Ivan Tavčar and the National Question: From Slovenism to Yugoslavism Cover Image

Ivan Tavčar in narodno vprašanje: od slovenstva k jugoslovanstvu
Ivan Tavčar and the National Question: From Slovenism to Yugoslavism

Author(s): Zvonko Bergant
Subject(s): Political history, Social history, Government/Political systems, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Sociology of Politics, Politics and Identity
Published by: Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino
Keywords: Ivan Tavčar; liberalism; national question; Slovenism; Yugoslavism;

Summary/Abstract: Like many of his contemporaries in the Austro-Hungarian State, Ivan Tavčar, one of the leading Carniolan liberals, placed the demand for the equality of the Slovene language in schools and other public institutions to the forefront of the national question. He saw education in the mother tongue as one of the foundations for a firm national awareness. However, after the establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, he turned from being a promoter of Slovenism into an advocate of Yugoslavism. His activity, even from the nationalist viewpoint, was very much conditioned by his partisanship. His fundamental objective was to preserve the status of the party, ideology and class to which he belonged and which he represented. However, by promoting a more sophisticated, bourgeois culture, which was, according to him, attainable also through Slovene culture and language, he significantly contributed to the Slovenisation and solidification of Slovene national awareness among the urban population in Carniola.

  • Issue Year: 42/2002
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 5-19
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Slovenian