In the Anindol forest near Samobor, the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Croatia (KPH) was commemorated on Saturday, where representatives of antifascist associations recalled the role of KPH in resisting fascism, as well as the historical role of Josip Broz Tito, while also warning of the dangers of historical revisionism.
The founding congress of KPH was held in the Anindol forest on August 1, 1937, and representatives of the Association of Antifascist Fighters and Antifascists of Croatia (SABA), the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Association of Societies ‘Josip Broz Tito’, the Workers’ Front, the League of Communists of Croatia (SKH), and the Socialist Workers’ Party (SRP) laid wreaths in front of the monument erected at that site, recalling the event to about a hundred attendees.
‘Is it possible that such a momentum as that in the reconstruction of a devastated country could develop based on dictatorship and totalitarianism? Is it possible that in a totalitarian regime in a country that had 80 percent illiteracy, illiteracy could be practically eradicated? Is it possible that the time when the highest rates of economic growth were achieved and when the state was placed on the political map of Europe and the world is called totalitarian?’ asked Vejnović.
Speaking about the time of the founding of KPH and its role in the fight against fascism, the president of the Association of Societies ‘Josip Broz Tito’, Jovan Vejnović, stated that the communist movement, led by Tito, introduced this region into European modernity under the historical circumstances of the time. He also warned that today the positive role of KPH in history is viewed as a time of ‘communist dictatorship and totalitarianism’.
‘On the Trail of the Darkest Ideologies’
He believes that those who say it was a time of totalitarianism are ‘fanatics’, and he holds that their fanaticism is not based on a desire for revisionism but for ‘complete distortion of history and the elimination of everything that is valuable in history’.
Vejnović believes that the problem is not that they speak of the past in this way, but that they offer fascism for the future.
‘They are trying to turn back the wheel of history, following the darkest ideologies that have produced hundreds of thousands of victims in this country,’ said Vejnović.
The envoy of the president of SABA, Ivan Fumić, warned that today ‘we are again seeing black shirts’ and ironically remarked that by removing the plaque in Marshal Tito Square, all problems have been solved.
‘Now milk and honey will flow, factories will rise, young people will rush back from abroad, fields will bear fruit on their own,’ said Fumić. He added that Constantinople also fell because they were waiting for Saint Elijah to save them from the Turks, and now ‘Hasanbegović is saving Croatia’, whose patron is Bishop Vlado Košić.
‘What a wise head, how much benevolence it offers us. Just like some previous priests, if only he would bless knives, then we could slaughter anew,’ he said.
The envoy of the president of the SDP, Dušan Plećaš, also warned of the dangers of historical revisionism, stating that we have been witnessing ‘a real terror from small right-wing organizations’ for several months.
At the founding congress on August 1, 1937, about 17 delegates representing party organizations from the broader area of Osijek, Split, Sisak, Sušak, Varaždin, and Zagreb participated, and the report was presented by Josip Broz Tito. The delegates included Božidar Adžija, Josip Broz Tito, Anka Butorac, Ivan Dujmić, Pavle Gregorić Brzi, Vlado Janić Capo, Vicko Jelaska, Rade Končar, Josip Kraš, Lovro Kurir, Marko Orešković, Drago Petrović, Stevo Rukavina, Rudi Šimić, and Andrija Žaja.
