Politika
- Government's Resignation?
- THE RETURN OF MR. N. PAŠIĆ
- WHAT THE MATTER WAS
Politika's front page of 13 October 1926 was dominated by a cabinet crisis in Belgrade. The paper reported that the coalition of the Radical Party and Stjepan Radić's peasant party was in crisis and that Prime Minister Nikola Uzunović's government could resign at any moment, a dispute set off by Radić's conduct at Zagreb railway station and by an interpellation from Dr. Anđelinović. It described a council of ministers that met only intermittently while Uzunović consulted in his own office, news that he had gone to Topola and would certainly hand in the resignation, and the urgent summons of the Radical leader Nikola Pašić back to Belgrade.
This edition translates three front-page passages about the cabinet crisis. Text running into the right edges of the left and middle image columns is cut off, so several passages begin or end mid-word, and [?] marks illegible spots. The caption of the cartoon 'СЕЗ…ОНСКЕ ВЛАДЕ' is only partly legible, one image tile has no reliably readable text, and the rest of the page is not covered.
Translation
Government's Resignation?
On the basis of everything that happened the day before yesterday, political circles drew the conclusion that the Radical–Radić coalition is in crisis and that very little more is needed for the resignation of Mr. Uzunović's government to come about. Yesterday confirmed that the coalition is indeed in crisis and that the position of Mr. Uzunović's government is so shaken that a resignation may come at any moment. The question was opened by Mr. Radić's well-known conduct at the Zagreb railway station and by the interpellation of Dr. Anđelinović. As is known, the government occupied itself with this for the whole of the day before yesterday, but no decision could be reached. The government had decided to continue its deliberations, and a session of the council of ministers was scheduled for eight o'clock yesterday morning, since at ten o'clock the sessi[?] of the National Assembly was to begin.
THE RETURN OF MR. N. PAŠIĆ
…Topola, the summoning of Mr. Pašić to Belgrade, and Mr. Uzunović's trip to Topola showed clearly that we were facing a resolution and that only a very short time separated us from a final decision.
THE RETURN OF MR. N. PAŠIĆ
Mr. Nikola P. Pašić, head of the Radical Party, is returning to Belgrade. In informed circles it is asserted that Mr. Pašić was urgently summoned to come to Belgrade at once.
YESTERDAY MORNING
WHAT THE MATTER WAS
…brought the news that Mr. Uzunović had left for Topola and would certainly submit the government's resignation.
WHAT THE MATTER WAS
On all sides the question was asked what exactly the situation was and where things had got stuck. About the course of events since yesterday morning, the following information could be obtained in informed circles: The session of the council of ministers, which began a little before nine o'clock, did not run without interruption. The members of the government were in the session hall, but Mr. Uzunović spent the greater part of the time in his office. Consultations were held with him; [?] were for –
Context
How Uzunović came to head a fragile government
Nikola Uzunović, the premier whose resignation Politika expected, had held office only since the spring of 1926. According to his biography, Nikola Pašić was forced to resign in April 1926 amid corruption scandals, and Uzunović, a fellow Radical, became prime minister on 8 April 1926. The same account says he faced internal conflict within his party and that a succession of short-lived governments came and went under his leadership, and that his premiership ended only on 17 April 1927. Because he remained prime minister until April 1927, any resignation in October 1926 did not end his time in office. The excerpts themselves stop before the outcome of this particular crisis.
Why the Radical–Radić coalition was under strain
The 'Radical–Radić coalition' named in the first article was a recent and improbable partnership. Radić's Croatian Peasant Party, long in opposition to the Belgrade order, struck a power-sharing agreement with the People's Radical Party; on 27 March 1925 it recognized the central government, the monarchy and the Vidovdan Constitution before the full parliament, and Radić himself became Minister of Education. The historian Latinka Perović writes that, once in government, Radić turned to a campaign against corruption centred on the royal court, saying that people in the King's circle belonged behind bars rather than at court. Such open attacks by a serving minister strained the coalition, and they help explain why Radić's 'well-known conduct' at Zagreb station could shake the government. The excerpt does not spell out what he said or did there.
Who Dr. Anđelinović was
The interpellation that Politika names as one trigger of the crisis most likely came from Budislav Grga Anđelinović (also spelled Angjelinović), a lawyer born in Sućuraj on the island of Hvar. Although a Croat, he did not belong to Radić's party: in 1919 he joined the newly founded Democratic Party and shortly afterwards the Organization of Yugoslav Nationalists. The paper sets his interpellation beside Radić's conduct as the starting point of the dispute, but the excerpt does not give its text. His later career placed him close to the centralist establishment: he served as a minister in Anton Korošec's government in 1928–1929, helped found the Yugoslav National Party in 1929 and became an ambassador during the 6 January Dictatorship.
Why Pašić's return mattered
The summons of Nikola Pašić suggests that authority in the Radical camp still rested largely with him. Pašić had left the premiership in April 1926 under the pressure of corruption scandals, yet Politika still called him head of the Radical Party and reported, citing informed circles, that he had been urgently called to Belgrade as the crisis deepened. The partnership whose troubles the paper chronicled did not long outlast him: the power-sharing arrangement between the Radicals and Radić's party was cut short after Pašić died on 10 December 1926, about two months after this issue. Radić later left the government, returned to opposition and in 1927 formed a coalition with Svetozar Pribićević. The excerpt does not say who summoned Pašić or for what purpose.
How historians have judged Politika's line on Serbs and Croats
Politika's account of a Croatian leader's 'well-known conduct' comes from a paper whose own stance in Serb–Croat politics has drawn criticism. Writing about the period leading up to the shooting of Radić and his colleagues in parliament in June 1928, the historian Latinka Perović singles out Politika, saying that its editor-in-chief Milan Gavrilović, through an editorial policy she calls anti-Yugoslav, was stirring up bad blood between Serbs and Croats. Radić was shot in parliament by the Radical politician Puniša Račić. Perović's judgement concerns the paper's line in the later 1920s as a whole and not this specific report. This front page is written in the register of 'political circles' and 'informed circles', and it places the origin of the crisis in Radić's behaviour and Anđelinović's interpellation.
Original
Оставка владе?
На основу свега онога што се догодило прекјуче политички кругови навели су закључак да се коалиција радикално радићевска налази у кризи и да треба врло мало па да се дође до оставке владе г. Узуновића. Јучерашњи дан потврдио је да се коалиција заиста налази у кризи и да је положај владе г. Узуновића толико уздрман да до оставке може доћи сваког часа. Питање је отворено познатим држањем г. Радића на загребачкој железничкој станици и интерпелацијом г. др. Анђелиновића. Тиме се, као што је познато влада бавила целог прекјучерашњег дана, али се одлука није могла донети. Влада је била одлучила да своја саветовања настави и седница министарског савета била је заказана за јуче пре подне у осам сати, пошто је у десет сати имала да отпочне седни [?] Народне Скупштине.
ПОВРАТАК Г. Н. ПАШИЋА
Тополом, позивање г. Пашића у Београд, пут г. Узуновића у Тополу показивали су јасно да смо пред решењем и да нас само врло кратко време раставља од коначне одлуке. ПОВРАТАК Г. Н. ПАШИЋА Г. Никола П. Пашић, шеф радикалне странке, враћа се у Београд. У обавештеним круговима тврди се, да је г. Пашић позван хитно да дође одмах у Београд. ЈУЧЕ ИЗЈУТРА
У ЧЕМУ ЈЕ БИЛА СТВАР
нела вест да је г. Узуновић отпутовао у Тополу и да ће сигурно поднети оставку владе. У ЧЕМУ ЈЕ БИЛА СТВАР На свима странама постављано је питање у чему је управо ситуација и где је запело. О току догађаја од јуче пре подне у обавештеним круговима могла су се добити ова обавештења: Седница министарског савета која је отпочела нешто пре девет сати није трајала непрекидно. Чланови владе били су у дворани за седнице али је г. Узуновић највећи део времена провео у своме кабинету. Код њега су држана саветовања; [?] су се за -