Croatian Spring and the Moscow Pivot

This chapter will examine the evolution of radical Croatian nationalist thought from the post-war émigré generation to more radical newer cohorts, highlighting the ideological flexibility and innovations that characterised this transformation. The increasing normalisation of Yugoslavia by Western states created a crisis for violent Croatian nationalists abroad, who faced diminished support from western governments and increased cooperation between these states and Belgrade against diaspora groups. Yet there was also hope. The rise and fall of Hrvatsko Proljeće (Croatian Spring) in the late 1960s and early 1970s – an effort within Croatia’s League of Communists to assert autonomy against Yugoslav centralism – provided new hope to émigré organisations by demonstrating continued resistance within Croatia itself. Recognising that breaking Yugoslavia aligned more closely with Moscow’s objectives than with Western capitals, some Croatian groups began exploring collaboration with the Kremlin, creating serious consequences for Australia’s domestic security landscape.