The People's Party ( hr, Narodna stranka) was a political party in the Habsburg Kingdom of Croatia and the

Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia ( hr, Kraljevina Hrvatska i Slavonija; hu, Horvát-Szlavónország or ; de-AT, Königreich Kroatien und Slawonien) was a nominally autonomous kingdom and constitutionally defined separate political nation with ...

. It was founded in 1841 based on Croatian Illyrian movement. Because the movement did not distinguish

Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic ...

from other

South Slavs South Slavs are Slavic peoples who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs by Austri ...

and instead called them all ''Illyrians'', the party was named the Illyrian Party (''Ilirska stranka'') when it was formed in late 1841, and it participated in the councils of the Varaždin County and the Bjelovar-Križevci County. It was one of the two parties in the 1843 session of the

Croatian Parliament The Croatian Parliament ( hr, Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sa ...

. Some of its champions from this time included

Janko Drašković Janko Drašković ( Hungarian: ''Draskovich János''; 20 October 1770 – 14 January 1856) was a Croatian politician associated with the beginnings of the 19th-century national revival, the Illyrian movement. He studied law and philosophy befor ...

, Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski,

Josip Juraj Strossmayer Josip Juraj Strossmayer, also Štrosmajer (; german: Joseph Georg Strossmayer; 4 February 1815 – 8 April 1905) was a Croatian politician, Roman Catholic Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop, and benefactor (law), benefactor. Early life an ...

and Ivan Mažuranić.

July victims

The July victims ( hr, Srpanjske žrtve) were members of the

Croatian People's Party Croatian may refer to: *Croatia *Croatian language *Croatian people *Croatians (demonym) See also * * * Croatan (disambiguation) * Croatia (disambiguation) * Croatoan (disambiguation) * Hrvatski (disambiguation) * Hrvatsko (disambiguation) * Se ...

who fell victim to a crackdown by the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n Imperial Army on July 29, 1845. With the restoration of the

Zagreb County Zagreb County ( hr, Zagrebačka županija) is a county in Northern Croatia. It surrounds, but does not contain, the nation's capital Zagreb, which is a separate territorial unit. For that reason, the county is often nicknamed "Zagreb ring" ( hr, ...

, local elections were held around the

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

n capital

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, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

. When it was announced that the Hungarian-allied candidate won, members of the People's Party took to St. Mark's Square to protest the result. The Croatian

ban Ban, or BAN, may refer to: Law * Ban (law), a decree that prohibits something, sometimes a form of censorship, being denied from entering or using the place/item ** Imperial ban (''Reichsacht''), a form of outlawry in the medieval Holy Roman ...

, ethnic Hungarian

Franz Haller Ferenc Haller, ''count Haller von Hallerkeö'' (24 March 1796 – 5 March 1875) was a Hungarian politician. He served as ban of Croatia-Slavonia between 1842 and 1845 during the Croatian national revival and the Illyrian movement in the 1830s a ...

called on the Austrian army to empty the square. When the army moved in to empty the square, one of its officers was attacked by a protester. The army then moved in with force. In the end, thirteen of the People's Party's protesters were killed and 27 were injured. Due in large part to this incident, ban Haller left his post and bishop

Juraj Haulik Juraj Haulik de Váralya ( sk, Juraj Haulík Váralyai, hu, Haulík Váralyai György; 20 April 1788 – 11 May 1869) was a Croatian cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church of Slovak ethnicity and the first archbishop of Zagreb. He was also acti ...

took his place soon after. This incident showed the tension developed between Croats who supported the Illyrian movement and the restoration of a unified Croatian Kingdom, and Hungarian-Croatians (Magyars) and some Croats who supported closer relations with Hungary (represented by the

Croatian-Hungarian Party Croatian-Hungarian Party ( hr, Hrvatsko-ugarska stranka) was the name of a 19th-century political party in the Habsburg Kingdom of Croatia and the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia which advocated closer ties between Croatia and Hungary. It was official ...

). In the following years, Croatia did gain some concessions as Croatian replaced

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

as the nation's official language.

Later history

In 1861, the People's Party sent 58 deputies in the Croatian Parliament out of a total of 106. It went under the name People's Liberal Party ( hr, Narodna liberalna stranka). Also in 1861, in the

Kingdom of Dalmatia The Kingdom of Dalmatia ( hr, Kraljevina Dalmacija; german: Königreich Dalmatien; it, Regno di Dalmazia) was a crown land of the Austrian Empire (1815–1867) and the Cisleithanian half of Austria-Hungary (1867–1918). It encompassed the entire ...

, their sister party in Dalmatia was founded. Later in the 19th century, the party developed a more Magyar-oriented stance, which eventually caused a faction to form the Independent People's Party ( hr, Neodvisna narodna stranka) in 1880, led by Matija Mrazović and 22 other parliamentary representatives. The party journal was ''Obzor'', giving rise to their members nickname ''obzoraši''. The People's Party remained in power but enabled a policy of

Magyarization Magyarization ( , also ''Hungarization'', ''Hungarianization''; hu, magyarosítás), after "Magyar"—the Hungarian autonym—was an assimilation or acculturation process by which non-Hungarian nationals living in Austro-Hungarian Transleitha ...

, which resulted in major discontent with

Khuen Hedervary Khuen (or Khün) may refer to: * Khuen people, an aboriginal ethnic group of Laos, or their language * Khün language (or ''Tai Khün''), a language of Burma * Dok Khuen * Khmuic languages (Khmu’, Khuen) * Kuan (disambiguation) Kuan may refer ...

in 1903. In 1905, the Independent People's Party joined the Croatian-Serbian Coalition (''Hrvatsko-srpska koalicija''), together with the Party of Rights, as well as the Independents and the

Radicals Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...

. The People's Party was technically active until 1918, when

Austro-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 Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern ...

ceased to exist after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Legacy

The People's Party was not reformed in the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

. An unrelated people's party, the '' Pučka stranka'', was created in 1919, but it was a right-wing party, with different aims and origins to the original People's Party. It in turn ceased to exist on January 21, 1929. The

, founded in 1990, claims lineage from the People's Party.

References

Sources

* (

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)

External links

* {{Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia parties Political parties established in 1841 Political parties disestablished in 1918 Political parties in Austria-Hungary Defunct political parties in Croatia 1841 establishments in the Austrian Empire