Internal politics singularly aided the Italians in holding out for the
terms eventually embodied in the Treaty of Rapallo; and none can study
the political intrigues of this period without becoming convinced that
many of the Serbians, had it not been for outside pressure, would have
united successfully to throw overboard the program of a Jugoslavia for
Pashitch’s dream of a Greater Serbia, with an outlet to the sea at
Scutari at the expense of Albania. Thanks largely to the skill and
devotion of M. Vesnitch (Serbian minister at Paris during the World War
and the Peace Conference), who assumed the premiership at a critical
moment, the various elements among the Jugoslavs were brought finally
to an agreement by which the election for a Constituent Assembly could
be held. It was a sign of the weakness of the new state, however, that
the non-Slavic populations were not allowed to vote, although they
were about 20 per cent of the electorate. Premier Vesnitch realized
that it was going to be difficult enough to form a working assembly of
Jugoslavs alone, without the added confusion of alien elements!
In Croatia, the peasant leader Raditch, who had been in prison for
advocating a republican and federal form of government, was elected
with fifty of his followers; while the Croat and Slovene Clericals were
equally opposed to centralization. The Communists, also for a republic
and decentralization, returned fifty-eight members. In the confusion
of many parties, none holding a majority, the veteran Pashitch became
premier once more and began to rule with a heavy hand and by skilful
intrigues. He was confronted with the passive resistance of the great
majority of Croats and Slovenes. The fifty members of Raditch’s
Croatian party followed the Irish Nationalist example and refused to
take their seats at Belgrade. Pashitch got rid of the fifty-eight
Communists by expelling them.
The attempt of ex-Emperor Karl to regain the Hungarian throne at the
end of March, 1921, the failure of all efforts from outside and inside
to overthrow the Soviet Government in Russia, and the recrudescence of
Mohammedan strength through the successes of the Turkish Nationalist
movement acted as a sobering influence upon the Jugoslavs, who realized
that their newly won liberties would be jeopardized if there were
political anarchy at home. Dangers from abroad gave Premier Pashitch
the temporary support of the most influential elements, who preferred
a centralized Serbia to disintegration or Communism. The constitution,
providing for a single chamber, was finally adopted on June 28, 1921,
which was supported by all the Jugoslavs with the exception of the
Croatians and Slovenes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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