Foreign Language Federations (1890s - 1930) - Serbian

SOUTH SLAVIC [YUGOSLAV] FEDERATIONS

 Earliest Radical Yugoslav Press in America.

The first step towards a socialist movement among the various Yugoslav nationalities in the United States came in 1901, with the establishment of a Slovenian language newspaper called Proletarec [Proletarian]. The publication later began to include a Croatian language pege in each issue.
In 1907, the first Croatian language socialist newspaper was established in America, a weekly called Radnicka straza. The paper began as a bi-weekly but moved to a weekly publication schedule in June of 1908.

[fn: John Kraljic, "South Slavic Federation," posted to the Historians of American Communism Newsgroup, Oct. 15, 2004.]
Prior to the establishment of a South Slavic Federation in the Socialist Party, there were socialist language branches of the various Yugoslav nationalities. One Chicago Croatian group consisted in 1908 of 80 members and had managed to establish its own library, reading room, printing establishment, and singing society. The SP's Official Bulletin noted that "steps have been takent to affiliate themselves with the Socialist Party."

[fn: Socialist Party Official Bulletin, v. 4, no. 10 (June 1908), pg. 1.]

 



South Slavic Socialist Federation [Federation of the Socialist Party of America]


1. Joint Convention --- Chicago --- July 3-4, 1910.
In July 1910, a Joint Convention of the South Slavic nationalities was held in Chicago, a gathering which decided form a South Slavic Socialist Federation and to affiliate the new organization with the Socialist Party. This affiliation was carried out in January 1911, at which time the Federation counted a membership of 635 in 36 locals. At the time of affiliation, the South Slavic Federation was 54% Croatian, 39% Slovenian, and 7% Serb, with a smattering of Bulgarians.
During the first year of affiliation with the Socialist Party (1911), the South Slavic Federation gained 22 locals and nearly doubled its membership size, to 1,266 at year end. The average monthly total of dues stamps sold by the South Slavic Federation for 1911 was 1,055. The increase in the Federation was particularly strong among the Slovenian community: by the end of 1911 the South Slavic Federation was 48% Slovenian, 44% Croatian, and 8% Serb. At this time about 1 member in 6 was an American citizen.

[fn: Frank Petrich, "The South Slavic Socialist Activities in the United States" in The American Labor Year-Book, 1916. (NY: Rand School Press, 1916), pp. 142-143; 1911 stamp sale data from Petrich, "Report of South Slavic Section" in Proceedings: National Convention of the Socialist Party, pg. 240.]

 

The South Slavic Socialist Federation does not seem to have at any point been a homogenous organization -- rather it appears to have been built around an alliance of three National Committees (Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian), each directed by its own Central Committee and funded by an assessment of 3 cents per member per month. The national South Slavic Socialist Federation was directed by an Executive Committee, in which the component National Committees participated.

[fn: Based on the dues apportionment listed in Frank Petrich, "Report of South Slavic Section" in Proceedings: National Convention of the Socialist Party, pg. 240.]

 

In 1912, the South Slavic Socialist Federation moved from 58 to 85 active locals, with a membership of about 1,800. The trend towards increase among the Slovenes continued -- by nationality the 1912 membership of the Federation was approximately 51% Slovene, 39% Croat, and 9% Serb.

[fn: Alex Susnar, "Report of the South Slavic Socialist Federation" to the National Committee of the SPA, May 1913, pg. 1.]

A January 1914 membership count showed the South Slavic Federation breaking the 2,600 mark. Thereafter, difficult economic conditions lead to a downturn in the organizaton's membership rolls, with an average of approximately 2,000 paid members maintained through 1915. These were spread across 103 locals, including 30 in Pennsylvania, 16 in Ohio, and 16 in Illinois. South Slavic Federation locals even existed in such unlikely states as Wyoming (4), Arkansas (3), and Arizona (1),

[fn: Frank Petrich, "The South Slavic Socialist Activities in the United States" in The American Labor Year-Book, 1916. (NY: Rand School Press, 1916), pp. 142-143.]

 

x. Conference of the Slovenian Section of the South Slavic Federation --- Springfield, IL --- Sept. 20, 1918

On September 20, 1918 a conference of the Socialist Party's South Slavic federation was held at Springfield, Illinois, at which it was determined that the federation should leave the party due to the SPA's continued and unalterable opposition to the war in Europe. A resolution adopted by the Conference declared:

"The Socialist Party with its anti-war program, adopted at the St. Louis convention [1917], and its unwillingness to change it even after historical events proved that the program is in contradiction to the spirit of Socialism...became useless as an instrument for the cause of Socialism and democracy."

The Federation's office at SPA headquarters was to be vacated from October 1, 1918, according to the resolution.

 

The Yugoslav Socialist Alliance

[1918-1920]
In 1920, the bulk of the South Slavic Federationists established the Yugoslav Socialist Alliance. This group seems to have become largely inactive, sloughing off membership during the war years and losing its Croatian membership almost completely. The Croatians seem to have went en bloc into the fledgling Communist movement.




The Yugoslav Socialist Federation

[Jugoslovanska Socialistichna Zveza]
Early in 1920, the Yugoslav Socialist Alliance applied for readmission to the SPA , a decision which was deferred to the July 10th meeting of the NEC. A formal return took place in August 1920. Frank Petrich remained the national secretary of the Yugoslav federation at this time, and the federation at that time included 32 active locals, with a membership of 435.
In a self-critical article written by Petrich published in the New York Call in May 1921, Petrich lamented that "the joke was on" the Yugoslav federation for having believed the pious pronouncements of the ruling class about its desire to spread democracy through the war. "One must never trust the ruling class, no matter how fair their professions," declared Petrich, adding that the federation had further learned that "no matter what happens in the home country the worker who has come from abroad must not dabble too deeply in the politics of the motherland," instead leaving national politics to those on the scene. Petrich lamented the departure of the Croatians from the Yugoslav Alliance during the war, stating that they had been afflicted with "the infantile sickness of Left Wingism."
By May 1921, Petrich indicated that the two years of "passive inactivity" were at an end and that 12 new locals had been organized, and the membership of the federation expanded to 750.

[fn: Frank Petrich, "Jugo-slavs, Who Left Party in 1914 [sic.], Come Back," in The New York Call, May 28, 1921, pg. 7. Frank Petrich, "Report of the Jugoslav Federation," in The Socialist World, July 1923, pg. 15.]


x. 4th Convention of the Yugoslav Federation --- Chicago, IL --- July (?) XX-XX, 1921.
The agenda for the 1921 convention established by the Executive Committee of the Yugoslav Federation was as follows:

1. Secretary's report since 1916; 2. The reports of the Slovenian and Serbian sections; 3. Literature and press; 4. The International; 5. Immigration: Its laws and citizenship/ 6. Ways and means for propaganda; 7. Cooperative movemnet; 8. The Yugoslav question; 9. Declaration of principles; 10. Constitution; 11. Special resolutions.

[fn: Frank Petrich, "Jugo-slavs, Who Left Party in 1914 [sic.], Come Back," in The New York Call, May 28, 1921, pg. 7.]

Proletarec remained the newspaper of the Federation, which continued publishing until 1952. The Federation also published an annual yearbook containing original articles and translations in the Slovenian language. This group was one of the largest Language Federations affiliated with the SPA in the 1920s.

 

x. 5th Convention of the Yugoslav Federation --- Chicago, IL --- May 27-29, 1923.
The May 1923 convention of the JSZ was the first gathering of the Slovenian-Serbian group held after the conclusion of the war. It was attended by 21 regular delegates, 5 fraternal delegates, 4 agenda delegates, and 8 members of the Executive Committee -- a total of 38. The gathering adopted a number of resolutions, including a lengthy resolution on the immigration question and another on the situation in Yugoslavia, which was criticized due to the fact that new national boundaries there had been drawn by fiat by the imperialist powers at Versailles rather than on the basis of self-determination, as had been promised by Wilson & Co. during the war.

 
The Socialist Party continued to have an affiliated Yugoslav Socialist Federation [Jugoslovanska Socialistichna Zveza -- JSZ] throughout the decade of the 1920s and beyond -- primarily a Slovenian group. In 1927, 7.4% of the Socialist Party's paid membership came to it through its Yugoslav Federation. The year 1928 proved to be rougher for the group, however, with the paid membership of the Federation plummeting 18% to about 675 members.

[fn: Letter of National Executive Secretary Willam H. Henry to the NEC of the SPA, Nov. 24, 1928. Original in Bob Millar collection.]

The JSZ had headquarters at 3639 W 26th Street in Chicago and issued an 8 page weekly called Proletarec [The Proletarian]. The first seven pages of each paper was in the Slovene language and the back cover in English.
In 1931, the officers of the Yugoslav Socialist Federation were:

Charles Pogorelec -- Secretary
Executive Committee (7): Frank Alesh, Peter Kokotovich, George Maslach, Filip Godina, Fred A. Vider, Joshko Oven, Frank Zaitz.
"Nadzorni Odbor" (3): Sava Bojanovich, Donald J. Lotrich, Blazh. Novak.
"Prosvetni Odsek" (4): Charles Progorelec (Sec.); Anton Garden, Ivan Molek, John Rak.
"Nadzorni Odbor Slov. Sekcije" (3): Frank Margolle, Angeline Zaitz, Frank Udovich.

[fn. Proletarec, No. 1220 (Jan. 29, 1931), pg. 7.]

 

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South Slavonian Federation of the Socialist Labor Party
A group of South Slavic Socialists refused to follow the Federation into affiliation with the Socialist Party in 1910 and instead affiliated with the Socialist Labor Party. This South Slavic Socialist Labor Party Federation, which seems to have been comprised mostly of Serbs, published its own newspaper, Radnicka borba [The Workers' Struggle]. This South Slavic SLP Federation continued to hold a major place in the party until the 1970s, when the Socialist Labor Party eliminated its Language Federations.

[fn: John Kraljic, "South Slavic Federation," posted to the Historians of American Communism Newsgroup, Oct. 15, 2004.]

 

x. Convention of the South Slavonian SLP --- Milwaukee, WI --- Sept. 3-5, 1921.


 
Until July of 1923, the South Slavonian Federation issued a monthly in the Slovenian language called Socijalisticna Zarja [Socialist Dawn]. The publication was terminated for financial reasons. The Federation also included a certain percentage of Ukranian SLP members -- the Ukrainians not having sufficient organizational presence for their own Federation -- and published a Ukrainian-language monthly called Robitnychyi Holos [The Workers' Voice] from an Akron editorial office.

[fn:Milos Malencich: "South Slavonian Federation," in 16th National Convention, Socialist Labor Party, May 10-13, 1924: Minutes, Reports, Resolutions, Platform, Etc., pp. 90-92.]

South Slavic Federation of the (old) Communist Party of America


1. First Convention --- Chicago --- Sept. 12, 1919.
The South Slavic Federation held a Convention in Chicago on Sept. 12, 1919. Nicholas Hourwich and Isaac Ferguson attended on behalf of the old CPA.
The CPA briefly issued a Croatian-language organ called Glas Komunista [Communist Voice], published in Chicago under the editorship of P.B. Stankovich. The first issue was dated Nov. 1, 1919.
Most Croatian Federationists and some Serbs joined the Communist Party, where they formed the South Slavic Section. The Section published a Croatian language newspaper, called variously Radnik and Radnicki glasnik. In late 1921, during the 5 months between formation of the unified CPA and the split of the Central Caucus faction, this Communist Party South Slavic Section had an average monthly paid membership of 527.





South Slavic Federation of the United Communist Party of America
There were more South Slavic (Croatian & Slovenian) "groups" (Primary Party Units of the UCP, consisting of 5-10 members) than those of any other language, some 144 out of 673 total (21.4%) in December of 1920. The overwhelming majority of these were concentrated in the Cleveland and Chicago districts.

[fn: DoJ/BoI Investigative Files, NARA M-1085, reel 940, doc. 501 -- downloadable below.]

The last South Slavic organizer of the UCP (mid 1921) was S.M. Zemlin ("Evans"), who also edited the official organ of the Federation.
The South Slavic Federation held a Conference in the Midwest that began on July 16, 1921.

[fn: Comintern Archive f.515, op. 1, d. 75, l. 220]





Yugoslav Section of the Workers Party of America

[Jugoslavenska Sekcija Radnicke Stanke Amerike]

 
The Yugoslav Section of the WPA produced an official organ called Radnik. The Federation maintained headquarters at 2741 W 22nd Street, Chicago (Summer 1923) and was headed by Secretary M. Rajkovich.


1st National Conference of the South Slavic Section --- Chicago? --- May 27-31, 1923
The 1923 conference of the South Slavic Federation determined to issue the official organ of the federation, Radnik, 3 times weekly. It specified that all members must join the unions of their trade and be active in the TUEL and to be active as well in the work of the Labor Defense Council.
A new Bureau for the federation was elected, consisting of 5 members from Chicago (*) and 4 members from outside the city:
P. Bozurich (Barberton, OH), T. Cuckovich*, M. Goreta (Cleveland), Frank Japich*, J.R. Jurich (Detroit), Ch. Kruzich*, S.M. Loyen*, John Mavrich (East Pittsburgh, PA), and M. Rajkovich* (Secretary).
Alternates elected by the May 1923 conference included: George Karlovich (Zeigler, IL), W.M. Papa (Milwaukee), Mrs. M. Rajkovich (Chicago), A. Kovacevich (Farrell, PA), and J. Jurcich (Whiting, IN).

[fn: Comintern Archive f.515, op. 1, d. 233, l. 27.]

 

2nd National Conference of the South Slavic Section --- Chicago --- April XX-XX, 1924
The 2nd National Conference of the South Slavic Section of the Workers Party was attended by 55 delegates. C.E. Ruthenberg delivered a report on party activity in the name of the CEC of the WPA. Ruthenber stated that the former editors of the South Slavic official organ, Cvetkov and Kutuzovich, represented an "opportunist tendency," which the Bureau of the South Slavic Section, which deposed them, "fought for Communism." The policy of the Bureau towards the former editors was unanimously approved by the convention. Expelled members and those who voluntarily left the party during the recent controversy were to apply for readmission to their respenctive branches, the convention determined.

[fn: "South Slavic Section, WP, in Conference," Daily Worker, April 8, 1924, pg. 4.]



The "Educationalists" Movement in the Communist Party's South Slavic Section
In the early 1920s a movement originated in the Communist Party's South Slavic Section around the persons of Teodor Svetkov, editor of Radnik, and Djuro Kutuzovic. This group, called the Prosvjetasi (Educationalists), argued that the working class could not achieve its liberation until it freed itself from religion and mastered the natural and social sciences. These individuals were expelled from the party in 1924 and established a group called Jugoslavenski prosvjetni savez, which published the paper Novi svijet.

[fn: John Kraljic, "South Slavic Federation," posted to the Historians of American Communism Newsgroup, Oct. 15, 2004; 1921 membership figure from Comintern Archive: f. 515, op. 1, d. 75, l. 12.]

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