crimes committed by totalitarian regimes - Ministrstvo za pravosodje

Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes
Jera Vodušek Starič *
The making of the communist regime in Slovenia and
Yugoslavia
The formation of a communist state in post-war Slovenia and Yugoslavia has many aspects which
must be considered, and it is not a simple task to give a short, but an overall picture. Actually, it consists
of two main elements: the revolution and the formation of a socialist state.
The time span in which to analyse these problems should practically begin with the formation of the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY). One should take into account all of its programs, declarations,
policies and personalities in the 1920’s, but especially the turn its policy took in the 1930’s. In those years
a new communist generation rose in the movement: a generation much more determined, disciplined and
orthodox in its manner, schooled in Moscow that had precise and fixed views on the goals it meant to
achieve and methods it was ready to adopt. This generation was then on the scene for many years after
the Second World War, in Slovenia approximately until the end of the 1980’s. It went through many
challenges, but it never abandoned its basic philosophy. However, the most interesting and decisive was
the period of the communist rise to power in the years 1944–46, that had the greatest impact on the
character of the future regime in Slovenia and Yugoslavia.
In the beginning, it is necessary to determine the specifics of the Yugoslav case. It was a self-made
revolution, which distinguished it from the rest of the Eastern European take-overs. This revolution
took place in a multi-national country, and the national question played an important role in it. The
national issue was also one of the main criticisms the CPY had against pre-war Yugoslavia, which had
just barely started solving it on the verge of World War Two. The establishment of the Slovene and
Croat Communist parties in 1937, not only showed the party’s readiness to acknowledge the problem
(even if it might have been only a matter of tactics), but it also gave the party a tactical advantage on the
Slovene and Croat internal political scenes. The second main difference was, that the party had a strong,
dedicated and disciplined party membership, although not so large, since it was an illegal party (with
a selective cadre policy), with a leadership based at home and not in Moscow (or elsewhere). It was a
party that was able to perform on its own, at the moment the situation was ripe. This does not mean it
did not co-ordinate its moves within a broader cause of the so called world revolution (and ideological
alliance) or that it did not look upon the Soviet Union (SU) as its natural ally.
The uprising in Yugoslavia in 1941, which was at the same time the beginning of a revolution, has
already received no small measure of attention. Although most of it went to problems surrounding the
events linked to activty of the Central Committee (CC) of the CPY and the central partisan leadership,
the situation in Serbia and Croatia, the uprising in Lika, and the civil war that developed between the
partisans and the chetniks 1 and less to some of its other aspects. We shall try to point out the latter, and
not repeat the well-known facts.
The course of events in Slovenia in 1941 was somewhat different from that in the other parts of
Yugoslavia, especially after it was cut off by the formation of the Independent state of Croatia (NDH)
and divided by three occupiers. Immediately after the attack on Yugoslavia, the official Slovene political
parties established a National Council, in order to deal with the forthcoming occupation of Slovenia.
The Communist Party of Slovenia, being illegal, was not invited to join it. So the party established an
organisation of its own at the end of April 1941, called the Anti-imperialist Front, together with the
representatives of the leftist wings of the Christian Socialist movement (not a party, but a dissident wing
of the predominant People’s Party) and the Sokoli (Falcons, a nationalist sports organisation). A few
representatives of the intelligentsia, well known for their activities promoting a ‘Society of Friends of
the Soviet Union’ in the summer of 1940, also joined the Front. 2 The Yugoslav historiography, especially
* Dr Jera Vodušek Starič, Ljubljana, Slovenija.
1
I will try to avoid citing all the well-known literature on Yugoslavia in the Second World War, and bring to your attention some of the less
known and newer works or editions of sources, especially those regarding Slovenia.
2
These activities went on until December, when Josip Vidmar, the future president of the Slovene Liberation Front – OF, submitted a
document that had almost 18,000 signatures for the establishment of the Society, to the Soviet embassy in Belgrade. These activities were
organised by the same political groups that in 1941 joined the Anti-imperialist Front.
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