Rodoljub Colakovic and Avdo Humo are among the people who were responsible that on November 25th, 1943, the statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was renewed in Mrkonjic Grad. This happened despite the opposition of some close associates of Josip Broz Tito.
Colakovic, born in 1900 in Bijeljina, in a rich family, was one of the most prominent figures in the creation of socialist BiH, ie Yugoslavia. He was a writer, a fighter in the Spanish Civil War,and the People’s Liberation Struggle.
Humo, born in 1914 in Mostar, organized students who were followers of socialism in the political and military way. He was among the organizers of the armed resistance to the Nazis and fascists.
Colakovic and Humo were among the councilors of the first session of the State Anti-Fascist Council for the People’s Liberation of BiH (ZAVNOBiH), which marked the beginning of the organization of power in the liberated territories, on November 25th, 1943. They were persistent in demanding that BiH becomes a republic, instead of a province in Yugoslavia.
Their request was opposed by some communists from Serbia, including Milovan Djilas and Mosa Pijade, close associates of the leader of socialist Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito. Djilas and Pijade pointed out the very heterogeneous ethnic composition of BiH as the reason for their opposition, believing that Muslims, more precisely Bosniaks are not a separate people.
The Communists of BiH were united in the view that BiH must be a republic.
Tito made the final decision – he agreed that BiH should be among the six republics and not a province within Serbia or Croatia. As an argument for that, he cited the merits of the peoples of BiH in defense against the Nazi and fascist occupiers, that is, the creation of socialist Yugoslavia.
The first session of ZAVNOBiH restored the statehood of BiH, after almost five centuries of Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian rule. Then the individual and collective freedoms and rights of citizens after the Second World War were harmonized. The main agreement was that the state was “neither Serbian, nor Croatian, nor Muslim, but also Serbian, Croatian, and Muslim.”
The second session of ZAVNOBiH was held at the end of June and the beginning of July 1944 in Sanski Most, and the third in April 1945 in Sarajevo. The National Assembly of BiH was formed from ZAVNOBiH.
E.Dz.
Source: Klix.ba
