Yugoslav Republican Alliance records

The Jugoslovensko Republicansko Zdruzenje (JRZ) was created in 1918 in Chicago, Illinois. It was a successor organization to the Slovensko Republicansko Zdruzenje (SRZ), which had been created in 1917 in direct response to the Corfu Pact of that same year. Unlike the SRZ, the JRZ included Serbs and Croats in its membership as well as Slovenes and was, from inception, headquartered in Chicago. In the early part of its existence (1918-1922), JRZ was dominated by the personalities of the emigre, Etbin Kristan, and the Petric brothers, John and Frank. After 1922, Charles Pogorelec and Frank Zaitz (Zajc), and to a lesser extent, Filip Godina, played major roles in policy formulation and execution. JRZ advocated the creation of a democratic, federated republic for the Serbs, Croats, and Slovens, based upon the territories of Serbia and Montenegro, and the former Austro-Hungarian territories of Carniola, Croatia-Slavonia, Vojvodina, Istria, Dalmatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, and parts of Styria. Specifically, JRZ opposed Point 10 of the Corfu Pact which required approval of the Karadeordevic dynasty for the constitution of any new South Slav state as well as all laws passed under such a constitution. The Corfu Pact was signed by Dr. Ante Trumbic, of the Yugoslav Committee (London) which claimed to represent South Slavs living in Austria-Hungary, and by Nikolas Pasic in his role as Foreign Minister of Serbia. Trumbic acquiesced in acceptance of Point 10 partially out of fear of Italian designs on Slovene regions and the Dalmation Littoral. The JRZ solidified anti-Karadeordevic opposition in the United States, especially among socialiss, Croatina and Slovenian nationalists, and Yugoslav democrats. It attempted to present the case of the anti-monarchical forces to the American public and government, through the English language Slovenian Review. The socialist paper Proletarec, was the foreign-language (Slovenian) outlet for JRZ. Between World War I and World War II, JRZ supported the Social-democratic opposition in Yugoslavia and during World War II and afterward supported the aspirations of the Partisan movement. As a result of the Yugoslav-Soviet of 1948 and the anti-communist hysteria at the time in the U.S.A., the JRZ formally ceased to function.