SACRED LEGACY ARCHIVES™

Edvard Kardelj

1910-01-27 – 1979-02-10

Portrait photograph of the Yugoslav politician Edvard Kardelj from 1959.Credit: Unknown photographer; Distributed by a Belgrade-based information service to interested outlets; here Svenska Dagbladet.

Life & Legacy

Edvard Kardelj (Slovene: [ˈéːdʋaɾt kaɾˈdéːl]; 27 January 1910 – 10 February 1979), also known by the pseudonyms Bevc, Sperans, and Krištof, was a Yugoslav politician and economist. He was one of the leading members of the Communist Party of Slovenia before World War II. During the war, Kardelj was one of the leaders of the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People and a Slovene Partisan. After the war, he was a federal political leader in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He led the Yugoslav delegation in peace talks with Italy over the border dispute in the Julian March.
Kardelj was the main creator of the Yugoslav system of workers' self-management. He was an economist and a full member of both the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts and the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He also played a major role in foreign policy by designing the fundamental ideological basis for the Yugoslav policy of nonalignment in the 1950s and the 1960s.

Occupation & Career

politician, teacher, partisan

Education

International Lenin School

Faith & Community

atheism

Accomplishments, Inventions & Publications

Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour; People's Hero of Yugoslavia; Order of Lenin; Prešeren Award; Order "For Merit to the People" with golden star; Order of Brotherhood and Unity; Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941; Order of Bravery; Order of the Partisan Star; Order of the People's Liberation; Order of the People's Hero; Order of the Yugoslavian Great Star; Grand Cross of the Order of George I; Knight of the Royal Order of Cambodia; Order of the Aztec Eagle; Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland; Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav‎; Partisan Cross (Poland); Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 2nd class

Legacy Highlights

Honors & Awards

Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941 · Grand Cross of the Order of George I · Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland · Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav‎ · Knight of the Royal Order of Cambodia · Order "For Merit to the People" with golden star · Order of Bravery · Order of Brotherhood and Unity · Order of Lenin · Order of the Aztec Eagle · Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 2nd class · Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour · Order of the Partisan Star · Order of the People's Hero · Order of the People's Liberation · Order of the Yugoslavian Great Star · Partisan Cross (Poland) · People's Hero of Yugoslavia · Prešeren Award