Ivo Pilar and Progressivism

Autor se u članku bavi ranijim razdobljem Pilarove karijere u namjeri da pokaže kako je njegov životni put višeslojan i ne može se jednostrano ocijeniti kao što je to slučaj u mnogim dosadaπnjim radovima. U početnom dijelu rada osvrnuo se na njegovo obiteljsko okruženje i intelektualno oblikovanje tijekom studija u Beču, kada je pripadao modernistički usmjerenoj mladeži koja se uglavnom priklonila naprednjačkoj ideologiji. Premda se do odlaska u Bosnu i Hercegovinu samo rubno osvrtao na politička pitanja, očito je da se Pilar u tom razdoblju kritički odnosio prema držanju hrvatske političke elite, držeći da ona zbog svog tradicionalizma ne razumije suvremene probleme društva. U tom smislu odbacivao je i političku doktrinu Stranke prava kao besplodni nacionalizam. Na temelju slabo korištenih i novootkrivenih dokumenata jasno je da je Pilar s nekim drugim pripadnicima pokreta moderne i tijekom boravka u Sarajevu nastavio promišljati u naprednjačkom duhu. Prekretnicu označavaju duboke promjene na hrvatskoj političkoj sceni, kad se osniva Hrvatska pučka napredna stranka, koja je iz taktičkih razloga vezanih uz suradnju sa srpskim političarima zanemarila raspravu o Bosni i Hercegovini, što je po Pilaru bilo neprihvatljivo jer se time išlo u prilog srpskom nacionalizmu. Na kraju članka uvršteni su izvorni prilozi.In the paper the author deals with an earlier period of Pilar’s career in order to show the multifarious character of his life’s journey which cannot be judged from a single perspective as was the case in numerous works to date. In the first part of the paper the author dwells on Pilar’s family life and intellectual evolution in the course of his studies in Vienna, where he joined a group of young people advocating modernism and mostly inclined toward a progressive ideology. Although until his departure for Bosnia and Herzegovina he only marginally dealt with political issues, it is evident that at that time Pilar had a critical view of the Croatian politic elite, convinced that due to its conservatism it did not understand contemporary societal problems. In that sense he discarded the political doctrine of the Party of Right as fruitless nationalism. On the basis of some rarely used and newly discovered documents it has become evident that Pilar, along with some other followers of the Modernist movement, continued to deliberate in the spirit of Progressivism during his stay in Sarajevo. The turning point was marked by the deep changes that took place on Croatia’s political scene with the establishment of the Croatian Popular Progressive Party, which for tactical reasons that were linked to cooperation with Serbian politicians, neglected the discourse on Bosnia and Herzegovina, something that was unacceptable to Pilar because in that way support was given to Serbian nationalism. The concluding part of the article contains original contributions