YoungstownskeÌ SlovenskeÌ noviny = Youngstown Slovak news. (Youngstown, Ohio) 1910-1940, 1931-05-15

JrIGDSL4a ISM

Notwithst tarainE NE inability of
the leader to .disc4ss this question
In public, the aCroa.ian people-the
students. the merchants, the peasants
and even the public officials,-had
even before the war a clear percep-
tion of the ne,o and the true JugoslaO
ideal, which, as already stated, was
product of the coalescence of the
two older political concepts in Croa-
tia of perfect blending of Jugoslav
nationalism and Croatian patriotism.
(Jugoslav movement as a whole, from
the time Of the 'Illyrians" up to the
year 1918 was nearly exclusively
Croatian affair.". This new concept
may be stated as follows: 3a
Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, al.
though from historico-political
viewpoint three separate peoples, arc
one nation. Those of them, who lived
inside the boundaries Of the Haps-
burg Empire, had been always shame
lessly exploited and mistreated by
either Budapest, or Vienna, or both.
For that reason they want to sever all
connections with Austria and Hun
gary, and-uniting with their breth-
rem in the kingdoms of Serbia and
Montenegro-forn a new state, in
which the liberty, territorial integrity,
and opportunity for development of
| the Croats, the Serbs, and the Slov-
enes would be fully guaranteed, and
the advantages emanating from the
union be, in an equal degree enjoyed
by all of them.
This ideal aUaS neuer realized. In
stead of a Jugoslavia, which would
watch jealously over all the posses
sions, spiritual and material, of the
three peoples constituting it, which
would preserve all their traditions
and achievements, thereby earning
and winning their loyalty and bring
ing them ever closer to each other,
the year of our Lord 1918 brought
forth kingdom S. II. S., which re-
paid the Croats for making its COM
ing into being possible by robbing
them of their national individuality
and self-rule This fact is the key
to the "Croatian Question:"
The idea of unity and of the union
was contributed by the Croats; chief
proponents of this idea, from Gaj to
Supilo, were Croats; most Of the ef-
forts spent and most of the sacrifices
made in behalf of this idea were spent
and made by the Croats; and now,
when the unification became possible,
Croats were required to relinquish
their glorious past, to give up their
thousand years old national individ-
uality in short, to become q subject
people IN the state, for tU1,ich they
: built the foundation, and furnished
most of the materials. j, t-& =.
THE STORY OF UNIFICATION
In the summer of 1918 nearly
everybody in Croatia-exception
were extremely few-,Mas openly and
enthusiastically for the union of the
South Slavs into one state, estab-
lished, of course, on the principle of
freedom and equality of the COM
ponent parts. In accordance with
this feeling a National Council of
the Slovenes, Croats and Serbs" was
organized in the beginning of Octo-
Der, 1918 as the political representa-
= tive Of all the South Slavs occupying
, the territories of the Hapsburg En-
t pirc. The fundamental part of the
! Councils program was: "the union of
s all Slovenes, Croats and Serbs into a
i national, free, and independent State
. Of the Slovenes, Croats and Serbs,
: which will be organized on demo-
: cratic principles
!. On October 10, the National Coun-
Gil adopted resolution stating: "We
demand that all our nation of the
;, Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, and all
: the territories inhabited by that peo-
= pie, without regard for any provincial
=, or international boundaries be united
! into a single, completely sovereign
: state"
On October 20, Croatian Parlia-
ment convened and announced: ::
. "Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia with
Fiume are declared one State, COM
pletely independent of Austria and
a Hungary, which, in accordance with
G the modern principle of self-determin-
alton Of nations, joins a united, ma
, tional, sovereign State Of Slovenes.
+ Croats and Serbs, that would include
$ all the territory on which this tri-
: nomial people now live, irrespective
: of any provincial or international
: boundaries" " r..
From that day till December /, the