Lecture ‘Did a Serbian Fascist Movement Take Root in the First Yugoslavia’

As part of the lecture series ’Yugoslavia – Continuity, Trials, and Challenges,’ the fourth instalment, titled ‘Did a Serbian Fascist Movement Take Root in the First Yugoslavia’ will be delivered by Rastko Lompar, PhD, on Wednesday, 19 March, at noon in the SASA Grand Hall.

The above-mentioned lecture will be dedicated to the phenomenon of fascism and its (non)existence in the interwar Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Beginning with contemporary interpretations and definitions of fascism as a political ideology, the lecturer will attempt to present to what extent they can be applied to the political landscape of Yugoslavia. While addressing the issue of whether fascism was an ‘export product,’ the very beginnings of fascism and often contradictory attitudes expressed by the fascist leaders on the possibility of existence of the international fascism will be reviewed. The question of who its importers were to Yugoslavia is to be discussed.

The second part of the lecture will delve into this issue, analyzing various right-wing political figures who were primarily engaged in Serbian and Integral-Yugoslav nationalist currents. The aim is to determine whether there can be any point in discussing Serbian or Yugoslav fascist organizations within this historical context.

A concise overview will be provided of the history and ideology of groups such as the Organization of Yugoslav Nationalists, Serbian Nationalistic Youth, Yugoslav Action, the ‘Borbaš’ Yugoslav People’s Party, and the ‘Zbor’ Yugoslav People’s Movement. At the same time, the lecture will examine the influence of fascist regimes on Yugoslavia’s ruling parties during the 1930s, a period marked by a clear shift toward authoritarian governance of state affairs.

Finally, a proposal for the categorization of the mentioned political organizations will be presented following current theoretical models in fascism studies.

Rastko Lompar, PhD, is a senior research associate at the Institute of Balkan Studies of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He is the author of the book Dimitrije Ljotić – Teacher or Pharisee?, which originated from his master’s thesis examining the role of Christianity and religion in the political thought and practice of Dimitrije Ljotić. Lompar obtained his doctorate researching the phenomenon of anti-communism in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians/Yugoslavia as well as the country’s position and involvement in international anti-communist networks.

He has participated in two projects funded by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, as well as in two bilateral projects in collaboration with Friedrich Schiller University Jena. He is also a member of the International Association for Comparative Studies of Fascism. He has been engaged in research on the phenomena of nationalism, fascism, and anti-communism as well as the history of Christian churches in the Balkans.