The country at a standstill: Yugoslavia and Slovene politics in the 1930s

Abstract

King Alexander's dictatorship in Yugoslavia (proclaimed in January 1929) was an expression of a real political need for consolidation in the country; however, in essence, it was an autocratic and repressive regime. More decisive moves toward a return of democracy did not occur, even later, after the replacement of his regime in June 1935. The political methods in the internal political life followed the pattern from the first half of the 1930s to the very eve of World War II. Such a situation also defined the relationship between the Slovenes and Yugoslavia. Slovene politics continued to look at the state from two angles – a unitary/centralist angle on the one hand and an autonomist/federalist angle on the other. Both camps (as well as other Yugoslav political players), however, failed to create an environment that would enable truly democratic compromises. The state was stuck at a “standstill,” but in spite of all its flaws, in the view of the Slovene political groups it represented the most suitable environment for the political and national life of Slovenes. Any serious political calculations that would go beyond this framework hardly existed.

Keywords:

• Kingdom of Yugoslavia
• Slovenes
• political history
• dictatorship
• twentieth century

Acknowledgments

This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the 41st National Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Boston, 12–15 November 2009. The author would like to thank the reviewers for their helpful comments.

Notes

Some governments of Nikola Pašić from December 1922 to July 1924 and the “R-R” government (radicals-Radić government) in the second half of the 1920s, however, comprised of no representatives of the Slovene politics, as they formed Serb-Croat coalitions and the Slovene representatives were not necessary.

In the opinion of unitarianists there was only one Yugoslav nation, divided into three tribes (Slovene, Croat and Serb) (Gašparič, Pod Kraljevo Diktaturo 64–65; Perovšek, “Slovenci in Jugoslavija” 19–20).

Drava banovina with a seat in Ljubljana, Sava banovina with a seat in Zagreb, Littoral banovina with a seat in Split, Vrbas banovina with a seat in Banja Luka, Drina banovina with a seat in Sarajevo, Danube banovina with a seat in Novi Sad, Vardar banovina with a seat in Skopje, Morava banovina with a seat in Niš, and Zeta banovina with a seat in Cetinje. Belgrade with Zemun and Pančevo was defined as a self-governing town, hence as a special tenth administrative unit.

The newspaper is kept by the Archives of Yugoslavia 84, Hinko Krizman Collection, fasc. 2/9.

For more on the election pressures of the regime in the country see: Dobrivojević, 69–78.

The former party SLS published a special brochure in the second half of the 1930s, entitled Zločini govore [The Crimes Speaking], in which it described the apparent irregularities during the November elections of 1931 in Dravska banovina.

Examples of political terror similar to that in the autumn of 1931 were repeated at the next elections – the local elections of 1933.

The leader of the banned Slovene People's Party, Dr Anton Korošec, for example, had political discussions with the King during his confinement on the island of Hvar, trying to find an alternative to the then regime. He had presented himself to Alexander as a desirable partner on several previous occasions, while he conducted a severe opposition policy in Slovenia in order to strengthen his political power. To this end, he often relied on violence and intimidation.

Two large political blocks contested the 1938 elections. One was the ruling JRZ, and the other was the United Opposition, a group of former Serb and Croat parties led by Vladko Maček (in addition, there was a small pro-Nazi organization called Dimitrije Ljotić Assembly (Zbor Dimitrije Ljotića)). JNS did not take part in the elections as an independent party, as in the Yugoslav framework, a part of its supporters joined the JRZ list, whilst the others emerged on the list of the United Opposition. In the Dravska banovina, however, the entire opposition joined forces on the list of Vladko Maček. Within the list, there were two political alliances, one was a progressive Slovene United Opposition and the other was a union of Slovene JNS and social democrats.