The Yugoslav National Party ( sh, Jugoslavenska nacionalna stranka, Југославенска национална странка, JNS; sl, Jugoslovanska nacionalna stranka), established as Yugoslav Radical Peasants' Democracy ( sh, Jugoslavenska radikalna seljačka demokratija; sl, Jugoslovanska radikalno-kmečka demokracija), was the sole-ruling party of Yugoslavia during the period of royal authoritarian dictatorship from 1929 to 1934.

History

Dictatorship

On 6 January 1929, the king dissolved the Parliament and abolished the constitution, and banning all political parties. This became known as the

6 January Dictatorship The 6 January Dictatorship ( sr-cyr, Шестојануарска диктатура, Šestojanuarska diktatura; hr, Šestosiječanjska diktatura; sl, Šestojanuarska diktatura) was a royal dictatorship established in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croa ...

. In 1931, a new constitution was put into place, which provided for limited democracy. However, most of the political power remained in the hands of the King and the government, appointed by him.

1930s

In May 1932, the Yugoslav Radical Peasants' Democracy was established to support Alexander's government, under the leadership of

Petar Živković Petar Živković ( sr-cyr, Петар Живковић; 1 January 1879 – 3 February 1947) was a Serbian military officer and political figure in Yugoslavia. He was Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 7 January 1929 until 4 Apr ...

. It was formed mostly by dissident members of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

and the

People's Radical Party The People's Radical Party ( sr, Народна радикална странка, Narodna radikalna stranka, abbr. НРС or NRS) was the dominant ruling party of Kingdom of Serbia and later Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from the l ...

(NRS), as well as the

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 ...

n section of the Independent Democratic Party (SDS) and the right wing of the

Slovene Peasant Party The Slovene Peasant Party ( sl, Slovenska kmetska stranka, SKS) was a Slovenian agrarianist political party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. It was active between 1926 and 1929. During its short-lived history, it was one of the most i ...

(SKS). Individual members from other parties, and from nationalist organizations like

ORJUNA The Organization of Yugoslav Nationalists (''Organizacija Jugoslavenskih Nacionalista'', ''ORJUNA''; ''Организација Југославенских Националиста'', ''ОРЈУНА''), was a political organization in Yugoslavia ...

also joined. In June 1933, it was renamed to Yugoslav National Party, and adopted a program stressing the unity of the Yugoslav Nation,

centralized government A centralized government (also united government) is one in which both executive and legislative power is concentrated centrally at the higher level as opposed to it being more distributed at various lower level governments. In a national contex ...

and

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on Secularity, secular, Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the Separation of church and state, separation of relig ...

Governing party

From 1932 to 1935, the party was the governing party of Yugoslavia. Petar Živković,

Milan Srškić Milan Srškić (3 March 1880 – 12 April 1937) was a Yugoslav politician and lawyer, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia during the dictatorship of King Alexander I. Even before the establishment of the 6 January Dictatorship, Srškić ...

and

Nikola Uzunović Nikola Uzunović ( sr-cyr, Никола Узуновић; 3 May 1873 – 19 July 1954) was a Serbian politician who served as Prime Minister of Yugoslavia on two occasions. Early life Born in the city of Niš, as Nicola Uzun to a family of Aro ...

were the country's prime ministers while the party was in power. After King Alexander was assassinated in 1934, the party remained in power. However, the economic and political instability of the country, and fierce opposition from Croat parties challenged the party's power.

Elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

were called in 1935; although they were not free, the JNS suffered a serious setback.Dieter Nohlen, Dolf Sternberger, Bernhard Vogel, Klaus Landfried (1969) ''Die Wahl der Parlamente und andere Staatsorgane'', Walter de Gruyter, p784

Reformed party

A former member of the Yugoslav National Party

Milan Stojadinović Milan Stojadinović ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Стојадиновић; 4 August 1888 – 26 October 1961) was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and economist who served as the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia from 1935 to 1939. He also served as Forei ...

formed a successor party, called

Yugoslav Radical Union The Yugoslav Radical Union (Serbian language, Serbian: ''Jugoslovenska radikalna zajednica'', Југословенска радикална заједница; sl, Jugoslovanska radikalna skupnost, Croatian language, Croatian: ''Jugoslavenska rad ...

(JRZ), based on a more conservative political alliance, which included the

Yugoslav Muslim Organization The Yugoslav Muslim Organization (, ''JMO'') was an Ethnic Muslim (today Bosniak) political party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It was founded in Sarajevo on the 16 February 1919 and was led by ...

(JMO) and Slovene People's Party (SLS). The Yugoslav National Party went into opposition, where it remained until 1941.

References

Political parties in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia Yugoslavism Conservative parties Defunct agrarian political parties Political parties established in 1929 Political parties disestablished in 1941 Parties of one-party systems Right-wing parties in Europe Monarchist parties 1929 establishments in Yugoslavia 1941 disestablishments in Yugoslavia {{Yugoslavia-party-stub