Edvard Kardelj (; 27 January 1910 – 10 February 1979), also known by the pseudonyms Bevc, Sperans, and Krištof, was a Yugoslav politician and economist. He was one of the leading members of the

Communist Party of Slovenia The League of Communists of Slovenia ( sl, Zveza komunistov Slovenije, ZKS; sh, Savez komunista Slovenije) was the Slovenian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole legal party of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1989. It was establis ...

before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. During the war, Kardelj was one of the leaders of the

Liberation Front of the Slovenian People The Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation ( sl, Osvobodilna fronta slovenskega naroda), or simply Liberation Front (''Osvobodilna fronta'', OF), originally called the Anti-Imperialist Front (''Protiimperialistična fronta'', PIF), was a Slovene ...

and a Slovene Partisan, and after the war he was a federal political leader in the

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

and led the Yugoslav delegation in peace talks with Italy over the border dispute in the

Julian March Venezia Giulia, traditionally called Julian March (Serbo-Croatian, Slovene: ''Julijska krajina'') or Julian Venetia ( it, Venezia Giulia; vec, Venesia Julia; fur, Vignesie Julie; german: Julisch Venetien) is an area of southeastern Europe wh ...

. Kardelj was the main creator of the Yugoslav system of

workers' self-management Workers' self-management, also referred to as labor management and organizational self-management, is a form of organizational management based on self-directed work processes on the part of an organization's workforce. Self-management is a def ...

. He was an economist and a full member of both the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts and the

Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Serbica, sr-Cyr, Српска академија наука и уметности, САНУ, Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti, SANU) is a national academy and the ...

. He also played a major role in foreign policy by designing the fundamental ideological basis for the Yugoslav policy of nonalignment in the 1950s and the 1960s.

Early years

Kardelj was born in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the are ...

. At the age of 16 he joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, where he was drafted under the influence of the Slovenian journalist Vlado Kozak. He studied to become a teacher but never worked as one. In 1930, he was arrested in Belgrade and convicted of being a member of the illegal Communist Party. He was released in 1932 and returned to Ljubljana, where he became one of the leaders of the Slovenian section of the party after most of its former members had either left the party or perished in

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

's purges. In 1935, he went to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

to work for the Comintern. He was part of a group that survived Stalin's purge of the Yugoslav Communist leadership. Following Stalin's appointment of Josip Broz Tito as party leader, Kardelj became a leading member of the Party. The new leadership, centered around Tito,

Aleksandar Ranković Aleksandar Ranković ( nom de guerre Marko; sr-Cyrl, Александар Ранковић Лека; 28 November 1909 – 19 August 1983) was a Yugoslav communist politician, considered to be the third most powerful man in Yugoslavia after Jo ...

and Kardelj, returned to Yugoslavia in 1937 and launched a new party policy, calling for a common

antifascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

platform of all Yugoslav left-wing forces and for a federalization of Yugoslavia. The same year, an autonomous

was formed, with Kardelj as one of its leaders, together with

Franc Leskošek Frank Leskošek ( nom de guerre Luka; 9 December 1897 Celje – 5 July 1983 Ljubljana) was a Yugoslav politician and partisan commander. Biography Born in Celje, Slovenia, Leskošek worked as a locksmith in his youth. He was drafted in to the ...

( sl) and Boris Kidrič. On 15 August 1939, Kardelj married

Pepca Kardelj Pepca Kardelj ( née Pepca Maček; February 20, 1914 — April 15, 1990) was a Slovene Partisan and political activist. She fought as a communist partisan during World War II in Yugoslavia. Life and career Kardelj became a member of the League ...

, sister of the (later) People's Hero and communist functionary

Ivan Maček Ivan Maček, nom de guerre Matija (28 May 1908 – 10 July 1993), was a Yugoslav Communist politician from Slovenia who served as the President of the People's Assembly of SR Slovenia from 1963 to 1967. Biography Maček was born in Spodnj ...

(a.k.a. Matija). After the

Axis invasion of Yugoslavia An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

in April 1941, he became one of the leaders of the

. In summer and autumn 1941, he helped to set up the armed resistance in Slovenia which fought against the occupying forces till May 1945, jointly with Tito's Partisans in what became known as the

People's Liberation War of Yugoslavia World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned between Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and their client regimes. Shortly after Germany attacked the U ...

Postwar years

After 1945, he rose to the highest positions in the Yugoslav government and moved into a luxury house in the Tacen neighborhood of Ljubljana that was confiscated from its previous owner, the industrialist Ivan Seunig. The house had been built in 1940 by the architect Bojan Stupica (1910–1970) and was initially occupied by the communist politician Boris Kraigher. Between 1945 and 1947, Kardelj led the Yugoslav delegation that negotiated peace talks with

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

over the border dispute in the

. After the

Tito–Stalin split The Tito–Stalin split or the Yugoslav–Soviet split was the culmination of a conflict between the political leaderships of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, under Josip Broz Tito and Joseph Stalin, respectively, in the years following World W ...

in 1948, he helped, with Milovan Đilas and Vladimir Bakarić, to devise a new economic policy in the

, known as

. In the 1950s, especially after Đilas's removal, he rose to become the main

theorist A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be ...

Titoism Titoism is a political philosophy most closely associated with Josip Broz Tito during the Cold War. It is characterized by a broad Yugoslav identity, workers' self-management, a political separation from the Soviet Union, and leadership in th ...

and Yugoslav workers' self-management. Kardelj was shot and wounded in 1959 by

Jovan Veselinov Jovan Veselinov Žarko (20 January 1906 – 8 February 1982) was a Serbian communist politician. He served as President of Serbia, Prime Minister of Serbia and as a Chairman of the League of Communists of Serbia. He was a Partisan fighter in Wor ...

. Although the official police investigation concluded that Veselinov had been shooting at a wild boar and Kardelj was struck by a ricochet from a rock, it was suggested at the time that the assassination attempt was orchestrated by his political rival

or Ranković's, ally Slobodan Penezić. Kardelj's role diminished in the 1960s, for reasons that have yet to become clear. He again rose to prominence after 1973, when Tito removed the

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

n and Slovenian reformist Communist leaderships, and restored a more orthodox party line. The following year he was one of the main authors of the

1974 Yugoslav Constitution The 1974 Yugoslav Constitution was the fourth and final constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It came into effect on 21 February 1974. With 406 original articles, the 1974 constitution was one of the longest constitutio ...

which decentralized decision-making in the country, leaving the single republics under the leadership of their respective political leaderships.

Death and legacy

Kardelj died of colon cancer in Ljubljana on 10 February 1979. During his lifetime, he was given several honors. He was appointed a member of the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts and was officially honored as a

People's Hero of Yugoslavia The Order of the People's Hero or the Order of the National Hero ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Orden narodnog heroja, Oрден народног хероја; sl, Red narodnega heroja, mk, Oрден на народен херој, Orden na ...

. Apart from many streets, the entire coastal town of

Ploče Ploče (; it, Porto Tolero) is a town and seaport in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia. Geography Ploče is located on the Adriatic coast in Dalmatia just north of the Neretva Delta and is the natural seaside endpoint of most north-south ...

in southern

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

was renamed ''Kardeljevo'' in his honour from 1950 to 1954 and again from 1980 to 1990. Immediately after his death, the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana ( sl, Univerza v Ljubljani, , la, Universitas Labacensis), often referred to as UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 39,000 enrolled students. History Beginnings Although certain ...

changed its name to "Edvard Kardelj University of Ljubljana" ( sl, Univerza Edvarda Kardelja v Ljubljani). After the collapse of Yugoslavia, most of these were restored to their previous names, but in

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

there are still some street and square names that bear his name; for example, a square in

Nova Gorica A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramat ...

and in

Velenje Velenje (; german: Wöllan''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 4: ''Štajersko''. 1904. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 272.) is Slovenia's sixth-largest city, and the seat of the Municipality ...

. Edvard Kardelj was the father of the

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

, who committed suicide in 1971. His wife Pepca Kardelj died of a heart attack in 1990 but was widely rumored to have committed suicide. His grandson is Igor Šoltes, a lawyer and politician.

References

Sources

* Edvard Kardelj, ''Reminiscences: The struggle for recognition and independence of the new Yugoslavia, 1944–1957'' (London: 1982) * Széll, György. "Workers’ Participation in Yugoslavia." in ''The Palgrave Handbook of Workers’ Participation at Plant Level'' (Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2019) pp. 167-186. *

Jože Pirjevec Jože Pirjevec (born 1 June 1940), registered at birth Giuseppe Pierazzi because of the Italianization#Istria, Julian March and Dalmatia, Italianization policy under the Fascist regime, is a Slovenes, Slovene–Italy, Italian historian and a promi ...

, ''Jugoslavija: nastanek, razvoj ter razpad Karadjordjevićeve in Titove Jugoslavije'' (Koper: Lipa, 1995). * Janko Prunk, "Idejnopolitični nazor Edvarda Kardelja v okviru evropskega socializma" in ''Ferenčev zbornik'', ed. Zdenko Čepič&Damijan Guštin (Ljubljana: Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino, 1997), 105-116. * Alenka Puhar, "Avtorstvo Razvoja slovenskega narodnostnega vprašanja: Ali bi k Speransu sodil še Anin, Alfa, mogoče Bor?",

Delo ''Delo'' (russian: Дело) is a business oriented online media in Ukraine, belonging to ekonomika+ media holding. ''Delo'' was the first daily in Ukraine, publishing its real print circulation (13.000 - 15.000) and trying to introduce Western e ...

(29 August 2001), 16. * Alenka Puhar, "Skrivnostna knjiga o Slovencih, ki že sedemdeset let čaka na objavo", Delo (3 October 2001), 26. * Božo Repe, ''Rdeča Slovenija: tokovi in obrazi iz obdobja socializma'' (Ljubljana: Sophia, 2003). {{DEFAULTSORT:Kardelj, Edvard 1910 births 1979 deaths Politicians from Ljubljana Slovenian people of World War II Prešeren Award laureates Comintern people Yugoslav Partisans members Slovenian atheists Recipients of the Order of the People's Hero League of Communists of Slovenia politicians Slovenian Marxists Members of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina Members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Yugoslav expatriates in the Soviet Union Deaths from colorectal cancer International Lenin School alumni Socialist economists Burials at Žale Marxist theorists Recipients of the Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour

Early years

Postwar years

Death and legacy

See also

References

Sources