CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE LEADER OF THE CROATIAN PEASANT PARTY LJUDEVIT TOMAŠIĆ

Autor je u radu, na temelju dosada nekorištenog izvornog arhivskog gradiva, pratio dugotrajni kazneni postupak protiv prvaka HSS-a prof. Ljudevita Tomašića, koji je protiv njega pokrenut zbog političkog govora održanog u Sisku 16. U. 1936. godine. Na temelju relevantne literature i suvremenog tiska prikazao je opće političko stanje u Kraljevini Jugoslaviji poslije marseilleskog atentata (9. X. 1934. god.) do stvaranja Banovine Hrvatske (26. VII. 1939. god.). Posebice naglašava da se u spomenutom kaznenom postupku zapravo radilo o političkom procesu, koji je bio refleks političkog gibanja (1936.-1939.), te se pokazuje kao primjer političke borbe u zaoštrenoj političkoj krizi.After the assassination of king Alexander (1934) the Kingdom of Yugoslavia witnessed a revival of the party and political life and confrontation between the regime and opposing forces. The new president of the government Milan Stojadinović recognized again the existence of Croatian question. At all political meetings the followers of Vladko Maček and Croatian Peasant Party all over Croatia asked the prince Pavle and the government to abolish the dictatorship. The same happened also at the meeting of Croatian Peasant Party in Sisak (1936), when one of the Party leaders, Ljudevit Tomašić, criticized political situation in the country. Facing 12000 citizens of Sisak and peasants from the Sisak region, he asked for full sovereignty of Croatian people, Croatian Parliament in Zagreb, and said that Croats had never been nor would ever be Yugoslavs »because Yugoslavism is no nation at all«. Because of this speech a criminal proceedings against Tomašić were instituted. It was o political process which included a series of state-run institutions. After the agreement between the new president of the government Dragiša Cvetković and Vladko Maček and the establishment of Banovina Croatia, the procedure against Tomašić was stopped