Etbin Kristan (15 April 1867 – 22 November 1953) was a

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

n labour leader and

Social Democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

politician and writer during the late- Austrian-Hungarian and the

Yugoslav monarchy Yugoslav or Yugoslavian may refer to: * Yugoslavia, or any of the three historic states carrying that name: ** Kingdom of Yugoslavia, a European monarchy which existed 1918–1945 (officially called "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" 1918� ...

Biography

Kristan was born in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the a ...

Duchy of Carniola The Duchy of Carniola ( sl, Vojvodina Kranjska, german: Herzogtum Krain, hu, Krajna) was an imperial estate of the Holy Roman Empire, established under Habsburg rule on the territory of the former East Frankish March of Carniola in 1364. A h ...

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 ...

(now the capital of Slovenia). He attended high school in Ljubljana and in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Sl ...

. After finishing high school, he enrolled in the military school in

Karlovac Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. According to the 2011 census, its population was 55,705. Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located on the Zagreb- Rijeka highway and railway line, south-west of Zagr ...

. In 1887, he quit the military, moved to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and dedicated himself to journalism. In Vienna, he became active in the labor movement. In 1896, he co-founded the Yugoslav Social Democratic Party (JSDS), and served as its chairman until 1914. Kristan belonged to the left wing of the party. He advocated

cultural autonomy Minority rights are the normal individual rights as applied to members of racial, ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or gender and sexual minorities, and also the collective rights accorded to any minority group. Civil-rights movemen ...

for all the peoples in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and clashed with the right wing of his party (represented by

Albin Prepeluh Albin Prepeluh (22 February 1881 – 20 November 1937) was a Slovenian left wing politician, journalist, editor, political theorist and translator. Before World War I, he was the foremost Slovene Marxist revisionist theoretician. After the War, ...

Dragotin Lončar Dragotin Lončar (November 5, 1876 – July 29, 1954) was a Slovenian historian, editor, and Social Democratic politician. He was born in Selo near Lukovica pri Domžalah in Upper Carniola and baptized Carl Lonzhar. After graduating from the St ...

and

Josip Ferfolja Josip Ferfolja (27 September 1880 – 11 December 1958) was a Slovene lawyer and Social democratic politician, and human rights activist from the Province of Gorizia. Although he was an Italian citizen for most of his life, he considered himself f ...

), which demanded territorial autonomy for Yugoslav peoples. In 1914, he emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. He returned shortly after the end of

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, ...

and served as member of the first parliament of 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 ...

. Disappointed by the political development in

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

, he moved back to America in 1921. He settled in Cleveland, Ohio, and co-founded the Slovene Republican Association of America, which he chaired. He returned to Yugoslavia shortly before his death in 1951. He died in Ljubljana in 1953.

Literary career

In addition to his political career, Kristan was a translator, journalist, poet, and novelist, and the editor of many Slovene publications based in Europe and the United States.

References

External links

Kristan, Etbin, Papers, UMN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kristan, Etbin 1867 births 1953 deaths Politicians from Ljubljana Carniolan people Slovenian socialists Journalists from Ljubljana Slovenian writers American people of Slovenian descent People from Austria-Hungary Yugoslav writers