Dragotin Lončar

Who was Dragotin Lončar?

Dragotin Lončar was a Slovenian historian, editor and Social Democratic politician.

He was born as Karel Lončar in Selo near Lukovica in Upper Carniola. After finishing the State Gymnasium in Ljubljana, he studied history at the Charles University in Prague, graduating in 1904. In Prague, he joined the circle of young Slovene left wing intellectuals that became influenced by the political and social thought of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, which included figures as Anton Dermota and Josip Ferfolja.

After returning to the Slovene Lands, he taught history at the prestigious Ljubljana's 'First Gymnasium', shortly serving as its director. he later served as the director of the National Museum of Slovenia, and, from 1920, as president of the renowned publishing house Slovenska matica.

Before World War One, he joined the Yugoslav Social Democratic Party, where he belonged to its right wing led by Albin Prepeluh. He left the party after it merged with the so-called Centrists in 1921, who supported Yugoslav centralism. In 1924, Lončar was among the co-founders of the Slovenian Labour Agrarian republican Party, which in 1927 merged with the Independent Agrarian Party into the Slovenian Peasant Party, a Slovenian counterpart to the Croatian Peasant Party, with which it maintained strong ties.