Bojan Godeša

The story of 27 April (1941) as a holiday is diverse and dynamic
Since when has it been celebrated?
On 23 February 1948, the Presidium of the People’s Assembly of Slovenia adopted an act pronouncing 27 April as the Liberation Front Day.

In 1951, the People’s Assembly of the People’s Republic of Slovenia adopted legislation pronouncing 22 July as the Day of the Uprising of the People of Slovenia, a public holiday in this republic.

At this point, the quiet abolishment of the Liberation Front Day celebration on 27 April began. In 1952, 27 April was, officially, still a holiday, but it was no longer a work-free day. With the decree of 16 January 1958, 27 April was abolished as a national/republican holiday.

On 26 April 1968, at the session of the Republican Conference of the Socialist Alliance of Working People (SZDL), Josip Vidmar, who presided over the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SAZU) at that time but otherwise the wartime president of the Liberation Front, proposed that 27 April be reintroduced as a national/republican holiday. As of September 1968, 27 April was thus once again a national/republican holiday.

In the independent Slovenian state, 27 April became the Day of Uprising Against Occupation, a national holiday. It has been celebrated in this form as of the year 1992. In the independent Republic of Slovenia, this remains the only holiday associated with the events during the occupation between 1941 and 1945.

The mystery of the inaugural meeting
The question of the date –
26 or 27 April
As it was established already during the war (France Škerl), 26 April 1941 was the historically precise day of the inaugural meeting. However, in the meantime, 27 April had already been publicly declared as the day of the Liberation Front’s establishment, so that date became a holiday.

How was the organisation named at the inaugural meeting: PIF or OF?
The correct name is “Osvobodilna fronta slovenskega naroda”, OF (the Liberation Front of the Slovenian Nation), as this was the precise name stated on the flier of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Slovenia from the end of April 1941, disseminated immediately after the meeting (that took place on 26 April 1941).

The only time that the name Protiimperialistična fronta slovenskega naroda, PIF (the Anti-Imperialist Front of the Slovenian Nation) appears in the contemporaneous sources is in the Liberation Struggle Mottos (Gesla našega osvobodilnega boja), published on 22 June 1941 in the Slovenski poročevalec newspaper.

Based on the relevant sources, it is impossible to determine clearly why and how this transformation occurred.

What were the goals of the organisation established in April or did a programme exist at all?
The programme of the Anti-Imperialist Front was adopted at the first session of its Plenum on 15 June 1941 in the form of the Liberation Struggle Mottos (Gesla našega osvobodilnega boja), published in the Slovenski poročevalec newspaper on 22 June 1941.

The most important points included the following:

1. (1.) The Slovenian nation’s right to self-determination, including the right to secession and unification with other nations! /…/
2. (2.) The liberation and unification of the fragmented Slovenian nation, including the Slovenians living in Carinthia and the Littoral region! /…/
3. (4.) The Soviet Union is the leading force and main foundation of the liberation struggle of the Slovenian nation and all oppressed nations. /…/
4. (5.) The liberation of the Slovenian nation will only be possible once imperialism has been destroyed! The supporters of the liberation of the Slovenian nation must fight against the German-Italian imperialism, which represents the concrete form of imperialism in the Slovenian territory, as well as against the propaganda of the Anglo-American imperialists that strive to preserve capitalism and imperialism. /…/
5. (6.) The oppressed nation cannot be liberated without the struggle against the treacherous “national” capitalist elite! /…/ Study these mottos, which represent the foundations of the Anti-Imperialist Front of the Slovenian nation!«

After 22 June 1941, the organisation was renamed as Osvobodilna fronta slovenskega naroda, OF SN (the Liberation Front of the Slovenian Nation), while its programme was altered as well. The Basic Points of the OF, adopted at the 4th session of the Plenum of the Liberation Front on 1 November 1941 (7 points), became the programme of this organisation. Another two points were added in December of that year.

The attitude towards the holiday A part of the Slovenian society does not acknowledge the legitimacy of this holiday and argues against its historical validity. According to the explanations given, the problem is not the resistance itself but rather the fact that it was the communists who organised it. This fact is completely unacceptable for these people and prevents them from identifying with the holiday’s message. Their standpoint is based on the efforts to historically re-evaluate the events that took place between 1941 and 1945 with the intention of reversing the significance and role of the interwar protagonists and thus rehabilitating the pre-war proponents of power (who lost their legitimate right of representing the Slovenian interests during the occupation because they collaborated with the occupiers) while simultaneously endeavouring to criminalise the Partisan movement. No historically, morally, or ethically sound reasons for such a re-evaluation exist.

Nevertheless, the dimensions of these efforts – which, in their entirety, have an extremely destructive impact on the Slovenian society – cannot be overlooked: neither from the viewpoint of deepening the differences nor in the sense of promoting completely misguided messages about the values that the modern Slovenian society is supposed to be based on.