The Construction of a Political Community: Croatian Political Emigrants after 1945 as Performative Actors

The article concerns Croatian political emigration in the period 1945–1990. The author describes the construction of a political community as a form of opposition to the communist regime in Yugoslavia. The aforementioned group – understood here as a performative actor – made an effort to deconstruct the new ideology and political doctrine and to create a new community. These activities manifested in various forms of organization. In this article special attention is given to Hrvatska revija magazine, which was published in 1951–1966 in Argentina. Its main objective was to make the public aware of the socio-political situation in Croatia and to change public opinion. Croatian intellectuals analyzed topics that were forbidden or censored in their homeland; in particular, they willingly referred to Bleiburg and the figure of Alojzije Stepinac, whose reinterpretation became the foundation of a new political community.