On June 17 of this year, the HSS “Ivan Gundulić” branch in Vancouver held the 61st Croatian Day, honouring the memory of Stjepan Radić and the victims of June 1928. The day began with an announcement on the morning Croatian radio program, continued with Holy Mass at 10 a.m., and ended with a picnic at the “Cardinal Stepinac” pastoral centre. A large number of Croats came out to enjoy each other’s company and a fine spread of our own cooking, prepared by our members and friends of HSS.
We hold this event every year because present and future generations of Croats must be reminded again and again of the turning points in their history, and what happened in the Belgrade parliament on June 20, 1928, was surely one of the most fateful. On that day, 90 years ago, Puniša Račić, a Montenegrin Serb and a deputy of the People’s Radical Party, opened fire on HSS deputies in the Belgrade parliament. He killed Pavle Radić and Đuro Basariček, wounded Ivan Pernar and Ivan Granđa, and gravely wounded Stjepan Radić, who died of his injuries in Zagreb on August 8 of that year. It was a crime without precedent in world history and the greatest political crime of the first half of the 20th century, and public opinion around the world condemned it at the time. Rather than resolve the national and social questions, the Greater Serbian rulers were willing to go as far as murder in parliament to keep their grip on power and their hegemony over other nations. They knew that the chief obstacle to entrenching Serbian supremacy and hegemony was the steadfast resistance of the Croats, organized and led by Stjepan Radić.
They believed that removing Stjepan Radić was the surest guarantee of their dominance. Stjepan Radić was president of HSS, but more than that, he was the leader of the Croatian people and the most important Croatian politician of his time.
Their hopes were dashed, however. What followed would show that the assassination had the opposite effect, and that the victims of June did not die in vain. The killings brought an era of revival and national awakening among Croats to a close, and Croats at last understood that only the full achievement of Croatian independence could guarantee their survival.
It is our duty to use every opportunity to remember these events and to pay fitting tribute to those who gave their lives for the good of the Croatian people.
Srećko Mandić
