Svetozar Pribicevic
Encyclopedia
Serbs of Croatia
Višeslav of Serbia, a contemporary of Charlemagne , ruled the Županias of Neretva, Tara, Piva, Lim, his ancestral lands. According to the Royal Frankish Annals , Duke of Pannonia Ljudevit Posavski fled, during the Frankish invasion, from his seat in Sisak to the Serbs in western Bosnia, who...
politician from 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 ...
who worked hard for creation of unitaristic Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. However, he later became a bitter opponent of the same policy and of the dictatorship of king Aleksandar Karađorđević
Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Alexander I , also known as Alexander the Unifier was the first king of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as well as the last king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes .-Childhood:...
. As a result, he died in exile.
Early life
Pribićević was born in KostajnicaHrvatska Kostajnica
Hrvatska Kostajnica, often just Kostajnica, is a small town in central Croatia. It is located on the Una river in the Sisak-Moslavina county, south of Petrinja and Sisak and across the river from Bosanska Kostajnica in Bosnia and Herzegovina.-History:...
, and as a youth he studied mathematics and physics in 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...
and then briefly in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. Upon returning to Zagreb, he joined other young, politically active Croats and Serbs in producing the book Narodna misao (The National Idea, 1895) which argued that Croats and Serbs were one nation, and that they should work together in Croatian politics.
He took over leadership of the Serb People's Independent Party
Serb People's Independent Party
Serb People's Independent Party, sometimes just Serb Independent Party was a political party in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, under the Austro-Hungarian Empire...
(Srpska narodna samostalna stranka) in 1903. In 1905, he and his party sponsored the Zadar Resolution, by which the Independents proposed to work with willing Croatian political parties (and signatories of the Rijeka Resolution) for a new, more assertive Croatian policy vis-à-vis the Hungarian and Austrian governments.
Between 1906 and 1918, he led the Croat-Serb Coalition
Croat-Serb Coalition
The Croat-Serb Coalition was a major political alliance in Austria-Hungary during the beginning of the 20th century that governed the Croatian lands . It represented the political idea of a cooperation of Croats and Serbs in Austria-Hungary for mutual benefit...
, which was the political child of the two earlier resolutions. The Coalition dominated Croatian politics during that period. The power of the Coalition, and the appeal of its "Yugoslav" agenda, made it the target of attempts by Austrian and Hungarian authorities to destroy it. The treason trial of 1909 (in which Croatian authorities tried 53 Serbs for treason) and the Friedjung trial (in which Pribićević and other members of the Coalition sued the Austrian historian Heinrich Friedjung
Heinrich Friedjung
Heinrich Friedjung was an Austrian historian and journalist.Friedjung was born in Roschtin , Moravia . The son of a Jewish family grew up in Vienna, and studied history in Prague and Berlin under Theodor Mommsen and Leopold von Ranke...
for libel on the basis of several articles he wrote in the Reichspost) of the same year were the most obvious evidence of these campaigns.
Until 1910, Pribićević shared leadership of the Coalition with Frano Supilo
Frano Supilo
Frano Supilo was a Croatian politician and journalist. He was a major political figure in the twenty years preceding World War I....
. Supilo left the Coalition in that year, and Pribićević led it alone from that point.
The Creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes
In 1918 he was leader of the Croato-Serbian Coalition which was then the dominant party in the Croatian Sabor. When the Croatian Sabor voted to join the State of Slovenes, Croats and SerbsState of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs was a short-lived state formed from the southernmost parts of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy after its dissolution at the end of the World War I by the resident population of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs...
, the state formed by the South Slav regions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire when that state collapsed as a result of its defeat in the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Pribićević became one of the vice presidents of the new states ruling body, the People's Council (Narodno vijeće). As Italy overran parts of the new state's territory in Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
and along the coast of Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
he urged the council to seek unification with 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...
without delay. In this he received especially strong support from Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
n delegates and on the morning of the November 27 a delegation from the People's Council set off for 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...
which was to formally create a new state, the Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes
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...
, a few days later.
Svetozar Pribićević became the Minister of Internal Affairs. In this role he implemented an authoritarian policy believing that this was necessary to create a new state in the disordered aftermath of the First World War. Many years later Ivan Meštrović
Ivan Meštrovic
Ivan Meštrović was a Croatian and Yugoslav sculptor and architect born in Vrpolje, Croatia...
was to challenge him on his role in that period and according to Meštrović he answered "I was mad".
Pribićević's Croat-Serb coalition quickly fused with political groupings from other parts of the former Austria-Hungary and a new party, the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (Yugoslavia)
The Yugoslav Democratic Party, State Party of Serbian, Croatian and Slovene Democrats and Democratic Party was the name of a series of social-liberal political parties that existed in succession in the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and the Kingdom...
, was founded in Sarajevo. This began negotiations with the Pašić
Nikola Pašic
Nikola P. Pašić was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and diplomat, the most important Serbian political figure for almost 40 years, leader of the People's Radical Party who, among other posts, was twice a mayor of Belgrade...
's radicals but negotiations quickly fell through. Instead they joined with the Serbian opposition (including the party of Ljubomir Davidović
Ljubomir Davidovic
Ljubomir Davidović was a prime minister of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.Davidović was born in Vlaško Polje....
) to form a block that was to dominate the Provisional Representation which served as a Parliament until the election of the Constituent Assembly. This block itself formed into a party which in 1920 adopted the name the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (Yugoslavia)
The Yugoslav Democratic Party, State Party of Serbian, Croatian and Slovene Democrats and Democratic Party was the name of a series of social-liberal political parties that existed in succession in the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and the Kingdom...
in 1920. Even though Ljubomir Davidović was the leader, Pribićević had as much, if not more, influence on the policy of the party. In the elections for the Constituent Assembly, the Democratic Party did significantly worse in the former Austria-Hungarian regions which weakened Pribićević's influence in the Party. However, in alliance with the Radicals the Democratic party managed to ensure that the new constitution would have the centralized form that, at the time, Pribićević supported.
In January 1920, Pribićević had a secret meeting with Đuro Basariček of the Croatian Republican Peasant Party
Croatian Peasant Party
The Croatian Peasant Party is a center and socially conservative political party in Croatia.-Austria-Hungary:The Croatian People's Peasant Party was formed on December 22, 1904 by Antun Radić along with his brother Stjepan Radić. The party contested elections for the first time in the Kingdom of...
. Basariček told Pribićević that should there be held elections for the provisional representation not only would the Peasant Party participate in the elections but they would also join in the preparations for the Constituent Assembly. However, King Alexander
Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Alexander I , also known as Alexander the Unifier was the first king of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as well as the last king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes .-Childhood:...
refused to sign the decree. Though Pribićević remained on good terms with Alexander, it was at this point he lost his faith in Alexander's judgment.
In December 1921 the Radicals provoked a government crisis, demanding the portfolio of Minister of Internal Affairs. The Democratic Party refused this point blank but at a meeting of their deputies club they voted, by secret ballot, that Pribićević should step down as Minister of Internal Affairs. Pribićević became, instead, the Minister of Education.
The elections in this period were marred by police harassment of voters and confiscation of pamphlets, and this kind of election rigging also impacted the Democratic Party's success. In addition, some opposition leaders such as Stjepan Radić
Stjepan Radic
Stjepan Radić was a Croatian politician and the founder of the Croatian Peasant Party in 1905. Radić is credited with galvanizing the peasantry of Croatia into a viable political force...
were imprisoned on charges of treason, but this in turn had mobilized their own electoral base.
Independent Democrats, prison and exile
In 1924 Pribićević's faction made their break with the Democratic Party final by founding a new party, the Independent Democratic PartyIndependent Democratic Party (Yugoslavia)
The Independent Democratic Party was a social liberal political party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It was established by Svetozar Pribićević as a breakaway faction of the Democratic Party in 1924...
, with 14 parliamentary representatives.
When Nikola Pašić and Stjepan Radić came to an agreement in 1925 which would temporarily pacify the Croatian Peasant Party, Pribićević switched to the opposition, and started thinking that his prior support for the Radicals had only helped fortify the Serbian domination. After the election of 1927, the Independent Democrats and Croatian Peasant Party both became the opposition, and then decided to form the Peasant-Democrat coalition (Seljačko-demokratska koalicija, SDK).
In the coalition with Radić, Pribićević converted from an advocate of centralism to its adversary, and in the spring of 1928, Pribićević and Radić waged a bitter parliamentary battle against the ratification of the Treaty of Nettuno
Treaty of Nettuno
The Treaty of Nettuno was an agreement made between the governments of the Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1928 which permitted Italians to freely immigrate into Yugoslavia's coastal region of Dalmatia . The treaty was made to solve a long-standing territorial dispute between...
with Italy, having actually secured a majority in the parliament, but not being able to lead the government. This in turn mobilised nationalist opposition in Serbia but provoked a violent reaction from the governing majority including death threats. In the summer of 1928, Radić was assassinated in Parliament, and the opposition started a boycott of the parliament, insisting on new elections.
In 1929, the January 6th Dictatorship
January 6th Dictatorship
The January 6th Dictatorship was a royal dictatorship established in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes by King Alexander...
was instituted by the King, and Pribićević was interned by the authorities in Brus
Brus
Brus is a town and municipality located in the Rasina District of Serbia. According to 2001 census, the population of the town is 4,572, while population of the municipality is 16,263...
, Serbia for a period of two years, when finally in 1931 his health problems allowed him to be released and emigrate.
While in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, in 1933 he published the "King Alexander's Dictatorship" (La dictature du roi Alexandre), a book in which he came out openly for a federal and republican structure for Yugoslavia. He also wrote a "Letter to the Serbs" the same year, in which he advocated an understanding between the Serbs and the Croats based on equality of the two nations, stating that "any other way and solution would mean eternal friction, mutual conflicts and wars, which would eventually end disastrously for both" (svaki drugi put i rješenje značilo bi vječite trzavice, međusobne sukobe i ratove, koji bi se na kraju katastrofalno završili za oboje).
He died in exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
in 1936.