Obznana

After the formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (December 1918), the new state was nominally ruled by the democratic institutions, with the Temporary National Parliament as a legislature. In realty, the executive (Council of ministers), dominated by the People's Radical Party, ruled by decree with little input from the Parliament. The most notable example was the Interim Decree on the Preparation of the Agrarian Reform (February 1919). In response to the CPY's electoral success at the local and regional level including Belgrade and Zagreb earlier that year in March–August, and at the national level in November, the Democratic Party and the People's Radical Party advocated prohibition of communist activity. , April 1920 The CPY organized several large-scale protests and worker strikes. The most notable of these were the protest against international intervention in Russia and Hungary (21-22 July 1919) and the railroad workers' strike (April 1920) in which 50,000 strikers participated and to which the regime responded by militarizing the railroads. On 24 April 1920, during the railroad workers' strike, police opened fire on strikers in Ljubljana, killing 13 people. Trade union members and leaders were routinely persecuted by the police for "bolshevik activity". The regime saw the CPY as a branch office of Bolsheviks who destroyed the Russian Empire, the historical ally of the Serbs. == Proclamation ==

The culmination of the series of communist-led strikes came in December 1920 when the union of miners of Bosnia and Herzegovina called for general strike. On 24 December, the Council of ministers proclaimed a decree that called for militarization of any district where miner strike occurs. The strikes soon spread to Slovenia. In a few days, the miners strike turned into the Husino rebellion in which 7 miners were killed, and hundreds of participants were arrested. In solidarity with the Bosnian miners, the communist-led Central Trade Union Council of Yugoslavia called for a general strike of all workers to be held on 30 December. This was a signal to the government for an all-out attack on the communists. Already on 30 December, the police closed all communist-affiliated workers unions and confiscated their property and archives. Communist organizations were banned and all their property confiscated. All communist-affiliated newspapers were closed down too. Content Obznana did not outlaw the CPY as such, but it did prohibit "communist propaganda". In the introduction, Obznana explained how the government has strong evidence that the communists plan to overthrow the Kingdom and form a Soviet-style government instead. Then it proceeds to explain that the communists are planning a bloody civil war and that they are being financed by the enemies of the state. It claims that the communist propaganda has infected many naive citizens and trade unions, and that the communists actively work to demoralize the army and the police. After that, the citizens are warned not to allow communist revolution as it happened in Russia and in Hungary. After this introduction, the decree orders: • Any kind of communist propaganda to be banned until the adoption of the constitution. Also, all communist-associated organizations, newspapers and meeting houses are to be closed. Any person who calls for a general strike should be arrested and imprisoned for a month. • Any printed publication that "reduces the importance of this decree" is to be banned. • In case of "disorder with a destructive character", leaders and moral supporters are to be punished. • Every citizen possessing firearms has to register it with the police. If unregistered firearm or explosive is found, owner is to be punished with three months' imprisoned . • During the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, all "manifestations of disruptive or exciting character" in Belgrade are to be banned. Whoever tries armed resistance against the state is to be taken to the military court. • Any foreign citizen involved in "disturbances" is to be banished from the state. • Any civil servant who engages in "bolshevik propaganda" is to be fired. Communist students are to be denied of state scholarships. == Reactions ==

Famed jurist Slobodan Jovanović criticized Obznana because of its antidemocratic character. He pointed out that it was actually a quasi-decree because it was not adopted by the Parliament, was not signed by the King, and especially because it was not promulgated in the official government gazette, as was obligatory for any decree to take effect. Thus, in his opinion, the decree had no real power and was only intended to be used as a mean of political pressure. On 8 April 1921, Parliament debated the Obznana. Drašković defended it as necessary to protect the state from violent communist revolution. He said that CPY abused trade unions and strikes as a means of fight against the state, that CPY was financed from abroad and that it was actively demoralizing the Army. He called communists "bloodthirsty and eager for bloody civil war". He agreed that the Obznana was illegal, but called it the only way to prevent the communist violence. In the end, majority supported the Government and Obznana, and communist proposals were defeated. Deputies of the Communist, Agrarian, Social-Democratic, Republican, and Croatian Husbandmen's Parties, and one member of the Radical Party (Momčilo Ivanić) voted against. == Aftermath ==

During the first three weeks after the proclamation of Obznana, thousands of communists and their sympathizers were arrested, beaten or even killed by the police. Just in Belgrade, more than a thousand people were arrested, many of whom were then sentenced to prison and internally exiled to the place of birth. On 21 July 1921 in Delnice, carpenter Alija Alijagić assassinated then already former Interior Minister Drašković, the main author of the Obznana. Alijagić was member of secret youth communist group Red Justice from Zagreb. The subsequent events caused a gradual disintegration of the CPY, which needed decades to recover. == References ==