Page 119 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 11(2) (2023)

chotomy to prevent the Slovene population from practice (beginning with bilingualism) did not
moving to the towns and exercising their nation- proceed as planned and without conflict. The
al rights there. The Slovene or Yugoslav people’s authorities also experienced disagreements and
power, which emerged from the National Liber- tensions between local political cadres and those
ation Struggle (NOB), overcame this by imple- from Slovenia, who accused the former of a lack
menting the socialist principle of national equal- of political integrity in the struggle to eliminate
ity and the policy of fraternity among nations. It anti-Yugoslav political factors.
considered this territory to be Yugoslav and in- One of the aims of establishing Slovene
troduced the political-administrative structures schools during the FTT years was therefore to
and systems of the socialist order from Yugo- repair the damage suffered by the Slovenes under
slavia into Zone B of the FTT. In the geopoliti- and before fascism due to social and national dis-
cal configuration of the Littoral, when the peace crimination. At the same time, it was part of the
treaty assigned Gorizia to Italy in 1947 and Tri- political struggle for Zone B to belong to Yugo- 119
slavia through the implementation of the social-
este to Zone A of the FTT, the towns of Koper,
ti Izola and Piran were conceived as the new cen- ist social order and the socialist concept for regu-
lating national relations. On the socialist basis of
tres of the Slovene territory. In the border dis-
pute, the authorities pursued a principled policy equality, the authorities recognised the nation-
al rights of the Italian population while enforc-
ta via, and sought to create the conditions and gain ing the principle that ‘a Slovene child belongs in
in favour of the annexation of Zone B to Yugosla-
a Slovene school’ and implemented it on the ba-
the consensus of the population for this, not on
sis of ‘objective’ criteria for determining nation-
the basis of nationality but on the principle of so-
di cialist belonging. However, this stumbled upon al belonging (surname, language, origin). This
was their way of exerting political pressure, and
many obstacles, both national and ideological.
in many cases it paid off and contributed to the
Political opposition came not only from the Ital-
process of integrating the local Istrian popula-
ian bourgeois and petty bourgeois classes, which
manifested nationalist and irredentist tenden- tion into the Slovene nation. However, they also the primary school in postwar koper/capodistria as a social laboratory
here idea had been intertwined with the Cominform cation and disrespecting people’s personal iden-
encountered resistance and accusations from
cies, but also from workers who were in favour
Italian representatives for imposing Slovene edu-
of the Free Territory of Trieste. Since 1948, this
tity. Getting children to enrol in Slovene schools
positions and the pro-FTT propaganda of the
continued after the territory was annexed to Yu-
11
‘Cominformists’ (Rogoznica 2011, 301–302;
goslavia and the exodus of Italian- speaking pop-
Čebron Lipovec 2019a, 205). This kind of an-
ulation, along with efforts to consolidate the re-
ti-Yugoslavism was supported mainly by Italian
communists, and was still alive in certain areas
in political circles that even the Slovene com-
studiauniversitatis
of Zone B in 1953. At the same time, there was gion’s Slovene character. Complaints were made
12
munists often spoke Italian among themselves .
strong political pressure from the esuli (Istrian However, due to the mass immigration and the
émigrés) organisations and Italian political cir- influence of the prevailing Slovene social and
cles from Zone A and from Italy, which spread cultural environment, implementing the princi-
rumours of persecution and dangers for Italians ple of a national school policy became easier.
under the Yugoslav regime. For all these reasons,
the consolidation of socialist positions in Zone The Architecture of School Buildings
B and the integration of Italians into the pro-Yu- How did the architecture and specifically the
goslav socio-political structures, as well as put- new primary school of Janko Premrl Vojko at
ting the principles of socialist democracy into
12 AS, 1589 III, Centralni komite Zveze komunistov Sloveni-
11 PAK, 450, Okrajni komite Zveze komunistov Slovenije je, 4, 249, Zapisnik seje s tovariši iz Okrajnega komiteja
Koper (1945–1965). Koper, 24. July 1953.