Antifascist Struggle Day Equals Communist Mass Murders and Purges In Croatia

On 22 June Croatian government and those that call themselves antifascists spent that unfortunate public holiday celebrating-come-commemorating the so-called Antifascist Struggle Day at Brezovica forest (near the city of Sisak) where former communists now antifascists say the First Partisan resistance movement unit was formed 80 years ago. That’s the resistance movement against Croatian fight for independence even though they will try to convince you that their fight and resistance were against German and Italian occupation of Croatia during World War Two. This detail is crucial in the ongoing political crisis in Croatia because the former communists/Partisans keep telling everyone that they liberated Croatia in May 1945 but what really occurred is that they fought for, stood for, and managed to keep Croatia within Yugoslavia, which, of course, a great majority of Croatian people did not want!

So, we can safely say that this Brezovica related event in history marks the start of communist seizure of power through resistance to independence of Croatia from Yugoslavia, which led to the establishment of the oppressive communist regime in Yugoslavia in 1945.   

The Brezovica event on 22 June 2021, sponsored and attended by the cream of Croatia’s government led by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic as well as Croatia’s President Zoran Milanovic, is an occasion when Croatian people, in essence, should remember the tsunami of oppression, tyranny, political persecution, mass murder and purges that the communist regime unleashed after World War Two ended. The majority of Croatian people remember those painful and dark misfortunes on that day, but they do not attend Brezovica on 22 June.  Those that do attend it shamelessly glorify the communist ideology, which murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent people and after which mass murders its followers, in order to gloss over their mass crimes, started calling their communist ideology – an antifascist one!

The enormous scale of communist crimes and atrocities in Croatia (in former Yugoslavia) has been documented by historians and others especially after 1991, when Croatia set itself on a path of independence from communist Yugoslavia. Over 1,700 mass graves of victims of communist crimes have been unearthed, 1000 of those in Croatia alone. New mass graves keep showing-up all the time, evidencing the horrendous depravity and brutality with which those “antifascists” murdered innocent people as well as those who fought for an independent Croatia, for a liberated from Yugoslavia Croatia.  

One would think that after its victories in the 1990’s Homeland War, after defending itself from the brutal Serb and Yugoslav aggression, after thousands of lost lives for independence, after immeasurable destruction, losses and ethnic cleansing of Croats from their homes, the lesson from the horrendous history of communist crimes against Croats in former Yugoslavia would be learned. This horrendous history was, after all, a part of the reason why on 25 June 1991, after the May referendum at which 94% of Croatian citizens voted to secede from communist Yugoslavia, the Croatian Parliament voted to commence proceedings of secession from Yugoslavia and its other republics. The injustices of communism were not limited to mass murder alone as those patriots who wanted an independent Croatia who were fortunate enough to survive were subjected to severe oppression, including violations of freedom by political imprisonment, loss of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, loss of property rights, and loss of right to work…

A cruel irony seems to be playing out in Croatia: It defended itself from the communist onslaught in 1990’s, it was victorious – only to be hunted down by the same enemy of the people and democracy, the communist mindset, incessantly with increasing force on Croatia’s own terrain!

Last year (2020) in Brezovica on 22 June, Croatia’s Prime Minister said that “the victory over fascism was a prerequisite for building a democratic Europe.” Which is undisputable. But Plenkovic omitted to say that communists were not part of that democratic Europe. Indeed, communist Yugoslavia between 1945 and 1991 was far from democracy and freedom.

This year (2021) in Bezovica on 22 June, Croatia’s Prime Minister talked about the terrible communist crimes after World War Two against Croats (who fought for and wanted freedom and independence of Croatia) but still, straight-faced, celebrates that post-war communist regime (he and those like him call antifascism for some decades now) and Partisans and their symbols and insignia! He too has the gall to claim that communists/antifascists fought in WWII for Croatia’s independence.

They did not!

This year Plenkovic paid a lip service to communist (antifascist) crimes committed post WWII against Croats who fought for true independence of Croatia during WWII.

“Also, regardless of the mentioned merits of Croatian partisans for the establishment of the Federal State of Croatia – which prevented the unitarian organization of Yugoslavia in which Croatia would not have its own borders – it is time to look at these turbulent times in all their complexity.

I am thinking primarily of the post-war crimes of the Yugoslav Army after the extradition near Bleiburg, i.e. the mass executions of disarmed soldiers and civilians along the Way of the Cross, especially in Slovenia and Croatia, which is still traumatic for many families.” said Plenkovic on 22 June 2021 in Brezovica.

“Just as the crimes of the Ustashas and Jasenovac cannot be justified by anything, nothing can justify the mass execution of defeated forces and often innocent people, which not only cast a shadow over the anti-fascist movement but also deepened the pernicious divisions in post-war Croatia. Post-war purges of political dissidents such as the persecution of Blessed Cardinal Stepinac, although he was one of the bravest pastors of the Catholic Church in Europe, who in his sermons publicly opposed the persecution of Serbs and Jews and saved many from death. Here, in the end, I am thinking of the establishment of the totalitarian regime of Yugoslavia that betrayed the ideals of many Croatian anti-fascists, which unfortunately happened again after the breaking of the Croatian Spring (1971),” Plenkovic continued.  

And so we must ask: Why does the Prime Minister of Croatia and his government continue celebrating the communist regime whose ideology was the turning wheel of more crimes and murders than WWII Ustashi regime ever saw!? Why does he say that the communist regime with its crimes betrayed the ideals of many anti-fascists and fails to do the same for those who fought for Croatian independence during WWII? Why does he stand behind those who want the greeting “Za dom Spremni” (For Home Ready) banned in Croatia and does not stand behind those who want the Red Five-pointed Star and Partisan/Communist Yugoslavia greetings banned!?

The answer to the above questions is obvious through his actions and the actions of his government as well as the actions of the country’s president and they, at every corner, defend the communist (their antifascist) ideology instead of coming to terms with its darkness just like the 94% of voters did way back in 1991. This is not likely to happen though, they are not likely to accept the darkness of the ideology they and their families have stood by and participated in and benefitted from for decades, and living standards and democratic processes in Croatia will, hence, keep deteriorating.

 Hence, they should be thrown out at the next elections! For that to occur, to throw the bastards out at next elections, the silent majority that abstains from voting at elections (because, with the experience of the former communist Yugoslavia power machine, they think they cannot change anything) must turn up at polling stations. The alternative, i.e. street unrests while they can eventually reap results in essence – would just not be pretty.

Unfortunately, with the mainstream media being so biased against the government’s opposition (patriotic parties, right-wing parties) effective opposition parties are unable to pursue what they need and must do: to be able to put out their message and mobilise voters. Croatia continues to experience the same issues that it did under former communist come socialist Yugoslavia – opposition to government cannot function as it should because it is not allowed to spread its message on state-owned media or in the corrupt mainstream media. Suppression of the voice of reason, truth and justice continues in Croatia. It is no accident that virtually every communist regime suppressed opposition parties soon after coming to power and that is exactly what has been happening in Croatia. It is fortunate, though, that we live in the so-called digital era and communications, including media, are not limited to what governments own or bribe. But we do live in an era where new ways of outsmarting and outperforming the mainstream media owned or controlled by the government is possible. Great resources for that are needed, of course.

The better we learn the painful and horrendous lessons of the history of post-World War Two communism (in Croatia and in terms of former communism in Yugoslavia now dubbed antifascism), the more likely it is that we can avoid any repetition of its horrors in Croatia.  Ina Vukic