Linguist Stjepan Babić in language politics turmoil during the period of SFR Yugoslavia

Iako je često spominjano da je Stjepan Babić bio borac za hrvatski jezik, manje je istraženo kako je to on točno vodio tu borbu. Stoga je cilj ovoga rada opisati njegov lik i način njegova djelovanja u SFRJ. To se čini na temelju nekih poznatih i manje poznatih izvora. Nakon uvoda u drugomu se poglavlju, uglavnom na temelju autobiografije, izdvajaju i tumače podatci o njegovu djetinjstvu i ranoj mladosti koji su ga bitno odredili. U trećemu se poglavlju na temelju izabranih objavljenih podataka upotpunjenih dijelovima Babićeva dnevnika predočava način stručnoga djelovanja. U zaključku se sažeto iznose najvažnije spoznaje o njegovu načinu djelovanja na temelju ovoga rada. Babiću je poznavanje komunističkoga sustava omogućilo da uspije u svojoj struci te da djeluje na hrvatski jezik i očuva ga, iako se nije učlanio u Komunističku partiju. Znao je kako se prikazati bezopasni(ji)m za sustav koji je svugdje tražio neprijatelje da ih ukloni. U vremenima najvećih pritisaka katkada je tek izvanjski, obaveznim nazivom jezika koji je bio propisan, političkom moći skrivao svoje prave namjere koje se mogu otkriti pažljivim čitanjem i razmišljanjem o onomu što je napisao. Uglavnom se nije borio za hrvatski jezik izravnim otkrivanjem svojih stavova u javnosti, nego najčešće neizravno, stručnim, znanstvenim i znanstveno-popularnim radom, u čemu mu je sama plodnost bila jedno od borbenih sredstava.Although Stjepan Babić is often mentioned as a fighter for the Croatian language, there has been little research done on how exactly he fought those battles. The aim of this paper is therefore to describe his character and the way he worked during the second Yugoslavia. This is based on both known and lesser-known sources. After the introduction, the second chapter is mainly based on his autobiography and singles out and interprets information about his childhood and early youth which significantly impacted him. The third chapter presents, based on selected published data supplemented with parts of Babić's diary, the way his professional activity was conducted. The conclusion summarizes the most important findings about his way of working for the cause of the Croatian language based on this paper. Babić's knowledge of the communist system enabled him to succeed in his profession and to work towards preservation of the Croatian language, despite not joining the Communist Party. He knew how to appear harmless in a system that was scouting everywhere for enemies that needed to be removed. In times of greatest pressure, he (sometimes just seemingly) hid his true intentions by using the obligatory politically prescribed name of the language. This can be revealed by carefully reading and thinking about what he wrote. He did not fight for the Croatian language by directly revealing his views to the public, but usually indirectly through professional, scientific, and popular science work, in which his productivity was one of his weapons in the struggles for the Croatian language