| Stjepan Radic |
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Stjepan Radić ( May 11 , 1871 – August 8 , 1928 ) was a Croatia n Politician and the founder of the Croatian Peasant Party (CPP, ''Hrvatska Seljačka Stranka'') in 1905 . Radić is credited with galvanizing the Croatian peasantry into a viable political force for the first time (like a Slavic Daniel O'Connell ). After World War I he rose to political prominence among Croats for his opposition to merging Croatia with the Kingdom of Serbia without guarantees for Croatian Autonomy . On November 24 , 1918 he famously urged delegates attending a session that would decide the country's political future not to "rush like drunken geese into fog" — he feared that Croatia would become at best a minor partner within a Serb -dominated state, which later proved to be true. Under the pressure from the Great Powers ( British Empire , France , United States ), as well as honouring the secret deals that were struck between the Antanta and the Kingdom Of Serbia the Kingdom Of Serbs, Croats And Slovenes was established and two representatives of Radić's party (by then named the Croatian Common-people Peasant Party) were appointed to the Provisional Representation which served as a parliament until elections for the Constituent could be held. The parties representatives, however, decided not to take their seats. On the 8th of March 1919 the central committee passed a resolution that declared that "Croatian citizens do not recognize the so called Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes under the Karađorđević dynasty because this kingdom was proclaimed other than by the Croatian Sabor and without any mandate of the Croatian People." The full statement was translated into French and sent abroad and provoked a decision by the government to arrest Radić along with several other party members. He was to be held some 11 months until February 1920 , just before the first parlamentary elections of the Kingdom of SHS, which were held in Novmeber. The result of the November was 230,590 votes, which equaled to 50 seats in the parlament out of 419. Before the first sitting of parlement, after a massive rally held in front of 100,000 people in Zagreb, Stjepan Radić and the CCPP (which after the rally changed the party's name to CRPP - Croatian Republican Peasant Pary) held and extraordinary meeting, in which a motion was put forward and voted on that the CRPP will not be part of parlamentary discussions before matters are first resolved with Serbia on the matters of governace, the most sticking issues being the minorisaton of the Croatian people and the overt powers of the King with the central governent in Belgrade. On the 12th of December 1920, the Parlament of SHS had their first sitting, without the representatives of CPP (50 representatives) and the Croatian Party of Rights (2 representatives). On the 28th of June 1921, the Constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Vidovdanski ustav, or Vidovdan Constitution)was made law after a vote of 223 representatives out of the present 285, the total number representatives in the parlament being 419, which is only 53.2% of the possible votes, or if looked at the number of present representatives it is a more impressive 78.24%. The represetntatives turnout and subsequent vote is quite poor considering that it was a constitutive parlament, which was supposed to have created the new constitution. In the next parlamentary elections which were held in March 1923, the stance of Stjepan Radić and the CPP against the central goverment managed to turn into extra votes. The results of the election were, 70 seats or 473.733 votes, which represented the majority of the Croatian vote in Norther and Southern parts of Croatia, as well as the Croatian vote in Bosnia, as well as Hercegovina. Radić still held on to the idea of an , dr. Nikola Nikić, dr. Benjamin Šuperina and dr. Ivan Krajač. This powersharing arrangement, was cut short after the passing away of the president of the Peoples Radical Party Nikola Pašić on 10th of December 1925. Radić soon resigned his ministeral post in , 1928 , Radić was warned of danger of an assassination attempt against him and was begged to stay away from the Assembly for that day. He replied that he was like a soldier in war, in the trenches and as such it was his duty to go but he nevertheless promised not to utter a single word. In the Assembly , Puniša Račić , a member of Serbian People's Radical Party from Montenegro , got up and made a provocative speech which produced a stormy reaction from the opposition but Radić himself stayed completely silent. Finally Ivan Pernar shouted "Thou plundered Bey s". At this Puniša Račić drew out a Revolver , shot Pernar and went on to shoot Radić and several other CPP delegates. (source: Zvonimir Kulundžić ''Atentat na Stjepana Radića/The assassination of Stjepan Radić'') Radić was left for dead and indeed had such a serious stomach wound that he died several months later at the age of 57. Following the Ethnic tensions triggered by the shooting, in January 1929 King Aleksandar Karađorđević abolished the Constitution , dissolved parliament, and declared a royal Dictatorship . LEGACY Radić's violent death turned him into martyr and he was turned into icon of political struggle for the peasantry and the working class, as well as an icon of Croatian patriots. The iconography of Stjepan Radić was later used not only by his successor used the death of Stjepan Radić as proof of Serbian hegemony, and as an excuse for their treatment of Serbs, however many leading CPP figures were imprisoned or killed by the Ustashe. The Partisans on the other hand used this as a recruiting point with CPP members who were disillusioned with the NDH, a latter had one brigade named after Antun and Stjepan Radić in 1943. The image of Stjepan Radić was used extensively during the failed Croatian Spring movement in the 1970.There are many folk groups, clubs, primary and secondary schools which bare the name of Stjepan Radić. Many Croatian cities have streets, squares in his name and statues of Stjepan Radić are common. The picture of Stjepan Radić appears on the 200 Kuna banknote. In 1997, a poll in Croatian weekly Nacional named Stjepan Radić as the most admired Croatian historic personality. EXTERNAL LINK |