Anarchism in Bosnia and Herzegovina first emerged from left-wing currents of the anti-imperialist movement, gaining traction as a tendency in the revolutionary organizationYoung Bosnia. Followingassassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand andWorld War I, Bosnia and Herzegovina was brought under a series of authoritarian regimes, before gaining independence in 1992. In the post-independence climate of risingnationalism andincome inequality, anarchism re-emerged as part of the nascentanti-nationalist andanti-capitalist movements of the 21st century.
Anarchism first emerged in the country fromleft-wing currents during theHerzegovina uprising against theOttoman Empire in 1875. This movement was spearheaded by the socialistVladimir Gaćinović and received support from Bosnian and Italian anarchists, includingErrico Malatesta.[1]
The subsequentestablishment ofAustro-Hungarian rule overBosnia and Herzegovina eventually reached its apex with the country's formalannexation in 1908. Meanwhile, theMay Coup inKingdom of Serbia had led to a rise inYugoslav nationalism in theBalkans. This culminated with the establishment ofYoung Bosnia, a revolutionary organization dedicated to the unification of Bosnia and Herzegovina with Serbia.[1] The group's ideological leader wasVladimir Gaćinović,[2] who was inspired by anarchists of theRussian diaspora, including the works ofMikhail Bakunin andPeter Kropotkin, as well as the actions of theNarodnaya Volya organization.[1] He proposedpropaganda of the deed in the form oftyrannicide,[3] as a method of revolutionary political struggle to achieve Bosnian national liberation.[4] These ideas were first put into practice byBogdan Žerajić, himself also a supporter of Kropotkin's ideas,[1] who attempted to assassinate theGovernor of Bosnia and HerzegovinaMarijan Varešanin, but failed and subsequently committed suicide.[5]
Žerajić's example was followed by several more attempted assassinations of Austro-Hungarian officials, the most significant of which was theassassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand inSarajevo. On 28 June 1914, members of Young Bosnia stationed themselves along the route ofFranz Ferdinand's motorcade and one by one attempted on his life. The first attempt was by the Bosnian anarcho-syndicalistNedeljko Čabrinović, who threw a bomb at the Archduke's vehicle, but it failed to detonate in time and Čabrinović's suicide attempt also failed.[6] Despite Čabrinović's failure, one of the Bosnian militants was successful -Gavrilo Princip shot the Archduke and his wife with a revolver, killing both.[7] At their trial, the Young Bosnians declared that the assassination was a reflection of their anarchist beliefs.[1] Čabrinović and Princip were both sentenced to 20 years in prison,[8] but the fallout from the assassination had already led directly to the beginning ofWorld War I. In prison, the German psychologistMartin Pappenheim interviewed Princip about what drove him to assassinate the Archduke. Among the assassin's literature included a variety of anarchist works, including Kropotkin'sThe Conquest of Bread.[9] Princip and Čabrinović both died in prison from their illnesses, shortly before the war drew to an end.
Following the end ofWorld War I, Bosnia and Herzegovina was unified into theKingdom of Yugoslavia,[10] which ruled as aright-wing dictatorship until the outbreak ofWorld War II.[11] Bosnia and Herzegovina was then brought under thetotalitarian rule of the fascistUstaše, which pursued a campaign of genocide against the country'sSerbian,Jewish andRomani people, as well asanti-fascist or dissidentCroats andBosniaks.[12] This was resisted by theYugoslav Partisans,[13] who following their victory established theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and brought the country under the control of theCommunist Party. Despite repressions against dissident workers, by the 1950s, many workers managed to implement a system ofsocialist self-management, which the state allowed in a limited form.[14]
The death of Tito and the subsequentbreakup of Yugoslavia led to anarmed conflict in the newly independentRepublic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. TheDayton Agreement which ended the war partitioned the state between two federal entities: theFederation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and theRepublika Srpska. The country was thus completely divided along ethnic lines, exacerbating the rise ofnationalism andincome inequality.[15]
Following the outbreak of theBosnian War, the city ofTuzla found itself under siege by theRepublik Srpska, preventing food and fuel from entering the city. In December 1993, Swedish anarchistEva X Moberg led a campaign by International Workers Aid (IWA) to transport supplies to Tuzla, organising a "Labour Convoy" (Swedish:Arbetarkonvojen) with the aid of unions from several different countries. They quickly hit administrative hurdles, as Swedish NGOS insisted that the IWA unload its supplies at theUNHCR warehouse "like everybody else". They refused, as they wanted to establish direct contact with the people that would be receiving the supplies. Moberg travelled to Tuzla several times, later reporting that the IWA organised 30 supply convoys during the course of the war. During this time, she wrote a column forAftonbladet, in which she publicised the situation in Bosnia to Swedish readers and raised the IWA's own profile in the process. By the end ofYugoslav Wars, the IWA's presence in Tuzla wound to a close.[16]
This new status quo once again gave rise to anarchism within the country, after having been suppressed for nearly a century of authoritarian rule by various different parties. The rise of the Dosta movement from internet forums to public meetings brought about a form of libertarian organizing that transcended ethnic divisions. As it grew, it began to confront social and economic issues, even beginning to takedirect action themselves.[15] After the2008 financial crisis, a method of organizing around direct democratic assemblies known asplenums.[17] These plenums were one of the primary modes of organizing during the2014 unrest in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which anarchists participated.[15] The protests took on a fundamentallyanti-nationalist character, with the slogan "Death to nationalism!" being graffiti'd on the walls of Sarajevo.[18]
On 19 May 2020, Bosnian anarchist and anti-fascist activistHaris Pendić was arrested for publishing a YouTube video in which he, using extremely harsh language, denounced Bosnia's leading Catholic Church figure,Archbishop of Vrhbosna CardinalVinko Puljić.[19] Pendić was motivated to produce such a video by Archbishop's decision to hold a memorial Mass for executed soldiers of the pro-NaziIndependent State of Croatia, an act which was strongly condemned by the Bosnian public as an attempt ofhistorical revisionism and rehabilitation ofUstashas andNazism.[20][21] Subsequent public debate on the video triggered even stronger verbal clashes between Haris Pendić andCroat andBosniak nationalists and led to Pendić's two further arrests.
