Frankists () were the political party formed when a faction of the Party of Rights led by Josip Frank split from the rest of the organisation. The party was originally named the Pure Party of Rights (). It changed names several times, ultimately becoming the Croatian Party of Rights () in the final decade before it was banned in 1929. Historiography often refers to the party as the Frankists in reference to its original leader. The Frankists were a Croatian nationalist organisation whose declared objectives and strategies changed depending on political developments.
Initially the Frankists sought a reform of Austria-Hungary and revision of the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement of 1868 to achieve unification of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia with variously defined Croatian lands to achieve a Greater Croatia that would enjoy equal constitutional position in the Habsburg monarchy to that enjoyed by the Kingdom of Hungary. To that end, the Frankists tried to obtain support from a group close to Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and adopted anti-Serbian policies believing they would curry favour with the Austrian allies. The Frankists opposed a competing political option of emancipation of the South Slavs through unification outside Austria-Hungary in accordance with the ideology of Yugoslavism. The Frankists objected to the creation of Yugoslavia as the common state of the South Slavs, disputing the legality of the unification. From 1919 on, the party advocated the use of legal means to achieve Croatia's independence, seeking assistance from fascist Italy in return for political and territorial concessions.
In the 1920s, the Frankists initially cooperated with the Croatian Peasant Party of Stjepan Radić before unsuccessfully seeking allies among Serb-dominated political parties to challenge them from the dominant position in the political life of Croatia. In the same period, the Frankists developed the so-called culture of defeat. It entailed emphasising the moral superiority of wartime sacrifice as a prerequisite for a future redemption of the First World War defeat. In the 1930s, Ante Pavelić used the same concept as a basis for founding the Ustaše movement.
Background Party of Rights
The Party of Rights was founded by Ante Starčević and Eugen Kvaternik in the Kingdom of Croatia, a realm of the Austrian Empire at the time. Inspired by the French Revolution of 1848 and disappointed with the suppression of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire, Starčević broke ties with the Illyrian movement championing the Croatian national revival. He went on to establish the Party of Rights in the aftermath of the 1861 sitting of the Croatian Sabor. On 26 June 1861, in his speech at the assembly, Starčević endorsed earlier Kvaternik's speech at the same venue, supporting his ideas that Croatia deserved a position equal to that of the Kingdom of Hungary within the Austrian Empire by reference to the Croatian state right. Starčević and Kvaternik opposed forging closer ties between Croatia and Hungary than those existing between Vienna and Budapest. Six years later, the empire was reformed through the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867. The outcomes of the reform were opposed by the Party of Rights. As a consequence, Kvaternik launched the unsuccessful Rakovica revolt in 1871, and Starčević retired from politics for six years following the revolt's suppression.
Political landscape Austria–Hungary Kingdoms and countries of Austria–Hungary:Cisleithania (Empire of Austria): 1. Bohemia, 2. Bukovina, 3. Carinthia, 4. Carniola, 5. Dalmatia, 6. Galicia, 7. Küstenland, 8. Lower Austria, 9. Moravia, 10. Salzburg, 11. Silesia, 12. Styria, 13. Tyrol, 14. Upper Austria, 15. Vorarlberg; Transleithania (Kingdom of Hungary): 16. Hungary proper 17. Croatia-Slavonia; Austro-Hungarian condominium: 18. Bosnia and Herzegovina
In the late 19th century, the politics of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, a realm of Austria-Hungary at the time, were dominated by the outcomes of the Compromise of 1867 and the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement of 1868. The former divided the Croatian lands and other lands inhabited by significant Croat populations between Austrian- and Hungarian-ruled halves of the empire. Dalmatia and Istria were ruled by Vienna, while Croatia-Slavonia was a part of the Arch-Kingdom of Hungary. The Croatian–Hungarian Settlement upheld but also curbed Croatian political autonomy, restricting it to internal affairs. In Hungary, regardless of the guarantees regarding Croatian autonomy, the Settlement was viewed as a step towards full integration of Croatia into the Hungarian state, and the Hungarian government's policies threatened Croatian autonomy. As this position became better known, the Croats increasingly opposed the Settlement. The Party of Rights became a leading critic of the constitutional arrangement. The unicameral Sabor was authorised to legislate the matters within the scope of Croatia's autonomy. The Sabor was elected, but the electoral laws limited suffrage by means of property qualification to about 2% of the population. The Ban of Croatia was appointed by the Emperor in consultation with the Prime Minister of Hungary as the head of the executive. The appointment guaranteed Hungarian control over Croatia's autonomous affairs. The People's Party () allied itself with the government, while the Party of Rights and the Independent People's Party (, NNS) formed the opposition, relying on minority middle-class.
In the same period, the gradual infringement against Croatia's autonomy gave rise to Croatian resentment leading to . In response, the Hungarian government imposed martial law in Croatia-Slavonia and shortly afterwards appointed Károly Khuen-Héderváry the Ban of Croatia. Seeking to weaken the opposition, Khuen-Héderváry applied the divide and rule policy by fostering conflict between Croats and Croatian Serbs through a series of concessions to the latter. In the process, the policy relied on Serbs' fear of the Croatian nationalism championed by the Party of Rights. The Khuen-Héderváry's policy strengthened both anti-Serb Croatian and anti-Croat Serbian nationalisms.
Establishment Factions of the Party of Rights
In the late 1880s and early 1890s, factions began to form within the party centred on Fran Folnegović and Josip Frank. Some prominent party figures such as the head of the Club of the Party of Rights, Baron Juraj Rukavina Vidovgradski and party leader's nephew David Starčević, criticised both Folnegović and Frank for their willingness to pursue political objectives through various compromises and departure from the struggle for an independent Croatian state. Specifically, both claimed that partial Croatian statehood within Austria-Hungary would be an acceptable political objective. In that respect, Folnegović's and Frank's positions differed from political views stated by Ante Starčević before the Rakovica revolt.
In the course of unsuccessful negotiations on the potential merger of the Party of Rights and the Independent People's Party, and the adoption of the two parties' common political programme in 1894, views held by Folnegović and Frank diverged considerably. Folnegović supported the idea of the merger and accepted some elements of Yugoslavism as political goals, recognising that Croat-Serb conflict was only beneficial to Hungarian encroachment in Croatia. Frank withheld approval of the merger unless the Party of Rights leadership were to dominate the new party. His faction of the Party of Rights intended to entice the House of Habsburg-Lorraine to reform the Empire into a state consisting of three constituent parts, adding a Croatian part of the monarchy carved out of the existing Austrian and Hungarian ones. They rejected Yugoslavism for fear it might lead to the establishment of Greater Serbia at the expense of Croatian interests. In response, the faction championed the idea of national expansionism to achieve a Greater Croatia, pursuing a policy of Austro-Croatism. Frank thought Austria might favour Croatian interests because the Empire could no longer expand except in the Balkans. He thought such expansion would be at the expense of Serbia and it would justify an anti-Serbian policy. At the same time, Frank viewed the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina as enforcement of a claim to the region under the Croatian state right.
The conflict between the Frank's and Folnegović's factions was often mediated by Ante Trumbić as a prominent member of the Party of Rights Dalmatian chapter. Regardless of the mediation, the rivalry between Folnegović and Frank deepened as both saw themselves as a potential successor to Ante Starčević. While Folnegović had the support of most of the party's leading figures and was the longest-serving member of the Sabor in the party, Frank hoped to gain advantage through a closer relationship with Ante Starčević. In that respect, Frank became particularly engaged with the construction of the building in Zagreb, hoping to curry favour with the party founder.
Frankist split
In 1895, the Party of Rights appointed the Central Committee as the governing body. Ante Starčević was its president, but due to his illness and absence from day-to-day work, Folnegović controlled the party as the elected vice-president. Furthermore, Folnegović ensured that his opponents Mile Starčević and Frank were left out, or appointed to lower-tier positions in the committee. At the same time, Folnegović helped Trumbić and Frano Supilo, who supported his political views, to become full members of the committee. Frank remained the main opponent of Folnegović, accusing the Central Committee of being a device for betraying the Party of Rights. Ante Starčević supported Frank in levying the accusations against Folnegović. The same year, new leadership of the Club of the Party of Rights was also elected. Folnegović ran for the president, with nominated as his vice-president. Even though Frank and his vice-presidential nominee Eugen Kumičić were supported by Ante Starčević, Folnegović and Tuškan won. The defeat left Frank embittered.
On 22 October 1895, the split in the Party of Rights among Folnegović's and Frank's supporters produced factions known as the Frankists () and Homeland faction (), named after Frank and the party newspaper Hrvatska domovina (). The immediate cause for the split was Folnegović's speech in which he distanced the party from violence on the occasion of the 1895 visit by Emperor Franz Joseph to Zagreb. In particular, two people involved in the violence were Frank's sons Vladimir and Ivo. Folnegović resigned from the Central Committee and the Sabor, while Frank, supported by Ante Starčević, went on to form the Pure Party of Rights (, ČSP). Historiography often refers to the party as the Frankists, referencing Josip Frank as the group's and the party's initial leader.
Activities Early years