Kralj Tomislav u predodžbama odabranih intelektualaca bliskih Hrvatskoj seljačkoj stranci i ustaškomu pokretu
King Tomislav in the Perceptions of Selected Intellectuals Aligned with the Croatian Peasant Party and the Ustaša Movement

Summary/Abstract: The paper examines the attitudes of Croatian intellectuals towards King Tomislav from the liberalization of political and public life following the death of King Alexander till the end of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and during the early years of the Independent State of Croatia. It analyzes the similarities and differences in interpretations of the role and significance of King Tomislav in Croatian history as articulated by intellectuals asso￾ciated with the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), such as Ivo Šarinić and A. H. Žarković, in contrast to nationalist intellectuals aligned with the Ustaša movement, such as Ivo Guberina, who published a two-part article en￾titled “The State Policy of King Tomislav” in Hrvatska revija (The Croatian Review) in 1940. The paper demonstrates how these intellectuals drew conclusions from their interpretations of Tomislav’s reign to advance the contemporary political movements they supported. For adherents of HSS, King Tomislav served as evidence of the strength a nation derives from uniting behind an unquestioned leader, a role they attributed to Vladko Maček, as well as an example of the benefits of social harmony and unity allegedly present during Tomislav’s time, with the king depicted as a kind of a “leader of the people”. In contrast, Guberina argued that Tomislav ultimately “steered the state ship to its rightful place – the West,” thereby affirming the age-old loyalty of the Croatian people to Western civilization in opposition to both the Serbs and the Yugoslav idea.

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