He was arrested again, sentenced to another two years in prison and expelled from the Communist Party.

During his time in prison, Pučnik became an idol for his generation. The playwright Dominik Smole
Dominik Smole
Dominik Smole was a Slovenian writer and playwright.-Biography:Smole was born in Ljubljana in what was then the Kingdom of Yugoslavia...

 dedicated him the play Antigone and Primož Kozak
Primož Kozak
Primož Kozak was a Slovenian playwright and essayist. He was, together with Dominik Smole, Dane Zajc and Taras Kermauner, the most visible representative of the so-called Critical generation, a group of Slovenian authors and intellectuals that reflected on the paradoxes of the Communist regime,...

 portrayed him in the leading role of his play Afera ("The Affaire"). Both plays were metaphors for the totalitarian repression in Communist Yugoslavia.

Emigration and academic career

Pučnik was released from jail in 1966. After several unsuccessful attempts to find a job, he decided to emigrate to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. He settled in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, making a living from manual jobs. When he decided to enroll as a postgraduate student at the University of Hamburg
University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg is a university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by Wilhelm Stern and others. It grew out of the previous Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen and the Kolonialinstitut as well as the Akademisches Gymnasium. There are around 38,000 students as of the start of...

, the University of Ljubljana refused to provide him with a copy of his degree. He thus enrolled again to undergraduate study of philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 and sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

, obtaining his PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in 1971. He worked at the universities of Hamburg and Lüneburg
Lüneburg
Lüneburg is a town in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of fellow Hanseatic city Hamburg. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, and one of Hamburg's inner suburbs...

, where he taught sociology. During his life in Germany, Pučnik became a supporter of the German Social Democratic Party, maintaining close relations with several of its leaders. In the late 1980s, he became an open admirer of the Social Democratic leader of Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...

 Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder is a German politician, and was Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , he led a coalition government of the SPD and the Greens. Before becoming a full-time politician, he was a lawyer, and before becoming Chancellor...

, later chancellor of Germany, whom he took as his main role model for his subsequent political activity.

In the academic sphere, he became influenced by the theories of Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas is a German sociologist and philosopher in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. He is perhaps best known for his theory on the concepts of 'communicative rationality' and the 'public sphere'...

, Niklas Luhmann
Niklas Luhmann
Niklas Luhmann was a German sociologist, and a prominent thinker in sociological systems theory.-Biography:...

 and his system theory, as well as by several phenomenological sociologists such as Alfred Schutz
Alfred Schütz
Alfred Schütz was an Austrian social scientist, whose work bridged sociological and phenomenological traditions to form a social phenomenology, and who is gradually achieving recognition as one of the foremost philosophers of social science of the [twentieth] century.-Life:Schütz was born in...

 and the Slovene-born Thomas Luckmann
Thomas Luckmann
Thomas Luckmann is a German sociologist of Slovene origin. His main areas of research are the sociology of communication, Sociology of knowledge, sociology of religion, and the philosophy of science.- Biography :...

.

During his years of exile, he kept up a correspondence with several important critical intellectuals in Slovenia, especially Ivo Urbančič
Ivo Urbancic
Ivo Urbančič is a Slovenian philosopher. He is considered to be one of the fathers of the phenomenological school in Slovenia...

.

Return to Slovenia

In the 1980s, Pučnik could again publish articles in Slovenia, this time in the alternative journal Nova revija
Nova revija
Nova revija is a Slovenian publishing house and cultural institute that developed from the literary journal with the same name.- The magazine :...

. He returned to Slovenia in 1989 at the invitation of the newly formed opposition Social Democratic Union of Slovenia
Slovenian Democratic Party
The Slovenian Democratic Party , known until 2003 as the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia is a Slovenian centre-right liberal conservative and Christian democratic party...

. He was elected president of the party in 1989 and the following year he was chosen as the leader of the Democratic Opposition of Slovenia
Democratic Opposition of Slovenia
Democratic Opposition of Slovenia, also known as the DEMOS coalition was a coalition of democratic political parties, created by an agreement between the Slovenian Democratic Union, the Social Democrat Alliance of Slovenia, the Slovene Christian Democrats, the Farmers' Alliance and the Greens of...

, a common platform of all democratic opposition parties in Slovenia. The coalition won the first democratic elections in 1990. Pučnik ran for President of Slovenia
President of Slovenia
The function of President of the Republic of Slovenia was established on 23 December 1991, when the National Assembly of Slovenia passed a new constitution as a result of independence from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia....

 but lost to Milan Kučan
Milan Kucan
Milan Kučan is a Slovenian politician and statesman. He was the first President of Slovenia.-Early life and political beginnings:...

, the last secretary general of the Communist Party of Slovenia. He was nevertheless elected to the Slovenian Parliament
Slovenian Parliament
The Slovenian Parliament is the informal designation of the general representative body of the Slovenian nation and the legislative body of the Republic of Slovenia....

 and remained the official leader of the Democratic Opposition of Slovenia. Between 1990 and 1992, he was among those who led Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

 to independence from Yugoslavia. In 1992, after the fall of Lojze Peterle
Lojze Peterle
Alojz "Lojze" Peterle is a Slovenian politician. He was the leader of the Slovene Christian Democrats from the founding of the party in 1990 until it merged with the Slovenian People's Party in 2000. Between 1990 and 1992, he was the president of the first freely elected Slovenian government, and...

's coalition government, Pučnik decided to lead his party into a coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party
Liberal Democracy of Slovenia
Liberal Democracy of Slovenia is a liberal political party in Slovenia. It is led by Katarina Kresal and is a member of the Liberal International and the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party...

 and briefly served as vice-president in the first government of Janez Drnovšek
Janez Drnovšek
Janez Drnovšek was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia , Prime Minister of Slovenia and President of Slovenia . He was born in Celje, Slovenia, then the Socialist Republic of Slovenia...

.

In the elections of 1992, the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia
Slovenian Democratic Party
The Slovenian Democratic Party , known until 2003 as the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia is a Slovenian centre-right liberal conservative and Christian democratic party...

 suffered a complete defeat, gaining a mere 3.4% of the vote, just enough to enter Parliament. Pučnik resigned as president of the party in favour of Janez Janša
Janez Janša
Janez Janša is a Slovenian politician who was Prime Minister of Slovenia from November 2004 to November 2008. He has also been President of the Slovenian Democratic Party since 1993...

. Between 1992 and 1996, Pučnik served as a member of the National Assembly of Slovenia. During this time, he led a parliamentary commission to clarify political responsibility for the summary executions perpetrated by the Communist regime in Slovenia after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 .

After 1996, he retired from active politics, but remained honorary president of the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia
Slovenian Democratic Party
The Slovenian Democratic Party , known until 2003 as the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia is a Slovenian centre-right liberal conservative and Christian democratic party...

 and continued to voice his opinion on matters of public interest. He remained utterly critical of the policies of Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Slovenia
There have been six Prime Ministers of Slovenia since that country gained its independence in the breakup of Yugoslavia. Unlike the President of Slovenia, who is directly elected, the Prime Minister is appointed by the National Assembly, and must control a majority there in order to...

 Janez Drnovšek
Janez Drnovšek
Janez Drnovšek was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia , Prime Minister of Slovenia and President of Slovenia . He was born in Celje, Slovenia, then the Socialist Republic of Slovenia...

 and President Milan Kučan
Milan Kucan
Milan Kučan is a Slovenian politician and statesman. He was the first President of Slovenia.-Early life and political beginnings:...

.

He died in Germany in 2003 and was buried in his home village of Črešnjevec. His funeral was attended by a huge crowd. The eulogy was delivered by philosopher and his lifelong friend Ivo Urbančič
Ivo Urbancic
Ivo Urbančič is a Slovenian philosopher. He is considered to be one of the fathers of the phenomenological school in Slovenia...

.

Legacy

Together with France Bučar
France Bucar
France Bučar is a Slovenian politician, legal expert and author. Between 1990 and 1992, he served as the first chairman of the freely elected Slovenian Parliament. He was the one to formally declare the independence of Slovenia on June 25, 1991. He is considered as one of the founding fathers of...

 and Milan Kučan
Milan Kucan
Milan Kučan is a Slovenian politician and statesman. He was the first President of Slovenia.-Early life and political beginnings:...

, Pučnik is considered to be one of the fathers of independent Slovenia. Some, especially in the Slovenian right wing circles, have also called him "Father of Slovenian Democracy".

In 2006, he was posthumously awarded the Order of Distinct Merits of Slovenia. In 2007, the Government of Slovenia named the main international airport in Slovenia, the Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport, after him. The decision was criticized by some, including the then President of Slovenia Janez Drnovšek
Janez Drnovšek
Janez Drnovšek was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia , Prime Minister of Slovenia and President of Slovenia . He was born in Celje, Slovenia, then the Socialist Republic of Slovenia...

 who publicly expressed his respect for Pučnik, but disagreed with the renaming of the airport after him. Author and publicist Spomenka Hribar
Spomenka Hribar
Spomenka Hribar is a Slovenian author, philosopher, sociologist, politician, columnist, and public intellectual. She was one of the most influential Slovenian intellectuals in the 1980s, and was frequently called "the First Lady of Slovenian Democratic Opposition", and "the Voice of Slovenian...

, Pučnik's former colleague, stated that Pučnik would not have agreed with such renaming, because he was a modest person who disliked public praise and rejected any "cult of personality
Cult of personality
A cult of personality arises when an individual uses mass media, propaganda, or other methods, to create an idealized and heroic public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise. Cults of personality are usually associated with dictatorships...

". A similar statement was made by Pučnik's son Gorazd, who however did not oppose the renaming and was present at the renaming ceremony.

The Slovenian liberal conservative think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...

 Jože Pučnik Institute and the elementary school in his native Črešnjevec are also named after him.

Personal life

Jože Pučnik was the brother of Ivan Pučnik, a reformist Communist politician from the late 1960s and early 1970s, who later also became a dissident and co-founder of the Slovenian Peasant Union in 1989.

He was married twice. After his first release from jail in 1963, he met a young Slovene woman from Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, who studied Slavic philology
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...

 in Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...

. They married the same year, when Pučnik was already imprisoned again; Pučnik was not allowed to attend his own wedding, and his brother Ivan had to represent him at the ceremony instead. His first son was born in 1964. When Pučnik was released from prison in 1966, the family moved to Germany; in 1969, however, the wife decided to return to Trieste with the son, while Pučnik decided to stay in Germany. He later remarried with a local German woman and had a son from the second marriage.

His son from the first marriage, Gorazd Pučnik, is a renowned pedagogue from Trieste.

Major works

  • Kultura, družba in tehnologija ("Culture, Society and Technology", 1988).
  • K političnemu sistemu Republike Slovenije ("Towards a Political System of the Republic of Slovenia", 1990).
  • Iz arhivov slovenske politične policije ("From the Archives of the Slovenian Political Police", 1996).
  • Izbrano delo ("Selected Works", edited by Ivan Urbančič, Janez Janša
    Janez Janša
    Janez Janša is a Slovenian politician who was Prime Minister of Slovenia from November 2004 to November 2008. He has also been President of the Slovenian Democratic Party since 1993...

     et al., 2003).

See also

  • France Bučar
    France Bucar
    France Bučar is a Slovenian politician, legal expert and author. Between 1990 and 1992, he served as the first chairman of the freely elected Slovenian Parliament. He was the one to formally declare the independence of Slovenia on June 25, 1991. He is considered as one of the founding fathers of...

  • Contributions to the Slovenian National Program
    Contributions to the Slovenian National Program
    Contributions to the Slovenian National Program , also known as Nova revija 57 or 57th edition of Nova revija was a special issue of the Slovenian opposition intellectual journal Nova revija, published in January 1987...

  • Breakup of Yugoslavia
  • Ten Day War
  • Politics of Slovenia
    Politics of Slovenia
    The politics of Slovenia takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Slovenia is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Government of Slovenia. Legislative power is vested in the...


Sources

  • Niko Grafenauer
    Niko Grafenauer
    Niko Grafenauer is a Slovenian poet, essayist, literary historian, editor and translator. He is particularly known as author of popular children literature, and for his active participation in the Slovenian public life, especially in conservative and liberal conservative platforms.He was born in...

    , "Beseda o Jožetu Pučniku" in Ampak, yr. 4, n.1 (January 2003), 10.
  • Drago Jančar
    Drago Jancar
    Drago Jančar is a Slovenian writer, playwright and essayist. Jančar is one of the most known contemporary Slovene writers. In Slovenia, he is also famous for his political commentaries and civic engagement.-Life:...

    , "Stvar Jožeta Pučnika" in Konec tisočletja, račun stoletja (Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1999).
  • Dean Komel
    Dean Komel
    Dean Komel is a Slovenian philosopher.He was born in the small village of Bilje in the Goriška region of Slovenia, then part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia....

    , "Jože Pučnik: prestopanje družbe kot zastopanje kulture" in Nova revija
    Nova revija
    Nova revija is a Slovenian publishing house and cultural institute that developed from the literary journal with the same name.- The magazine :...

    , yr. 26, n. 301/303 (May-June 2007), 2-8.
  • Božo Repe, "Človek, ki je pospeševal in radikaliziral dogodke: Jože Pučnik" in Delo
    Delo
    Delo is the largest national daily newspaper in Slovenia. It was established on May 1st, 1959, when two newspapers Ljudska pravica and Slovenski poročevalec merged. Nowadays, it is the most influential and credible daily newspaper in Slovenia...

    , yr, 45, n. 14 (January 15, 2003), 6.
  • Rudi Šeligo
    Rudi Šeligo
    Rudi Šeligo was a Slovenian writer, playwright, essayist and politician. Together with Lojze Kovačič and Drago Jančar, he is considered as one of the foremost Slovenian modernist writers of the post-World War II period.- Life :...

    , "Jože Pučnik: 1932-2003" in Ampak, yr. 4, n.1 (January 2003), 4-5.
  • Ivan Urbančič, "Jože Pučnik 1932-2003" in Delo
    Delo
    Delo is the largest national daily newspaper in Slovenia. It was established on May 1st, 1959, when two newspapers Ljudska pravica and Slovenski poročevalec merged. Nowadays, it is the most influential and credible daily newspaper in Slovenia...

    , yr. 45, n. 17 (January 22, 2003), 2.

Further reading

  • Milan Zver
    Milan Zver
    Milan Zver is a Slovenian politician, sociologist and political scientist. He currently serves as vice-president of the Slovenian Democratic Party. Between 2004 and 2008, he was Minister for Education and Sports in Janez Janša's centre right government...

     (ed.), Pučnikova znanstvena in politična misel ("The Scientific and Political Thought of Jože Pučnik", editor; Ljubljana, 2004).

External links

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