The Question of Croatian Statehood and the Right to Self-Determination and Secession in Yugoslavia (1918-1991)

With this article, the author analyzes the historical and legal circumstances that led to the founding of Yugoslavia in 1918, its federalization, and its disintegration in 1990/1991. with special reference to the legal significance of the Yugoslav Socialist Constitutions, and in particular the 1974 Constitution. It is well known that in the process of gaining independence from the SFRY, the Republic of Croatia invoked the alleged constitutional right to self-determination and secession, while the Yugoslav-Serbian side denied that right to Croatia on the basis of the same Constitution. Although federalism is considered the legacy of Tito’s Yugoslavia, its political relevance dates back to the very beginnings of the Yugoslav state, which is also important to emphasize for a better understanding of the historical relations of the South Slavic peoples, especially Croats and Serbs. Namely, the federalization of the Yugoslav state was the political goal of the Croatian Peasant Party, which was half achieved by the establishment of the Banovina of Croatia, which significantly influenced the later structure of communist Yugoslavia. Within the state-legal framework of Tito’s Yugoslavia, the Croatian federal unit emerged as a state of the working people and a national state of the Croatian people and the Serbian people and other nationalities. In their preambles and basic principles, the socialist constitutions emphasized the right to self-determination, including the right to secede, as the basis for the unification of the Yugoslav peoples, which was at the center of controversy in the process of disintegration of Yugoslavia. Finally, the article deals with the legal foundations of the establishment of the independent Republic of Croatia and the position of the Croatian constitutionalist in relation to the Yugoslav legal heritage. In conclusion, the topic of this paper is the existence or non-existence of Croatian state law in Yugoslavia, the legal position of the Croatian federal unit in Yugoslavia, as well as the legal position of the Croatian Constitution on Yugoslav and communist heritage, but also legal aspects of political and ideological myths about the 1974 SFRY Constitution