Modern History Sourcebook:
The Pact of Corfu & The Formation of Yugoslavia, 1917
At the conference of the members of the late Coalition Cabinet and those of the present
Cabinet, and also the representatives of the Jugoslav Committee in London, all of whom
have hitherto been working on parallel lines, views have been exchanged in collaboration
with the President of Skupstina, on all questions concerning the life of the Serbs,
Croats, and Slovenes in their joint future State. We are happy in being able once more on
this occasion to point to the complete unanimity of all parties concerned.In the first place the representatives of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes declare anew
and most categorically that our people constitutes but one nation, and that it is one in
blood, one by the spoken and written language, by the continuity and unity of the
territory in which it lives, and finally in virtue of the common and vital interests of
its national existence and the general development of its moral and material life. The
idea of its national unity has never suffered extinction, although all the intellectual
forces of its enemy were directed against its unification, its liberty, and its national
existence. Divided between several States, our nation is in Austria-Hungary alone split up
into eleven provincial administrations coming under thirteen legislative bodies. The
feeling of national unity, together with the spirit of liberty and independence, have
supported it in the never-ending struggles of centuries against the Turks in the East and
against the Magyars in the West.Being numerically inferior to its enemies in the East and West, it was impossible for
it to safeguard its unity as a nation and a State, its liberty and its independence
against the brutal maxim of "might goes
before right" militating against it both
East and West. But the moment has come when our people is no longer isolated. The war
imposed by German militarism upon Russia, upon France and upon England for the defence of
their honor as well as for the liberty and independence of small nations, has developed
into a struggle for the Liberty of the World and the Triumph of Right over Might. All
nations which love liberty and independence have allied themselves together for their
common defense, to save civilization and liberty at the cost of every sacrifice, to
establish a new international order based upon justice and upon the right of every nation
to dispose of itself and so organize its independent life; finally to establish a durable
peace consecrated to the progress and development of humanity and to secure the world
against a catastrophe similar to that which the conquering lust of the German Imperialism
has provoked. To noble France, who has proclaimed the liberty of nations, and to England, the hearth
of liberty, the Great American Republic and the new, free, and democratic Russia have
joined themselves in proclaiming as their principal war aim the triumph of liberty and
democracy and as basis of the new international order the right of free self-determination
for every nation. Our nation of the three names, which has been the greatest sufferer
under brute force and injustice, and which has made the greatest sacrifices to preserve
its right of self-determination, has with enthusiasm accepted this sublime principle put
forward as the chief aim of this atrocious war, provoked by the violation of this very
principle. The authorized representatives of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, in declaring that it
is the desire of our people to free itself from every foreign yoke and to constitute
itself a free, national, and independent State, a desire based on the principle that every
nation has the right to decide upon its own destiny, are agreed in judging that this State
should be founded on the following modern and democratic principles: 1. The State of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, who are also known as the
Southern Slavs or Jugoslavs, will be a free and independent kingdom, with indivisible
territory and unity of allegiance. It will be a constitutional, democratic, and
Parliamentary Monarchy under the Karageorgevitch Dynasty, which has always shared the
ideas and the feelings of the nation, placing liberty and the national will above all
else.2. This State will be named "The
Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes."
And the style of the sovereign will be "King
of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes."3. The State will have a single coat-of-arms, a single flag, and a single crown.
These emblems will be composed of the present existing emblems. The unity of the State
will be symbolized by the coat-of-arms and the flag of the Kingdom.4. The special Serb, Croat, and Slovene flags rank equally and may be freely
hoisted on all occasions. The special coats-of-arms may be used with equal freedom. 5. The three national designations---Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes---are equal
before the law throughout the territory of the Kingdom, and every one may use them freely
upon all occasions of public life and in dealing with the authorities.6. The two alphabets, the Cyrillic and the Latin, also rank equally and every
one may use them freely throughout the territory of the Kingdom. The Royal authorities and
the local self-governing authorities have both the right and the duty to employ both
alphabets in accordance with the wishes of the citizens.7. All recognized religions may be freely and publicly exercised. The Orthodox,
Roman Catholic, and Muslim faiths, which are those chiefly professed by our nation, shall
rank equally and enjoy rights with regard to the State. In consideration of these
principles the legislative will take special care to safeguard religious concord in
conformity with the spirit and tradition of our whole nation.8. The calendar will be unified as soon as possible. 9. The territory of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes will include
all the territory inhabited compactly and in territorial continuity by our nation of the
three names. It cannot be mutilated without detriment to the vital interests of the
community. Our nation demands nothing that belongs to others. It demands only what is its
own. It desires to free itself and to achieve its unity. Therefore it consciously and
firmly refuses every partial solution of the problem of its national liberation and
unification. Its put forward the proposition of its deliverance from Austro-Hungarian
domination and its union with Serbia and Montenegro in a single State forming an
indivisible whole. In accordance with the right of self-determination of peoples, no part of this
territorial totality may without infringement of justice be detached and incorporated with
some other State without the consent of the nation itself. 10. In the interests of freedom and of the equal rights of all nations, the
Adriatic shall be free and open to each and all. 11. All citizens throughout the territory of the Kingdom shall be equal and
enjoy the same rights with regard to the State and before the Law. 12. The election of the Deputies to the National Representative body shall be by
universal suffrage, with equal, direct, and secret ballot. The same shall apply to the
elections in the Communes and other administrative units. Elections will take place in
each commune. 13. The Constitution, to be established after the conclusuion of peace by a
Constituent Assembly elected by universal suffrage, with direct and secret ballot, will be
the basis of the entire life of the State; it will be the source and the consummation of
all authority and of all rights by which the entire life of the nation will be regulated.
The Constitution will provide the nation with the possibility of exercising its special
energies in local autonomies delimited by natural, social, and economic conditions. The
Constitution must be passed in its entirety by a numerically defined majority in the
Constituent Assembly. The Constitution, like all other laws passed by the Constituent
Assembly, will only come into force after having received the Royal sanction. The nation of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, thus unified, will form a State of about
12,000,000 inhabitants. This State will be the guarantee for their independence and
national development and their national and intellectual progress in general a mighty
bulwark against the German thrust, an inseparable ally of all the civilized nations and
States which have proclaimed the principle of right and liberty and that of international
justice. It will be a worthy member of the new Community of Nations. Drawn up in Corfu, July 7/20,1917. The President of the Jugoslav Committee, ( Sgd. ) DR. ANTE TRUMBIC. Advocate, Deputy and Leader of the Croatian National Party in the Dalmatian Diet, late
Mayor of Split (Spalato), late Deputy for the district of Zadar (Zara) in the Austrian
Parliament. The Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Serbia and Minister for Foreign Affairs, ( Sgd.)
NIKOLA P. PASIC.
Source:From: Printed in The Jugo-Slav Movement, Foreign Office, Historical Section, No.
14 (London: HMSO Office, 1920), pp. 35-38, reprinted in Alfred J. Bannan and Achilles
Edelenyi, eds., Documentary History of Eastern Europe, (New York: Twayne
Publishers, 1970), pp. 256-261Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Cal. State Fullerton. The text has been modernized by
Prof. Arkenberg.
This text is part of the Internet
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© Paul Halsall, August 1998
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