By: C. R.
On the 8th of May 35 years ago, the famous May Declaration was read at Congress Square in Ljubljana. “We want to live in a sovereign state of the Slovenian nation!” was its central message.
During mass demonstrations against the arrest of Janez Janša, Slovenian poet Tone Pavček read the May Declaration at Congress Square. It was a political statement formulated in 1989 by the first opposition political parties and signed by just over a hundred thousand people. The document’s name, the May Declaration, was adopted from the famous declaration by Dr Anton Korošec in 1917, which heralded the end of the Habsburg monarchy and the beginning of Yugoslavia. The May Declaration, written 72 years later, paved the way for the independent state of the Slovenian nation and heralded the end of totalitarian Yugoslavia.
The political statement, read before a crowd of thousands, was drafted in April 1989 in the office of Dr Dimitrij Rupel. Besides Rupel, the contributors to its drafting included Janez Janša, France Bučar, Hubert Požarnik, Veno Taufer, and Ivo Urbančič.
The May Declaration was also signed by the then-opposition parties and movements: the Association of Slovenian Writers, the Slovenian Democratic Union, the Slovenian Christian Social Movement, the Social Democratic Union of Slovenia (now SDS), the Association of Slovenian Composers, and the University Conference ZSMS. Simultaneously, a pro-Yugoslav document called the Fundamental Charter of Slovenia 1989 was being drafted by the former Republic Conference of the League of Communists of Slovenia (SDZL). Unlike the Declaration, the Fundamental Charter still maintained a Yugoslav framework and advocated for the reform of the former totalitarian system.
The Declaration became the basis for the political programme of the Demos coalition.
The May Declaration emerged in uncertain times, full of tensions, and boldly and decisively demanded a sovereign state of the Slovenian nation, in contrast to the then-totalitarian Yugoslav system. It called for a state grounded in respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, democracy, and a social order that would ensure both spiritual and material prosperity in line with the natural conditions and human capabilities of the citizens of Slovenia. In the spirit of the Slovenian Spring and national awakening, the Declaration became the basis for the political programme of the Democratic Opposition of Slovenia (DEMOS), which, under the leadership of Dr Jože Pučnik, won the first multi-party elections in Slovenia since 1945 in 1990. The DEMOS government successfully conducted a plebiscite for independent Slovenia and on June 25th, 1991, realised the main point of the May Declaration when the declaration of independence of the Republic of Slovenia was adopted.
The communist leadership at the time saw the May Declaration as a threat to the loss of power and totalitarian privileges, thus the reactions to it were vehement. Former leader of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Slovenia, Milan Kučan, stated in the Communist newspaper: “Some Slovenian democrats, who are such fervent proponents of the May Declaration, see a perspective beyond socialism and beyond Yugoslavia. But I am convinced that to renounce Yugoslavia means to renounce one’s own country.”