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Svetozar Pribićević ( sr-cyr, Светозар Прибићевић}, ; 26 October 1875 – 15 September 1936) was a
Croatian Serb The Serbs of Croatia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Срби у Хрватској, Srbi u Hrvatskoj) or Croatian Serbs ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", хрватски Срби, hrvatski Srbi) constitute the largest national minority in Croa ...
politician in
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1 ...
and later
Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...
. He was one of the main proponents of
Yugoslavism Yugoslavism, Yugoslavdom, or Yugoslav nationalism is an ideology supporting the notion that the South Slavs, namely the Bosniaks, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs and Slovenes, but also Bulgarians, belong to a single Yugoslav natio ...
and a federalized South Slavic state which would later turn out to be Yugoslavia. However, he later became a bitter opponent of the same policy that was promoted by King Alexander I.


Early life

Pribićević was born into an ethnic Serb family in Kostajnica in 1875. As a youth he studied mathematics and physics in Zagreb. He joined other young, politically active Croats and Serbs in producing the periodical ''Narodna misao'' in 1897 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 Independent Party ( sr-Latn, Srpska samostalna stranka, SSS, german: Serbische selbständige Partei), also known as Serb Autonomous Party or simply Serb Autonomists, was an ethnic Serb political party in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, under ...
(''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, which was the political child of the two earlier resolutions. The Coalition dominated Croatian politics during that period. The power of the Coalition, and its Yugoslav state creation incentive, made it the target of attempts by Austrian and Hungarian authorities to destroy it. The treason trial of 1909 (in which a court in Zagreb tried 53 Serbs, including his brothers Valerijan and
Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as ...
, for treason) and the Friedjung trial (in which Pribićević and other members of the Coalition sued the Austrian historian
Heinrich Friedjung Heinrich Friedjung (18 January 1851 – 14 July 1920) was an Austrian historian and journalist. Life Friedjung was born in Roschtin, Austrian Empire (today Roštín, Czech Republic). The son of a Jewish family grew up in Vienna, and studied his ...
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. Supilo left the Coalition 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 Serbs, the state formed by the South Slav regions of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise o ...
when that state collapsed as a result of its defeat in the First World War, Pribićević became one of the vice presidents of the new states ruling body, the
National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs ( sh, Država Slovenaca, Hrvata i Srba / ; sl, Država Slovencev, Hrvatov in Srbov) was a political entity that was constituted in October 1918, at the end of World War I, by Slovenes, Croats and Serbs ( ...
. As Italy overran parts of the new state's territory in Istria and along the coast of Dalmatia he urged the council to seek unification with Serbia without delay. In this he received especially strong support from Dalmatian delegates and on the morning of the November 27 a delegation from the National Council set off for
Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 m ...
which was to formally create a new state, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, a few days later. Svetozar Pribićević became the Minister of Internal Affairs. In this role he implemented an authoritarian policy believing that a strict centralized system was necessary in order to preserve the union. Pribićević's Croat-Serb coalition dissolved. Its members quickly fused with political groupings from other parts of the former Austria-Hungary. This began negotiations with the Pašić's radicals but negotiations quickly fell through. Instead they joined with the Serbian opposition (including the party of
Ljubomir Davidović Ljubomir Davidović (24 December 1863 – 19 February 1940) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who served as prime minister (1919–1920 and 1924) of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later called Yugoslavia). Biography Davidovi ...
) to form a block that was to dominate the
Provisional Representation The Temporary National Representation ( sh, Privremeno narodno predstavništvo), also the Provisional Representation, was the first parliamentary body formed in the newly proclaimed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. It convened on March 1, 191 ...
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 most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa * Botswana Democratic Party * Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *De ...
. 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 Đuro Basariček (; Zagreb, 13 March 1884 – Belgrade, 20 June 1928) was a Croatian politician, lawyer and social activist. He was a member of the Croatian Peasant Party from its founding in 1904. He was assassinated in the National Assembly of t ...
of the
Croatian Republican Peasant Party The Croatian Peasant Party ( hr, Hrvatska seljačka stranka, HSS) is an agrarian political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The Brothers Radić believed that t ...
. 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 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 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 Party. 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 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 The 6 January Dictatorship ( sr-cyr, Шестојануарска диктатура, Šestojanuarska diktatura; hr, Šestosiječanjska diktatura; sl, Šestojanuarska diktatura) was a royal dictatorship established in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croa ...
was instituted by the King, and Pribićević was interned by the authorities in
Brus Brus ( sr-cyr, Брус, ) is a town and municipality located in the Rasina District of southern Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the population of the town is 4,572, while the population of the municipality is 16,293. It is located at above ...
, Serbia for a period of two years, when finally in 1931 his health problems allowed him to be released and emigrate. While in Paris, in 1933 he published the "King Alexander's Dictatorship" (''La dictature du roi Alexandre''), a book in which he criticized Alexander and blamed him for Yugoslavia's political turmoil since 1918. He advocated 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''). In May 1933 Pribićević held talks with
Branimir Jelić Branimir "Branko" Jelić (28 February 1905, Donji Dolac, Kingdom of Dalmatia, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy – 31 May 1972, West Berlin) was an exiled Croatian nationalist and doctor of medicine. He was a member of the fascist Ustaše organization. ...
and Stjepan Radić's eldest son Vlatko.Branimir Jelić: Političke uspomene i rad dra Branimira Jelića. Ed. by Jere Jareb. Cleveland, Oh. 1982, p. 83. He died in exile in Prague in 1936.


References


Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pribicevic, Svetozar 1875 births 1936 deaths People from Hrvatska Kostajnica People from the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia Serbs of Croatia Democratic Party (Yugoslavia) politicians Independent Democratic Party (Yugoslavia) politicians Representatives in the Yugoslav National Assembly (1921–1941) Croatian politicians Serbian politicians