Page "History of Croatia" Paragraph 48

In 1980, after Tito's death, economic, political, and religious difficulties started to mount and the federal government began to crumble.

The crisis in Kosovo and, in 1986, the emergence of Slobodan Milošević in Serbia provoked a very negative reaction in Croatia and Slovenia ; politicians from both republics feared that his motives would threaten their republics ' autonomy.

With the climate of change throughout Eastern Europe during the 1980s, the communist hegemony was challenged ( at the same time, the Milošević government began to gradually concentrate Yugoslav power in Serbia and calls for free multi-party elections were becoming louder.

In June 1989 the Croatian Democratic Union ( HDZ ) was founded by Croatian nationalist dissidents led by Franjo Tuđman a former fighter in Tito's Partisan movement and JNA General.

At this time Yugoslavia was still a one-party state and open manifestations of Croatian nationalism were dangerous so new party was founded in an almost conspiratorial manner.

It was only on 13 December 1989 that the governing League of Communists of Croatia agreed to legalize opposition political parties and hold free elections in the spring of 1990.