Projects / Programmes
BASIC ORIENTATIONS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY IN SLOVENIA DURING THE RAMPANT BOLSHEVIK PERIOD (From the Party restoration to the Cominform)
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.01.00 |
Humanities |
Historiography |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H271 |
Humanities |
Political history |
| H250 |
Humanities |
Contemporary history (since 1914) |
Communism, political history, Yugoslavia, Second World War, Cominform, Comintern
Researchers (7)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The research project entitled »Basic orientations of the Communist Party in Slovenia during the rampant Bolshevik period«, has two main objectives. The first is to study the hitherto unexplored topics from the history of the Communist Party in Slovenia in the 1930's and 1940's. The second is to cover, substantially and chronologically, the basic traits of the Party ideology and politics, methods of operation and ideologically motivated violence, binding them into a coherent presentation of the politics carried out by the CP from its unification in the 1930's until the end of the 1940's. The latter is urgently required, given that, in Slovene historiography, the operation of the Communist Party in Slovenia has so far only been covered in fragments, with topically and chronologically limited texts, but never as a whole. Furthermore, no such work is written in a modern, non-ideological and historiographically precise way. It is a known fact, that, during the Second World War in Slovenia, the Communist Party led the resistance movement within the framework of the Liberation Front (LF), and, after the war, ruled the entire country. This topic is, therefore, of key importance for Slovene historiography, when speaking about the history of the twentieth century. It is also important for the wider Slovene public, where such issues are often only partially and inadequately addressed; the absence of such research can also be felt in the pedagogical process, especially at the Universities.
Among the so far unexplored topics that the project intends to address are the internal Party organisation and discipline, the uniformity of the “Party line”, factionist struggle and their protagonists, as well as the influence of such struggle on the development of the Party’s politics during the Second World War, and the settling of accounts with those of different opinion within the Party and the opposition after the war. The second such topic concerns the attitude towards the national question in the 1930's, during the Second World War and immediately after it. It is, further, a question of the ideological and organisational attitude towards the Comintern and the execution of its directives, the question of the ideologically based violence by the Party in the crucial turning points – at the end of the 1930’s, during the Second World War and after it, and the question of building the so-called people’s democracy after the war, as well as the ideological similarity of the Stalinist systems in Europe at that time.
The researchers who will participate in the project have already encountered individual issues, partially worked on them and found that what is lacking in the Slovene historiography is a presentation of these issues as a whole. They have established the basic hypothesis that Party politics and ideology, based on the model of the only successfully executed revolution in Europe – the Russian October Revolution – and the Comintern directives, were essentially the same all the time. It was only the Party tactics that was changing according to time and circumstances.
Significance for science
Implementation of the project represents a fundamental historical research which deals with the analysis of the essential definitions and methods of activity of the Slovenian Communist Party in the crucial period of the 1930s and 1940s. It is known that the Communist Party led both the resistance movement during the World War II as well the entire Yugoslav country after the war. It follows that the identification of the principles and methods by which the Party operated is one of the central questions of the history of Central and South-East Europe in the 20th century.
Current Slovenian historiography, which examined the prehistory of the Party's arrival to power, has omitted certain aspects of this process or hasn't given them much attention. In this context, the results of the project represent the filling of voids, but because of the cause-and-effect connection, they also allow a more thorough illumination of the concurrent historical processes. Therefore, existing results of the project are not very useful just to the historical science, but also for the general public.
As fare as the concrete aspects of this process are concerned, we should first underline the fact that even before its revolutionary takeover of power the communist movement had precisely defined its attitude to the Slovenian national question. During the 1930s this also involved theoretical analyses that have not yet been completely evaluated by the historiographic research carried out to date. This research project fills this gap, since besides Kardelj's work "The Development of the Slovenian National Question" of 1939, emphasised for decades, it also brings the attention to the overlooked study of Dragotin Gustinčič, "Das nationale Problem der Slowenen", dating back to the 1933. In this way historiography widens its outloook on the dynamics of the Slovenian national and emancipation efforts in the 20th century.
From the viewpoint of the subsequent takeover of power by the Communist Party of Slovenia, its activities establish themselves as one of the central subjects of the history of Slovenians in the middle of the 20th century. In the context of this project new topics have been processed, and thus new knowledge has been communicated, or the already existent knowledge has been synthesised. The research involves the organisational issue of the Party, Party discipline, conflicts between various fractions, ideologically-conditioned use of violence, the question of tactics, instrumentalisation of the resistance against the occupiers for the revolutionary purposes etc. The research analyses these issues in the context of the developments within the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and the Comintern, which makes it an important contribution to the understanding of the European communist movement.
All the aforementioned processes with regard to the activities of the Party, before World War II as well as in the immediate post-war period, defined the nature of the socialist regime in the post-war Slovenia in many aspects, and the parts of the system established in such a way also continued in the later periods. Since elements, set out in such a way, have actually persisted untill the end of this historical process, detailed exploration of these elements definitely makes a substantial contribution to the historical science and thus to the scientific development.
The overall results of the research, carried out in the context of this project, will contribute significantly to the scientific analysis of contemporary Slovenian history. Previous knowledge will be supplemented by new realisations and the already mentioned gaps will be filled. The modern methodological approaches used during this research will also contribute to the development of the historical science.
Significance for the country
The results of research that shed new light on the key periods of Slovenian history in the 20th century, have played and will play an important role in shaping the broad historical consciousness. Developments in this period left deep wounds in the material and spiritual legacy of both nation and individuals, which are largely transmitted to the younger generations. In part, this also applies to Slovenian minorities in neighboring countries or other neighbors in general. The interest in in-depth knowledge of this period is therefore correspondingly proportional.
Results of research will without a doubt be useful in teaching at all levels of education. The plan for the exploration of the fundamental definitions of the Slovenian and the Yugoslav Communist Party is also partly the result of the experiance of some members of the project group when working with university students in Ljubljana and Maribor. It was found that students who are studying the history of the lovenian Communist Party, are using very outdated and ideological biased literature. Therefore, the published and unpublished results of the project are beneficial for the pedagogical process, especially in the studies of history, while also being useful for writing new textbooks.
As far as concrete aspects are concerned, we should emphasise the fact that the results of this project contribute noticeably to better understanding of the Slovenian historical experience from the viewpoint of the struggle for an equal and sovereign position within the Yugoslav state. This context also involves the understanding of the revolutionary federalist national programme of the Slovenian communists in the time between both wars, since the Communist Party argued for the establishment of independent and autonomous Slovenia and its free decision-making with regard to the forms and manners of the national-legal integration with other nations.
The question of the role of the Communist Party in the history of the Slovenian nation are still very much present in the general public. Simultaneously politics and other expert communities always seek refuge in the idea that the explanation of this topic should be made by science, that is, historiography. We attempt to achieve this goal with this project as well as with similar projects. Therefore the results of the research with regard to the totalitarian nature of the Communist Party and the sensitive issue of breaching the ethical norms could contribute to a more comprehensive explanation of the historical processes, at least as far as their essential segments are concerned. The scientific analysis of this aspect is, or should be, also connected to the establishment of the historical and consequentially humanist conscience and attitude of the Slovenian individuals and society today and in the future. The results of this research shall also have wider social implications, contributing significantly to the preservation of the cultural heritage and the collective memory of the traumatic national experience, for example during World War II. The results of this research will also contribute to the de-ideologisation of Slovenian society and represent an important step towards a balanced view of the past. That is also one of the fundamental bases for the positive communication with regard to national priorities in the future.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2008,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2008,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
