Svetozar Pribićević

Svetozar Pribićević (Светозар Прибићевић, born in Kostajnica, October 26, 1875, died in Prague, September 15, 1936) was a Serbian politician from Croatia who worked hard for creation of unitaristic Yugoslavia. However, he later became a bitter opponent of the same policy and the dictatorship of king Aleksandar Karađorđević and died in exile.

As a youth, Pribićević studied mathematics and physics in Zagreb and then briefly in Prague. Upon returning to Zagreb, he joined other young, politically active Croats and Serbs in producing the book "Narodna misao" (The National Idea, 1895) which argued that Croats and Serbs were one nation, and that they should work together in Croatian politics. He took over leadership of the Serbian People's Independent Party (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-a-vis the Hungarian and Austrian governments. Between 1906 and 1918, he led the Croato-Serbian 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 the appeal of its "Yugoslav" agenda, made it the target of attempts by Austrian and Hungarian authorities to destroy it. The treason trial of 1909 (in which Croatian authorities tried 53 Serbs for treason) and the Friedjung trial (in which Pribićević and other members of the Coalition sued the Austrian historian Heinrich Friedjung 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 in 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 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 People's Council ("Narodno vijeće"). 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 27th November a delegation from the People's Council set off for Belgrade 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 this was necessary to create a new state in the disordered aftermath of the First World War. Many years later Ivan Meštrović was to challenge him on his role in that period and according to Meštrović he answered "I was mad".

Pribićević's Croat-Serb coalition quickly fused with political groupings from other parts of the former Austria-Hungary and a new party, the Democratic Party, was founded in Sarajevo. 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) to form a block that was to dominate the Provisional Representation 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 in 1920. 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 of Stjepan Radić's Croatian Peasant Party. Đuro Basariček told Pribićević that should there be held elections for the provisional representation not only would the Croatian 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. [Diktatura kralja Aleksandra Svetozar Pribićević p 134 (translated by Dražen Budiša and Božidar Petrač from the French: La dictature du roi Alexande, Paris, 1933)]

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 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.

in 1924 Pribićević's faction made their break with the Democratic Party final by founding a new party, the Independent Democratic Party.

He died in exile in Prague in 1936.

Notes