During the Second World War, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia disintegrated, and Slovenian territory was divided between Germany, Italy and Hungary. In 1941, the Liberation Front of the Slovenian Nation was founded in Ljubljana and began armed resistance against the occupying forces. The Communist Party soon took the leading role within the Liberation Front, gradually redirecting the liberation fight into a socialist revolution. After the Second World War, the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia (FPRY) was declared, of which Slovenia was a constituent part.

In 1963, the FLRY was renamed the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) and Slovenia was now called the Socialist Republic of Slovenia. Slovenia’s economy developed rapidly, particularly in the fifties, when it was strongly industrialised. After the economic reform and further economic decentralisation of Yugoslavia in 1965 and 1966, of the six republics, Slovenia was the one most rapidly approaching a market economy. In spite of restrictive economic and social legislation determined mainly by the largest - Serbian - nation, which based its centralist strategy on the less-developed republics, Slovenia managed to preserve a higher level of economic development, had a higher than average skilled workforce and better working discipline and organisation.