The
Party of Rights

Party of Rights (Croatian: Stranka prava), and its best known
faction the Pure
Party of Rights

Party of Rights (Čista stranka prava), was an
influential Croatian political party in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The right or rights in the party's name refer to the idea of Croatian
national and ethnic rights, which was central to the party's ideology.
Numerous modern Croatian and Bosnian Croat political parties claim
lineage from it.
Contents
1 Kingdom of Croatia
2 Kingdom of Dalmatia
3 After World War I
4 Legacy
5 References
Kingdom of Croatia[edit]
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David Starčević,
Ante Starčević

Ante Starčević and Mile Starčević
The
Party of Rights

Party of Rights was founded on 26 June 1861 when Ante Starčević
and
Eugen Kvaternik

Eugen Kvaternik first presented the policies of the "Party of
Rights" to the Croatian Parliament. They called for greater Croatian
autonomy and self-rule at a time when
Croatia

Croatia was divided into several
crownlands within the
Habsburg

Habsburg Monarchy.
In early October 1871, Kvaternik and several other Party members
disavowed the official party position, which advocated a political
solution, and instead launched the Rakovica Revolt. The rebels
declared the following aims:
freedom of the Croatian people from Austrian and Magyar (Hungarian)
oppression
proclamation of an independent Croatia
equality under law
municipal self-government
abolition of the
Military Frontier

Military Frontier and introduction of free counties
respect for both religions in love and unity
The rebels also sought to encourage participation of Orthodox Serbs in
the revolt, and some of them did, but the uprising was soon crushed by
the authorities. Most of the rebels were killed, including Kvaternik.
The Party ran in the
Croatian parliamentary by-election, 1883 and the
Croatian parliamentary election, 1884. In late 19th and early 20th
century, the party underwent various changes in membership and policy,
as different factions splintered and reconciled over time. These
factions often clashed over who best represented Croatian state
rights.
During the 1895 visit of Emperor Franz Joseph to Zagreb, a
flag-burning incident happened, that was disavowed by the party leader
Fran Folnegović. However,
Ante Starčević

Ante Starčević disagreed, and he and his
followers, notably
Eugen Kumičić and
Josip Frank

Josip Frank (a Jewish convert
to Catholicism), formed the first Pure
Party of Rights

Party of Rights (Croatian:
Čista stranka prava). Starčević died in 1896, and was succeeded by
Josip Frank

Josip Frank under whose leadership the party became fixated on
anti-Serb sentiment.[4]
In the Croatian parliamentary election, 1897, both Parties ran. In
1902, the two Parties reconciled; however, in 1905 the leadership of
the party, led by Frano Supilo, merged into the Croat-Serb Coalition,
and the Pure
Party of Rights

Party of Rights was formed once again. Starčević's
Party of Rights

Party of Rights participated in the 1908 Croatian parliamentary
election. The next year, in 1909, the Pure
Party of Rights

Party of Rights itself
splintered, as Mile Starčević,
Ante Pavelić
.jpg/440px-Ante_Pavelić_(dentist).jpg)
Ante Pavelić and others accused
Frank of consorting with Levin Rauch. The dissidents[who?] formed
Starčević's Party of Rights. Both the Starčević and the Frank
Party of Rights

Party of Rights participated in the Croatian parliamentary election,
1910. In 1911, Frank died, and the two factions merged into the
latter. In 1913, the Pure
Party of Rights

Party of Rights was formed by old supporters
of Frank, this time led by Aleksandar Horvat. Both Parties
participated in the Croatian parliamentary election, 1913.[citation
needed]
Kingdom of Dalmatia[edit]
The
Party of Rights

Party of Rights also operated in Dalmatia, which was separated
from
Croatia

Croatia and Slavonia at the time. They participated in the
Dalmatian elections in 1895, 1901, and 1908.[citation needed]
After World War I[edit]
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Aleksandar Horvat, President of the Party of Rights
The
Croatian Party of Rights

Croatian Party of Rights welcomed the dissolution of
Austria-Hungary in the wake of
World War I

World War I as a means toward achieving
Croatian independence, through the creation of the State of Slovenes,
Croats and Serbs. In October 1918,
Party of Rights

Party of Rights announced their
dismissal. However, just one month later, party's activity was renewed
when the Business Committee of the Party held a session on 28 November
1918, announcing the renewal of party's activity and their goal to
save national and state individuality. When the State of Slovenes,
Croats and Serbs proclaimed its unification with
Kingdom of Serbia
.svg/250px-State_Flag_of_Serbia_(1882-1918).svg.png)
Kingdom of Serbia on
1 December 1918,
Party of Rights

Party of Rights organized a protest. On 1 March 1919,
the same day the
Temporary National Representation met without them
present, the
Party of Rights

Party of Rights changed its name to Croatian Party of
Rights.[citation needed]
In their program from March 1919, members of the party made a plea for
Croatian independence based on the right to self-determination of all
peoples. In this program, the
Party of Rights

Party of Rights emphasized their
republicanism as opposed to the monarchism of House of
Karađorđević, whose rule was accepted by all Croatian politicians,
except Stjepan Radić's Croatian Peasant Party. Their main goal were
the ideas of
Ante Starčević

Ante Starčević for an independent Croatian state, and
the "Croatian State Right" (hrvatsko državno pravo) was their main
argument for achieving this goal. According to the concept of the
"Croatian State Right", they expressed a need for unification of all
Croat lands, including Bosnia and Herzegovina. The program was signed
by President of the Party of Rights, dr. Vladimir Prebeg and Secretary
of the Party, Ante Pavelić.[5]
A unified
Party of Rights

Party of Rights participated in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats
and Slovenes Constitutional Assembly election, 1920. The Croatian
politics at the time started to be dominated by the Croatian Peasant
Party, but in 1921, the Croatian parties started to form the Croatian
National Representation (Croatian Bloc) that included the Party of
Rights.
Stjepan Radić
.jpg/440px-Stjepan_Radić_(2).jpg)
Stjepan Radić and other coalition leaders ejected the Party
of Rights from the coalition by the end of 1922.[citation needed]
The
Party of Rights

Party of Rights ran standalone in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and
Slovenes parliamentary election, 1923. It did not enter the Kingdom of
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes parliamentary election, 1925, but did join
the Bloc again the same year. The
Party of Rights

Party of Rights cooperated with
Stjepan Radić
.jpg/440px-Stjepan_Radić_(2).jpg)
Stjepan Radić as part of the Croatian Bloc, composed of the Croatian
Republican Peasant Party, Croatian Union and the Party of
Rights.[citation needed]
The
Party of Rights

Party of Rights alone was unable to influence the majority of
Croats, as their main supporters were a small number of middle class
citizens, the majority of whom lived in Zagreb, while Stjepan Radić
dominated among Croats elsewhere. Within this bloc, Party of Rights
opposed Serbian nationalist hegemony and centralism. Sometimes they
objected to Radić's readiness to come to an understanding with the
Serbian side. The main vehicle of the
Party of Rights

Party of Rights was the concept
of the Croatian Right (Hrvatsko pravo), which made the idea of
Yugoslavism

Yugoslavism unsustainable, assessing it as misconception and the main
obstacle to Croatian independence.[5]
Nevertheless, the leaders of the
Party of Rights

Party of Rights had established
contacts with the
People's Radical Party in Belgrade and occasionally
fought for their own particular interests. In 1924–25, this
controversial relationship became public, particularly as the party's
then-vice-president Mirko Košutić publicly accused the rest of the
party leadership of colluding with the government of Nikola Pašić
against the interests of the Croatian Bloc.[6]
In 1929, the king of Yugoslavia instituted the January 6th
Dictatorship. He banned all political parties, and the militant wing
of the
Party of Rights

Party of Rights went underground to organize the Ustaše
movement, led by former party secretary Ante Pavelić, whose wing of
the party was the most staunchly anti-Serb.[7]
Legacy[edit]
The eponymous Croatian Party of Rights, founded in 1990, claims
lineage from the original Party of Rights. Since 1990, several
splinter parties have been founded that claim the same:
Croatian Pure Party of Rights,
Croatian Party of Rights

Croatian Party of Rights 1861,
Autochthonous Croatian Party of Rights,
Croatian Party of Rights

Croatian Party of Rights dr. Ante Starčević,
Croatian Party of Rights

Croatian Party of Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Party of Croatian Right,
Party of Rights

Party of Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina 1861
References[edit]
^ STARČEVIĆ, Govori, 229.-230., 299.
^ Djela Dra Ante Starčevića, II., 38.-39.
^ "
Ante Starčević

Ante Starčević – otac hrvatskog nacionalizma (2/2) - Portal
Hrvatskoga kulturnog vijeća". Hkv.hr. 15 March 2012. Retrieved 11
March 2016.
^ Stephen Richards Graubard (1999). A New Europe for the Old?.
Transaction Publishers. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-4128-1617-5.
Retrieved 30 August 2013. Under Josip Frank, who carried the rightists
into a new era, the party became obsessively anti-Serbian.
^ a b Matković 2002, p. 10.
^ Matković, Hrvoje (1962). "Veze između frankovaca i radikala od
1922–1925" (PDF). Historical Journal (in Croatian). Croatian
Historical Society. 3 (15): 41–59. ISSN 0351-2193. Retrieved 13
September 2012.
^
Bernd Jürgen Fischer (2007). Balkan Strongmen: Dictators and
Authoritarian Rulers of South Eastern Europe. Purdue University Press.
p. 208. ISBN 978-1-55753-455-2. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
Pavelić belonged to the most anti-Serbian branch of the Party
Bibliography
Matković, Hrvoje (2002). Povijest Nezavisne Države Hrvatske (in
Croatian). Naklada Pavičić. ISBN 953-6308-39-8.
v
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e
Political parties in the
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia

Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia (1868–1918)
Unionist Party
People's Party
Party of Rights
Independent People's Party
Serb Independent Party
Serb People's Radical Party
Croatian Peasant Party
Croat-Serb Coalition
v
t
e
Political parties in the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
.jpg/440px-Zemljovid_slovenske_dežele_in_pokrajin_(Original).jpg)
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia

Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941)
Agrarian Party
Bunjevac-Šokac Party
Džemijet
German Party
Independent Agrarian Party
Independent Democratic Party
People's Radical Party
Croatian Popular Party
Democratic Party
Slovene People's Party
Slovene Peasant Party
Montenegrin Federalist Party
Croatian Peasant Party
Croatian Bloc
Yugoslav Radical Union
Yugoslav Republican Party
Yugoslav National Movement
Yugoslav Muslim Organization
Communist Party of Yugoslavia
Yugoslav National Party
Party of Rights
People