Savka Dabčević-Kučar
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Savka Dabčević-Kučar (born December 6, 1923, Korčula, Croatia) was a Croatian politician.
Dabčevič-Kučar came into the public spotlight in late 1960s as a member of a younger and more reformist generation of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia leaders. With the tacit blessing of Josip Broz Tito, she and Miko Tripalo became the leaders of the League of Communists of Croatia. In 1967 she become Croatian prime minister.
In late 1960s the party adopted a new course, demanding greater autonomy for Croatia within Yugoslavia and freedoms for people. Students were the the Savka's public. Her policy, propagated through mass rallies, became a movement later called Croatian Spring, being one of the '68 student revolutions. Consequently, Dabčević-Kučar became one of the most popular political leaders at the time, being affectionately called "Savka".
Not everyone was happy with the new course. Open manifestations of Croatian nationalism created tensions in ethnically mixed areas, which served as an argument for the Yugoslav People's Army and more conservative elements of the party who wanted the movement suppressed. At the same time, Croatian leadership also received a challenge in the form of a student movement with even more radical demands.
In December 1971 Tito held a party leadership conference in Karađorđevo, Serbia, and publicly turned against Croatian Spring. This led to Dabčević-Kučar's removal from the Croatian Communist Party and, ultimately, from public life. Still, he was due to find a "replacement" woman figure, being "iron lady of socialism" Milka Planinc, who has become a Prime Minister at the time.
Absence from Croatian public memory, however, was much harder to achieve. She grew into an almost mythical figure among Croatian students. It is believed that "Ruža hrvatska" ("Rose of Croatia"), a popular song by the 1980s rock band Prljavo Kazalište, was dedicated to her. The same song was ultimately used in 1990 and 1992 election campaigns.
When multi-party democracy finally arrived in Croatia, Dabčević-Kučar and Tripalo heve returned to the public stage, using their long-accumulated charisma. They refused to endorse a single party and instead initiated the formation of a broad coalition of mostly moderate middle called the Coalition of People's Accord. The coalition failed to make a major impact at the 1990 elections, because Croatians preferred Franjo Tuđman and his more radical nationalism as an answer to Slobodan Milošević.
With Coalition falling apart, Dabčević-Kučar and Tripalo formed their own party called the Croatian People's Party (HNS) in the Autumn of 1990. This new party was intended to attract moderates and had high hopes for the 1992 presidential and parliamentary elections, being perceived as the strongest opposition party in Croatia.
As a presidential candidate Savka Dabčević trailed third behind Dražen Budiša. An even worse fate awaited HNS, which refused to form coalitions with other opposition parties, allowing the ruling Croatian Democratic Union to win some constituencies with less than fifth of all votes. With the party humiliated and nearly bankrupt after a lavish but ineffective campaign, Dabčević-Kučar was a very old lady and she left the party leadership to the younger Radimir Čačić.
She has remained known as the only socialist woman politician and a profiled revolutionary, and also Europe's first woman prime minister.
