Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation
The Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation (Slovene: Osvobodilna fronta Slovenskega naroda), or briefly Liberation Front (Osvobodilna fronta, acronym OF), also called the Anti-Imperialist Front (Slovene: Protiimperialistična fronta, PIF), was an Anti-Fascist Slovene civil resistance organisation, established in the Province of Ljubljana on 26 April 1941. Its military wing were the Slovene Partisans. In the freed territory, the OF set the bodies of the new people's authority, contrary to the situation elsewhere in Yugoslavia, where they were set by the Partisans.[1]
The internal relations in the Front were often troublesome and are today regarded as the beginnings of democratic pluralism among the Slovenes.[2] It originally consisted of multiple groups of left-wing orientation including some Christian Socialists, and a dissident group of Slovene Sokols (also known as "National Democrats"), and a group of intellectuals around the journals Sodobnost and Ljubljanski zvon. During the course of the war, the influence of the Communist Party of Slovenia started to grow, until its supremacy was officially sanctioned in the Dolomiti Declaration of 1 March 1943.[3]
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[edit] Name
It has been traditionally claimed by the Slovene historians that the term Anti-Imperialist Front was the first to occur.[4] This may be read for example in a work by Peter Vodopivec from 2006.[5] In 2008, the historian Bojan Godeša published a peer-reviewed discussion about the name. He mentions a leaflet from the end of April 1941 with liberation front (non-capitalised) written on it, two months before the first known mention of the anti-imperialist front (non-capitalised) on 22 June 1941.[4] He also mentions that Josip Rus, who represented the Slovene Sokol Society in the founding meeting of the OF, always claimed they had only discussed the organisation as the Liberation Front.[4] That's contrary to the opinion by Josip Vidmar, also a founding member, who stated that the organisation was renamed as Liberation Front only on 30 June 1941.[6] The claims by Godeša have been cited in a seminar by Božo Repe, another eminent historian, who added that the name Anti-Imperialist Front, written with capital letters, was used particularly in the communication with the Communists of the Soviet Union. He attributed this to the desire of the Slovene Communists to demonstrate that their work corresponded to the aims of the Comintern.[7]
[edit] History
On 28 February 1943, the founding groups signed the so-called Dolomiti Declaration (Dolomitska izjava): all other groups recognized the Communist Party as the leading force, and renounced independent political action. The Communist Party, which had been the major force in the Anti-Imperialist Front/Liberation Front since its formation, was thus officially recognized as the leading faction, as well as the only group within the Front that kept the right to have a distinct and independent organizational structure.
On 3 October 1943, on the session, known as Assembly of the Delegates of the Slovene Nation, which was held in Kočevje by the 572 directly elected and 78 indirectly elected members, the 120-member plenum as the highest governing organ of anti-fascist movement in Slovenia during World War II was constituted.
On 19 February 1944, the 120-member Črnomelj plenum of Liberation Front of the Slovenian People changed its name to SNOS and proclaim itself as the temporary Slovenian parliament. One of its most important decisions was that after the end of the war Slovenia would become a states within the Yugoslav federation.[8]
Just before the end of the war, on May 5, 1945, the SNOS met for the last time in the town of Ajdovščina in the Julian March (then formally still part of the Kingdom of Italy) and established the Slovenian government with the Communist leader Boris Kidrič as its president.[9].
After the war, the Liberation Front was transformed into the Socialist Alliance of the Working People of Slovenia.[10]
[edit] Activity
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The front emitted its own radio program called Kričač the location of which never became known to occupying forces and they had to confiscate the receivers' antennas from the local population in order to prevent listening to the radio of the Liberation Front of the Slovene People.
[edit] References
- ^ Repe, Božo (2005). "Vzroki za spopad med JLA in Slovenci [Reasons for the Conflict Between the Yugoslav People's Army and the Slovenes]" (in Slovene). Vojaška zgodovina [Military History] VI (1/05): 5. ISSN 1580-4828. http://www.slovenskavojska.si/fileadmin/slovenska_vojska/pdf/publikacije/vojzgod6_2005_1_9.pdf.
- ^ Vankovska, Biljana. Wiberg, Håkan (2003). "Slovene and the Yugoslav People's Army". Between Past and Future: Civil-Military Relations in the Post-Communist Balkans. I.B.Tauris. p. 165. ISBN 9781860646249. http://books.google.com/books?id=ygb-6afEakIC&pg=PA165.
- ^ Gow, James; Carmichael, Cathie (2010). Slovenia and the Slovenes: A Small State in the New Europe (Revised and updated ed.). Hurst Publishers Ltd. p. 48. ISBN 978-1-85065-944-0.
- ^ a b c Keber, Katarina. Šter, Katarina, ed. (April 2008) (in Slovene). Historični seminar 6 [Historical Seminar 6]. Scientific and Research Institute, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. p. 142. ISBN 978-961-254-060-9 (e-source). http://hs.zrc-sazu.si/Portals/0/sp/hs6_n/HS_6_6.pdf. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
- ^ Quote: "Po nemškem napadu na SZ so se gibanju, ki ga je spodbudila ustanovitev PIF (ta se je konec junija preimenovala v OF) ...". [After the German attack of the Soviet Union, the movement prompted by the establishment of PIF (renamed at the end of June to OF) ...". Peter Vodopivec. "Od Pohlinove slovnice do samostojne države" (in Slovene) [From Pohlin's Grammar Book to an Independent State]. Modrijan Publishing House. Ljubljana, 2006. Pg. 268. ISBN 978-961-241-130-5.
- ^ Quote: "In tako smo 30. 06. 1941 na plenumu razpravljali o tem, da je treba našo organizacijo preimenovati. Po dolgem ugibanju smo jo preimenovali v OF Slovenskega naroda." ["And so we discussed at the plenum of 30 June 1941 that our organisation has to be renamed. After a long guess, we renamed it as the Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation." (Josip Vidmar, Bitka kakor življenje dolga. (in Slovene) [A Battle Long as a Life]. Cankarjeva založba [Cankar Publishing House], Ljubljana. 1978. Pg. 163)
- ^ Repe, Božo (2 March 2011). "Mi pa se nismo uklonili njih podivjani sili [We Did not Submit to Their Rampant Force]". In Gregor K. (in Slovene). Radio Študent. http://www.radiostudent.si/article.php?sid=26870.
- ^ (Slovene) 60-letnica Zbora odposlancev slovenskega naroda v Kočevju (2003)
- ^ 60 Years Since First Post-WWII Slovenian Government
- ^ General Encyclopaedia, article Socijalisti_ki savez radnoga naroda Jugoslavije, Yugoslavian Lexicographical Institute, Zagreb, 1981., p. 547
