»EMPEROR KARL HAS BECOME A COMITADJI«: THE CROATIAN DISTURBANCES OF AUTUMN 1918.

Članak prvi put u literaturi raščlanjuje veliki val nemira u sjevernoj Hrvatskoj u tijeku prijelaznog razdoblja između rasula Austro-Ugarske i uspostave Kraljevine SHS u jesen 1918. Niz dramatičnih događaja predočen je iz perspektive pokreta seljačkih slojeva, uz nazočnost »zelenog kadra«, za društvenu jednakost i obračun sa svim nosiocima starog režima, te iz perspektive Narodnog vijeća i njegovih potreba za stabiliziranje stanja, makar uz uporabu krajnjih mjera. Autor razglaba o mjestu nemira u kasnijim tumačenjima i zaključuje da su oni odraz pravog raspoloženja hrvatskih masa prema Austro-Ugarskoj, Državi SHS i jugoslavenskom ujedinjenju.The article is the first attempt in literature to dissect the great wave of peasant disturbances that rocked Croatia-Slavonia in October and November of 1918 during the period of transition from moribund Austria-Hungary to the emerging Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. The author examines all segments of the popular movement, from the »Green Cadre« military deserters to the peasants of the manorial estates. The »pillagers«, as the official reports referred to the marauding peasants, often blended plain banditry with more self-consciously rebellious aims, a development which was indicative of a belief in a new world, free of bureaucrats, landlords, extortionist merchants, and usurers, in which land and goods would be redistributed. In the process, they destabilized Croatia-Slavonia precisely at the moment when the leadership of the Nacional Council of the Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs - the center of political power in Zagreb - wished to present a more promising index of South Slavic unity. Instead of reassuring the Allies about the eagerness of the broad strata to follow the intelligentsia\u27s lead into Yugoslav unification, the National Council opted for harsh repressive measures in order to put down the popular movement. The Croatian disturbances of the autumn of 1918 have ingendered considerable controversy over the years. On the Croat Left, the disturbances were assessed quite accurately, at least in regard to their gravity, though with excessive emphasis on the influence of Leninist ideas. The Croat political Right always sought to downplay the importance of the disturbances. Most important, the events of October and November 1918 shed light on the political consequences of the deep gulf between the educated elite and the peasant masses that is often typical of agrarian countries