Myth of Croatian fascism

[Why so serious?]

How the hell would he made Dalmatia autonomous?Dalmatia was the centre of Croatian medieval state,all dukes and kings of Croatia ruled form Dalmatia:Nin,Knin,Šibenik were Croatian capitals.And it allways had vast Croatian majority.You're telling me that center of our state would be autonomous province

Kosovo is the religious and cultural heart of Serbia but yet it was made autonomous. It was a move to weaken Serbian influence in Yugoslavia, not because Kosovo was some country with an identity of its own.

To tell you the truth, I'm not exactly overjoyed to write about this subject, since I prefer discussing Croatian medieval history. Much to my dismay, many posters here are utterly ignorant about ex-Yugoslavia as a state, about its ideology, history, etc., and write things that either lack foundation in reality or are outright insulting.

I understand.

So, what am I (an informed observer) supposed to do when people, rather naively, say stuff like "Yugoslavia was a powerful country", "the standard of living was high", "it saved Croats and Slovenes from foreign yoke"?

I don't think it's reasonable to deny the fact that Yugoslavia was militarily powerful. It managed to stay out of the Cold War completely and became extremely influential with the founding of the non-Aligned Movement. Can any other country in the Balkans or even Eastern Europe say the same?

As regards this thread, my main motive was to show:

• the source of modern Croatian nationalism
• the political and cultural legacy of the communist system in modern Croatia

That's fine but I feel your good intentions may be warped by excessive desire to find acceptance for Croatian justifications to break from Yugoslavia.

Indeed, not all Croats were viewed as enemies of the state, since great many of them were yes-men who actually believed in the official ideology of the ruling elite. However, since there existed a vibrant tradition of national struggle for self-determination in the collective memory of Croatian folk, that made them the most likely candidates to challenge the system. The ruling elite knew that very well. Despite the omnipresent indoctrination by the system and powerful secret police, the elite feared this scenario so they took all possible measures to prevent it. For example, during the Croatian Spring, Croatian conscripts in the JNA, who were stationed mainly in other republics of Yugoslavia, were denied newspapers and radio.

I am alright with Croatia being an independent country just as Čento wanted Macedonia to be independent from Yugoslavia but the reality at the time, it just wasn't possible for either Croatia or Macedonia to remain independent AND stay out of the Cold War. We would've been either forced to join the Allies or the Soviets and we were dangerously close to becoming part of the Eastern Bloc but Tito's brilliance helped us stay out of it.

I believe Yugoslavia would have joined the European Community eventually, but it is rather pointless to discuss about alternative timelines.

Yugoslavia was promised EEC membership if the country remained stable into the 90s. We would've joined the EEC before Poland and many others and eventually making us one of important founding members of the EU and part of the Eurozone.

Having in mind the historical Croatian tendency towards self-determination and home rule, Yugoslavia was yet another foreign power.

I don't necessarily believe in Communist Yugoslavia but rather a democratic Yugoslavia similar to what we had during Monarchist Yugoslavia except without a king. I fully support Croatian national determination but I don't just want to break up just because of some wrong ideas Croats have.

Yes. That opened the way for synthetic Yugoslav national identity to supplant the organic Croatian national identity, effectively reducing the latter to a regional designation.

No, no and no. First of all, Yugoslav/Yugoslavia is the name contemporary founders of Yugoslavia used to label the common bond between all South Slavs. This common bond existed long before 1918. The founding of Yugoslavia may be artificial but the foundations weren't.

Which powers? Italy was defeated and Austria-Hungary was long gone.

Yugoslavia meant we could pursue economic development of the federation of South Slavs without getting involved with entangling military alliances like the NATO or the former Warsaw Pact. Yugoslavia meant peace and regional stability, something that is missing in the Balkans since the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

If you can't beat them, join them? I don't think so. Also, I find your justification of crimes committed by a totalitarian regime and breaking of Geneva conventions quite unsettling.

Well, compared to Nazi war crimes? I wish what happened to those Croats never happened but it happened.

[Heretik]

I zato se, dragi moj Monolithe, ovdje teme, očito, ne trebaju otvarati na engleskom jer privlače idiote. Inače, ovaj Kuhner u moru (pa i vlastite) desničarske demagogije svaki put dotakne neke povijesne istine ili neke činjenice koje se lako prešute/zaborave. Uvijek volim pročitati njegov članke kad naletim na njih.

[Monolith]

I zato se, dragi moj Monolithe, ovdje teme, očito, ne trebaju otvarati na engleskom jer privlače idiote. Inače, ovaj Kuhner u moru (pa i vlastite) desničarske demagogije svaki put dotakne neke povijesne istine ili neke činjenice koje se lako prešute/zaborave. Uvijek volim pročitati njegov članke kad naletim na njih.

Očito.