Чачак у предвечерје Другог светског рата 1938–1941: социјална, економска и политичка структура

English title: Čačak on the Eve of the Second World War, 1938–1941: Social, Economic, and Political Structure

The article examines the social, economic and political structure of Čačak and the Čačak region in the years immediately preceding the Second World War. The period 1938–1941 is treated as the final phase of interwar development and as a moment in which the long-term weaknesses of local society became especially visible.

Čačak was an urban, administrative, commercial, craft, educational and cultural center of a wider region. However, the social structure of the Čačak region remained strongly tied to the countryside, small landholdings and limited economic opportunities. Agrarian overpopulation, small plots, low incomes, weak mechanization and an insufficient industrial base created persistent economic insecurity.

The article shows that modernization did not affect all layers of local society evenly. The development of urban institutions, trade, crafts, schooling and public services did not eliminate deep differences between town and countryside, nor did it remove poverty, poor hygiene, health vulnerability and the dependence of most of the population on agriculture.

Social and economic conditions were closely connected with political life. Party divisions, the influence of state authority, local notables, ideological conflicts and the growing European crisis shaped the political atmosphere in which Čačak entered the collapse of April 1941. Local society did not enter the war as a neutral and stable whole, but as a community burdened by poverty, inequalities, weak institutions and political tensions.

A particular contribution of the article lies in linking statistical data with microhistorical analysis. Demography, landholding patterns, occupations, nutrition, housing, health, education, the economy and politics are interpreted as parts of the same historical configuration. This approach makes it possible to view 1941 not only as a military and political rupture, but also as a moment in which deep structural weaknesses of interwar society became visible.

Through the case of Čačak and the Čačak region, the article contributes to the understanding of local modernity in Serbia. It shows that modernization was not a simple process of progress, but an uneven historical development in which urban institutions, agrarian limitations, political mobilization, social vulnerability and state crisis intertwined on the eve of the Second World War.