Croatian Peasant Party

Croatian Peasant Party Hrvatska seljačka stranka
Abbreviation	HSS
President	Krešo Beljak
Founder	Stjepan Radić
Founded	22 December 1904 (1904-12-22) (historical party) 15 December 1989 (1989-12-15) (modern party)[1]
Headquarters	Zagreb
Membership (2022)	11,421 [2]
Ideology	Agrarianism[3][4] Social liberalism[5] Liberalism[6] Green politics[7] Republicanism[6] Pro-Europeanism[4][6] Historical: Christian democracy[8] Social conservatism[9] Federalism (in Kingdom of Yugoslavia)
Political position	Centre[3][9] to centre-left[10] Historical: Centre to centre-right
National affiliation	Rivers of Justice (since 2016) Patriotic Coalition (2015–2016)
International affiliation	International Peasants' Union (1921–1988) Peasant International (1924–1925)
Colours	Green
Slogan	Faith in God and Peasant Unity
Anthem	"Slavni sine hrvatskoga roda"[11] lit. 'Glorious Son of the Croatian People'
Sabor	1 / 151
European Parliament	0 / 12
County Prefects	0 / 21
Mayors	1 / 128
Party flag
Website
hss.hr
Politics of Croatia Political parties Elections

The Croatian Peasant Party (Croatian: Hrvatska seljačka stranka, HSS) is an agrarian^[4] political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The Brothers Radić believed that the realization of Croatian statehood was possible within Austria-Hungary, but that it had to be reformed as a Monarchy divided into three equal parts – Austria, Hungary, Croatia. After the creation of Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1918, Party requested for the Croatian part of the Kingdom to be based on self-determination. This brought them great public support which culminated in 1920 parliamentary election when HPSS won all 58 seats assigned to Croatia.

In 1920, disgruntled with a bad position of Croats in the Kingdom, the party changed its name into Croatian Republican Peasant Party (HRSS) and started advocating secession from the Kingdom and the establishment of "peaceful peasant Republic of Croatia". On 1923 and 1925 election, HRSS doubled the number of won votes, and has thus become the second largest party in the Parliament.

In 1927, faced with a constant prosecution by the regime, HRSS was forced to soften its policy, change its name into Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), recognize the Vidovdan Constitution and form a coalition with Serbian People's Radical Party. This resulted in HSS losing its popularity which was seen in 1927 election when it lost almost third of votes won in the previous elections. After the termination of the coalition agreement with the Radicals, HSS formed Peasant-Democratic Coalition with Pribičević's Independent Democratic Party. In 1928, Vladko Maček become the new president of HSS after the assassination of Stjepan Radić.

After King Alexander declared dictatorship in 1929, HSS was banned and its members prosecuted. HSS participated in the 1935 and 1938 election as a part of the United opposition coalition which helped it to regain its influence. In 1939, Cvetković–Maček Agreement helped in the establishing of the HSS-governed Banovina of Croatia. After the establishment of Nazi-puppet state, the so-called Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in 1941, HSS was banned once again, with half of its members joining either Ustaše or Partisans, and part staying loyal to Maček who believed that the victory of Allies would bring liberal democracy into Croatia and that HSS would return to power. In May 1945, Maček left the country, while HSS split into two fractions which boycotted the 1945 election because of their opposition to the Communists. During the period of SFR Yugoslavia (1945–1991), HSS was active abroad.

On 25 May 1991, HSS was restored under the leadership of Drago Stipac at the so-called Assembly of Unification. The party first entered Government after 2000 elections, on which it participated as part of liberal coalition (HSS-IDS-HNS-LS-SDA), with Ivica Račan (SDP) serving as Prime Minister and its president Zlatko Tomčić as Parliament Speaker. After HSS lost 2003 election, it moved to the opposition. In 2007 election, HSS formed yet another liberal coalition (HSLS-PGS-ZDS-ZS) and eventually ended up leading Ministries of Tourism and Agriculture in the Cabinet of Ivo Sanader II, and Ministries of Tourism and Regional Development in the Cabinet of Jadranka Kosor. In 2011 election, the party won only one seat in the Parliament as has moved to the opposition. In 2015 election HSS won one seat as part of the conservative Patriotic Coalition, and supported Tihomir Orešković as Prime Minister. In 2016 election, HSS won 5 seats as part of the liberal People's Coalition.