On the Position of Workers in Croatia in the Period Between the Wars

The position of workers in Croatia in the period between the wars became steadily worse, except at the time of the great world economic crisis, when the wages of employed workers were relatively high because of the fall in prices. This impoverishment of the working dass in Croatia is in accord with Marx\u27s evolutionary theory of pauperisation, which was possible in Croatia because of the activities of foreign capital. This capital moved almost all profil out of the country, making larger scale investment in the region where capital was directly reproduccd impossible, and causing not only an impoverishment of the land, but also an impoverishment of its inhabitants. In the paper this period, which lasted for two decades, is divided into three parts: the period between 1918-1929, which was one of a relative stabilizicion of capitalism, the period between 1930-1934, the period of the great world economic crisis, and the period between 1935-1941, in which a new economic upswing began, contrary to the difficult position of the workers. The basic characteristic of all the three periods was that the total position of workers in Croatia gradually became worse under the influence of various and very complex factors. During the first period the workers\u27 position grew worse because of inflatory tendencies in the economy and a lagging behind of wages. In this period unemployment was minimal, but the workers\u27 position - in comparison to condicions before the First World War - was much more serious because of the smaller buying power of their wages. During the second period the workers\u27 position grew much worse because of large-scale unemployment, which gripped almost all the branches of economy, in spite of the high buying power of wages. During the third period the economy recovered under the influence of the pre-war expansion and workers\u27 wages grew analogously. This was the direct cause of many conflicts between workers and capitalists. Having political and legal power on its side the owning class managed, through a constant rise of prices, to prevent any improvement of the position of the working class of Croatia. Apart from considering the workers\u27 position on the basis of their real and nominal wages, the political activities of Croatian workers is treated. All the most important stages in the struggle of antagonist social classes are mentioned, from thre workers\u27 struggle for a full application of workers\u27 legislation, to a growing intensification of work by introducing payment according to output in all branches of economy, and a change of employment structure in favour of women and minors, which was carried through by the owning class. The final issue of these conflicts was always in favour of the capitalists. But because of the growing impoverishment of the country and the increasingly bad position of the workers, a growing polarization of society set in. There was a concentration of capitalists on one, and working people on the other side. This process prepared the ground for the outbreak of social revolution in 1941, and enabled it to be carried to a successful conclusion