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Anarchism in Croatia first emerged in the late 19th century within the socialist workers' movement. Anarchist tendencies subsequently spread from neighboring countries, taking root in a number of cities throughout the country. The movement experienced repression from a succession of authoritarian regimes before finally reemerging around the time of the independence of Croatia.
In 1868, the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement brought the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia under the rule of Austria-Hungary, [1] beginning a period of significant industrialization in the country, which saw the emergence of the first workers' associations in cities throughout Croatia. In 1869, the first strikes broke out in Osijek and Rijeka and there were debates over the establishment of a Croatian branch of the International Workingmen's Association. Croatian workers eventually began to express their demands in the new Workers' Friend newspaper, which was launched in 1874. Meanwhile, a split in the early Social Democratic Party led to the emergence of an anarchist faction, which extended its influence to Croatia.
In 1885, the Croatian worker Ignjat Graff was detained in Osijek and accused of anarchist agitation by the authorities, which seized several issues of Freiheit from him. [2] In 1887, the Radnik newspaper began publication in Dubrovnik. In 1890, workers in Zagreb celebrated May Day for the first time. In 1894, the Hungarian anarchist Henrik Wieneke began to agitate in the city of Osijek, leading the mayor to express fear of "propaganda of the deed" and the administration of Károly Khuen-Héderváry to warn of the spread of anarchist views among state officials and the home guard.
In 1898, a socialist newspaper began to be published in Zadar and the Italian anarchist Attilio Pieroni moved to Split. The same year, the musicologist Franjo Kuhač published a work titled Anarchy, in which he criticized the emergence of Art Nouveau in Croatia. The authorities then began to point to the influences of Serbian anarchists in Osijek.
In 1900, the French anarchist Joseph Signac was expelled from Rijeka, while arrest warrants for Italian anarchists began to circulate Croatia, many wanted for their connections to the assassinations of Empress Elizabeth of Austria and Umberto I of Italy. In 1902, two Croatian anarchists were arrested and put on trial in Osijek and the authorities reported that anarchists were spreading throughout the area of Trieste, Istria and Rijeka. In 1903, several anarchists were arrested in Pula and their illicit press was seized. The next year, fifteen anarchists led a protest through the city. In 1905, a general strike broke out in Osijek, becoming the first of its kind in Croatian history and eventually forcing the government to legalize trade unions. This strike inspired another in Slavonski Brod, where Miloš Krpan propagated anarcho-syndicalist ideas, even inviting Viennese anarchists to establish a commune near the city. [3]
In 1907, the Trieste anarchist newspaper Germinal described Split as a city revived by "a group of young rebels, freemen", while the city's police began mass arrests of anarchists. In 1909, the people of Split organized demonstrations against the murder of Francesc Ferrer. In 1912, an anarchist football club was founded in Split, who continue to exist under the name RNK Split. [4]
Towards the end of World War I in 1918, a wave of general strikes and the strengthening of the Green Cadres led the authorities to begin writing about an environment of "general anarchy" in Croatia. In 1920, the government of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes issued the Obznana , which outlawed the activities of all socialist organizations.
Following the March on Rome and the rise of Fascist Italy, repression intensified against anarchists. [5] The subsequent institution of Alexander I's royal dictatorship, followed by the government of the fascist Yugoslav Radical Union, led to the repression of anarchism in Croatia, as well as the nascent Croatian calls for federalism in Yugoslavia. [6] In the 1930s, a number of prominent Croatian anarchists, including Miloš Krpan and Stjepan Fabijanović died.
Individual anarchists continued to agitate in Croatia, with some becoming involved in the anti-fascist resistance movements during the Spanish Civil War (see Yugoslav volunteers in the Spanish Civil War) and World War II in Yugoslavia, with anarchist partisans being particularly prominent in the area of Rovinj. [7] However, the command of the League of Communists over the partisan movement, followed by its subsequent rise to power in Yugoslavia and the constitution of the Socialist Republic of Croatia, led to the suppression of any remaining anarchist and left-communist tendencies. [5]
The newly established government of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia began implementing a limited form of workers' socialist self-management, directed by workers' councils. However, these were in practice still under the control of the state bureaucracy, which in some cases even introduced a market economy. As unemployment continued to rise, people began to demand a more genuine form of workers' self-management, culminating in the 1968 student demonstrations. [5]
Following the death of Josip Broz Tito, a performative anarchist group formed in Zagreb during the 1980s. Initially nameless, it later changed its names several times, some of which included: Train Toilet Band, Svarun and Autonomija. This group mostly held limited performances and "empty demonstrations", in which members ridiculed politics by giving silent speeches and handing out black leaflets. The group eventually disbanded around the time of the breakup of Yugoslavia. [8]
Following the independence of Croatia, the Croatian anarchist movement began to slowly reconstitute itself. Anarchists began to participate in the anti-war movement against the Croatian War of Independence. The Zagreb Anarchist-Pacifist Movement (ZAPO) was formed spontaneously to agitate against the war, holding events throughout the 1990s, before eventually dissolving itself in 2001, once the Yugoslav Wars had drawn to a close. [9] During the 1990s, anarchism was largely subcultural, with many anarchists forming connections with Croatian NGOs and participating in the opposition movement to the government of Franjo Tuđman and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). [5] Food Not Bombs collectives also began to emerge around this time, organizing the distribution of food in cities throughout Croatia.
On October 31, 1999, Anfema (Anarchofeminist Action) was created in Zagreb, intensifying the problematization of women's issues in the anarchist movement. Anfema began to create an alternative feminist scene, as group members had argued that in institutionalized feminist associations, too many relationships were still based on hierarchy and domination, only without men. In early 2000, they published the first issue of WOMB magazine. The main activities of the group were organizing workshops and informing citizens about the problems of women in society. [10]
At the turn of the 21st century, anarchist organizations built around class struggle began to emerge, including the Zadar Anarchist Front (ZAF) and the Anarcho-Syndicalist Confederation (ASK), which were instrumental in re-introducing anarcho-syndicalist ideas to the country. [11] The ZAF began to translate anarchist texts into Croatian and published their own magazine Solidarity and Freedom. [12] Around the same time, the Rijeka Anarchist Initiative was founded, as an interest group gathered around protests against the installation of radar in Učka, later taking part in other protests against NATO. [13] However, Croatian anarchist groups largely remained localized and disconnected during the early 2000s, and these organizations eventually fell apart. [5]
In February 2008, the Network of Anarcho-Syndicalists (MASA) was formed at a national meeting in Zadar, holding their first congress in Zagreb on April 12 of that same year, where it formally constituted its aims and structure. It was made up of local groups in Zagreb, Pula, Split, Rijeka and Zadar, with contacts in various other cities, and participated in a number of direct actions throughout Croatia. [11]
In 2009, MASA opened the Centre for Anarchist Studies, [11] a registered NGO formed with the intention of collecting and publishing anarchist literature, holding lectures and public discussions, and promoting the study of anarcho-syndicalist theory. [14]
Following a number of neoliberal reforms and with the Croatian entry into the European Union on the horizon, popular discontent with the ruling HDZ government began to grow. This culminated on February 22, 2011, when protests broke out against the government, [15] calling for the resignation of the prime minister Jadranka Kosor and early elections. [16] By February 28, many of the protests had taken on a largely self-organized character, which led the Network of Anarcho-Syndicalists to begin participating in the protests, while also criticizing the inaction of mainstream trade unions and the potential of a new government under the Social Democratic Party (SDP). [17] As the protests continued, MASA noted the emergence of libertarian principles among the protestors and denounced the leading opposition figures Ivan Pernar (ZZ) and Dragutin Lesar (HLSR) for having promoted the continuation of capitalism. [18]
In 2013, the Rijeka branch of MASA left the organization to found the Network of Anarchists of Rijeka (MASA Rijeka). [19] In June 2014, MASA Rijeka became a full member of the Federation for Anarchist Organisation (FAO) at the organization's 6th Congress in Slovenia. [20] [21] In January 2017, at a regular meeting of the FAO, the group confirmed its plans to expand the Network of Anarchists throughout the Croatian region, with operations planned in Istria and Kvarner. [22]
Transport in Croatia relies on several main modes, including transport by car, train, ship and plane. Road transport incorporates a comprehensive network of state, county and local routes augmented by a network of highways for long-distance travelling. Water transport can be divided into sea, based on the ports of Rijeka, Ploče, Split and Zadar, and river transport, based on Sava, Danube and, to a lesser extent, Drava. Croatia has 9 international airports and several airlines, of which the most notable are Croatia Airlines and Trade Air. Rail network is fairly developed but regarding inter-city transport, bus tends to be far more common than the rail.
Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence in broader society. The goal of syndicalism is to abolish the wage system, regarding it as wage slavery. Anarcho-syndicalist theory generally focuses on the labour movement. Reflecting the anarchist philosophy from which it draws its primary inspiration, anarcho-syndicalism is centred on the idea that power corrupts and that any hierarchy that cannot be ethically justified must be dismantled.
The Solidarity Federation, also known by the abbreviation SolFed, is a federation of class struggle anarchists active in Britain. The organisation advocates a strategy of anarcho-syndicalism as a method of abolishing capitalism and the state, and describes itself as a "revolutionary union". In 1994 it adopted its current name, having previously been the Direct Action Movement since 1979, and before that the Syndicalist Workers' Federation since 1950.
Sam Dolgoff was an anarchist and anarcho-syndicalist from Russia who grew up, lived and was active in the United States.
Anarchism in the United Kingdom initially developed within the religious dissent movement that began after the Protestant Reformation. Anarchism was first seen among the radical republican elements of the English Civil War and following the Stuart Restoration grew within the fringes of radical Whiggery. The Whig politician Edmund Burke was the first to expound anarchist ideas, which developed as a tendency that influenced the political philosophy of William Godwin, who became the first modern proponent of anarchism with the release of his 1793 book Enquiry Concerning Political Justice.
The Japanese Anarchist Federation was an anarchist organisation that existed in Japan from 1946 to 1968.
Petar Krpan is a Croatian retired footballer who played as a forward.
Anarchism in Sweden first grew out of the nascent social democratic movement during the later 19th century, with a specifically libertarian socialist tendency emerging from a split in the movement. As with the movements in Germany and the Netherlands, Swedish anarchism had a strong syndicalist tendency, which culminated in the establishment of the Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden (SAC) following an aborted general strike. The modern movement emerged during the late 20th century, growing within a number of countercultural movements before the revival of anarcho-syndicalism during the 1990s.
Italian anarchism as a movement began primarily from the influence of Mikhail Bakunin, Giuseppe Fanelli, and Errico Malatesta. Rooted in collectivist anarchism and social or socialist anarchism, it expanded to include illegalist individualist anarchism, mutualism, anarcho-syndicalism, and especially anarcho-communism. In fact, anarcho-communism first fully formed into its modern strain within the Italian section of the First International. Italian anarchism and Italian anarchists participated in the biennio rosso and survived Italian Fascism, with Italian anarchists significantly contributing to the Italian Resistance Movement. Platformism and insurrectionary anarchism were particularly common in Italian anarchism and continue to influence the movement today. The synthesist Italian Anarchist Federation appeared after the war, and autonomismo and operaismo especially influenced Italian anarchism in the second half of the 20th century.
Sport in Croatia has significant role in Croatian culture, and many local sports clubs as well as the Croatian national squads enjoy strong followings in the country. The most enduring sport by far in Croatia is football, and is played on amateur and professional levels amongst all age groups across the entire country. Several other major team sports are handball, basketball and water polo, with clubs in all parts of Croatia. Ice hockey is another popular team sport, namely in the Croatian interior. The most popular individual sports in Croatia are tennis, alpine skiing, and swimming, and to some extent table tennis and chess. Various amateur sport games are popular in Croatia, notably picigin.
Anarchism in Australia arrived within a few years of anarchism developing as a distinct tendency in the wake of the 1871 Paris Commune. Although a minor school of thought and politics, composed primarily of campaigners and intellectuals, Australian anarchism has formed a significant current throughout the history and literature of the colonies and nation. Anarchism's influence has been industrial and cultural, though its influence has waned from its high point in the early 20th century where anarchist techniques and ideas deeply influenced the official Australian union movement. In the mid 20th century anarchism's influence was primarily restricted to urban bohemian cultural movements. In the late 20th century and early 21st century Australian anarchism has been an element in Australia's social justice and protest movements.
Anarchism in Japan began to emerge in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as Western anarchist literature began to be translated into Japanese. It existed throughout the 20th century in various forms, despite repression by the state that became particularly harsh during the two world wars, and it reached its height in the 1920s with organisations such as Kokuren and Zenkoku Jiren.
Contemporary anarchism within the history of anarchism is the period of the anarchist movement continuing from the end of World War II and into the present. Since the last third of the 20th century, anarchists have been involved in anti-globalisation, peace, squatter and student protest movements. Anarchists have participated in armed revolutions such as in those that created the Makhnovshchina and Revolutionary Catalonia, and anarchist political organizations such as the International Workers' Association and the Industrial Workers of the World have existed since the 20th century. Within contemporary anarchism, the anti-capitalism of classical anarchism has remained prominent.
Anarchism emerged on territories of Serbia in the second half of the 19th century as part of the wider workers' movement in the Southern Slavic and future Yugoslavian region, and was embraced along with other freedom-centered ideas as part of the struggle for national liberation from Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. Among the first people to espouse ideas of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was Živojin Žujović, who was at the time a student of law and economy, later credited as the first Serbian socialist. A sizeable community of South Slavic students and revolutionaries was based in Switzerland, where they kept in touch with Mikhail Bakunin and the Slavic section of Jura Federation.
Anarchism in Colombia was a political movement that emerged from the disparate social movements of the 19th-century, becoming an organized force in the 1910s and 1920s. After a period of recession, the movement re-emerged in the late 20th century, with the rise of counter-cultural, left-wing and indigenous resistance movements.
Anarchism in Indonesia has its roots in the anti-colonial struggle against the Dutch Empire. It became an organized movement at the behest of Chinese anarchist immigrants, who played a key part in the development of the workers' movement in the country. The anarchist movement was suppressed, first by the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, then by the successive regimes of Sukarno and Suharto, before finally re-emerging in the 1990s.
Anarchism in Guatemala emerged from the country's labor movement in the late 19th century. Anarcho-syndicalism rose to prominence in the early 20th century, reaching its peak during the 1920s, before being suppressed by the right-wing dictatorship of Jorge Ubico.
Anarchism in Denmark emerged in the late 19th century from the revolutionary factions of early social democratic spheres, crystalizing into a widespread anarcho-syndicalist movement that reached its height during the late 1910s. After the disintegration of organized syndicalism, anarchists in post-war Denmark began to organize the squatters' movement, which led to the creation of Freetown Christiania.
Anarchism in Austria first developed from the anarchist segments of the International Workingmen's Association (IWA), eventually growing into a nationwide anarcho-syndicalist movement that reached its height during the 1920s. Following the institution of fascism in Austria and the subsequent war, the anarchist movement was slow to recover, eventually reconstituting anarcho-syndicalism by the 1990s.
Tom Brown (1900–1974) was a British anarcho-syndicalist trade unionist, anti-fascist, engineer and writer. Brown contributed articles to papers including War Commentary, Freedom, and Direct Action alongside authoring numerous pamphlets. Brown was known for his compelling public speaking and ability to communicate effectively in everyday terms. He placed a strong emphasis on federated local groups rather than centralism, and on workplace-based revolutionary trade unionism.
