He was a
member of the Skupstina when anti-Croat sentiment peaked with the
triple murder of the Croat deputies. When Alexander the King
dissolved parliament and assumed dictatorial powers, he moved (or
fled) to Italy, there to establish a Croat nationalist movement, the
Ustasha. Their motto was "Za Dom Spremny" ("Ready for Home" or
"Ready for the Fatherland"). Italy the fascist was a natural choice
- both because of its ideological affinity and because it opposed
Yugoslavia's gradual drift towards Germany. Italy was worried about
an ultimate anschluss ("unification or incorporation") between the
Reich and Austria - which will have brought Hitler's Germany to
Austria's doorstep.
Thus, the Ustasha established training centres (more like refugee
camps, as they included the family members of the would be
"warriors") in Italy and Hungary (later to be expelled from the
latter as a result of Yugoslav pressure). Having mainly engaged in
the dissemination of printed propaganda, they failed at provoking a
peasant rebellion in north Dalmatia (promised to Italy by the
Ustasha). But they did better at assassinating their arch-foe, King
Alexander in 1934 (having failed earlier, in 1933). In this the
Ustasha was reputed to have collaborated with the fascist IMRO
(Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization) under Ivan Mihailov
in Bulgaria.
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