During the Second World War, a group of distinguished members of the Catholic political camp, though small in number, made their influence felt in Primorska (Slovenian littoral region) and, especially, Goriška (Gorizia Region). The group, also known as the "Centrists" (Goriška sredina), had been operating underground since the Fascist dictatorship in the Thirties. On the one hand, they opposed tactical collaboration of the Slovenian People's Party leadership with the occupier in the Ljubljana province as well as the formation of anti-Partisan village guards in Primorska. On the other, they could not enter into open cooperation with the Liberation Front and the Partisans, being disturbed by the monopolistic role of the Communist Party and their determination for immediate armed resistance. Instead, the fraction advocated tolerance between all Slovenian parties and stood for a united Slovenia in the framework of a democratic and federal Yugoslav kingdom.