Vladimir Bakarić (pronounced [ʋlǎdimiːr bǎkarit͡ɕ]; 8 March 1912 – 16 January 1983) was a Yugoslav and Croatian communist revolutionary and a politician. He served as the President of the Executive Council of the People's Republic of Croatia from 1945 to 1953 and Speaker of the Croatian Parliament from 1953 to 1963. In addition, he was Secretary of the League of Communists of Croatia for 2 decades from 1948 to 1969, where he became a close collaborator with President Josip Broz Tito.
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Early life
Bakarić was born on 8 March 1912 in Velika Gorica, which was then part of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia in Austria-Hungary. His father was a local judge in Gospić. After finishing his elementary education in Gospić, he attended secondary school in Ogulin and Zagreb. He entered the University of Zagreb as a law student, where he quickly joined the Communist movement. He participated in the revolutionary workers' movement there in 1932 and in 1933 officially joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. In 1935, he was elected secretary of the party at the University of Zagreb, and graduated later that year. Upon graduating, he worked in the courts as a defense lawyer from 1936 to 1941 while studying for his doctorate in law.
Political career
Bakarić helped to organise the partisan resistance in the Independent State of Croatia during World War II. From 1944 to 1969, he was chief secretary or the chairman of the League of Communists of Croatia and as such was a close collaborator of President Josip Broz Tito.
From 1964 to 1974, he was a member of the Council of the Federation, and since 1974 he has been a member of the Presidency of the SFRY, where he served as vice president from May 15, 1975, to May 15, 1976, and was re-elected to that position in May 1982.
Together with Edvard Kardelj, he belonged to the more liberal wing of the Yugoslav political elite and was known for his statement on the need to "federate the federation" (federiranje federacije), a reference to the struggle between Yugoslav unitarists, who advocated giving more powers to the central government, and federalists, who wanted to shift power to the republics. However, Bakarić was usually extremely careful in his public pronouncements on policy and wary of radical statements.