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Jadranska straža

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Adriatic Guard
Jadranska straža
Formation19 February 1922
DissolvedApril 1941
Typenon-governmental organisation
Location
Membership180,000 (1939)
President
Juraj Biankini (1922–1928)
President
Ivo Tartaglia (1928–1941)
Publication
Jadranska straža

Jadranska straža (lit. 'Adriatic Guard' or 'Adriatic Sentinel') was an volunteer organisation founded in 1922 in Split, in the recently established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed Yugoslavia). The stated objective of the organisation was promotion of Yugoslav military, economic, and cultural interests in the Adriatic Sea. By 1930s, the organisation had more than 500 branches in the country and abroad and its membership consisted of approximately 180,000. The founding president of Jadranska straža was Juraj Biankini. He was succeeded by Ivo Tartaglia. The bulk of the organisation's financing was secured through membership fees.

Even though Jadranska straža was a non-governmental organisation, it had a close relationship with the state, supporting the official state ideology of integral Yugoslavism and "national oneness". The Jadranska straža's adherence to the state ideology allowed it to remain active even after introduction of the 6 January Dictatorship in 1929. The organisation welcomed the dictatorship expecting the king Alexander I of Yugoslavia to endorse the Jadranska straža's goals. The organisation had a particularly close relationship with the Ministry of the Army and Navy. In 1925, Jadranska straža started a drive to collect donations for the purchase of Jadran training ship. Members from Dalmatia expected the state to pursue strong development of the region. By mid-1930s, the government's disintrest in development of Dalmatia caused disappointment and resentment among the Jadranska straža's leaders and members and they gradually shifted to criticising the government while placing a greater emphasis on Dalmatian and Croatian aspects of Adriatic orientation than on pan-Yugoslav themes. Jadranska straža was suppressed and ceased operation during the World War II, shortly after the 1941 Invasion of Yugoslavia.

Jadranska straža had significant publishing activity. The official monthly of the organisation, Jadranska straža – Glasnik udruženja Jadranska straža was published from January 1923 until April 1941. The journal printed maritime-related material, including literary texts, scientific papers, current events, and coverage of topics related to fishing and tourism. The journal published sport news and became the official journal of the rowing sport in Yugoslavia. The organisation's publications included guide books covering various parts of the Adriatic shores and islands. The guide books were also published in German and Czech.

Background

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Allied occupation of the eastern Adriatic: 1 British 2 Italian 3 American 4 French zones

In 1915, the Kingdom of Italy entered World War I on the side of the Entente, following the signing of the Treaty of London, which promised Italy territorial gains at the expense of Austria-Hungary. The treaty was opposed by representatives of the South Slavs living in Austria-Hungary, who were organised as the Yugoslav Committee.[1] Following the 1918 Armistice of Villa Giusti, the Austro-Hungarian surrender,[2] Italian troops moved to occupy parts of the Eastern Adriatic shore promised to Italy under the Treaty of London, ahead of the Paris Peace Conference.[3] The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed Yugoslavia), the country established shortly after the war laid a competing claim to the eastern Adriatic to counter the Italian demands.[4] The problem of establishing the border between Italy and Yugoslavia—known as the Adriatic question—and the future status of Rijeka became major points of dispute at the Paris Peace Conference.[5] The border was determined through the 1920 Treaty of Rapallo.[6] Regardless of the treaty, Yugoslavs still felt threatened by the potential Italian territorial expansion in the eastern Adriatic because the Italian claims were still supported by Italian fascists and irredentists.[7] The occupation of Yugoslav terrritories on the eastern Adriatic coast ended in 1921.[8]

Establishment and leadership

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Juraj Biankini was the founding president of Jadranska straža.

Jadranska straža was established in the city of Split at a public rally held at the present-day Prokurative [hr] square on 19 February 1922.[9] The organisation's stated objectives were promotion of military, commercial and cultural interests of Yugoslavia in the Adriatic Sea and along its shores. Its activities, including publication of periodicals, tourist guide books and support for scientific research, were aimed at fostering love for the Adriatic Sea. Ultimately, Jadranska straža intended to form a public opinion on the Adriatic Sea as essential to the country and defining the nation's identity—attempting to align the objectves with the ideology of integral Yugoslavism.[10] Through pursuit of those objectives, Jadranska straža aimed to support economic and cultural development of the Adriatic region and work towards reclaiminig of the territories awarded to Italy through the Treaty of Rapallo.[9] Historian Branko Petranović held a view that Jadranska straža was a fascist organisation.[11]

The organisation was founded by journalist and politician Juraj Biankini, Classical Gymnasium in Split principal Silvije Alfirević, Ship-of-the-line lieutenant Glauko Prebanda, writer Otokar Lahman, and Mayor of Split Ivo Tartaglia. It was led by the 12-member central office meeting annually in Split.[12] Biankini served as the association's president from 1922 to 1928. Tartaglia held the position of the vice-president until he succeeded Biankini. He served as the association's president until 1941. King Alexander was organisation's honorary president.[13] The organisation's seal was a mace thrown into water flanked by letters "J" and "S". The symbol was inspired by the legend of Prince Marko.[14]

Structure and membership

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Ivo Tartaglia succeeded Biankini as the president of Jadranska straža.

The organisation established three main councils in Osijek, Skopje, and Ljubljana by the end of 1922.[15] Within two years, district councils were established in Dubrovnik, Sarajevo, Novi Sad, Zagreb, Belgrade, Kragujevac, Sušak, Niš, Kruševac, Zemun, Veliki Bečkerek, Valjevo, and Karlovac as well as numerous local councils. Jadranska straža intended to establish a branchin every town of the country. It never achieved that objective, but it established 265 branches by 1927, and 507 branches by 1931.[16] Jadranska straža also established ten branches abroad in Europe and in the United States.[17]

The organisation's membership reached 40,000 in 1927, 70,000 in 1931, and it claimed 180,000-strong membership in 1939.[16] Jadranska straža relied on membership fees and private donations for the bulk of its income, but some revenue was generated by sale of association's publications.[18] The amount of the membership fee varied as discounted rates were charged to different groups of members such as workers, peasants, soldiers, children etc.[19] Only a fraction of the revenue was sent to the central office.[20] Jadranska straža relied on volunteer work of its members for administrative services needed to run the association.[21] The organisation established the Daksa Foundation to support families of mariners who died while at sea.[12]

Relationship with the state

[edit]

Initial support

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Jadranska straža launched a donations drive for the purchase of Jadran training ship.

Even though Jadranska straža was a non-governmental organisation, it had a close relationship with the state.[21] Following its establishment, the organisation supported the official state ideology of integral Yugoslavism and "national oneness". Different interpretations of the concept of the "national oneness" caused internal conflicts within the organisation. Namely, the prevailing view among the Split membership was that Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes are tribes of a common nation yet to be fully coalesced through a centralised state, but the prevailing view of the Belgrade branch was aligned with that of the People's Radical Party—that Yugoslavia was the Greater Serbia. The conflict was emphasised in mid-1920s, when the Belgrade branch led by Ljubomir Jovanović unsuccessfully tried to relocate organisation's headquarters to Belgrade. Regardless of the conflict, the organisation's adherence to the state ideology made it possible for the organisation to remain active even after introduction of dictatorship in 1929.[22] The organisation welcomed the dictatorship expecting the king to finally fully endorse the Jadranska straža's goals.[23]

Jadranska straža enjoyed a particularly close relationship with the Ministry of the Army and Navy and its membership included generals and admirals.[14] The organisation viewed Regia Marina as a threat to Dalmatia and urged development of the Royal Yugoslav Navy.[24] In 1925, Jadranska straža called for donations to purchase a training ship. The organisation collected only an eighth of the required funds, but the remainder was funded by the Ministry of the Army and Navy, through loans and German World War I reparations and Jadran training ship was ordered.[25]

Growing criticism

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Leader of the Croatian Peasant Party Vladko Maček joined Jadranska straža in 1940.

Members of the organisation living in Dalmatia expected the state to pursue vigorous economic development of the region and the entire Adriatic coast. Despite lobbying by Jadranska straža, the national government continued to prioritise routes of transportation oriented to the Port of Thessaloniki in Greece.[26] This was, at least in part, due to lack of rail connections between Dalmatia and the rest of the country and challenging terrain in the coastal hinterland. The Lika Railway connecting Split to Zagreb opened only in 1925, and construction of the Una Railway advocated by Jadranska straža did not start before 1936.[23] The Belgrade government's disintrest in development of Dalmatia caused disappointment and resentment among the organisation's leaders and members. In the process, the organisation moved from full support to the national government to sharp criticism by 1933. In 1930s, the branches set up in the east of the country (in areas of pre-World War I Serbia and Montenegro) became less active.[26]

Since 1934, the central office directed its branches to organise activities placing a greater emphasis on Dalmatian and Croatian aspects of Adriatic orientation than on pan-Yugoslav themes and Tartaglia endorsed the 1934 Zagreb Memorandum crtiticising the central government for neglect of Croatian political and cultural demands. By 1939, the organisation was touting the Adriatic orientation to connect all Yugoslavs, but as a cohesive element bringing together Croats. At the same time, Jadranska straža gave full support to establishment of Banovina of Croatia as a vehicle for realisation of Croatian political demands. In 1940, Vladko Maček, the leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (the most influential Croatian political party in the interwar period), joined Jadranska straža.[27] Jadranska straža was suppressed and ceased operation shortly after the 1941 Invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers.[28] There was an unsuccessful attempt to reestablish the organisation in Rijeka in 1954.[17]

Publishing activity

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King Alexander I of Yugoslavia was the honorary president of Jadranska straža.

Jadranska straža had significant publishing activity. In addition to a journal, it printed leaflets, posters, brochures and other ephemera. The official publication of the organisation, Jadranska straža – Glasnik udruženja Jadranska straža (lit. 'Adriatic Guard – Gazette of Adriatic Guard Association'), commonly referred to as Jadranska straža, was published from January 1923 until April 1941. It was normally published once a month (except twice as bi-monthly issues in 1925 and 1938) in Split. Until 1929, the journal's sole editor was Alfirević. He was joined by Bartulović and Lahman as co-editors in 1929 and 1930. Živko Vekarić and Jakša Ravlić [hr] joined the editing board in 1930 for a year. Both of them and Alfirević quit the role in 1931. Ravlić edited the journal from 1936 until its final issue. The journal was published predominantly in Croatian, and the remainder was in Serbian or rarely in Slovene language. A part of the journal was printed in the Latin and a part in the Cyrillic script. The cover alternated between the two scripts every month.[29] Mimicking the practice of other Yugoslav unitarist journals, it was common to apply the ekavian "pronunciation" to the Latin script texts, and the ijekavian to the Cyrillic script materials.[30]

The journal published all maritime-related material, including literary texts and scientific papers.[12] It also covered current events, as well as topics related to fishing and tourism.[31] The journal published sport news, particularly related to the Gusar Rowing Club and became the official journal of the rowing sport in Yugoslavia.[32] Style and rhetoric of the journal mimicked those of early Italian fascist organisations.[33] The circulation of Jadranska straža was up to 20,000.[34]

Jadranska straža's Belgrade council published the Almanah Jadranske straže (lit. 'Adriatic Guard's Almanac') once a year in 1925–1927 and in 1929 carrying more than 500 pages of text in each issue. The organisation's Zagreb council published monthly journal Naše more (lit. 'Our Sea') from 1935 to 1939 and monthly More (lit. 'Sea') in 1940–1941 as the journal of Jadranska straža of Banovina of Croatia.[35] In various periods, Jadranska straža also published several youth magazines and calendars.[36] The organisation's publications included guide books covering Dubrovnik, the Bay of Kotor, Split, Trogir, Hvar and Vis, and the northern Adriatic. The guide books had two bilingual editions, one in German and the other in Czech.[37]

References

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  1. ^ Ramet 2006, pp. 41–42.
  2. ^ Pavlowitch 2003, p. 36.
  3. ^ Banac 1984, p. 129.
  4. ^ Merlicco 2021, pp. 119–120.
  5. ^ Rudolf 2008, p. 63.
  6. ^ Pizzi 2001, p. 13.
  7. ^ Tchoukarine 2011, p. 36.
  8. ^ Davidonis 1943, pp. 95–98.
  9. ^ a b Lovrić 2009, p. 356.
  10. ^ Tchoukarine 2019, pp. 121–123.
  11. ^ Tchoukarine 2019, p. 122.
  12. ^ a b c Lovrić 2009, p. 357.
  13. ^ Tchoukarine 2019, pp. 122–123.
  14. ^ a b Tchoukarine 2019, p. 125.
  15. ^ Lovrić 2009, pp. 356–357.
  16. ^ a b Tchoukarine 2019, pp. 127–128.
  17. ^ a b Hrvatska enciklopedija.
  18. ^ Tchoukarine 2011, p. 37.
  19. ^ Tchoukarine 2019, pp. 129–130.
  20. ^ Tchoukarine 2019, p. 124.
  21. ^ a b Tchoukarine 2019, p. 129.
  22. ^ Tchoukarine 2011, pp. 38–39.
  23. ^ a b Tchoukarine 2019, p. 126.
  24. ^ Tchoukarine 2019, p. 128.
  25. ^ Freivogel 2020, p. 255.
  26. ^ a b Tchoukarine 2011, pp. 38–41.
  27. ^ Tchoukarine 2019, pp. 126–127.
  28. ^ Tchoukarine 2011, p. 40.
  29. ^ Lovrić 2009, p. 358.
  30. ^ Nielsen 2014, p. 146.
  31. ^ Lovrić 2009, pp. 363–364.
  32. ^ Machiedo-Mladinić 1992, p. 121.
  33. ^ Nielsen 2014, pp. 146–147.
  34. ^ Nielsen 2014, p. 145.
  35. ^ Lovrić 2009, pp. 364–365.
  36. ^ Lovrić 2009, pp. 365–370.
  37. ^ Lovrić 2009, pp. 371–372.

Sources

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