PRIBIĆEVIĆ\u27S UNITARISM AS THE BASIS OF THE POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF THE SERB POPULATION IN CROATIA 1918–1921

Abstract

Ovaj je rad uvodni dio šire monografije »Političko organiziranje srpskog stanovništva u Hrvatskoj 1918. - 1929 .« istog autora, i u njemu se razmatraju motivi i artikulacija jugoslavenskog unitarizma kao idejne orijentacije koja je u većem dijelu srpskog stanovništva u Hrvatskoj bila dominantna u čitavom međuratnom razdoblju.This article represents an abbreviated introductory part of the monograph Political Organization of the Serb Population in Croatia 1918—1929. Presenting Svetozar Pribićević\u27s political career until 1918, the author follows exclusively the motives and articulation of ideology of Yugoslav unitarism as a dominant orientation of the majority of the Serb population in Croatia between the wars. Endeavouring to remain more on the level of history than political developments, the author overlooked political parties and groupings, as well as the outstanding leaders, to concentrate on Pribićević\u27s "credo" from 1897, which was used by the Serb politicians in Croatia as a surrogate for Pašić\u27s ideal of creation of the Great Serbia. The same criteria led the author in evaluating the role of the Serb politicians around the "Glas SHS" (Voice of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes) who though formally independent of the Croato-Serb Coalition, were in fact propagators of Pribićević\u27s ideology. Although the article is based principally on the known historical material, the author approaches it with a fresh reinterpretation of this segment of Croatian history, critically evaluating stereotypes about "age-longdesire" of the southern Slavs for unification and about the necessity of creating a state following Pribićević\u27s model o f1918