Fascism in the Contemporary World

on of Croatia in a Yugoslav federation that would include Serbians (Palmer, 1979, p. 193). The Ustase also possessed fascist characteristics. The Ustase rejected liberalism, and was convinced that Ustase objectives could be attained only through the use of violence and terror (Palmer, 1970, p. 193). In the 1930s, the Croatian Ustase were encouraged and supported by the fascists in Italy (Palmer, 1970, p. 209).The creation of the Yugoslav federation was an anathema to Croatian nationalists and fascists. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, Marxist agitation was rife throughout many parts of the world. It was, however, strongest in Europe, especially so in the Baltic states of the northeast, and the Balkan states of the southeast (Hyams, 1973, p. 14). In Yugoslavia, communists were not strong in 1918 and 1919, but the dissension between socialists and the ruling monarchists was high (Pavlowitch, 1971, p. 34). This breach opened the political door for the communists and other leftist groups (Maclean, 1957). By June 1919, a Socialist Workers Party of Yugoslavia had been formed. This party was communist in orientation, and joined the Communist International. The party adopted the name Communist Party of Yugoslavia at its Second Congress in June 1920 (Maclean, 1957, p. 27). At this Second Congress, the Party declared that its goal was "the establishment, by revolutionary means, . . . a Yugoslav Soviet Republic, to be included ultimately in a World Communist Union" (Maclean, 1957, p. 28).Soon after the Second Congress of the Communist Party, the centrist﷓socialists were expelled from the party, leaving only the leftist﷓socialists, primarily communists, in the party. In 1921, the expelled socialists joined with the Social Democrats to form the Socialist Party of Yugoslavia. The Communist Party was now ready to compete on its own in the Yugoslav political environment.The Communist Party immediately set out to es...