Antoni Cetnarowicz

Leopold Lenard: A Slovene Polonophile from the early 20th century

The article provides some facts about the life, writings and cultural activity of a Slovene Polonophile, Leopold Lenard, at the time of his highest activity, i.e. in the early 20th century. In the context of his extensive amount of work and intense activism, which included political, socio-cultural and religious issues, one subject stands out as his lifelong interest: the “Slavic idea”, the idea of cooperation among Slavs, in particular maintaining the closest possible relations with Poles.

* Artykuł powstał w ramach projektu OPUS 13, finansowanego przez Narodowe Centrum Nauki w Krakowie, pt. „Pomiędzy dwoma zjazdami w Pradze. Związki między Słowianami w Europie Środkowej i Południowo-Wschodniej w latach 1848–1908” (2017/25/B/HS3/00240).

Slovenian Opinion on the Situation of Poles in the Prussian Partition in the Second Half of the 19th Century

In the years of the 1848–1849 revolution, apart from the Galician theme, the attention of liberal Slovenian activists was also focused on the situation and events in Poznan. The reason for these interests is not difficult to understand, as it was the Poles had to face the common enemy there, meaning German nationalism. In the following decades, as  the Germanization pressure intensified, this interest grew, turning into solidarity and open support for the national struggle of Poles. With the advent of the constitutional era, when two concepts of the organization of the Habsburg monarchy clashed together: federalist and centralist, Slovenes and Poles found themselves in the federalist camp.  Slovenians, whose position, as a so-called “unhistorical” nation, was definitely weaker, they tried to benefit from the political experience of Poles and, in some actions, follow their example. During the January Uprising, the main attention of the Slovenes focused on the attitude of the Prussian government to the Polish uprising and the related international implications. Nevertheless, the Slovenians continued to solidarize themselves with the nationalist struggle of Poles in Poznan, which, as it was stressed, was the link of a common Slavic cause, that is, resistance to the Germanic pressure. In the face of the rise of the German threat after 1866, the fate of Poles in the Prussian partition was an instructive example for the Slovenes and a warning about what they could expect from the Germans. Therefore, Slovenian activists, following the events in Poznan, tried to draw conclusions that can help them in their own national struggle. The struggle against the Catholic Church in Poznan, which intensified as part of Kulturkampfu, occupied a leading position among the reports of Slovenian newspapers and magazines. Both “Slovenski narod” and “Slovenec” wrote about the great police action, revisions and arrests carried out by the authorities.

During the fourteen-year rule of Eduard Taaffe (1879–1893), when the Poles and Slovenes were on the side of the majority government, the struggle of the Poles against the German pressure in the Prussian partition enjoyed constant support and recognition of the Slovenian opinion. The relentless attitude of Poles, and especially the activities of  Polish deputies in the Prussian and German parliaments, was often set as an example worth imitating not only Slovenian, but also served as a weighty argument in criticizing the policy of the Polish Circle in the Austrian State Council.