Odjeci Hrvatskoga proljeća u Virovitici 1971. i 1972.

Abstract

Based on a historiographic and communication analysis of newspaper articles from Virovitički list and archival material of the Virovitica Municipal Assembly and District Committee of the League of Communists of Croatia in Virovitica, this paper investigates the echo of the national, cultural and political movement at the beginning of the 1970s. The authors interpret the political and social conditions in Virovitica during this period and analyze the echoes of the Croatian Spring in Virovitica’s politics, society, economy and culture. The tendencies that characterized the Croatian Spring in Virovitica did not differ from those in other areas. The central theme of the paper is the direct product of the reverberations of the Croatian Spring, which corresponded to the renewed functioning of the literary and cultural organization Matica hrvatska in 1971. The sanctions and penalties imposed against all supporters of the Croatian Spring are analyzed. The orders that come from the highest levels of government were readily accepted, both by the political authorities in Virovitica and by those who approved and edited the articles that appeared in the local newspaper. There was no question of the liberalization of local media, given that it “lasted” as long as the diversion of the local government, that is, the changes and deviations that occurred were caused by the actions of the authorities, republican and local, rather than emerging spontaneously. The methodology of the work and its coordination would be honed to perfection, and to an impartial observer it may have appeared that everything was in absolute harmony, but in fact it was a written and monotonous synchronization that occurred in conjunction with fear. The suppressed problems that reigned in Virovitica at the time, such as the impossibility of employment, the migration of its labour force abroad and even the defeatist policy compelled staff to leave municipal administration or refuse to even apply for job announcements all characterized Virovitica, and the political problems that occurred were less of a concern to the population than economic concerns. The paper presents a case study of the echoes of the largest Croatian national movement in the latter half of the 20th century in a small urban environment with the features of generic news reporting and unquestioning submission to the prevailing political ideology of that time and the consequences thereof.