Национални аспект дебате о аграрној реформи и колонизацији у Краљевини СХС (1919–1920. године)
Ideological Foundations Of Land Reform And Colonization In The Kingdom Of Serbs, Croats And Slovenes: National Aspect (in The Light Of The Debate On T

Summary/Abstract: Agrarian reform and colonization in the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes were actually merged into a single process, which had, depending on the area in which it took place, considerably different priorities. However, the red thread of that process was the need for equalization of agrarian relations on the basis of the model which enjoyed great sympathies – the small peasant farm – the focus of which was Serbia. The legal and economic demands of state consolidation (namely the establishment of uniform agrarian relations throughout the state) were to be satisfied by the said equalization, while achieving, at the same time, national unity based on the ideological potential of the narrative of the small peasant farm which was seen as an essential component of the Yugoslav national identity. Highlighting Serbia as a model for solving the agrarian problem was in line with a more comprehensive ideological narrative of the leading role of Serbia in the new state. In a word, the very foundation of Serbian democracy was located in the free peasant landed property, and it was to be disseminated throughout the new state. Colonization was the second important aspect in the establishment of national unity, since through colonization the Yugoslav space was to be „amalgamated“. But, colonization also had another goal, which was to ensure the dominance of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in areas where they constituted an ethnic minority. The author claims in this paper that it could be argued that the ideology of the agrarian reform and colonization favored the Serbs, although the general ideological background of the reform had been defined by the idea of national unity, which presupposed equality of the three „tribes“ (according to semiofficial vocabulary) – namely the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. However, precise data on the ethnic structure of the colonists are still lacking. Yet, the picturesque ideas of how to achieve the said goals were reconstructed in this paper through extensive quotations taken from texts by numerous politicians and intellectuals. That ideological content reveals the dominant ideological mindset shared by many representatives of the political and intellectual elites in interwar Yugoslavia.

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