New Arrival An Uncertain Spring

Reform, Protest, and Suppression in Croatia, 19681971

The mass movement known as the Croatian Spring began with the Socialist Republic of Croatia’s ruling Communist party, led by a new generation of party leaders who sought greater economic and political autonomy from Yugoslavia’s federal government. It quickly grew outside of the party, particularly among students and intellectuals, and led to a strike in Zagreb in late 1971. Despite his initial support for the party’s reforms, Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito ultimately sided with its more conservative factions to suppress the movement.

An Uncertain Spring draws on extensive primary source materials, including interviews, memoirs, and archival documents, to examine this mass movement and the domestic factors that made it possible. Author Mila Dragojevi argues that, far from homogenous, the Croatian Spring consisted of several different interest groups not only within t