In the 1980s, when the Yugoslav state crumbled, national aspirations of individual nations living in its territory came to the fore. It was no different with the second largest nation of this country – the Croatians. The emergence of the Croatian Democratic Community (Croatian Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica) was a signal of the growing aspirations of independence Croats. The founder of this political formation and its leader was Franjo Tuđman, the first president of independent Croatia. This

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... icle attempts to present the process of shaping his political views from early youth until joining the Communist Party and establishing its position in its ranks. The chronological framework of the work covers the period from early childhood of Franjo Tuđman until the communists took power in Yugoslavia. The following periods of his life have been described, concerning the history of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and Yugoslavia, and the installation of the government of Joseph Broz – Tito. The article in its conclusions aims to answer the question of how his political views evolved and why he ultimately turned towards national and independence views.