TO BE OR NOT TO BE IN CULTURE - ACTIVITIES OF THE LEAGUE OF COMMUNISTS OF CROATIA IDEOLOGICAL COMMISSION (1956 - 1965)

• Published in: Revue für kroatische Geschichte = Revue d'histoire croate 2019-12, Vol.XV (1), p.81
• Main Author: Šarić, Tatjana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Culture; Ideological Commission; Ideology; Literature; Press; Radio; Socialism; Television
• ISSN: 1845-4380

The League of Communists of Croatia (LCC) Central Committee (CC) Ideological Commission as its task force, was one of the most important creators of cultural policy in the People's Republic of Croatia (PRC) / Socialist Republic of Croatia (SRC). Established in 1956 after 1952 dismantled Agitation and Propaganda Commissions, the Ideological Commission inherited part of the jurisdiction of former Agitprop, but it also took over those of the LCC CC Personnel Commissions, particularly with regard to political schools and membership education. The most important activity of this commission was to monitor and analyze the phenomenon of overall cultural, educational and scientific activity in Croatia, and suggesting to the LCC CC to take positions towards them, according to the given ideological current. This has become the decisive factor in cultural policy without whose approval or recommendation projects could not be realized. This paper will therefore concentrate precisely on this activity of the Ideological Commission and give a brief overview of its activity in the supervision of various forms of cultural activity - art, literature, film and media - press, radio and television, while its work in education and science, because of the broadness of the topic, in this case, will be left out. The Commission's activities surveyed in this paper are limited by the period between 1956 (its founding) and 1965 (the 5th LCC CC Congress) when the Commission was organizationally restructured and divided into several areas.