Radical Right-Wing Yugoslav integralist movements between conservatism and Fascism

Dragosavljević, Vasilije (2023) Radical Right-Wing Yugoslav integralist movements between conservatism and Fascism. In: Right-Wing Politics in Interwar Southeastern Europe: Between Conservatism and Fascism. Belgrade : Institute for Balkan Studies SASA, pp. 27-52. ISBN 978-86-7179-123-6

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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to describe the ideologies and methods of political actions of Yugoslav integralist movements, namely the Organization of Yugoslav Nationalists (ORJUNA), the Yugoslav Action, the Association of Fighters of Yugoslavia (BOJ) and the Yugoslav People's Movement (JNP) Zbor, and thus to examine the complex relationship between conservative and fascist ideas within ideological constructs of the interwar Yugoslav integralist right. The ideological foundation of these movements was made up by an ideological myth – the theory of integral Yugoslavism, while their common goal was to create a powerful and unitarian (in the sense of its nationhood and legal state regulation) Yugoslav state that would stretch across a territory including three seashores and stand as the fountainhead of ultimate emancipation and affirmation of South Slavic peoples and their cultural and political achievements. Gathered around one idea and dedicated to the same goals of providing leadership to the Yugoslav integralist movements, undoubtedly under the influence of modern European fascist movements of the time, they created their own ideological constructs which contained strong conflicts between conservatism and fascism. Examples of dissonant voices within the ideology of the Yugoslav integralist right are most visible in their interpretation of the phenomenon of the French Revolution, ambivalent attitude towards the monarchy as an institution, as well as issues of economic organization and their attitude towards religion. Thus, the French Revolution was seen as the incubator of the Yugoslav idea, as interpreted in the ideological constructs of the ORJUNA and the Yugoslav Action, whereas the same event was considered to be a negative turning point in the history of humankind, as held to be the case by the Yugoslav People’s Movement Zbor. The ORJUNA had an ambivalent attitude towards monarchy as an institution, recognizing its role as an integrative factor of the Yugoslav synthesis, while at the same time believing it to be a potential tool of tribal separatism and thus being averse to it, whereas in the ideology of the JNP Zbor monarchy was essentially deified. The ORJUNA and the Yugoslav Action were aggressive in their anti-clericalism and aspired to replace traditional denominations with the secularist religion of unitarian Yugoslav nationalism, whereas in the ideology of the Association of Fighters of Yugoslavia religion was accepted as a realpolitik factor of the Yugoslav state, while for the JNP Zbor religion served as the foundation stone for its ideological construct. The ORJUNA advocated fascist corporatism based on trade unions as the essential entities of modern politics, whereas the JNP Zbor envisioned a class state based on farmers, as the foundation of pre-industrial society. Analyzing the attitude of the ideologues of the Yugoslav integralist right on the questions mentioned above, we will examine the course and the factors that conditioned the relationship between the ideas of conservatism and fascism within the ideological constructs of these movements. The answer to these questions would serve to shed light on the mechanism of reception of political ideas from abroad and the process of their adaptation to the specific cultural, political and economic circumstances that prevailed in Yugoslav society in the interwar period

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