Piše: Dr. Andrej Umek
Recently, we celebrated the 35th anniversary of the establishment of the sovereign state of the Republic of Slovenia. And all of us who worked for this at the time did not have in mind only the sovereignty of the Republic of Slovenia, but also that it would be a democratic state in the sense of European, or, if you prefer, Western, civilisation.
We certainly wished, and I believe we succeeded, in breaking with the tradition of totalitarianisms that plagued Slovenians for far too long. It began with the royal dictatorship in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between the two world wars, continued with the fascist–Nazi occupation, and after the Second World War came communist totalitarianism. I can say that with each change of power we went from bad to worse. More people were killed, more was stolen, more were sent to camps, more were subjected to complete discrimination. Therefore, all democrats celebrated not only the realisation of the centuries‑old dreams of our ancestors, the establishment of a sovereign Slovenian state, but also, with equal enthusiasm, the transition from communist totalitarianism to democracy. We gladly accepted the fact that our basic human rights were no longer being violated. We celebrated both of the above events. The central celebration on Republic Square was dedicated to them. But I was very unpleasantly surprised by the presence of flag bearers with a star on top of their banners. I am convinced that they simply do not belong at a celebration marking Slovenia’s transition to democracy, as they represent a negation of what we were celebrating.
I was very unpleasantly surprised by the presence of flag bearers with a star on top of their banners. I am convinced that they simply do not belong at a celebration marking Slovenia’s transition to democracy, as they represent a negation of what we were celebrating.
I would like to briefly justify this claim. After the catastrophe of the fascist–Nazi occupation, which divided Slovenia into four occupation zones and sought to erase us as a nation, many – indeed, the majority – strove for our national survival and hoped for the victory of the Allies. But not all. The communists saw the occupation as an opportunity to seize power. At first, they attempted this through open cooperation with the fascist–Nazi occupiers. After the split between Hitler and Stalin, they sided with the latter and began fighting the occupiers. They believed that the victory of Stalin’s Soviet Union would bring them power in Slovenia. With this aim, they organised the partisan movement in Slovenia. Here, I find it important to point out the meaning of the word “partisan”. It means a soldier of the Party – the communist Party – a fighter for communism. And the flag bearers with a star on top of their banners are flag bearers of fighters for communism, flag bearers of fighters for communist totalitarianism, and therefore they absolutely do not belong at a celebration that also marks the transition from communist totalitarianism to democracy.
I do not know why the communist flag bearers even came to a celebration marking the creation of democratic Slovenia, since it celebrated something diametrically opposed to their aims. Nor do I know what the supporters of their presence were thinking. The only logical explanation is that they wanted to show that there are still people in Slovenia who wish to destroy democracy and reintroduce communist totalitarianism. But this is contrary to the wishes and expectations of us democrats, who want to deepen and strengthen democracy in Slovenia. Therefore, I hope and expect that communist flag bearers will be prevented from participating in events celebrating the creation of a democratic and sovereign Slovenian state.
