The Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) played a decisive role in shaping the history of twentieth-century Yugoslavia, yet its pre-war development has often been interpreted through the lens of its later wartime victory and post-war rule. A History of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, 1919-1941 offers a comprehensive account of the Party's formative decades, tracing its emergence in the aftermath of the First World War, its rise as a mass political movement, its suppression by the royal dictatorship, and its transformation into a tightly disciplined revolutionary organisation.
Drawing on a wide range of archival sources, contemporary publications, memoirs, and recent scholarship, the book situates the CPY within the broader political, social, and international context of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It examines the Party's ideological evolution, organisational structure, internal conflicts, relations with the Communist International, underground activities, and responses to state repression. Rather than presenting a teleological narrative leading inevitably to the Partisan victory of 1945, the book reconstructs the uncertainties, strategic dilemmas, and historical contingencies that shaped the Party before the outbreak of the Second World War.
Written by one of Slovenia's leading historians and anthropologists, this volume will be of interest to scholars and students of modern European, Balkan, and communist history, as well as to readers interested in political movements, revolution, and state-building. By combining rigorous historical analysis with a broader anthropological perspective, it provides a fresh and balanced interpretation of one of the most influential political organisations in twentieth-century Southeast Europe.
