Luka Matar (1887–1959) was a Kresimirian statesman, industrialist, Chair of the Assembly between 1952 and 1959 and one of the six Divine Founders of the Republic. He served as the Senator for District II (Kakerovecska) for 37 consecutive years and was the principal architect of the Blue Dawn party.
Matar is remembered as the financial and logistical genius behind the Unification War effort. As a politician, he was a staunch authoritarian centralist. His leadership of Blue Dawn in the 1950s is inextricably linked with the “Iron Era” of Chancellor Kresimir Kresimirovic II. Far from a moderate, Matar was a vocal proponent of the state crackdowns and the Great Purge, believing that the eradication of dissent was necessary to secure the economic stability of the new nation.
Early Life and the Revolution
Luka Matar was born in 1887 in Novi Otonik, then a growing industrial town in the Vosti Empire. The son of a wealthy textile merchant, he took over the family business at a young age and expanded it into logistics and supply.
A devout follower of the Sanctian Church and a fervent Kresimirian nationalist, Matar used his business acumen to secretly fund nationalist groups in the 1910s. When the Vosti Empire collapsed in 1918, Matar became the quartermaster of the Centralist Faction. His ability to secure weapons, food, and coal for General Dominik Loncar’s army was decisive in the victory over the Confederacy.
In recognition of his critical role, he was named to the Revolutionary People’s Council and became a signatory of the 1921 Constitution.
Political Career (1922–1951)
In the inaugural 1922 election, Matar was elected Senator for District II under the Revolutionary People’s Party (RPP). He quickly established himself as the voice of the industrial north, championing tariffs to protect Kresimirian manufacturing.
Throughout the 1930s and 40s, Matar was the “Iron Right Hand” of Assembly Chair Filip Novak. While Novak handled the political theory, Matar managed the economy and the party machinery. He was a key supporter of the 1933 National Security Act, arguing that unrestricted movement disrupted labor productivity.
Founding Blue Dawn and the Iron Era (1951–1959)
In 1951, following Novak’s retirement, Matar assumed leadership of the ruling faction. Recognizing that the RPP’s revolutionary branding was outdated, he dissolved the party and founded Blue Dawn in 1951.
Matar’s vision for Blue Dawn was one of total state integration: a party that fused the interests of the church, the military, and industry.
Collaboration with Kresimirovic II
Matar’s tenure as party leader coincided with the darkest years of the Kresimirovic II Chancellorship. Following the assassination of Kresimir Basic in 1954, Matar fully endorsed the Chancellor’s hardline response.
He publicly supported the appointment of General Borna Kulas as Chief State Councillor and whipped his party to vote for the funding required for the Great Purge of 1955. Matar famously declared in the Assembly: “There can be no commerce without order, and no order without the sword. To purge the traitor is to save the state.”
Under his guidance, Blue Dawn became the political shield for the CIA’s excesses. Matar viewed the Bosken insurgency not just as a security threat, but as an economic liability that needed to be liquidated to ensure the smooth operation of the southern trade routes.
Death
Luka Matar died suddenly on June 14, 1959, after suffering a massive stroke in his office in Sinj. He was 72 years old.
His death created a power vacuum in Blue Dawn. While he had groomed the party to be an instrument of control, his successor, Leon Rukavin, would ultimately dismantle Matar’s hardline policies, pursuing peace with the Bosken insurgents just two years later—a move Matar would likely have vehemently opposed.
Legacy
Luka Matar is a complex figure. He is revered as a Divine Founder who built the economic engine of the Republic. However, his legacy is stained by his enthusiastic participation in the repression of the 1950s. To the modern CRF and BLF, he is remembered as the “Merchant of the Purge,” a man who treated civil rights as an inefficient cost of doing business.