Josip Juraj Strossmayer - Croatian Politics

Croatian Politics

In 1860 he became the leader of the People's Party and remained at its head until 1873. He had previously befriended Ján Kollár in Pest and worked with Czech politicians František Palacký and František Rieger on their common ideals of cultural and political association of the Slavic peoples. He was, like ban Jelačić, a supporter of the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy, but nevertheless strove to obtain more rights for the Slavs within the Monarchy. He advocated federalization, merging of the kingdoms of Dalmatia and Croatia, as well as the introduction of Croatian language into public administration and schools.

In 1861, Strossmayer made an influential speech in front of the Croatian Parliament regarding the relations of Croatia and Hungary, where he stated federalization as a goal, and advocated the merging of Međimurje and Rijeka with Croatia. In 1866, the Parliament elected him the president of the Croatian regnikolar deputation (regnikolarna, that which represents the people of the kingdom), a committee that was to negotiate terms of statehood with Hungary, but which failed to successfully make a deal. Instead, the Croatian-Hungarian Settlement of 1868 was passed which was less favorably inclined towards the Croatian cause — and which Strossmayer protested with respect to decreased autonomy in the areas of budget and finances.

In 1872 the Parliament formed another regnikolar deputation for the revision of the Settlement, and Strossmayer was its member, but they again failed in their task. This made Strossmayer retire from active political life and from the leadership of the People's Party. He later sided with the Independent People's Party which was in the opposition and which protested the rule of ban Khuen Hedervary (1883–1903), and insisted on the merger of all Croatian lands under the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1888 he retired from public politics after the Emperor had rebuked him for favoring the Russians and opposing the Hungarians.