People's Front in Croatia 1935-1953

Pod pojmom Narodna fronta podrazumijeva se savezništvo lijevih i građanskih stranaka protiv fašizma, što je linija koju je Kominterna preuzela 1935. nakon Sedmog kongresa te je tu liniju preuzela i KPJ iste godine. Iako se provedba te politike u Jugoslaviji tijekom prijeratnog razdoblja pokazala uglavnom neuspješnom, u nekim je slučajevima ostvarena suradnja između komunista i građanskih stranaka. Na početku rata KPH je neuspješno pokušala oformiti Narodnu frontu s drugim političkim strankama i skupinama u Hrvatskoj. Tijekom 1943. dolazi do proširenja partizanskog Narodnooslobodilačkog pokreta te mu se pridružuje velik broj članova HSS-a i drugih nekomunističkih stranaka i skupina, ponajviše zahvaljujući ZAVNOH-u koji je utemeljen iste godine. U svibnju 1944. osnovana je Jedinstvena narodnooslobodilačka fronta koja je bila zamišljena kao organizacija u kojoj bi trebale ravnopravno sudjelovati sve stranke i skupine antifašističke orijentacije. Nakon završetka rata do kraja 1946. Narodna fronta je koncipirana kao "široki narodni antifašistički demokratski pokret" i u tom razdoblju se pokušavalo osigurati prividno sudjelovanje drugih stranaka i skupina u novoj vladi. Ova se linija provodila sve do 1947. kada je na Drugom kongresu NFJ isključena mogućnost postojanja drugih stranaka i naglašena potreba političkog jedinstva u ostvarivanju Petogodišnjeg plana. Potpuni nestanak političkog pluralizma i uspostava prevlasti komunista unutar Narodne fronte dogodio se tijekom 1949. godine, kada je program KPJ izabran kao službena linija Fronte. Rad se temelji na objavljenim izvorima poput Zbornika NOR-a, novinama te arhivskim fondovima iz Državnog arhiva u Pazinu.The term People’s Front implies the alliance of left and centrist parties against fascism, which is the line implemented by the Comintern in 1935 after the Seventh Congress. The CPY also started implementing the Popular front policy the same year. Although the implementation of the policy in the pre-war period proved mostly unsuccessful, in some cases co-operation between communists and opposition parties was achieved. At the beginning of the war, the CPC unsuccessfully tried to form a Popular Front with other political parties and groups in Croatia. During 1943, the composition of the partisan movement was expanded and a large number of CPP members and members of other parties and groups joined the movement, largely thanks to ZAVNOH which was founded the same year. In May 1944, the United National Liberation Front was founded which was conceived as a big tent organization in which all parties and groups with an anti-fascist orientation should participate equally. After the end of the war until the end of 1946, the policy line of the People’s Front was imagined as a "popular anti-fascist democratic movement" and during that period ostensibly participation of other parties and groups in the new government was tried to be achieved. This line was pursued until 1947, when during the Second Congress of the People’s front of Yugoslavia the possibility of the existence of other parties was ruled out and the need for political unity in the realization of the Five-Year Plan was emphasized. The complete disappearance of political pluralism and establishment of the domination of communists within the People’s Front occurred during 1949, when the CPY program was also chosen as the policy line of the Front. This paper is based on published sources such as the “Zbornik NOR-a”, newspapers and funds from the State Archives in Pazin