The number of defectors to the HDZ in the last seven years is in the hundreds, if not thousands. Party membership was switched during this period in different circumstances and for different rewards. At first the price for defection was pretty low and promises rather humble. In 1990 and 1991, as soon as they realized that Tudman had definitely come to power, people who had previously considered themselves for liberals or populists, while they actually cared much more to enter the post-communist period with a winning political affiliation that was supposed to secure them a membership in the new political, social and financial elite, immediately joined the HDZ. In 1989, when they joined the HSLS [Croatian Social Liberal Party], the word liberal sounded to them as the latest fashion trend, but during the following two years they realized that modern words do not imply modern and wealthy lives. Of course, most of these individuals, although they were as a rule highly educated, did not have any moral or any other qualms regarding the content of their liberalism after they joined the HDZ. They emptied their liberalism out just as the old milk is spilled from a milk carton into the toilet bowl. These HSLS veterans include Darko Bekic, Mario Nobilo, Ljerka Mintas-Hodak, Maja Freundlich, Milan Ivkosic, Zvonko Lerotic...
Secret of old Skoda The most interesting and in a way most bizarre case was exactly the case of the distinguished Zagreb university professor Zvonko Lerotic. The former theology student crossed the path from a typical ideological epiphany that took him from the communist phase to the liberal enlightenment, which was so powerful that together with Gotovac, Budisa and Goldstein he founded the HSLS. Lerotic became the first ideologist of the party that will, in the specific Croat circumstances and in the times when the communist rule was still firm, give the ideological direction to the Croat liberalism. In that serious and moreover historical task Lerotic was hindered by Budisa and Gotovac, who probably seemed to the professor insufficiently serious and mature for the task at hand. Personal friction ensued, so that by the summer of 1989 Lerotic withdrew from the public life to intellectual solitude and extra-political contemplation, from which he stirred in early 1991. The ideas that swirled in his brain that January are his personal secret, but even ignorant individuals realize that those ideas were not even remotely liberal. Immediately in March 1991 Zvonko Lerotic became an advisor to president Tudman. In that post he replaced Slaven Letica whose ideological non-conformism and certain sense of humor in the creation of policies aggravated the president, so that he opted for the serious and dour Lerotic, who even does not play tennis [Tudman's favorite sport]. Lerotic joined the HDZ, became a member of the HDZ Zagreb city council, but soon became suspect to Tudman. People who during these months regularly visited the presidential palace testify that Tudman simply could not fathom why his new advisor did not demand a big salary, privileges and special treatment, but instead even agreed to be evicted from a big office and moved to a small side room. Because of his boss' suspicion and trepidation, Lerotic lost his advisor's post, but before that finished some tasks that would secure him an honorable place in the history of early Croatian converts. His article, published on January 16, 1992 on the second page of Vjesnik, in which on behalf of Tudman he responded to a group of intellectuals from Sarajevo, was the first articulated Croatian platform for the division of Bosnia-Hercegovina. With that article, in which in the autistic rightist manner he made the nation absolute and raised it above all other social and human values, Zvonko Lerotic agreed with all those (including Serbs, of course) who would in several months time in the name of nation kill and destroy all over Bosnia-Hercegovina. After a dismissal, which followed soon, Lerotic was for a few months a correspondent of HINA [state news agency] from New York, and later returned to his academic career. The conversion was not profitable for him. He still drives an old car.
From Dicmo to Paljuv The start of the second phase of the Croatian conversion was marked by the general elections in 1992. Before the elections HDZ scooped up quite a few new members from the parties that had no chance of ever coming to power. It is interesting to mention Zvonimir Baletic, another intellectual and a university professor, who defected to the HDZ from Vujic's Social Democrats. He was promised ambassadorship in Paris before the defection. However, he was cheated only a few days later as Branko Salaj became a new ambassador in Paris. The new party comrades placed him at the bottom of the list of candidates for the new parliament, so that he did not make any immediate profit from his defection.
At the same time Vladimir Veselica left his brother Marko and the Croatian Democratic Party. He expected to be rewarded by the post of the secretary general of the HDZ, but Tudman did not intend to let him rise that high. He was rewarded by being appointed for a Siemens' consultant for Coratia and the president of the national association of economists.
Baletic's and Veselica's cases are characteristic for Tudman's attitude towards defectors who have high intellectual capabilities. Professors and doctors are welcomed by the HDZ but they are warned that they are less significant then they think they are and that they face a period in which they are supposed to expiate their opposition sins. During this period they are to be supervised by village teachers, truck drivers, individuals without completed high school, until they demonstrate that they deserve to be referred to as true HDZ members. Certain academicians and professors first had to give speeches in Dicmo and Paljuv [fictitious hamlets], and only then could be allowed to sit together with the new party comrades.
Until 1993 defections to the HDZ were individual and were not systematic. However, after the Croatian political scene finally differentiated and after everyone found his place, previously built in mechanisms for the destruction of the opposition parties were activated. After it turned out that the blows from the outside could frequently be counterproductive, the HDZ started to work from within. In the opposition parties the authorities sought or deliberately inserted people who would work on splitting those parties and would later join the HDZ. That was the job for special party services, and certain state institutions, while the defectors obtained in this manner would become very appreciated and enjoyed numerous privileges in the new party.
All Budisa's men The most interesting and probably most dramatic story is again the story about the HSLS, or more accurately about the liberal from Grude, Damir Zoric. Colorful as any individual hailing form Hercegovina, Zoric in 1989 joined the HSLS and made a huge mistake. But, unlike others, Zoric was not in a hurry, nor did he panic. Instead he worked slowly and persistently both on himself and his surroundings. Already in 1992 his rhetoric was much closer to that of the HDZ's extreme right than to that of the opposition. He improved his standing in Hercegovina where at first they did not understand how their Damir could be against Franjo [Tudman] and 'roatia [making fun of the Hercegovina dialect], but they soon figured out the game, took him in and gave him an opportunity to prosper in business. Although he officially lived on a salary of a teaching assistant, as early as 1992 Zoric drove through Zagreb in the latest Mercedes model. He was untouchable in the HSLS as long as he enjoyed the protection from Damir Budisa, the president of the HSLS and the godfather of Zoric's child. Despite opposition within the party, Budisa appointed Zoric for the deputy president of the HSLS and the deputy president of the upper chamber of the Croatian parliament, although everyone, except Budisa, realized at the time that Damir Zoric was only seeking the best way to profit from his defection to the HDZ. Well protected, but also distinguished by his populist sense of humor and enviable acting talent, Damir Zoric entertained Liberals at meetings with perfect imitations of Cardinal Kuharic and other well-known individuals. His true work was elsewhere.
And thus, all through laughter and jokes, he found a group of supporters within the HSLS, led by Ivan Bozicevic, the head of the Zagreb organization of the HSLS and later the financial director of the party. Although Bozicevic did not have a taste for jokes, acting and pantomime, the two of them quickly came to a mutual understanding. Perhaps because both of them were already successful businessmen, and perhaps also because Bozicevic ended up in the HSLS for reasons other than his liberal convictions. Namely, he appeared from nowhere after the catastrophic defeat of the Coalition of National Accord in May 1990. He introduced himself as a businessman and a Nissan representative for Yugoslavia, willing to assist the party in its recovery. He did not say much, he preferred to listen to others speak, but he showed talent by sorting out the HSLS' finances. However, soon he started blackmailing his party comrade and businessman Goranko Fizulic, sending him letters with interesting content and threatening to send the financial police to raid his company. Fizulic at the time requested protection from president Budisa, many were surprised that Bozicevic had the power to send the financial police to harass his enemies, but practically nothing happened, except that Budisa actively protected - Bozicevic!
Lisica [fox] on the Freedom Train: And then the two friends put together the hellish plan to merge the whole HSLS with the HDZ with a group of supporters and co-conspirators. The logistic support came from the state-controlled press, which made up the story about the conflict between managers and populists among the liberals and produced affairs that were supposed to discredit and isolate Mladen Vilfan, Goranko Fizulic, Bozo Kovacevic and others who opposed the collective defection to the HDZ. To round up the conspiracy and design the whole thing according to the rules of conspiratorial intelligence work Ivan Bozicevic produced the plan Lisica [fox] (standing for the Liberal Parliament Initiative), according to which the HSLS would become some sort of reserve cadre in case the HDZ lost majority at any level of power. The coup in the party was well planned but Damir Zoric, who at one moment judged that it made more sense to take care of himself and get the best price for his transfer to the HDZ than to deal with conspiracies that may fail, spoiled that plan. Or perhaps the emotions were too strong; or perhaps Tudman decided about everything. In any case, without consulting Bozicevic and his group, Zoric joined the HDZ on the Freedom Train.
After that Bozicevic had to speed up his activities. He conducted talks with Ivic Pasalic, and since the HDZ did not need that many liberals, it was decided that most of the defectors join the HSP and thereby provide direly needed brainpower for the Tudman's favorite opposition party. Although Zoric somewhat messed up the plan, the result was nevertheless achieved. The Zagreb city organization of the HSLS was dissolved just before the elections in the autumn of 1995. The party was fatally split and the liberals never recovered from this blow that ultimately resulted in the most recent coalitions with the HDZ and finally the split between Zoric's and Bozicevic's mentor Drazen Budisa and Vlado Gotovac [who founded the Liberal Party, or LS].
Zoric was rewarded plentifully, as the HDZ appointed him to the posts that provided conditions for easy financial manipulation - the ministry for expelled persons [refugees], and then the state retirement fund. Bozicevic did only slightly worse - he became the director of Vjesnik.
Ambassador in Bulgarian: Mate Mestrovic had lived far too long abroad and consequently was not skilled in this type of conspiratorial work. Nevertheless, he also wished to switch to the HDZ in the same season. Besides, he was already pretty tired at the time, as he had joined the HSLS from the HNS, and he had ended up in the HNS after the political business that he ran from abroad had failed. Namely, in 1990 on behalf of something named the Croatian People's Council, Mestrovic convened Bosnian-Hercegovinian intellectuals and politicians and urged them at meetings held in different parts of Germany to start political parties that would affirm Bosnia-Hercegovina as a province of Croatia. In that work he was comically conspiratorial. He led groups through Cologne, they changed hotels every night and discussed ways to oust the HDZ and the SDA from power. Bosnians figured him out quickly, had fun and Fuad Muhic (old communist ideologist and politician) teased Mestrovic and later in Sarajevo pubs very publicly expressed amazement at Mate Mestrovic's naivete. Mestrovic's attitude towards the Serbs is perhaps the best illustration of his political concept and vision. Namely, some of Bosnians in Cologne asked Mestrovic what he intended to do with the Serbs in Bosnia-Hercegovina and Mate replied with an omniscient air that there were far less Serbs in Bosnia than was officially claimed by the communists and even if there were any, "Serbs will have to obey us or we shall expel them to Serbia".
When he became a liberal, Mate Mestrovic eagerly and zealously gave interviews in which he arrogantly and with criticism talked about Tudman, but never demonstrated any serious desire to descend from his American heights and get actively involved in politics. When he got bored with all that, he went to the HDZ headquarters, made a deal, signed the documents and was promised the post of the ambassador of Croatia in Bulgaria, and perhaps the resolution of the issues related to the confiscated property of his father Ivan [Mestrovic, a famous sculptor].
Death by cardiac arrest: Mestrovic's case is not very typical of the defections but it indicates what sorts of flamboyant individuals ended up among the Croatian liberals and how they recognized in themselves someone else. At almost the same time as Mate Mestrovic, Nikola Grabic, the mayor of Split, also defected to the HDZ from the HSLS. Namely, he welcomed Franjo Tudman and the Freedom Train at the train station in Split with a filled in HDZ membership form. In the human sense Grabic's case is more disgusting than all the previous ones. Namely, that man was mentored in the HSLS by a legendary liberal from Split and a man with high ethical standards, Velimir Terzic. He proposed Grabic for the mayor, but not because of his talents and capabilities, rather because Terzic thought that a native of that city should be the mayor of Split, and Grabic was the only such individual in the HSLS. Terzic could not bear the ignominy inflicted by his pupil and soon died from a heart attack. Half of Split came to his funeral, including the mayor, but he was prevented in time and asked to refrain from spoiling the peace of mourning by his presence.
The HSS is the second largest reservation and reservoir of converts and defectors. However, the defections from this party were never spectacular, followed by conspiracies and secret plans. Defections from the HSS to the HDZ were slow, dull and clumsy. First, insignificant parties were founded and they would after a while merge with the HDZ; sometimes various rebellious groups were formed in villages and hamlets of the continental Croatia, they would attempt to take power in local assemblies, and when they failed they would again join the HDZ. The names of Mirko Madjor, Josip Stojanovic, and Mate Babic are remembered, but as the HSS was never a political party with a clear profile but more a folksy association named after the party founded by the Radic brothers, thus the defections of HSS members were not plagued by the carnival of lies as in the case of liberal converts. As far as is known the HSS cadre never managed to make profit out of their defections to the extent that was done by the defectors from the HSLS. Simply they were not terribly interesting for Tudman and his guys, probably because the supply was greater.
Tiny light blue car: However, the former HSS secretary Predrag Haramija deserves a special mention as he introduced a totally new category in the history of Croatian defections. That of defectors to the HDZ who bring with them a political function earned on the list of their old party. Only the timing matters. It is necessary to defect after the party lists are closed, just before the elections, and when it is impossible to modify them anymore. By doing that just before the 1995 elections, Predrag Haramija seemed to have wanted to turn his surname into something more personal - a life credo. Namely, Haramija is a Turkish word referring to a "very crafty and sly individual" and to a bandit. Of course until the autumn of 1995 everything seemed different. Haramija did not seem either very courageous or crafty or capable. When the choice was between Croatia and Yugoslavia in 1990 he was a member of the Green Association. Later he grew more courageous and joined the HNS, and when he lost in the 1992 elections, he switched to the HSS. All the time he drove a tiny light blue car, shared an apartment with his mother and father-in-law and collected a small salary working for the Graphic Design Office of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. In the HDZ he was rewarded by a not so august sounding title of the secretary for village and farming, but at least he managed to replace the old car with a new Opel Vectra.
Serbs are Croats: The Croatian People's Party (HNS) for a long time relied on the charisma of Savka Dabcevic-Kucar, who was joined by numerous participants in the Croatian Spring movement and the people whose best memories dated from 1971. Some of them left the party immediately after the first electoral defeat, while others persevered for a while and then followed the call of their heart together with their seats in the parliament. A youth in 1971, Ivica Vrkic, left after the one before last election, followed by Mirko Tankosic. But while Vrkic could somehow explain his defection by principled or ideological reasons, Tankosic would have an extremely hard time trying to convince anyone that as a Serb he joined the HDZ because of his beliefs. Rumors have it that he joined the HDZ because of mounting gambling debts.
There were defections to the HDZ even from the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) - Denis Jelenkovic and Elio Martincic - and in the Split local assembly even from the Dalmatian Action. The price of transfer was sometimes pretty high but the defections from small parties in radical opposition to Tudman mostly did not cost a lot. One individual defected from the Dalmatian Action to keep the broadcasting permit for his radio station, and explained his defection by his lack of interest in politics!
With time the HDZ became overpopulated. They do not know what to do with defectors and converts and, as a rule, now they leave them outside of the party. Antun Sporer, Damir Bukovic, Marko Lapaine, Djurdja Adlesic and Vedran Ivcic are only some of the most recent acquisitions on the front of struggle against the electoral will of the opposition supporters in Croatia. The names of these people at the moment provoke nausea, but nothing more than that. Namely, in the Croatian public there are no mechanisms that could, at least symbolically, sanction a swindle, nor is there a conscience that certain semi-anonymous Sporers and Bukovics did not trade with their reputation but sold someone else's property. The price that such converts reach on the market depends on the number of citizens who, unknowingly, supported them. That is why the citizens should send them a bill.
Price of honor: Headquarters of parties that are these days loosing members to the HDZ are almost totally disinterested in the behavior of their members. That is especially true for the HSS, where they do not want to give information about their defectors. Instead, they are trying to protect them in a manner that indicates that they still count on them. Or, perhaps, the issue is that these parties have suddenly realized the low price of honor in politics. Besides, the image from the recent, allegedly failed, negotiations between the HSLS and the HDZ speaks volumes. At several sessions the leader of the HDZ's negotiators was the former financial director of the HSLS Ivan Bozicevic. The remaining liberals talked with him as with an old friend, not realizing that the HDZ was teasing and humiliating them, or perhaps offering them to experience a patriotic epiphany for small change.