Early life Stjepan Radić was born in Desno Trebarjevo,
Martinska Ves near
Sisak in the
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within
Austria-Hungary as the ninth of eleven children. After being expelled from his gymnasium in Zagreb, he finished at the
Higher Real Gymnasium in
Karlovac. In 1888, Radić travelled to Đakovo where he met with bishop
Josip Juraj Strossmayer to request help for a trip to the
Russian Empire. Strossmayer recommended Radić to Metropolitan Mihailo of
Belgrade who referred him to a Russian teacher in
Kiev. Radić travelled to Kiev and was allowed to stay at the city's
Monastery of the Caves where he remained for six weeks before returning to Croatia. He was selected as a representative of the student body at the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Sisak in 1893. After criticizing the
Ban of Croatia Károly Khuen-Héderváry during the ceremony and referring to him as a "
Magyar hussar", Radić was sentenced to four months in prison which he served in
Petrinja. After spending some time in Russia and, later, Prague where he briefly led the
Progressive Youth, Radić continued his studies at the
École libre des sciences politiques in Paris, where he graduated in 1899.
Lead up to the first Yugoslavia After World War I he had opposed the merging of Croatia with the Kingdom of
Serbia without guarantees of Croatian
autonomy. Radić was selected as a member of the
National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. On 24 November 1918 he famously urged delegates attending a session that would decide the country's political future not to "rush like
geese into
fog". He was the lone member of the National Council's central committee to vote against sending a delegation to
Belgrade to negotiate with the
Kingdom of Serbia. On 26 November, he was removed from the central committee. This act provoked a decision by the government to arrest Radić along with several other party members. He was to be held some 11 months until February 1920, just before the first parliamentary elections of the Kingdom of SHS to a Constitutional Assembly which were held on 28 November when he was amnestied. The result of the November election was 230,590 votes, which equaled to 50 seats in the parliament out of 419. On 8 December, before the first sitting of parliament, Radić held a massive
rally in front of 100,000 people in
Zagreb. Stjepan Radić and the CCPP held a meeting in which a motion was put forward and voted on that the party will not be part of parliamentary discussions before matters are first resolved with Serbia on the matters of governance, the most sticking issues being the minorisation of the Croatian people and the overt powers of the King with the central government in
Belgrade. The party was subsequently renamed to the Croatian Republican Peasant Party, highlighting the party's official stance.
The new Constitution , 1924 On 12 December 1920, the Parliament of SHS had their first sitting, without the representatives of CPP (50 representatives) and the Croatian Party of Rights (2 representatives). A total of 342 representatives presented their credentials out of a total of 419. On 28 June 1921, the Constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was made law after a vote of 223 representatives out of the present 285, the total number representatives in the parliament being 419; 35 voted against and 161 abstained or had walked out. The constitution was commonly known as the Vidovdan (St. Vitus Day) Constitution after the anniversary of the Serbian
Battle of Kosovo, also the anniversary of the
assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914. In the next parliamentary elections, which were held in March 1923, the stance of Stjepan Radić and the CPP against the central government managed to turn into extra votes. The results of the election were, 70 seats or 473.733 votes, which represented the majority of the Croatian vote in Northern and Southern parts of Croatia, as well as the Croatian votes in Bosnia, as well as Herzegovina.
Second imprisonment Radić still held on to the idea of an
independent Croatia, and kept the party out of parliament in protest. This in effect afforded Serbian prime minister
Nikola Pašić the opportunity to consolidate power and strengthen his Serb-dominated government. Radić embarked on an unsanctioned overseas trip in 1923 in which he visited England, France,
Austria, and the
Soviet Union. During this trip he briefly stayed at the home of the writer
Richard Hughes, who had been Radić's spokesperson during Hughes's trip to Zagreb in 1922. On 1 July 1924, he proclaimed that his party would join the
Krestintern as long as it was without Yugoslav representation and the
Communist International denounced Yugoslav Unitarianism. The party congress approved his party's ascension into the Krestintern on 24 August and thereafter, the centralists and monarchists accused him of communism and anti-state activities. Even though the vote count was higher than at the previous election, the
gerrymandering by the central government ensured that CRPP received fewer parliamentary seats. In order to increase his negotiating power the CRPP entered into a
coalition with the
Independent Democratic party (Samostalna demokratska stranka),
Slovenian People's Party (Slovenska ljudska stranka) and the
Yugoslav Muslim Organization (Jugoslavenska muslimanska organizacija).
Return to Parliament in 1926 Immediately after the
parliamentary elections in March 1925, the CRPP changed the party name to
Croatian Peasant Party (Hrvatska seljačka stranka). With the backing of the coalition partners, the CPP made an agreement with the major conservative Serbian party - the
People's Radical Party (Narodna radikalna stranka), in which a power-sharing arrangement was struck, as well as a deal to release the CPP executive from jail. The CPP recognized the central government and the rule of the monarch, as well as the Vidovdan constitution in front of the full parliament on 27 March 1925. The Peasant-Democrat coalition had a real chance to end the Radicals' long-time stranglehold control of the Parliament. Previously they had long been opponents, but the Democrats became disillusioned with the Belgrade
bureaucracy and restored good relations with the Peasant Party with which they were allies in the time of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. With this arrangement, Stjepan Radić managed to obtain a parliamentary majority in 1928. However, he was not able to form a government. The Peasant-Democrat coalition was opposed by some of the
Croatian
elite, like
Ivo Andrić, who even regarded the followers of the CPP as "
...fools following a blind dog..." (the blind dog being Stjepan Radić). As he reached his mid to late 50s, Radić was nearly blind.
Assassination in Parliament in
Belgrade, 20 June 1928
Death threats and threats of violent beatings were made against Stjepan Radić in parliament, without any intervention by the president of the Assembly (
Parliamentary speaker). On the morning of 20 June 1928, Radić was warned of the danger of an assassination attempt against him and was begged to stay away from the Assembly for that day. He replied that he was like a soldier in war, in the trenches and as such it was his duty to go but he nevertheless promised not to utter a single word. In the
Assembly,
Puniša Račić, a member of
People's Radical Party from
Montenegro, got up and made a provocative speech which produced a stormy reaction from the opposition but Radić himself stayed completely silent. Finally,
Ivan Pernar shouted in response, "
thou plundered beys" (referring to accusations of corruption related to him). In an earlier speech Radić accused Račić of stealing from civilian population and later refused to apologize when Račić asked him to.
Puniša Račić made his way to the speaker podium facing the Croats. He put his hand in his pocket, where he held the pistol, and faced the president Ninko Perić and told him: "I ask of you, Mr. President, to sanction Pernar. If you fail to stop me, I shall punish him myself!" After that threat shouting started in the room. But Račić continued his threats: "Whoever tries to stand between me and Pernar will be killed!" At that moment Puniša Račić took out his
Luger pistol. Minister
Vujičić, sitting at the bench behind Račić, grabbed his hand in order to stop him. At the same time, minister Kujundžić came to his aid, but Račić, however, being very strong, broke himself free. At exactly 11:25 AM shots were fired - Pernar was hit 1 cm above the heart. When he collapsed, Račić took aim at Stjepan Radić.
Đuro Basariček noticed this and leaped to help him. Račić, however, turned his way and shot him, bullet entering his loins and exiting around his
scapula. Basariček fainted immediately. Ivan Granđa ran in front of Stjepan Radić and Račić shot him in the arm. As soon as he was down, Račić aimed at Stjepan Radić, and shot him in the chest. At that point Pavle Radić jumped towards Račić, who didn't get confused, but remarked: "Ha! I've been looking for you!" and shot him 1 cm below the heart. It was believed Račić would shoot
Svetozar Pribičević, sitting next to Stjepan Radić, but Račić instead left the room through the ministers' chambers. The whole assassination was over in less than a minute. Puniša Račić was convicted of the murders and sentenced to 60 years in prison, which was immediately reduced to 20 years. Račić spent most of his sentence under house arrest in a comfortable villa, where he was attended by three servants and was free to enter and leave at will. The leniency of his sentence likely came as a result of his connection with the Chetniks. He was released from house arrest on 27 March 1941. Račić was shot by the
Yugoslav Partisans on 16 October 1944 during the
liberation of Belgrade from the
Axis powers. Following the political crisis triggered by the shooting, in January 1929, King
Aleksandar Karađorđević abolished the constitution, dissolved the parliament, banned all ethnic, regional and religious political parties, and declared a
royal dictatorship. ==Legacy==