POLITICAL CARTOON IN NEWSPAPERS BORBA AND VJESNIK – A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PERCEPTIONS OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL LIFE IN COMMUNIST YUGOSLAVIA (1945-1962)

Abstract

U totalitarnim društvima, kakvo je bilo i ono komunističke Jugoslavije, karikature u najvećoj mjeri služe za predstavljanje stava vladajućih, one čitateljstvu/građanima pojašnjavaju stavove vlasti prema pojedinim pitanjima, poglavito onima ideološko-političkog karaktera. Ali nastoje i, putem Agitpropa, utjecati na oblikovanje javnoga mnijenja, jednako kao i na mobilizaciju istoga za ostvarivanje programa režima. No, kada je u pitanju društvenoekonomska problematika, karikature dijelom slijede naputke nositelja vlasti, a dijelom kritiziraju probleme koji se tiču i samih vlastodržaca, odnosno koji ulaze u njihovu ingerenciju. U disertaciji su analizirane karikature beogradske Borbe i zagrebačkog Vjesnika, u razdoblju od kraja Drugoga svjetskog rata i uspostave komunističke Jugoslavije, do konca 1962., kada se novinstvo u Jugoslaviji postavlja na nove osnove – kritičnije i slobodnije novinarstvo, odnosno 'aktivno novinarstvo'. Borba je uzeta za analizu kao središnji federalni list, odnosno glasilo KPJ/SKJ, dok je Vjesnik uzet u razmatranje kao vodeći list u jednoj od republika – u Hrvatskoj. Indukcijom, analizom i komparacijom karikatura dvaju listova došlo se do općenitih zaključaka o strukturi i sastavu karikatura, njihovim autorima, problematiziranim temama, sličnostima i razlikama u pristupu i odabiru pojedinih tema, jednako kao i o ulozi (poziciji) karikatura u svakoj od novina. Komparacijom se karikatura utvrdilo kako je Vjesnik u istraživanome razdoblju objavio znatno veći broj karikatura od Borbe – 3487 : 2550. Obje novine najviše prostora posvećuju karikaturama vanjskopolitičke tematike, potom društveno-ekonomska pitanjima, odnosima Jugoslavije i zemalja Istočnoga bloka, odnosima s Italijom i pitanjem STT-a, te odnosima s Katoličkom crkvom. Iz karikatura se iščitavaju promjene u političkom, društvenom i kulturnom životu Jugoslavije.What makes a press important in the contemporary society is its position; it acts like a ‘bridge’ between the authority and the public presenting their stance to the public, but also presenting public opinion to the government. Cartoon, as a part of a press (journalism), also expresses opinions, in a democratic society public opinion and in a totalitarian society, in most cases, it expresses the government stance. In a democratic society cartoons act like a corrective of society itself, they point to society’s negative sides and in that way try to rectify them. In a totalitarian society, like the communist Yugoslavia, cartoon, in most of its part, serves to present and to clarify government stance concerning certain questions, especially those of ideologically-political character. It also tries to shape public opinion and mobilize the public to realize the program of the regime in place. When it comes to the social issues, cartoons in some part fallow the instructions of those in power, but they also criticize issues concerning those in power, that is to say, those issues that enter their jurisdiction. The dissertation analyses the cartoons of daily newspapers Belgrade’s Borba and Zagreb’s Vjesnik, in the period since the end of the World War II and the establishment of the communist Yugoslavia till the end of the 1962 when the press in Yugoslavia was set on a new basis – critical and liberal journalism or ‘active journalism’. The Borba was taken for analysis because it was central federal newspaper, that is to say the newsletter of the KPJ/SKJ (Communist Party of Yugoslavia / League of Communists of Yugoslavia), while the Vjesnik was taken it to consideration as it was the main newspaper in one of the republics – Croatia. Using the most significant surveys of Croatian and world history since the World War II, the main events, occurrences and people were detected and contextualized, and the way they were thematized in the cartoons was analyzed. Then the methods of induction and analysis were used on every single cartoon and the entire corpus material from the Borba and the Vjesnik as a means to come to the general evaluation of the cartoons, their number, contents and authors. In a final stage of the research comparative analysis of the Borba and the Vjesnik was done and it gave some general conclusions about the characteristics of the cartoons in these newspapers, their similarities and differences, their function in the media and the society instrumentalization conducted by the communist government, and their general role in the newspapers