A communist leader who negotiated republican interests within federal socialism
In Moscow in February 1948, he was among the delegates who heard Stalin denounce Yugoslavia directly.
Vladimir Bakarić was a leading Croatian communist and a central broker of republican interests in federal Yugoslav politics. He helped organize the Partisan movement and the institutions of liberated Croatia during the Second World War, then directed Croatia’s state and party apparatus after the war. In February 1948 he was sent to Moscow with Edvard Kardelj and faced Stalin’s pressure directly, later supporting Tito’s independent course. Bakarić advocated stronger republican powers and self-management socialism, while exercising influence as a cautious leader whose authority remained tied to Tito and the Party’s power structure.
Career Timeline
- 1932–1935Joined the revolutionary workers’ movement at Zagreb University and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in 1933
- 1941–1943Political commissar in the Croatian Partisan liberation movement
- 1944–1969Top leader of the Communist Party and League of Communists of Croatia
- 1945–1953President of the Executive Council of the People’s Republic of Croatia
- 1948Sent to the Moscow meeting with Edvard Kardelj
- 1953–1963Speaker of the Croatian Parliament
- 1974–1983Member of the Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia