document count: 12

 

Led by charismatic brothers Ante and Stjepan Radic in the closing years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and undoubtedly the most popular political movement among Croats through the 1930s. Stjepan Radic alone spoke in opposition to the formation of Yugoslavia under the aegis of the King of Serbia at the National Council which decided on the union. Won elections in March 1923, but HSS deputies boycotted parliament. Radic visited the USSR in the Summer of 1924 for the Fifth Congress of the Comintern and affiliated the HSS with Communist Peasant International, or Krestintern. Radic was arrested in December 1924 and the Peasant Party outlawed. Shifting strategies, Radic communicated his acceptance of the Constitution and was released from jail a few months later. For taking their seats, the HSS was branded as a band of traitors by radicals from the Croat Party of Right, including Ante Pavelic. After serving for a time as Yugoslav Minister of Education, Radic was shot on the floor of parliament with four other HSS deputies by a representative from Montenegro and died of his wounds on August 8, 1928.

Radic's successor, Vladko Macek, led the Croatian delegates in a walk-out of parliament and King Alexander declared his personal dictatorship five months later, an event which led Pavelic into exile and to form the Ustase. In August 1939, the Sporazum (Understanding) was initialed by the Peasant Party, granting Croatia a wide measure of autonomy. Vladko Macek joined the government and a Peasant Party deputy, Ivan Subasic, served as ban (governor) of Croatia, though HSS delegations continued to visit Italy to press for Fascist intervention in declaring hegemony over Croatia. After Yugoslavia was attacked by Nazi Germany, Macek declined an Axis offer to lead the Independent State of Croatia and appeared on radio urging Croats to support the new Ustase regime. He was one of the first inmates of the Jasenovac concentration camp, later released to serve under house arrest. The Peasant Party was completely liquidated by the Ustase, which absorbed their youth and other affiliated organizations and welcomed former HSS delegates who crossed over to their side, among them Pavelic's eventual successor, Stjepan Hefer. Other HSS officials attempted to broker an alliance with the Communist-led Partizans, but were prevented from doing so by their former seniors. Macek was exiled in America by the Communist regime.

Pamphlet: "The Victorious Axis"
March 1941: Excerpt from an Ustase propaganda leaflet denouncing the Croatian Peasant Party

Official Document: "Pavelic's Cossacked Agents"
May 19, 1942: OSS report on efforts to undermine Croatian-American support for Ivan Subasic

Official Document: Memorandum on Yugoslav Groups in the US
June 28, 1944: Lengthy report including extensive background information the American branch of the Ustase movement, the Domobran

CIA File: Organization of the Ustase Abroad
October 1946: Reference to several HSS deputies-cum-Ustase hiding in Italy

CIA File: Background Report on Krunoslav Draganovic
February 12, 1947: "With this aim in view DRAGANOVIC is working with the Ustashi and also with the leftovers of the Croat Peasant Party in exile."

CIA File: The Croatian Resistance Movement (I)
June 14, 1948: Mention of HSS leaders in Italy attempting to set up their own resistance to Communist rule in Yugoslavia

CIA File: The Croatian Resistance Movement (II)
c. 1948: CIA report on leaders of the Croatian Resistance Movement, including the missing leader of the terror unit Crna Legija or Black Legion, Rafael Boban

CIA File: CIA Internal Memo
October 16, 1950: Mentions Krunoslav Draganovic's relations with Pavelic, Macek and other Croatian leaders

CIA File: Notes from the Foreign Language Press
November 8, 1950: Summary of a pointed Danica attack on Vladko Macek

MUNICH REPORT: Croatian Emigrant Movement (1)
August 23, 1954: Report sent from Munich, Germany to the US State Department on activity of the Croatian exile groups, including the Peasant Party

MUNICH REPORT: Croatian Emigrant Movement (2)
c. October 1954: Second report sent from Munich, Germany to the US State Department, including the Peasant Party

CIA File: State Department File on Krunoslav Draganovic
January 9, 1968: Mention of Draganovic's attempts to woo the HSS in exile

 

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