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Folk, Faith and Fatherland: Defining the Polish Nation in 1883

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Patrice M. Dabrowski
Patrice M. Dabrowski*
Affiliation:
Harvard University, U.S.A.
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Extract

On the north wall of Cracow's Church of the Annunciation (better known as the Carmelite Church at Piaski) hangs a long-ignored inscription. A simple stone tablet unprotected from the elements, its words have faded over the past century. One must strain to make out its cryptic message: “On September 11, 1883, Polish villagers gathered in Cracow solemnly celebrated the two hundredth anniversary of the relief of Vienna by John Sobieski, in remembrance of which this stone has been funded.”

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Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , September 2000 , pp. 397 - 416
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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References

Notes

1. Viscount [Edgar Vincent] D'Abernon, The Eighteenth Decisive Battle of the World: Warsaw, 1920 (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1931), p. 11.Google Scholar

2. For more on other monuments erected in Sobieski's honor in 1883, see Patrice M. Dabrowski, “Reinventing Poland: Commemorations and the Shaping of the Modern Nation, 1879–1914” (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1999), pp. 109–192.Google Scholar

3. J. L[ouis], “Pierwszy obchód zwycięstwa pod Wiedniem w Krakowie,” Czas, 28 February 1883.Google Scholar

4. For a fuller treatment of the 1883 celebration, see Dabrowski, “Reinventing Poland,” pp. 109–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5. I agree with John-Paul Himka that the nationally neutral term Ruthenian permits us “to make a distinction between the ethnic group as such ana the alternative constructions of its nationality.” (John-Paul Himka, Religion and Nationality in Western Ukraine: The Greek Catholic Church and the Ruthenian National Movement in Galicia, 1867–1900 [Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1999], p. 8). While Himka presents two alternative identities-the pan-Russian and the pan-Ukrainian–I focus here on manifestations of what one might term a pan-Polish identity that was intended to embrace the Ruthenians as well.Google Scholar

6. Wiesław Bieńkowski, “Rok 1883 w Krakowie (uroczystość 200-lecia odsieczy Wiednia),” Rocznik Krakowski, Vol. 51, 1987, p. 109. As shall be seen, the degree of independence of the peasants in attendance may be debated, however.Google Scholar

7. While sources on peasant impressions are generally limited to the popular press, one peasant-turned-university-professor noted the importance of this trip for his father, who reminisced about the anniversary celebration with pleasure for years. (Stanisław Pigoń, Z Komborni w świat: Wspomnienia mlodości [Kraków: Spółdzielnia wydawnicza “Wieś,” 1946], p. 98).Google Scholar

8. Adam Galos, “Obchody rocznicy odsieczy wiedeńskiej w Galicji w 1883 r.,” Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis, No. 1108, Historia 75 (Wroclaw, 1990), pp. 135, 139.Google Scholar

9. This term of folk identity, used by Słomka (Jan Słomka, From Serfdom to Self-Government: Memoirs of a Polish Village Mayor 1842–1927, translated by William John Rose [London: Minerva, 1941]) and others, should not be confused with the regional identity of Mazuriansthat is, of residents of Mazuria, far to the north in the formerly Polish territories. Apparently the term was also used by the Ruthenians of Volhynia in reference to the Polish-speaking population of the Commonwealth (Janusz Ekes, “Mazurzy,” in Jan Dziegielewski et al., eds, Encyklopedia historii Polski: Dzieje polityczne [Warsaw: “Morex” & “Egross,” 1994], Vol. I, p. 422).Google Scholar

10. The literature on the subject of the transformation of peasants into Poles during the nineteenth century is vast. A particularly good anthology of peasants' own voices is Helena Brodowska, Chłopi o sobie i Polsce: Rozwój świadomości społeczno-narodowej (Warsaw: Ludowa Spółdzielnia Wydawnicza, 1984); other valuable works include: Tadeusz Krawczak, “Kształtowanie świadomości narodowej chłopów polskich w Galicji w latach 1864–1914,” Przegląd Humanistyczny, Vol. 11, 1978, pp. 135–150; Józef Ryszard Szaflik, “Czynniki kształtujące świadomość narodową chłopa polskiego w końcu XIX i w początkach XX wieku,” Przegląd Humanistyczny, Vol. 26, No. 12, 1982, pp. 1–15 and Vol. 27, No. 4, 1983, pp. 43–82; idem, O rząd chłopskich dusz (Warsaw: Ludowa Spółdzielnia Wydawnicza, 1976). In English, see the recent dissertation by Keely Stauter-Halsted, “From Serf to Citizen: Peasant Political Organizations in Galician Poland 1848–1895” (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Michigan, 1993), soon to be published by Cornell University Press.Google Scholar

11. The abortive 1846 insurrection, which sparked the massacre of noble landlords by peasants instead of uniting the two groups, demonstrated that shared language and past were not enough to bridge the social divide.Google Scholar

12. Activists less enamored of Rome also often ended up availing themselves of the religious connection when trying to engage the peasantry. Even socialists were not immune to religious terminology, as shown by Andrzej Chwalba, Sacrum i rewolucja: Socjaliści polscy wobec praktyk i symboli religijnych (1870–1918) (Warsaw: Universitas, 1992). The argument for linking Polishness and Catholicism was bolstered by other similarities, such as shared territorial base and linguistic foundation.Google Scholar

13. Two other events were also coordinated to occur within the same week as the Sobieski anniversary: the twenty-fifth jubilee of painter Jan Matejko (13 September) as well as the first congress of Polish writers and artists (14–15 September). These are discussed in Dabrowski, “Reinventing Poland,” pp. 168–169, 178–189.Google Scholar

14. The church festivities actually began on 2 September, with a novena of preparation for the coronation.Google Scholar

15. Between the partitions of Poland and 1839, the Uniates of Russia's Western Provinces had been forced to convert (or, as the Russians maintained, return) to Russian Orthodoxy; in this way, they joined the Ruthenian masses who had never been part of the Polish—Lithuanian Commonwealth as well as those who had never converted to the Uniate faith while under Polish rule.Google Scholar

16. The next two paragraphs are based on Himka, Religion and Nationality, esp. pp. 57–64, 73–78; any distortion or oversimplification of this fine scholarship is my fault alone.Google Scholar

17. Ibid., p. 60; Theodore R. Weeks, “The ‘End’ of the Uniate Church in Russia: the Vozsoedinenie of 1875,” Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, Vol. 44, 1996, p. 32; Tadeusz Krawczak, ed., “Zanim wróciła Polska”: Martyrologium ludności unickiej na Podlasiu w latach 1866–1905 w świetle wspomnień (Warsaw: Neriton, 1994), pp. 7–8.Google Scholar

18. While Poles have traditionally assumed that the forced conversion was part of a master plan (see, for example, Leon Wasilewski, Chełmszczyzna i sprawa jej oderwania [Kraków: nakł. wydawn. “Życie”; New York: The Polish Book Importing Co., 1911]), Theodore Weeks has argued that Gromeka, the governor of Siedlce province, “essentially presented a skeptical and cautious St. Petersburg with a fait accompli.” (Weeks, “The ‘End’ of the Uniate Church,” p. 33.)Google Scholar

19. Józef Szujski, “Przed rocznicą Odsieczy Wiedeńskiej,” Czas, 26 May 1882; Wilhelm Feldman, Dzieje polskiej myśli politycznej 1864–1914 (2nd edition) (Warsaw: Instytut Badania Najnowszej Historji Polski, 1933), p. 240; on the importance of Rome, see the confiscated leaflet “Żalc Unitów Polskich i ich nadzieje pomocy z Rzymu” (Archiwum Glówne Akt Dawnych, Oddział II, Prok. Warsz. Izb. Sad. 854, fols. 3–4).Google Scholar

20. Again, this is chronicled in Himka, Religion and Nationality. Google Scholar

21. A number of toasts, for example, were recorded at the various banquets for the distinguished clergymen which seemed to demonstrate much good will on both sides. (“Kronika miejscowa i zagraniczna,” Czas, 7 September 1883; “Kronika miejscowa i zagraniczna,” Czas, 11 September 1883.)Google Scholar

22. Bieńkowski, “Rok 1883,” p. 108. They were the Uniate bishop of Przcmyśl, Ioann Stupnytsky; the Armenian archbishop of Lemberg, Izaak Mikołaj Issakowicz; and Adam Stanisław Krasiński.Google Scholar

23. Wieniec, Vol. 9, No. 18, 30 August 1883, p. 137; Bieńkowski, “Rok 1883,” p. 109; “Kronika,” Nowa Reforma, 11 September 1883.Google Scholar

24. Zoll's words, as noted in “Posiedzenie tutejszej komisyi jubileuszowej Sobieskiego wspólnie z przybyłymi delegatami Iwowskimi,” Czas, 26 June 1883.Google Scholar

25. From a speech given at the Ruthenian Boarding-School (Internat Ruski) run by the Resurrectionists in Lemberg, reported in “Kronika miejscowa i zagraniczna,” Czas, 13 March 1883.Google Scholar

26. This was likewise noted in the pamphlet Pamiątka pielgrzymki ludowej do Krakowa urządzonej staraniem Redakcyi pism ludowych “Wieńca” i “Pszczółki” w wrześniu 1883 na uroczystość koronacyi cudownego obrazu N.P. Maryi na Piaskach i na uroczystość obchodu dwuchsetnej rocznicy zwycięstwa króla polskiego Jana III. pod Wiedniem (Lwów: z drukarni Towarzystwa imienia Szewczenki, 1883), p. 5.Google Scholar

27. These include the shape of Sigismund I's crown and the lily motif from the crown of Boleslas the Brave. (Polkowski, “Kronika dni wrześniowych,” pp. 68–69).Google Scholar

28. Ibid., p. 68.Google Scholar

29. According to statements made by Fryderyk Zoll, taken from the minutes of the meetings of the Sobieski anniversary committee (Komisya jubileuszu Sobieskiego), 22 June 1883 and 15 November 1882, Archiwum Państwowe w Krakowie (hereafter APKr), IT 1023/14.Google Scholar

30. From Pszczółka, Vol. 9, No. 18, 5 September 1883, p. 139. Mention of the censorship is made in “Kronika paryska, dokończenie,” Nowa Reforma, 2 September 1883.Google Scholar

31. Stanisław Tarnowski, “Obchód wiedeńskiej rocznicy,” Przegląd Polski, Vol. 18, October 1883, pp. 8–9.Google Scholar

32. Peasants were bedded in the monasteries, on straw, wherever possible; others ended up sleeping out-of-doors, which cannot have been pleasant, given the rain. (Pamiątka pielgrzymki ludowej, pp. 19–20.)Google Scholar

33. “5236 włościan,” Pszczółka, Vol. 9, No. 17, 23 August 1883, p. 129.Google Scholar

34. “Kronika,” Nowa Reforma, 11 September 1883.Google Scholar

35. Pamiątka pielgrzymki ludowej, p. 21.Google Scholar

36. “Kronika miejscowa i zagraniczna,” Czas, 15 August 1883.Google Scholar

37. Bieńkowski, “Obchody 200-lecia,” p. 159. As the city had no power plant, special arrangements had been made for this impressive showing through a Budapest firm. Steam engines were lent for the occasion by city councilor and factory owner Ludwik Zieleniewski, landowner and local brewer Jan Götz, and landowner Pinkas Attesländer. (Celina Bąk-Koczarska, “Rada Miejska organizatorem obchodu 200-lecia Odsieczy Wiednia w Krakowie,” Zeszyty Naukowe Muzeum Historycznego Miasta Krakowa: Krzysztofory, Vol. 9, 1982, p. 46; Grażyna Lichończak, “Pomnik kroala Jana III Sobieskiego w Ogrodzie Strzeleckim w Krakowie,” Krzysztofory, Vol. 9, 1982, p. 57.)Google Scholar

38. The upper classes made much of the proper demeanor of the waterlogged peasants, who uncomplainingly withstood the elements, even though most of them had spent the nights out of doors as well. Tarnowski touted the peasants' “innate instinctual gravity” and “desire to behave itself seriously.” (Tarnowski, “Obchód wiedeńskiej rocznicy,” pp. 11–12.)Google Scholar

39. “Kronika,” Nowa Reforma, 11 September 1883.Google Scholar

40. Tarnowski, “Obchód wiedeńskiej rocznicy,” pp. 10–11, 13. This image of the peasantry is discussed in the first chapter of a stimulating book by Franciszek Ziejka, W kręgu mitów polskich (Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1977).Google Scholar

41. Pamiątka pielgrzymki ludowej, pp. 27–28.Google Scholar

42. A number of committee members came from liberal democratic, literary-artistic, and intelligent, not conservative circles, more associated with the opposition paper Nowa Reforma than with the conservative Czas. Many of these activists would serve on commemoration committees for years to come. The leadership of the citizens' committee included Kazimierz Bartoszewicz, Walery Gadomski, Wincenty Eminowicz, Kornecki, Juliusz Kossak, hr. Mieroszowski, Adam Milaszewski, Father Ignacy Polkowski, Tadeusz Romanowicz, and [Ignacy] Żółtowski. (“Kronika,” Nowa Reforma, 9 August 1883.)Google Scholar

43. “Jubileusz Sobieskiego,” Nowa Reforma, 23 August 1883.Google Scholar

44. Bieńkowski, “Rok 1883,” p. 110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

45. “Kronika,” Nowa Reforma, 11 September 1883.Google Scholar

46. The organizers were initially divided as to whether they should coordinate their actions with Stojałowski. (Report from the meeting of the previous day, reported in “Jubileusz Sobieskiego,” Nowa Reforma, 15 August 1883.)Google Scholar

47. “Kronika,” Nowa Reforma, 12 September 1883.Google Scholar

48. A speech prepared for a Ruthenian has been preserved in the papers of Kazimierz Bartoszewicz (Archiwum Państwowe w Łodzi, Archiwum Bartoszewiczów, 1737, fol. 1). Whether it was actually used by any of the visitors cannot be determined, although its existence raises additional questions as to the “independence” of the participating peasants.Google Scholar

49. The plans for the peasant celebration were given in the report on the committee meeting of the previous day, presented in “Jubileusz Sobieskiego,” Nowa Reforma, 24 August 1883.Google Scholar

50. Among the speakers at the folk gathering was Wladysław Kolodziejczyk, a peasant from Mogiła; Jakób Kot, a Ruthenian from Olesko, where Sobieski was born; Michał Ostrowski, a Ruthenian merchant from Ruda; and Ruthenian villager Hrehory Skoblik (vel Skablyk) of Daszowa in the province of Stryj. (“Obchód uroczysty jubileuszu Sobieskiego w Krakowie,” Nowa Reforma, 12 September 1883.) The texts of their speeches are in Czas, 13 September 1883.Google Scholar

51. These quotations are taken from the letter of Paweł Popiel to the Cracow mayor, published in “Ostatnie wiadomości,” Czas, 22 August 1883. The original letter, dated 18 August 1883, is in APKr, IT 1023/14.Google Scholar

52. See the petition for a subsidy of 2000 crowns [n.d., but assuredly between 7 and 10 August] in APKr, IT 1023/14. The committee also asked Mayor Weigel to approach the military authorities for permission to use the Błonia (the city common, land leased at the time to the military). (Per 10 August 1883 letter to the mayor of Cracow in the name of the committee, signed by Father Polkowski, APKr, IT 1023/14.)Google Scholar

53. Minutes of the committee meeting, 23 August 1883, APKr, IT 1023/14. This last item still infuriated some conservatives, who both objected to the representation of only one class while suspecting that the villager's speech was inspired by the democrats. (See, for example, Tarnowski, “Obchód wiedeńskiej rocznicy,” p. 20.)Google Scholar

54. Reportedly they had not been given advance notice of the citizens' committee's plans. (See the note of the society's board [Zarząd Towarzystwa] in “Uroczystość Sobicskiego,” Czas, 26 August 1883.)Google Scholar

55. “Jubileusz Sobieskiego,” Nowa Reforma, 31 August 1883.Google Scholar

56. Pelczar, Kazanie 1883, p. 3.Google Scholar

57. A. Nowolecki, Uroczystości ku uczczeniu pamięci Jana III w dzielnicach polskich i za granicą: Na pamiątkę 200-letniej rocznicy odsieczy Wiednia 1683 r. (Kraków: staraniem “Wydawnictwa Czytelni Ludowej,” 1883), p. 3; Odsiecz wiedeńska 1683: Wystawa jubileuszowa w Zamku Królewskim na Wawelu w trzechsetlecie bitwy, Vol. 1 (Kraków: Państwowe zbiory sztuki na Wawelu, 1990), p. 17.Google Scholar

58. That Poles continued to be perceived as a threat is demonstrated by the work of Witold Rodkicwicz, “Russian Nationality Policy in the Western Provinces of the Empire During the Reign of Nicholas II, 1894–1905” (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1996), published as Russian Nationality Policy in the Western Provinces of the Empire (1863–1905) (Lublin: Scientific Society of Lublin, 1998).Google Scholar

59. Stefan Buszczyński, writing under the pseudonym “Servant of liberty and faith” (Sługa wolności i wiary) on the anniversary of the Siege of Vienna, claimed that Austria was more Slavic than Russia (he argued that blood of the Jagiellons [one of Poland's ruling dynasties] flowed in Habsburg veins). He also saw the Poles' “union with the southern Slavs, under protective hegemony” of the Habsburgs as a “blessing for all Europe” that would correct the balance of power “and guarantee universal peace.” (Rachunek polskiego sumienia: Rozmyślanie w niewoli; w 200-letnią rocznicę zwycięztwa pod Wiednem [Kraków: nakładem księgarni K. Bartoszewicza, 1883], pp.75, 83, 27, 82–84.)Google Scholar

60. From a speech by Dr. E. Czerkawski in Lemberg on 11 September, cited in “Obchód jubileuszowy we Lwowie,” Nowa Reforma, 14 September 1883. Leopoldians were particularly interested in raising the international profile of the celebration. (See Dabrowski, “Reinventing Poland,” p. 174.)Google Scholar

61. Even the governor of Illinois recognized the Poles as defenders of human rights and freedom during the 1883 celebration, the first time Poles assembled in a visible demonstration of unity on the streets of America (Chicago). One of the main organizers of the Chicago festivities was Karol Chłapowski, husband of actress Helena Modrzejewska. (Halina Florkowska-Frančić, “Emigracyjne obchody dwóchsetnej rocznicy wiktorii wiedeńskiej,” Przegląd Polonistyczny, Vol. 10, 1984, p. 72; Adam Galos, “Obchody rocznicy wiedeńskiej w XIX w.,” Śląski Kwartalnik Historyczny Sobótka, Vol. 35, 1980, p. 437.)Google Scholar

62. These facts were noted by a Ruthenian villager, Hrehory Skoblik of Daszowa, speaking to the peasants, as reported in “Uroczysty obchód jubileuszu Sobieskiego w Krakowie,” Nowa Reforma, 13 September 1883.Google Scholar

63. This information comes from a Gazeta Narodowa report on the committee meetings of 10 and 21 April, mentioned in “Komitet jubileuszowy dla Komitetu jubileuszowego dla uczczenia 200-Ietniej rocznicy Wiednia,” Nowa Reforma, 1 May 1883.Google Scholar

64. Words of Director Maciołowski, cited in Nowa Reforma, 13 September 1883.Google Scholar

65. “Obchód uroczysty jubileuszu Sobieskiego w Krakowie,” Nowa Reforma, 12 September 1883.Google Scholar

66. From the speech of Jan Czesak, a villager from Szczurowa, at the farewell to the village delegates. (“Kronika,” Nowa Reforma, 15 September 1883.)Google Scholar

67. See note 49.Google Scholar

68. Cited in “Uroczysty obchód jubileuszu Sobieskiego w Krakowie,” Nowa Reforma, 14 September 1883.Google Scholar

69. That the Polish nation prior to the partitions had been a political, not an ethnic, nation has been convincingly shown by Andrzej Walicki, Philosophy and Romantic Nationalism: The Case of Poland (Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1982).Google Scholar

70. The Ukrainian paper Dilo said the jubilee had the character of a Polish national manifestation (per Nowolecki, Uroczystości, p. 51); Prolom and Slovo were also opposed. For other views of the siege, see the “Ukrainophile” Stefan Kachala's book on 1683, reviewed in Reforma, 23 June 1882.Google Scholar

71. Such figures as Platon Kostecki and Father Jan Guszalewicz wrote poems (“Kronika,” Nowa Reforma, 12 September 1883), as did J. Szaraniewicz (“Jubileusz Sobieskiego,” Nowa Reforma, 31 August 1883).Google Scholar

72. “Obchód Sobieskiego: Lwów, 12 czerwca,” Nowa Reforma, 15 June 1883.Google Scholar

73. Galos, “Obchody rocznicy odsieczy,” p. 142; more on him in Adam Galos, “Władze pruskie wobec obchodów rocznicy wiedeńskiej w 1883 r.,” Śląski Kwartalnik Historyczny Sobótka, Vol. 36, 1981, pp. 273–274.Google Scholar

74. Indeed, the organizers of the 1883 anniversary, seeking to gain as many volunteers for a certain aspect of the festivities, resorted to playing on the Poles' patriotism: they suggested that Poles ought to desire a successful celebration in 1883 at least as much as during the emperor's visit in 1880. (“Jubileusz Sobieskiego,” Nowa Reforma, 4 September 1883.)Google Scholar

75. “Przegląd polityczny,” Przegląd Polski, Vol. 18, October 1883, p. 158.Google Scholar

76. Bobrzyński in Czas (cited by Tarnowski, “Obchód wiedeńskiej rocznicy,” p. 34).Google Scholar