Vladimir Ćopić

Vladimir "Senjko" Ćopić (8 March 1891 – 19 April 1939) was a Yugoslav revolutionary, politician, journalist and communist leader of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia from April 1919 to August 1920.

Vladimir Ćopić during Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).

Early life

Vladimir Ćopić was born on 8 March 1891 in Senj to Jovan "Jovo" Ćopić and Amalija Ćopić (née Lončarić). His father descended from the village of Suvaja in Lika and was an ethnic Serb, and his mother hailed from an old Croatian merchant family of Senj. Jovo Ćopić was a clerk in Lika, while in Senj he initially worked as a tailor and later on at the local Orthodox church. Vladimir was the second youngest of nine children, the last three of which were baptized Eastern Orthodox.[1]

After graduating from a public elementary school in Senj, Ćopić enrolled at the Senj Gymnasium in 1901. During his time there, he was awarded a stipend by a foundation from Gospić. Ćopić was an average student and was held back in the fourth grade due to a conflict with one of his professors. During high school, he was a supporter of the Croatian nationalist Party of Rights. In April 1909, Ćopić organized his class to attend a memorial service at the Church of St Francis to Croatian nobles Zrinski and Frankopan, executed by the Habsburgs in 1671 in the Magnate conspiracy. Attending the event was strictly forbidden by the school as "anti-dynastic" and "anti-Austrian", and the students were sternly reprimanded with lowered grades in discipline.[2]

Student activism

In the autumn of 1910, Ćopić enrolled at the Faculty of Law in Zagreb. Despite retaining his stipend from the foundation, he worked during his studies, first as a manual laborer and later as an office worker. At the university, Ćopić started a friendship and correspondence with his professor, Izidor Kršnjavi. During his studies, Ćopić was still politically active as a Starčević supporter, and was friends and roommates with future high-ranking Ustaše member Mile Budak. In November 1910, soon after arriving in Zagreb, Ćopić attended the general assembly of the Starčevićist Academic Youth where he was made deputy councilor while Budak became the first secretary.[3]

In March 1912, he was an organizer of the pupil's strike against Ban Slavko Cuvaj. On 8 June 1912, former law student Luka Jukić attempted to assassinate Cuvaj in front of an inn where Ćopić was sitting with Budak and Ante Pavelić. He was arrested for this event along with Jukić, Đuro Cvijić and August Cesarec. Ćopić was soon freed due to a lack of evidence. On 4 December 1913, he was voted a member of the board of the Starčevićist magazine Mlada Hrvatska (Young Croatia). Ćopić was also the president of the "Kumičić" Academic Club. Both of these served as fronts for the Party of Rights, which Ćopić would later denounce.[3]

WW1 and October Revolution

Ćopić was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I, and subsequently captured by the Russian Red Army.[4] He was a chess player and musician and had briefly been a communist deputy in Yugoslavia. Later, under the name of 'Senko', he had been a leading member of the Yugoslav Communist Party in Moscow.[5]

Spanish Civil War

In February 1937, Colonel Gal was promoted to General to command a division and was replaced as commander and political commissar[6] of the XV International Brigade by Ćopić.[5] He was one of the highest ranking Yugoslav volunteers in the war.[7]

On the Battle of Jarama, the official report by Ćopić of fighting on 12 February, barely mentioned the appalling level of casualties under his command, but focused on the 'staunch heroism' of his troops repelling 'violent fascist attacks causing heavy losses on the enemy'.[8] The final act of the Battle was the futile attack by the Lincoln Battalion on 27 February. The battalion commander, Captain Robert Hale Merriman begged Ćopić (described as "rather inept") not to launch the attack fearing slaughter. Ćopić insisted it proceed and promised air and armoured support, which never came. Merriman was almost immediately wounded and the Battalion suffered 136 deaths.[9][10]

In August 1937 at the Battle of Belchite, he tasked Peter Daly's unit with capturing the town of Quinto and they were commanded on 25 August to capture Purburrel Hill, a height south of the town, on which 500 Rebel troops were entrenched behind barbed wire and concrete pill-boxes. Finding themselves unsupported and outnumbered against the defenders, the unit took heavy casualties and Peter Daly was wounded in the abdomen. Daly was taken away for aid while Paddy O'Daire took charge refusing the orders of his superior, Ćopić, to continue the suicidal attack, keeping his men dug in on the exposed hillside until nightfall and safe withdrawal. On the 26 August O'Daire, this time supported by the XV International Brigade's anti-tank battery, succeeded in breaking the enemy lines,[11] leading to the capture of 300 troops.

By April 1938 Spanish communist leaders wanted the replacement of many International Brigade commanders due to poor performance, and although André Marty disagreed, he had to compromise and General Walter and Ćopić were replaced.[12]

Death

Following the end of the war and Republicans' defeat, he was recalled to Moscow. Due to his Trotskyist views regarding communist governance, he was killed in Stalinist purges in 1939[13] along with many other leading Yugoslav communists in the country.

Personal life

His brother, Milan Ćopić, was in the International Brigades' prison at Camp Lucász.

References and sources
  1. Očak 1980, pp. 8–11.
  2. Očak 1980, pp. 11–19.
  3. Očak 1980, pp. 19–26.
  4. Eby 2007, pp. 66–67.
  5. Thomas 2012, p. 567.
  6. Baxell 2014, p. 139.
  7. "Ivan Očak: Još jednom o Vladimiru Ćopiću" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  8. Baxell 2014, p. 149.
  9. Clifford 2020, pp. 93–94.
  10. Baxell 2014, p. 161.
  11. Clifford 2020, pp. 131–132.
  12. Beevor 2001, p. 327.
  13. Thomas 2012, p. 926.

Sources
  • Očak, Ivan (1980). Vojnik revolucije: život i rad Vladimira Ćopića (in Croatian). Zagreb: Spektar. pp. 8–11.
  • Eby, Cecil D. (2007). Comrades and Commissars. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 9780271029108. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  • Thomas, Hugh (2012). The Spanish Civil War (50th Anniversary ed.). London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-141-01161-5.
  • Baxell, Richard (2014). Unlikely Warriors. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978-1-78131-233-9.
  • Clifford, Alexander (2020). Fighting for Spain. Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-52677-438-5.
  • Beevor, Antony (2001). The Spanish Civil War. London: Cassell Military Paperbacks. ISBN 0-304-35840-1.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.