Josip Ferfolja
Encyclopedia
Josip Ferfolja was a Slovene lawyer
and Social democratic politician
, and human rights activist from the Province of Gorizia
. Although he was an Italian
citizen for most of his life, he considered himself foremost a Slovenia
n.
in what was then the Austro-Hungarian County of Gorizia and Gradisca (now part of the Italian
Province of Gorizia
). He attended high school in Gorizia
, an important Slovene educational centre at the time; Ferfolja's school friends included historian Bogumil Vošnjak
, economist Milko Brezigar
, poet Alojz Gradnik
, writer Ivan Pregelj
, literary historian Avgust Žigon, and the prelate Luigi Fogar.
In 1901, he moved to Prague
, where he studied law at the Charles University. There, he joined a group of Slovene students that had become influenced by the thought of Tomáš Masaryk
, professor of philosophy, and later president of Czechoslovakia
. The group, which included figures like Dragotin Lončar
, Anton Dermota, Anton Kristan, and Ivan Žmavc, advocated a moderate reformist
politics, based on a realistic analysis of social relations; their views were in many ways similar to the Fabian Society
in contemporary Britain
.
After graduation in 1906, he worked as a lawyer in Gorizia and Tolmin
, before settling in Trieste
in 1913. In 1907, he joined the Yugoslav Social Democratic Party (JSDS), helping in the development of its grassroots network first in the Austrian Littoral
. In 1917, Ferfolja adhered to the May Declaration, a joined manifesto of Slovene and Croatian political parties in the Austrian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
, demanding the formation of a unified and autonomous political entity of all Austro-Hungarian South Slavs
on the basis of national self-determination. Together with Dragotin Lončar
and Albin Prepeluh
, he formed an alternative "patriotic" current in the Yugoslav Social Democratic Party, critical with the official internationalist
and Austro-Marxist stance of the party.
, becoming a close collaborator of the local Italian trade union
leader Valentino Pittoni. Ferfolja however objected the unifaction of Slovene and Croat social democrats of the Julian March
with the Italian Socialist Party
. After the Congress of Livorno of 1921, when most of the socialists of Trieste and the Julian March, both Italian and Slovene, joined the Communist Party of Italy
, he withdrew from active politics. During the Fascist regime, he remained faithful to his democratic principles, although refusing to engage in any subversive action. In 1940/41, he was a legal advisor in the so-called Second trial of Trieste against the Slovene Communist leader Pinko Tomažič.
During World War II
, he joined the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People
; in 1944, he became the president of its Trieste section. After the occupation of Trieste by the Yugoslav People's Army
in May 1945, he became one of the members of the city's "Liberation Council". He continued his collaboration with the Titoist political structures in Trieste until 1946, when he resigned from all position in protests against the overwhelming Communist influence. After the formation of the Free Territory of Trieste
in 1947, Ferfolja organized the Group of Independent Slovenes (Skupina neodvisnih Slovencev, SNS), together with Frane Tomčič and Dušan Rybář, as an alternative left wing opposition against the prevailing influence of the Communist Party of the Free Territory of Trieste
among the Slovene workers in Trieste. After 1950, Ferfolja's platform joined forces with other Slovene anti-Communist political organizations, forming the Slovene National List, the predecessor of the modern Slovene Union
.
He died in Trieste in 1958.
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
and Social democratic politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, and human rights activist from the Province of Gorizia
Province of Gorizia
The Province of Gorizia is a province in the autonomous Friuli–Venezia Giulia region of Italy.-Overview:Its capital is the city of Gorizia. It belonged to the Province of Udine between 1924 and 1927 and the communes of Sonzia, Plezzo, Bergogna, Caporetto, Tolmino, Circhina, Santa Lucia d'Isonzo,...
. Although he was an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
citizen for most of his life, he considered himself foremost a Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
n.
In Austria-Hungary
He was born in the village of Doberdò del LagoDoberdò del Lago
Doberdò del Lago is a comune in the Province of Gorizia in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 30 km northwest of Trieste and about 11 km southwest of Gorizia...
in what was then the Austro-Hungarian County of Gorizia and Gradisca (now part of the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Province of Gorizia
Province of Gorizia
The Province of Gorizia is a province in the autonomous Friuli–Venezia Giulia region of Italy.-Overview:Its capital is the city of Gorizia. It belonged to the Province of Udine between 1924 and 1927 and the communes of Sonzia, Plezzo, Bergogna, Caporetto, Tolmino, Circhina, Santa Lucia d'Isonzo,...
). He attended high school in Gorizia
Gorizia
Gorizia is a town and comune in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, and it is a local center of tourism, industry, and commerce. Since 1947, a twin...
, an important Slovene educational centre at the time; Ferfolja's school friends included historian Bogumil Vošnjak
Bogumil Vošnjak
Bogumil Vošnjak, also known as Bogomil Vošnjak was a Slovene and Yugoslav jurist, politician, diplomat, author and legal historian...
, economist Milko Brezigar
Milko Brezigar
Milko Brezigar was a Slovene and Yugoslav liberal economist.Born to a Slovene family the village of Doberdò del Lago in the Austrian Littoral , he attended the State gymnasium in Gorizia. He studied law at the universities of Graz and Vienna, graduating in 1910...
, poet Alojz Gradnik
Alojz Gradnik
Alojz Gradnik was a Slovenian poet and translator.-Life:Gradnik was born in the village of Medana in the Goriška Brda region, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is today in the Goriška province of Slovenia. His father was a Slovene from Trieste who came from a poor working family...
, writer Ivan Pregelj
Ivan Pregelj
Ivan Pregelj was a Slovene writer, playwright, poet, and critic.- Life :Pregelj was born to a tailor's family in Most na Soči . His father died while Pregelj was still a child. He attended school with the help of the parish priest...
, literary historian Avgust Žigon, and the prelate Luigi Fogar.
In 1901, he moved to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, where he studied law at the Charles University. There, he joined a group of Slovene students that had become influenced by the thought of Tomáš Masaryk
Tomáš Masaryk
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk , sometimes called Thomas Masaryk in English, was an Austro-Hungarian and Czechoslovak politician, sociologist and philosopher, who as an eager advocate of Czechoslovak independence during World War I became the founder and first President of Czechoslovakia, also was...
, professor of philosophy, and later president of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. The group, which included figures like Dragotin Lončar
Dragotin Lončar
Dragotin Lončar was a Slovenian historian, editor and Social Democratic politician.He was born as Karel Lončar in Selo near Lukovica in Upper Carniola. After finishing the State Gymnasium in Ljubljana, he studied history at the Charles University in Prague, graduating in 1904...
, Anton Dermota, Anton Kristan, and Ivan Žmavc, advocated a moderate reformist
Reformism
Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...
politics, based on a realistic analysis of social relations; their views were in many ways similar to the Fabian Society
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World...
in contemporary Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
After graduation in 1906, he worked as a lawyer in Gorizia and Tolmin
Tolmin
Tolmin is a small town and municipality in the Littoral region of Slovenia.-Geography:Tolmin, the old town that gave the name to the entire area , is the largest settlement in the Upper Soča Valley , as well as its economic, cultural and administrative centre. It is located on a terrace above the...
, before settling in Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
in 1913. In 1907, he joined the Yugoslav Social Democratic Party (JSDS), helping in the development of its grassroots network first in the Austrian Littoral
Austrian Littoral
The Austrian Littoral was established as a crown land of the Austrian Empire in 1849. In 1861 it was divided into the three crown lands of the Imperial Free City of Trieste and its suburbs, the Margraviate of Istria, and the Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca, which each had separate...
. In 1917, Ferfolja adhered to the May Declaration, a joined manifesto of Slovene and Croatian political parties in the Austrian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
Cisleithania
Cisleithania was a name of the Austrian part of Austria-Hungary, the Dual Monarchy created in 1867 and dissolved in 1918. The name was used by politicians and bureaucrats, but it had no official status...
, demanding the formation of a unified and autonomous political entity of all Austro-Hungarian South Slavs
South Slavs
The South Slavs are the southern branch of the Slavic peoples and speak South Slavic languages. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the Balkan peninsula, the southern Pannonian Plain and the eastern Alps...
on the basis of national self-determination. Together with Dragotin Lončar
Dragotin Lončar
Dragotin Lončar was a Slovenian historian, editor and Social Democratic politician.He was born as Karel Lončar in Selo near Lukovica in Upper Carniola. After finishing the State Gymnasium in Ljubljana, he studied history at the Charles University in Prague, graduating in 1904...
and Albin Prepeluh
Albin Prepeluh
Albin Prepeluh was a Slovenian left wing politician, journalist, editor, political theorist and translator. Before World War I, he was the foremost Slovene Marxist revisionist theoretician...
, he formed an alternative "patriotic" current in the Yugoslav Social Democratic Party, critical with the official internationalist
Internationalist
Internationalist may refer to:* Internationalism , a movement to increase cooperation across national borders* Internationalist, socialists opposed to World War I* The Internationalist Review, an e-journal founded in Maastricht...
and Austro-Marxist stance of the party.
In Italy
After the Italian occupation of Trieste in early November 1918, he advocated the collaboration with Italian socialismSocialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, becoming a close collaborator of the local Italian trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
leader Valentino Pittoni. Ferfolja however objected the unifaction of Slovene and Croat social democrats of the Julian March
Julian March
The Julian March is a former political region of southeastern Europe on what are now the borders between Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy...
with the Italian Socialist Party
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
. After the Congress of Livorno of 1921, when most of the socialists of Trieste and the Julian March, both Italian and Slovene, joined the Communist Party of Italy
Communist Party of Italy
The Communist Party of Italy was a communist political party in Italy which existed from 1921 to 1926. That year it was outlawed by Benito Mussolini's fascist regime. In 1943, the name was changed to the Italian Communist Party.-Foundation:The forerunner of the party was the Communist Faction...
, he withdrew from active politics. During the Fascist regime, he remained faithful to his democratic principles, although refusing to engage in any subversive action. In 1940/41, he was a legal advisor in the so-called Second trial of Trieste against the Slovene Communist leader Pinko Tomažič.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he joined the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People
Liberation Front of the Slovenian People
On 26 April 1941 in Ljubljana the Anti-Imperialist Front was established. It was to promote "an international massive movement" to "liberate the Slovenian nation" whose "hope and example was the Soviet Union"...
; in 1944, he became the president of its Trieste section. After the occupation of Trieste by the Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
in May 1945, he became one of the members of the city's "Liberation Council". He continued his collaboration with the Titoist political structures in Trieste until 1946, when he resigned from all position in protests against the overwhelming Communist influence. After the formation of the Free Territory of Trieste
Free Territory of Trieste
The Free Territory of Trieste was to be a city-state situated in Central Europe between northern Italy and Yugoslavia, created by the United Nations Security Council in the aftermath of World War II and provisionally administered by an appointed military governor commanding the peacekeeping United...
in 1947, Ferfolja organized the Group of Independent Slovenes (Skupina neodvisnih Slovencev, SNS), together with Frane Tomčič and Dušan Rybář, as an alternative left wing opposition against the prevailing influence of the Communist Party of the Free Territory of Trieste
Communist Party of the Free Territory of Trieste
Communist Party of the Free Territory of Trieste was a communist party in the Free Territory of Trieste...
among the Slovene workers in Trieste. After 1950, Ferfolja's platform joined forces with other Slovene anti-Communist political organizations, forming the Slovene National List, the predecessor of the modern Slovene Union
Slovene Union
The Slovene Union is a centrist Italian political party representing the Slovene minority in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Its name in Slovene means literally "The Slovene Community", but the denomination "Slovene Union" is used in other languages....
.
He died in Trieste in 1958.
See also
- Engelbert BesednjakEngelbert BesednjakEngelbert Besednjak was a Slovene Christian Democrat politician, lawyer and journalist. In the 1920s, he was one of the foremost leaders of the Slovene and Croat minority in the Italian-administered Julian March. In the 1930s, he was one of the leaders of Slovene anti-Fascist émigrés from the...
- Josip Wilfan
- Boris FurlanBoris FurlanBoris Furlan was a Slovenian jurist, philosopher of law, translator and liberal politician. During World War II, he worked as a speaker on Radio London, and was known as the "London's Slovene voice". He served as a Minister in the Tito-Šubašić coalition government...
- Lavo ČermeljLavo CermeljLavo Čermelj, Italianized in Lavo Cermeli was a Slovene physicist, political activist, publicist and author...
- TIGRTIGRTIGR, abbreviation for Trst , Istra , Gorica and Reka , with the full name Revolutionary Organization of the Julian March T.I.G.R. was a militant anti-Fascist and insurgent organization active in the 1920s and the 1930s in the eastern Italian border region known as the Julian March.The...