Croatian Bloc (coalition)

The Croatian Bloc (Croatian: Hrvatski blok) or the Croatian National Representation (Hrvatsko narodno zastupstvo) was the name held by the wide coalition of Croatian political parties in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes from 1921 to 1929's 6th of January Dictatorship and within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 1935 to 1941.

The first Croatian Bloc was formed on January 14, 1922 when the Croatian Republican Peasant Party, the Croatian Community, and the Croatian Party of Rights went into alliance.[2]

The "Representation" was organized for the first time on June 26, 1921. On that day 63 Croatian representatives to the National Assembly of the new Kingdom were in attendance in Zagreb: 56 elected in Croatia and Slavonia (50 from the Croatian Republican Peasant Party, 4 from the Croatian Union, and 2 from the Croatian Party of Rights) as well as 7 elected in Bosnia and Herzegovina (all from the Croatian Agricultural Party). They adopted a resolution supporting federalism and a neutral peasant republic. They also voiced their disapproval towards a centralized constitution, which the National Assembly adopted without them (as well as without the communists and others) only two days later.

The alliance existed until November 1922 when the Party of Rights was ejected from it.[2]

The parties did not participate in a joint list in the 1925 Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes parliamentary election. In 1925, the Croatian Peasant Republican Union and the Croatian Party of Rights formed a formal alliance. In 1927, the Croatian Federalist Peasant Party joined this coalition.

In the 1927 elections, the bloc participated with its own list. It had two of its candidates elected as national representatives: Ante Trumbić, the president of the Croatian Federalist Peasant Party that had won the greatest number of seats; and Ante Pavelić of the Croatian Party of Rights.

After 1927, the Independent Democratic Party formed the Peasant-Democratic Coalition with the Peasant Party, and thereby joined the Representation as well.

The Representation often met outside of the National Assembly, either in Belgrade or Zagreb and reached their own resolutions. The Representation symbolically took the place of the banned Croatian Parliament and strengthened the authority of peasant leaders Stjepan Radić and Vladko Maček, who became the de facto leaders of the Croatian people.