Croatian Spring in the 1970's: Students against the regime

Content:

Croatian Spring

Beginning

Initiators

Matrix Croatica

Development

Miko Tripalo

Ending

Croatian Spring

The Croatian Spring was a cultural and political movement in the early 1970s that called for rights for Croatia within Yugoslavia

The opponents of this movement called it MASPOK("mass movement")

There were many reasons for the rise of this movement: first, the economic ones: Croatia and Slovenia were more developed than other countries in Yugoslavia

Beginning:

During 1970. and 1971. Croatia faced even a bigger problem

Constitutional amendments were proposed that would put Croatia in a much worse position: for example, it was proposed to put in the amendment paragraph about the sovereignty that the Socialist Republic of Croatia was a Serbian and Croatian people's country they asked for withdrawing "Lijepa naša" from the position of the anthem because "only the Croats were mentioned and not the Serbs"etc.

Initiators

The initiators were part of the Croatian (SKH) elite and organizations of that time: Matica hrvatska (Matrix Croatica), Društvo hrvatskih pisaca (Croatian Writers' Association), Zajednica pisaca TIN (Writers' Society TIN) and also members of the intellectuals (humanistic intelligence) and students

Matrix Croatica

Matrix Croatica played one of the most significant roles in the events concerning the Croatian Spring by actively representing cultural, economic and political interests of the Socialist Republic of Croatia and Croatian people. After the collapse of the Croatian Spring this role brought some of it's notable members hard times with dismissals, prosecutions and long-term sentences

Matrix Croatica (as an institution) was discontinued after session in Karađorđevo and it was renewed after fall of Yugoslavia

Development

There were attacks and the media hunt on Croatia, Croats and members of the Croatian Spring all the time during the Croatian Spring and even before the meeting in December in Karadjordjevo which meant cutting of Croatia

The political demands of the mass movement were condemned as "the revival of fascism„

After Croatia had been cut at the meeting, more than two thousand Croats were arrested and convicted for participating in the Croatian Spring

Students' Union of Croatia was dissolved by the government, the Students' Letter was forbidden.

A new emigration was encouraged in a way that people were forced into a political emigration and they weren't allowed to return

Many government officials from the economic systems were if not fired than replaced or degraded to extremely low positions

Miko Tripalo states very precisely in his memories that two thousand people were arrested and more than hundred thousand people was replaced, fired from work, moved or harassed in some way

Miko Tripalo

Miko Tripalo (Sinj, 1926 - Zagreb, 1995) was a Croatian and Yugoslav politician

A son of well-to-do farmers' family near Sinj, he joined Tito's Partisans as a teenager. Later he joined Communist Party of Yugoslavia and rose through its ranks, getting many important positions in Yugoslavia

In 1970 Tripalo and Savka introduced new Party platform that demanded more autonomy for Croatia within Yugoslavia

Tripalo, faced with deteriorating health, died few years later

Ending

The Socialist Republic of Croatia was under siege by the army and the police

And what's most despised politicians like Dušan Dragosavac and Milka Planinc were appointed party chiefs i.e. given power

There was actually a coup in Croatia

"The Croatian Silence" was established and it lasted up to 1989.

The Croatian Spring countinued in the emigration It marked the beginning of a new Croatian movement for independence