 Shortly after the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, Kocbek was among the founders of the Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation as member of its Christian Socialist group.After several months in underground during the Italian occupation, Kocbek joined the Slovene Partisans where in 1943 he was forced to agree to dissolve the Christian Socialist group within the Liberation Front and recognized the absolute primacy of the Communist Party of Slovenia within the Partisans.Just before the end of World War II, he was nominated as Minister for Slovenia in the interim Yugoslav government led by Josip Broz Tito.