Zapisnik tzv. konferencije prvaka HSS-a u zagrebačkom hotelu Esplanade u rujnu 1945. godine

Članak donosi dosad nepoznato gradivo, sačuvano u privatnom posjedu, o konferenciji prvaka Hrvatske seljačke stranke, koja je početkom rujna 1945. održana u zagrebačkom hotelu Esplanade. U posljednjih tridesetak godina sâm tijek te konferencije razmjerno temeljito je rekonstruiran uglavnom na temelju redarstveno-sudskih materijala jugoslavenskih komunističkih vlasti, a ovo je zasad jedini poznati nekomunistički pisani izvor koji potkrjepljuje i u stanovitoj mjeri dopunjuje dosadašnje spoznaje. Osim što ilustrira politička razmišljanja i razmimoilaženja ministra Ivana Šubašića i dijela stranačkih prvaka u okolnostima novouspostavljene jugoslavenske komunističke diktature u ljeto 1945., dokument sadrži i zanimljive podatke o poratnim progonima, ubojstvima i položaju pristaša Hrvatske seljačke stranke i Hrvata uopće u obnovljenoj Jugoslaviji. Until World War II made its way to the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Croatian Peasant Party had been the central and most powerful Cro-atian political party. Since its leadership declined to proclaim a Croatian state under German protection in April 1941, and to certain extent because party-political activity was prohibited in the newly established Independent State of Croatia, the party split into several parts. One part of the membership joined the new Croatian regime, but most party officials remained loyal to the pre-war lead-ership gathered around Dr Vladko Maček and some of his associates in the Yugo-slav government in exile. The military-political development in the following years brought further disintegration in that part of the party which objectively legitimized the efforts for Yugoslavia’s renewal, so some Maček’s adherents openly declared for the resis-tance led by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, while others searched for a modus vivendi with the communists, hoping to preserve at least basic elements of democratic order in the renewed Yugoslavia with a proclaimed federative organi-zation, and with it, preserve the positions of their own party. Gradually realizing that they served as „useful fools“ to the communists in imposing and solidifying their rule, the supporters of that party current faced ever-growing pressure of the new regime after the war. In order to set a new course for the party, and to reach a decision of par-ticipating in the forthcoming elections, several meetings of party officials had been held in the post-war months. The best known and most attended was the meeting held at t