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The Obznana (Cyrillic: Обзнана; Serbo-Croatian for "Proclamation") was a government's decree that was issued on 29 December 1920 in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia), which outlawed the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) and any kind communist activity. It also stipulated that any person accused of "bolshevik propaganda" should be fired from public job. The Obznana was not adopted by the parliament, nor signed by the King, as was usual; instead, it was authored by the Minister of the Interior Milorad Drašković and signed by government ministers including the prime minister Milenko Vesnić. It was not published in the official gazette, but was printed as a poster and pasted on the streets, and thus did not have an official character.

Although the Obznana was not an official document, but an unofficial proclamation, it marked the begging of the persecution of communists in Yugoslavia, which culminated with the August 1921 adoption of the Law on the Protection of the State. The Law proscribed heavy prison sentence for any kind of communist propaganda. It came after the 1920 Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Constitutional Assembly election. Soon, the whole leadership of the CPY was arrested and sentenced to long prison sentences. Drašković was assassinated by communists in July 1921.

Background (December 1918 - December 1920)

After the formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (December 1918), the new state was nominally ruled by the democratic institutions, with the Temporary National Parliament as a legislature. In realty, the executive (Council of ministers), dominated by the People's Radical Party, ruled by decree with little input from the Parliament. The most notable example was the Interim Decree on the Preparation of the Agrarian Reform (February 1919).

Socialist movement was already existing on the territory of the new kingdom from the pre-World War I period. In what was then Austria-Hungary, the Social Democratic Party of Croatia and Slavonia (SDPCS) came into existence in 1894, two years before the Yugoslav Social-Democratic Party (Jugoslovanska socialdemokratska stranka, JSDS) was set up in Slovene lands. The Serbian Social Democratic Party (SSDP) was founded in 1903. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SDPBH) was established in 1909. The Unification congress of the Socialist Labor Party of Yugoslavia (Communists) was held in Belgrade on 20–23 April 1919 as consolidation on the left of the political spectrum. Clashes continued within the party between leftists and centrists – the latter favoring pursuit of reforms through a parliamentary system. The leftist faction prevailed at the second congress held in Vukovar on 20–24 June 1920 and adopted a new statute. That aligned the party entirely with the Communist International (Comintern), implementing all instructions received from the Comintern. Furthermore, the party was renamed the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY). Filip Filipović and Sima Marković, both former SSDP activists, were elected to lead the CPY. By May 1920, the CPY had about 50,000 members, and numerous sympathizers largely drawn from among 300,000 members of trade unions and youth organizations.

In the 1920 Constitutional Assembly election, the CPY won 58 out of 419 seats. The best results were achieved in large cities, in Montenegro and Macedonia. In light of difficult economic and social circumstances, the regime viewed the CPY as the main threat to the system of government. In response to the CPY's electoral success at the local and regional level including Belgrade and Zagreb earlier that year in March–August, and at the national level the Democratic Party and the People's Radical Party advocated prohibition of communist activity.

The CPY organized several large-scale protests and worker strikes. The most notable of these were the protest against international intervention in Russia and Hungary (21-22 July 1919) and the railroad workers' strike (April 1919) in which 50,000 strikers participated and to which the regime responded by militarizing the railroads. The trade union members and leaders were routinely persecuted by the police for "bolshevik activity". The regime saw the CPY as a branch office of Bolsheviks who destroyed the Russian Empire, the historical ally of the Serbs.

Proclamation of the decree

The culmination of the series of communist-led strikes came in December 1920 when the union of miners of Bosnia and Herzegovina called for general strike. On 24 December, the Council of ministers proclaimed a decree that called for militarization of any district where miner strike occurs. The strikes soon spread to Slovenia. In a few days, the miners strike turned into the Husino rebellion in which 7 miners were killed, and hundreds of participants were arrested. In solidarity wit the Bosnian miners, the communist-led Central Trade Union Council of Yugoslavia called for a general strike of all workers to be held on 30 December. This was a signal to the government for an all-out attack on the communists. The announced general strike was held only in Zagreb where police tried, but failed to prevent it, although several dozen strikers were wounded in the clash with the police.

The Obznana was written by the Interior minster Milorad Drašković and signed by the Council of Minsiters on 29 December 1920, then printed as posters and pasted on the streets of Belgrade during the night between 29 and 30 December (later also in other cities). Already on 30 December, the police closed all communist-affiliated workers unions and confiscated their property and archives. CPY was banned and all its property confiscated. All communist-affiliated newspapers were closed down too. Although communists and their sympathizers have been already persecuted by the police for two years, the Obznana came as a surprise to the leadership of the CPY. They were not prepared, and gave little resistance to this development.

Content of the decree

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Reaction

Aftermath

During the first three weeks after the proclamation of Obznana, thousands of communists and their sympathizers were arrested, beaten or even killed by the police. Just in Belgrade, more than a thousand people were arrested, many of whom were then sentenced to prison and internally exiled to the place of birth. On 1 January 1921, police killed communist activist Stjepan Supanc in Vukovar. Many teachers, professors and other public workers who were accused of communist activity were fired. Only the communist members of the Constituent Assembly, Communist Mayors and city councilors were spared from arrest, at least until July 1921.

On 29 June 1921, bricklayer Spasoje Stejić attempted to assassinate regent Alexander in Belgrade using a bomb, but failed. Stejić was member of secret communist group called "Pelagićevci". On 21 July 1921 in Delnice, carpenter Alija Alijagić assassinated then already former Interior Minister Drašković, the main author of the Obznana. Alijagić was member of secret youth communist group "Red Justice" from Zagreb. Although the CPY leadership condemned those terrorist acts, this gave pretext to the government for even harsher persecution of the CPY. Communist members of the Parliament were arrested and accused of inspiring terrorism. All communist mayors and city councilors were deposed and most of them arrested too. In late July, the communists were formally evicted from the Parliament.

On 1 August, the Parliament adopted the Law on the Protection of the State which completely banned CPY and stipulated harsh sentences (including the death sentence) for any kind of communist activity. This sparked the gradual disintegration of the CPY which needed decades to recover.

See also

• Law for the Protection of the Republic, a 1922 law in Germany

References

1. ^ Jovanović, Slobodan (1 April 1921). "Нестајање закона". Srpski književni glasnik. 2 (7): 513.
2. "Zakon o zaštiti države". Croatian Encyclopedia (in Croatian). Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography. 2013–2024. Retrieved 7 December 2024.
3. Vucinich, Wayne S. (2023). Contemporary Yugoslavia. University of California Press (published April 28, 2023). p. 12. ISBN 9780520331112.
4. ^ Prpa, Branka (23 December 2020). "Put u diktaturu". Vreme (in Serbian). Retrieved 2024-12-07.
5. Štiks 2015, pp. 41.
6. Engelsfeld 1972, p. 184.
7. Engelsfeld 1972, p. 187.
8. Banac 1988, pp. 46–48.
9. Tomasevich 2001, p. 13.
10. Banac 1984, p. 338.
11. ^ Calic, Marie-Janine (2019). A History of Yugoslavia. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-1-55753-838-3.
12. Banac 1988, pp. 50–51.
13. Banac 1984, pp. 394–395.
14. ^ Lampe 2000, pp. 122–125.
15. Tomasevich 2001, p. 16.
16. ^ Perović, Latinka (2015). "The Kingdom of Serbians, Croatians and Slovenians (1918–1929) / the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1929–1941): Emergence, Duration and End". www.yuhistorija.com. Retrieved 2024-12-07.
17. "општи страјк у Осеку". Zastava: 4. 3 May 1919.
18. "Штрајкови у Босни". Politika: 2. 23 December 1920.
19. "Уредба о штрајковима". Politika: 1. 25 December 1920.
20. "Уредба о штрајковима". Politika: 1. 26 December 1920.
21. Milenković, B (26 July 1956). "Хусинска буна". Borba: 2.
22. ^ Dimitrijević, Sergije (18 June 1980). "Обзнана, акт под измишљеним изговором". Borba: 13.
23. ^ Dimitrijević, Sergije (19 June 1980). "Обзнана донета, Партија не пружа отпор". Borba: 13.
24. ^ Dimitrijević, Sergije (20 June 1980). "Раднички покрет под режимом Обзнане". Borba: 13.
25. ^ Milenković, Toma (3 April 1979). "КПЈ у време Обзнане и доношења Закона о заштити државе". Borba: 14.

External links

• Banac, Ivo (1984). The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-1675-2.
• Banac, Ivo (1988). With Stalin against Tito: Cominformist Splits in Yugoslav Communism. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-2186-1.
• Lampe, John R. (2000). Yugoslavia as History: Twice There Was a Country (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-77357-1.
• Štiks, Igor (2015). Nations and Citizens in Yugoslavia and the Post-Yugoslav States: One Hundred Years of Citizenship. London, UK: Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4742-2152-8.
• Tomasevich, Jozo (2001). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-0857-9.
• Engelsfeld, Neda (1972). "Rad kluba komunističkih poslanika u plenumu Ustavotvorne skupštine (u prosincu 1920. i u siječnju 1921.)" [Work of the Communist Delegates' Club in the Constitutional Assembly (in December 1920 and January 1921)]. Radovi: Radovi Zavoda za hrvatsku povijest Filozofskoga fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu (in Croatian). 2 (1). Zagreb, Croatia: University of Zagreb: 181–262. ISSN 0353-295X.

• 1920 documents
• League of Communists of Yugoslavia
• 1920 in Yugoslavia
• Politics of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
• Decrees