Progressive Youth (Croatia)

The Progressive Youth (Croatian: Napredna omladina) was a political organisation predominantly active in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, a realm of Austria-Hungary in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The group, consisting of Zagreb University students initially led by Stjepan Radić, emerged in relation to consequences of a protest against Magyarisation policies of the government held during the 1895 visit by Emperor Franz Joseph to Zagreb. The protesters were briefly imprisoned and expelled from the Zagreb University. Most of them continued their education in Prague. Initially led by Radić, the Progressive Youth announced its advocation of unity of Croats and Serbs on the basis of Yugoslavist ideas in their Hrvatska misao journal. The Prague-based students kept contact with like-minded colleagues in Zagreb.

The Progressive Youth contributed to a realignment of political parties in Croatia-Slavonia at the beginning of the 20th century. This was achieved by supporting the unification of the opposition Party of Rights and the Independent People's Party into the Croatian Party of Rights. After a brief period, the Progressive Youth joined the Croatian Party of Rights. The Progressive Youth figures launched a campaign of public assemblies in protest against Magyarisation in what became known as the Croatian National Movement of 1903. While the campaign struggled to attract support from other Croatian opposition groups, the Serb Independent Party gave the progressives its support. By 1904, Ivan Lorković and other prominent former members of the Progressive Youth had formed the Croatian Progressive Party.

The Croatian Progressive Party supported the 1903 New Course Policy initiative proposed by Dalmatian Party of Rights leaders. The policy proposed supporting Hungarian opposition in its demands for a revision of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 favouring greater Hungarian autonomy from the central government while obtaining support for the unification of the Austro-Hungarian realms of Croatia-Slavonia and Dalmatia. The Croatian Progressive Party supported the initiative and successfully lobbied the Croatian Party of Rights and the Serb Independent Party for endorsement of the New Course Policy because it saw the initiative as an opportunity for greater Croat–Serb cooperation. On the basis of this support, the Croat-Serb Coalition was formed in 1905, and following the 1906 Croatian parliamentary election, the coalition became the most powerful political grouping in Croatia-Slavonia until the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in 1918. The coalition adopted the Yugoslavist ideas put forward by the Progressive Youth, such as the concept of national oneness of the Croats and the Serbs.