The Croatian Bloc () or the Croatian National Representation (') was the name held by the wide coalition of

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n political parties in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes from 1921 to 1929's 6th of January Dictatorship and within the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...

from 1935 to 1941. The first Croatian Bloc was formed on January 14, 1922 when the Croatian Republican Peasant Party, the Croatian Union, and the

Party of Rights The Party of Rights () was a Croatian nationalism, Croatian nationalist political party in Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia and later in Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. It was founded in 1861 by Ante Starčević and Eugen Kvaternik, two influ ...

went into alliance. The "Representation" was organized for the first time on June 26, 1921. On that day 63 Croatian representatives to the National Assembly of the new Kingdom were in attendance in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

: 56 elected in Croatia and Slavonia (50 from the Croatian Republican Peasant Party, 4 from the Croatian Union, and 2 from the

) as well as 7 elected in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

(all from the ). They adopted a resolution supporting federalism and a neutral peasant republic. They also voiced their disapproval towards a centralized constitution, which the National Assembly adopted without them (as well as without the communists and others) only two days later. The alliance existed until November 1922 when the Party of Rights was ejected from it. The parties did not participate in a joint list in the 1925 Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes parliamentary election. In 1925, the Croatian Peasant Republican Union and the Party of Rights formed a formal alliance. In 1927, the Croatian Federalist Peasant Party joined this coalition. In the 1927 elections, the bloc participated with its own list. It had two of its candidates elected as national representatives: Ante Trumbić, the president of the Croatian Federalist Peasant Party that had won the greatest number of seats; and

Ante Pavelić Ante Pavelić (; 14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian politician who founded and headed the fascist ultranationalist organization known as the Ustaše in 1929 and was dictator of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a fasc ...

of the Party of Rights. After 1927, the Independent Democratic Party formed the with the Peasant Party, and thereby joined the Representation as well. The Representation often met outside of the National Assembly, either in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

or Zagreb and reached their own resolutions. The Representation symbolically took the place of the banned

Croatian Parliament The Croatian Parliament () or the Sabor is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Croatia. Under the terms of the Constitution of Croatia, Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the nation, people and is vested with legislative power. ...

and strengthened the authority of peasant leaders Stjepan Radić and

Vladko Maček Vladimir Maček (20 June 1879 – 15 May 1964) was a politician in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As a leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) following the 1928 assassination of Stjepan Radić, Maček had been a leading Croatian political figure ...

, who became the de facto leaders of the Croatian people.

References

{{KoY parties Political history of Croatia 20th century in Croatia Defunct political party alliances in Croatia Political parties in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia Croatian nationalist parties Ethnic organizations based in Yugoslavia Yugoslav Croatia Political terminology of Croatia Croatian irredentism

See also

References