Miroslav Hroch, Social Preconditions of National Revival in Europe. A Comparative Ana(ysis of the Social Composition of Patriotic Groups among the Smaller European Nations by Michael Hurst

Summary

Here is a book about which another could easily be written. For though the sub-title is far more to the point than the very ambitious title, the plethora of fundamental themes tackled or touched upon in these pages make them reading of high fascination. And so numerous are the mistakings or missings of the way that, once the injection of ‘patience fuel’ is in play, an immense pleasure is felt at being able to identify the misapprehensions in the course of a constantly changing if relatively rapid journey through intellectual space. With dangers of a rising blood pressure disposed of, there are profound lessons of first rate scholarly importance to be learned - and painlessly at that. All Europe is not discussed, nor even every one of its smaller nations. Neither are the social preconditions of national revival among those nations examined actually fully explored or truly laid bare. Dr Hroch perceives the historical process relevant to his enquiries as consisting of two main stages; the pre-capitalist and the capitalist. Onto this framework he seeks to clamp a three stage developmental pattern for ‘patriotic groups’, its precise application differing according to particular circumstances. Working his way through the case studies, he sets before us those foremost in ‘national revivals’ and analyses their meaning in terms solely of social background. At the very end, and only then, does the role of individuals as opposed to social categories get mentioned. Taking this alongside what he does offer, he argues, will reveal much and his ‘ad limine’ contribution gain vastly in significance. For the moment, if not thankful for small mercies, we should regard his observations as a useful start. How right, yet how lopsided. Historical osteopathy can nevertheless be invoked by the reader. But before, there has to be a course in clarification. It has to begin with the semantics of the word 'nation’.

In my essay on ‘States, Countries, Provinces’ (Kensal Press, 1986), I was at pains to stress the huge dangers of muddle arising from employing the word ‘nation’ for both a polity and an ethnic group, when well-nuanced vocabulary is available for defining any political unit and all manner of ethnic phenomena.