Питање покретача и оснивача српског Културног клуба
The Question of the Initiator and Founder of the Serbian Cultural Club

Summary/Abstract: The Serbian Cultural Club (1937) is indissolubly linked with the name of its fi rst and only president, Slobodan Jovanović (1869-1958). It is widely ac cept ed that this Serbian national and cultural organization was his brainchild. The pa per looks into the question as to whether Slobodan Jovanović really was the initiator and founder of the Serbian Cultural Club or if there was some other originator and leader concealed behind his name promoting and realizing political ideas for which the Club was set up. Given the contradictory testimonies about how the Club had been started, it appears necessary to evaluate their credibility and signifi cance by looking at them in their own historical context. Particular attenti-on is paid to the contradictory and incoherent statements of Dragoljub Jovanović (1895-1977), the leader of the left faction of the Association of Farmers, which even contain serious chronological mistakes. The paper also outlines the basic tenets of Slobodan Jovanović’s political theory, the evolution of his domestic and foreign policy views, and the prehistory of his political activity. The paper concludes that trust should be put in the earlier testimonies and in the general and coherent historical picture according to which Slobodan Jovanović was the initiator and founder of the Serbian Cultural Club, and that the whole controversy over this question in fact arises from the contradictory and unreliable nature of Dragoljub Jovanović’s memoirs.

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