![Stjepan Stevo Filipović](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Stjepan_Stevo_Filipovi%C4%87.jpg)
"Death to fascism, freedom to the people!" ( sh-Latn-Cyrl , Smrt fašizmu, sloboda narodu! , separator= " / " , Смрт фашизму, слобода народу! , sl, Smrt fašizmu, svoboda narodu!, mk, Смрт на фашизмот, слобода на народот!) was a
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
-led
Yugoslav Partisan
The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...
motto, afterward accepted as the official slogan of the entire resistance movement, that was often quoted in post-war
Socialist Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II in Yugoslavia, World War II, and ...
. It was also used as a greeting formulation among the movement members both in official and unofficial correspondence during the war and for a few subsequent years, often abbreviated as "SFSN!" when written and accompanied by the
clenched fist salute when spoken (one person usually saying "Smrt fašizmu!", the other responding with "Sloboda narodu!").
History
The slogan became popular after the execution of
Stjepan Filipović
Stjepan Filipović (27 January 1916 – 22 May 1942) was a Yugoslav communist who led the Kolubara Company of the Valjevo Partisan Detachment during the 1941 Partisan uprising. He was captured and executed in 1942 in Valjevo. A photo of him ...
, a
Yugoslav Partisan
The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...
. As the rope was put around his neck on 22 May 1942, Filipović defiantly thrust his hands out and denounced the
Germans
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
and their
Axis
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-coordinate ...
allies as murderers, shouting "Death to fascism, freedom to the people!". At this moment, a subsequently-famous photograph was taken from which a statue was cast.
The August 1941 edition of the Croatian daily newspaper ''
Vjesnik
''Vjesnik'' () was a Croatian state-owned daily newspaper published in Zagreb which ceased publication in April 2012. Originally established in 1940 as a wartime illegal publication of the Communist Party of Croatia, it later built and maintained ...
'', then the primary media publication of the Partisan resistance movement, featured the statement "Smrt fašizmu, sloboda narodu".
The slogan was part of the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia
The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, mk, Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na komunistite na Jugoslavija known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, sl, Komunistična partija Jugoslavije mk ...
's 1941 call to arms for the people of Yugoslavia. The Bulletin of the Partisan Supreme Headquarters uses the slogan in its first issue dated 16 August 1941.
[Zbornik dokumenata i podataka o narodno-oslobodilačkom ratu jugoslovenskih naroda. T. 2, kn. 1, Vojnoistoriski Institut, Beograd 1949, OCLC Number: 837183093, pages 17-18]
See also
*
Yugoslav Partisans
The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...
*
League of Communists of Croatia
League of Communists of Croatia ( sh, Savez komunista Hrvatske or SKH) was the Croatian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ). It came into power in 1945. Until 1952, it was known as Communist Party of Croatia (''Komunistička ...
References
{{Reflist
Anti-fascism in Yugoslavia
Last words
1940s neologisms
Quotations from military
Political catchphrases
Yugoslav Partisans
Yugoslavia in World War II