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2. “A Tribal and Parliamentary Dictatorship”: The 1920s in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes

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Making Yugoslavs
This chapter is in the book Making Yugoslavs
All of the major political debates of the 1920s were conducted within the flawed framework of the Vidovdan Constitution. In the end, 53 per cent of the Constitutional Assembly had supported the constitution, but this bare majority was opposed by several strong constituencies, led by the Croats. It is no surprise, then, that discord persisted in the years that followed. In less than a decade, the Kingdom of Serbs, Cro-ats, and Slovenes experienced more than twenty political crises during which the government either risked falling or actually did so, and not a single government served out a full parliamentary mandate. By 1929, the system was so thoroughly discredited that even its most prominent architects and advocates turned against it.The Vidovdan structure was a slightly refined version of the pre-1914 Serbian constitutional monarchy, itself hardly a model of a strong parliamentary system.1 At the pinnacle of the Vidovdan system stood the king, who had the power to dismiss and appoint prime ministers. Nothing in the constitution compelled him to appoint a prime minister from a majority party. Regarding checks and balances, the parliament and the king shared legislative power, at least in theory. In practice, however, the king could reject any legislation that displeased him, al-though he could not unilaterally implement legislation without the parliament. He also enjoyed total freedom to set the kingdom’s foreign policy. These constitutional powers, when combined with the king’s role as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, made it clear to all who was in control. Scholars of all stripes agree that King Aleksandar freely used the powers granted to him, with the consequence that he played a decisive role in twenty-one of the twenty-three “ministerial crises” during the parliamentary era of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, 2“A Tribal and Parliamentary Dictatorship”: The 1920s in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes
© 2018 University of Toronto Press, Toronto

All of the major political debates of the 1920s were conducted within the flawed framework of the Vidovdan Constitution. In the end, 53 per cent of the Constitutional Assembly had supported the constitution, but this bare majority was opposed by several strong constituencies, led by the Croats. It is no surprise, then, that discord persisted in the years that followed. In less than a decade, the Kingdom of Serbs, Cro-ats, and Slovenes experienced more than twenty political crises during which the government either risked falling or actually did so, and not a single government served out a full parliamentary mandate. By 1929, the system was so thoroughly discredited that even its most prominent architects and advocates turned against it.The Vidovdan structure was a slightly refined version of the pre-1914 Serbian constitutional monarchy, itself hardly a model of a strong parliamentary system.1 At the pinnacle of the Vidovdan system stood the king, who had the power to dismiss and appoint prime ministers. Nothing in the constitution compelled him to appoint a prime minister from a majority party. Regarding checks and balances, the parliament and the king shared legislative power, at least in theory. In practice, however, the king could reject any legislation that displeased him, al-though he could not unilaterally implement legislation without the parliament. He also enjoyed total freedom to set the kingdom’s foreign policy. These constitutional powers, when combined with the king’s role as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, made it clear to all who was in control. Scholars of all stripes agree that King Aleksandar freely used the powers granted to him, with the consequence that he played a decisive role in twenty-one of the twenty-three “ministerial crises” during the parliamentary era of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, 2“A Tribal and Parliamentary Dictatorship”: The 1920s in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes
© 2018 University of Toronto Press, Toronto

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of Figures and Tables vii
  4. Preface ix
  5. Map xii
  6. Introduction 1
  7. PART ONE. The Collapse of Constitutional Monarchy in Yugoslavia
  8. 1. National Ideology and the Formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes 15
  9. 2. “A Tribal and Parliamentary Dictatorship”: The 1920s in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes 41
  10. PART TWO. The Advent of the Alexandrine Dictatorship
  11. 3. Cutting the Gordian Knot: The Dictatorship’s First Year 77
  12. PART THREE. Making Yugoslavs out of “Tribalists”
  13. 4. National Workers of Yugoslavia, Unite! Moulding Yugoslavs, January 1930–September 1931 137
  14. 5. Policing Yugoslavism: Surveillance, Denunciations, and Ideology in Daily Life 167
  15. PART FOUR The Assassination of Aleksandar and the Strange Afterlife of His Dictatorship
  16. 6. The Return of “Democracy”: September 1931–October 1934 207
  17. Epilogue and Conclusion: “Preserve My Yugoslavia,” October 1934–May 1935 239
  18. Notes 253
  19. Sources and Bibliography 353
  20. Index 367
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https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442669246-006

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of Figures and Tables vii
  4. Preface ix
  5. Map xii
  6. Introduction 1
  7. PART ONE. The Collapse of Constitutional Monarchy in Yugoslavia
  8. 1. National Ideology and the Formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes 15
  9. 2. “A Tribal and Parliamentary Dictatorship”: The 1920s in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes 41
  10. PART TWO. The Advent of the Alexandrine Dictatorship
  11. 3. Cutting the Gordian Knot: The Dictatorship’s First Year 77
  12. PART THREE. Making Yugoslavs out of “Tribalists”
  13. 4. National Workers of Yugoslavia, Unite! Moulding Yugoslavs, January 1930–September 1931 137
  14. 5. Policing Yugoslavism: Surveillance, Denunciations, and Ideology in Daily Life 167
  15. PART FOUR The Assassination of Aleksandar and the Strange Afterlife of His Dictatorship
  16. 6. The Return of “Democracy”: September 1931–October 1934 207
  17. Epilogue and Conclusion: “Preserve My Yugoslavia,” October 1934–May 1935 239
  18. Notes 253
  19. Sources and Bibliography 353
  20. Index 367
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