Naslov
Vladimir Bakarić's stance towards the Catholic church in Croatia 1945-1953

Autori
Akmadža, Miroslav ; Vlašić, Anđelko

Izvornik
Review of Croatian history (1845-4380) 3 (2007), 2; 147-173

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, pregledni rad, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
Vladimir Bakarić; Catholic Church; Croatia

Sažetak
Vladimir Bakarić, as the President of the Government of the Federal State of Croatia and the Secretary of the CC CPC, carried out the policies of the CPY toward the Catholic Church in Croatia in their entirety, that is he did not work to back down in any manner from the program to shut the Catholic Church out of public life, confiscating its property, excluding religious instruction from schools, etc. A certain dose of independence in Bakarić’s decisions existed, especially given that he had been the most important representative of the Communist regime in Croatia. Nevertheless, his independence in decision-making continued to be routed toward the same, above mentioned goal. Through all subsequent events (the imprisonment and trial of Archbishop Stepinac, the adoption of a new Constitution, etc.) Vladimir Bakarić steadfastly carried out the policies of the central government. All his statements in which he spoke about the normalization of relations between the Church and the regime remained only statements for the public, while through his comments made at meetings of the Politburo of the CC CPC one can see that neither the Communist regime, nor Bakarić as its representative for Croatia backed down in attempting to institute complete oversight over the Church. The transcripts of meetings of the CC CPC show that Bakarić and his collaborators considered even the most normal of Church work as enemy acts. The work of priests with the youth, which the Church had carried on even prior to the Communist takeover, was shown as an attempt to direct the youth away from the Party. It was emphasized that the Church drew away children from school to religious instruction in churches, overlooking the fact that it had done so in response to the systematic prohibition of providing religious instruction in schools. Bakarić immediately, without being prompted by any moves of the Church, proclaimed the Catholic Church an enemy of the state and the state acted toward the Church accordingly. Not one participant in the Politburo’ s discussions, including Bakarić, showed any understanding for the Catholic Church. To the contrary: discussions concerning the Catholic Church showed the intolerance of the Politburo’s members, including Bakarić himself, both toward the Catholic Church as an institution and toward religion as a whole.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Povijest

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