MAČEK\u27S MEETINGS WITH PRINCE PAUL (IN NOVEMBER 1936) AND STOJADINOVIĆ (IN JANUARY 1937)

Using primary sources, the author has described Maček\u27s meeting with Prince Paul and the Prime Minister Stojadinović. The meeting with the Prince was held on November 8, 1936. This meeting paved the way for Maček\u27s later meeting with Stojadinović on Januar 16, 1937 in Brežice (Slovenia). At the meetings various question of external and internal policy were discussed. The Croatian question was the Central problem. The Prince and Stojadinović were of the opinion that it was impossible to change the September 3, 1931 Constitution, and that any agreement about the Croatian question could only be arrived at within the frame of that Constitution. This, in fact, meant retaining the unsatisfactory unitary establishment. Maček\u27s opinion was that the solution of the Croatian question was possible only if the Constitution was abrogated and there was a new constitutional situation, based on a federal state. He proposed a procedure for attaining this new constitution. Although the views of the government and the Croatian opposition for the solution of the Croatian question were different, both sides were interested in maintaining contact, making concessions and pursuing a policy of compromise. Stojadinović\u27s government had enemies on several sides. In such a situation it did not want to make relations with the Croatian opposition worse. That is why this opposition\u27s activity was to a certain extent tolerated. These tactics were a result of the Prince\u27s and Stojadinović\u27s wishes for the government to show itself as following a new political course after the assassination of King Alexander. Maček, on the other hand, wished Stojadinović\u27s government to remain in power because there was a danger of it being pushed aside by forces which upheld the earlier absolutist policy of King Alexander. The relatively tolerant policy of the government made the process of the renewal of the Croatian Peasant Party, and organizations under its influence, easier. Among the Contributiones is the report of the Ban of the Sava banovina on reactions to Maček\u27s meeting with Stojadinović, and also two reports from which are seen Maček\u27s secret contacts (through the Chief of Stojadinović\u27s Cabinet) after the meeting in Brežice. In these reports their mutual wish to continue the policy of reciprocal concessions and compromise is affirmed