Poles in Slovak journalism and politics from the 1830s to the 1860s

This paper sheds light on the perception of the Polish people, Polish politics, and their issues in Slovak journalism between 1830 and 1872. On the whole, the views were limited by the social opinions voiced by Slovak nationalists as well as by their interests and the general weakness of their National Movement. Slovak nationalists refused to accept political concepts that, on the one hand, supported the creation of nation states (by “large”nations such as Poland), and on the other hand, called for the assimilation of “small”nations living within them. This would spell the end of the Slavs and Romanians settled in Hungary, as Hungary would reform into one single national Hungarian state. Among all Austro-Slavs, the fear of “Magyarisation”contributed to the most intense and widespread Slavic solidarity and Russophilia in the Slovak-speaking environment. It also determined the difficult approach to the Polish issues. The Slovak nationalists sympathised with the Polish fate, however, at the same time, they had difficulties with accepting the Poland-Russia conflict. That is why we can find quite varied opinions of Poles and Polish issues. Idealising the Poles, Polonophilia, sympathising with Poles as regards their problems, careful and neutral views of those problems, efforts to limit the Poland-Russia conflict, and critical views of Poles were all entwined. For example, pro-Polish sympathies dominated in the Slovak National Movement in the 1830s, whereas in the 1840s the sympathies shifted towards Russia, despite the fact that some nationalists supported the Poles and their Uprising in Halych. The real Slovak-Polish co-operation can be seen particularly during the revolution in 1848–1849. Out of the Slovak political ideology emerged the Pan-Slavic work Slovanstvo a svet budúcnosti [Slavdom and the world of the future] by Ľ. Štúr, which combined the Slav perspective with the connections to Russia. The Polish issues were mainly present in the 1860s. During that time, the more conservative political wing, “Stará škola”[The Old School], was looking for support in the imperial Vienna, showing strong Russophilism and critical attitude to the Polish uprising. In contrast, the more liberal political line, “Nová škola”[The New School], striving for co-operation with Hungarian political parties, showed understanding for the Polish aversion and was critical of the imperial Russia. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, the Slovak politics and culture considerably weakened. The interest in glossing over the problems of the northern neighbour also declined. The Polish issues re-entered Slovak journalism again after the 1890s in connection with analysing new geo-political affairs on the continent and polarisation of the European superpowers.

The Slovene interest for Bulgaria and the Bulgarians (1850–1908)

During the time of the socialist Yugoslavia, Slovene historians devoted considerable attention to the Yugoslav movement before World War I, but they mainly focused on the Slovene relations with Croats and Serbs. It was only rarely mentioned that Slovene political leaders and intellectuals considered also the Bulgarians to be Yugoslavs and looked with great sympathy to them. The article presents and discusses the interest of the Slovene newspapers, intellectuals and literary authors for the Bulgarians and Bulgaria in the second half of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century, pointing out their support to the Bulgarian struggle for independence and their belief that the Bulgarians belonged to the same “great Yugoslav nation”as did the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

Publications of Polish literature in the Serbian publishing movement in the 1870s–1890s

The paper offers an outline of the forming process of modern bibliocommunication in Serbian culture, which can be traced back to the last decades of the 19th century, where the presence of Polish writings helps to illustrate it and establish its nature.

* Tekst w języku polskim powstałna podstawie takich prac autora wcześniej publikowanych po serbsku: Dve srpske knjižare u XIX veku i njihova uloga u popularisanju poljske književnosti, „Slavistika” (Beograd) 1997, t. 1, s. 97–105; Đorđe Popović-Daničar kao prevodilac poljske književnosti, „Filološki pregled”(Beograd), R. 32, 2005, z. 1, s. 55–77.

Jerzy Konstanty Czartoryski and the problem of Slav cooperation in the Habsburg Monarchy

Prince Jerzy Konstanty Czartoryski (1828–1912) was known both as a lover of music and theatre and a politician. He went into politics quite late, not until the second half of the 1860s. It was then that he was given the nickname of “Federalist Prince”. Jerzy Konstanty Czartoryski worked towards a closer cooperation between Poles and other Slavs in the Habsburg Monarchy, especially Czechs, and Ukrainians in Galicia. His endeavours in the 1870s were not particularly successful, but they earned him the position of a mediator between Poles and other Slavs in the Monarchy, which was frequently used in later years. The article identifies the sources of Jerzy Konstanty Czartoryski’s interest in Slav issues and presents his actions to support political cooperation among Slavs in the Habsburg Monarchy in the second half of the 19th c.

* 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).

Cooperation of the Ukrainian, Slovenian and Croatian conservatives in the Imperial Council in Oleksandr Barvinsky’s “Memories of my life” (1897–1904)

The article analyzes the history of cooperation between the Ukrainian group of the Viennese Imperial Council members and Slovenian and Croatian conservative politicians within the Slavic Christian People’s Union and “Slavic Center” factions on the basis of a memoir of Oleksandr Barvinsky, one of the leading Ukrainian politicians at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The author studies the reasons that inspired Barvinsky to such a cooperation, and to what extent it was part of the ideological principles of himself and of the Ukrainian Christian-social movement, which he created and headed in Galicia. The main stages of the activity of both factions are examined as well as factors that influenced their effectiveness. Despite their considerable potential and local successes, the parliamentary clubs created by the conservative Ukrainians, Slovenes and Croatians could not fully realize their agenda. The main reasons, widely considered in the memoir, were a deep political crisis in Cisleithania and, as a consequence, the parliament’s inability to take constructive action, as well as the decline of political influence and popularity of Ukrainian conservatives and Oleksandr Barvinsky himself.

The article discusses the federalist concepts of the Bulgarian economist Boncho Boev, formulated during the Bulgarian-Serbian rapprochement in 1904. The creation of a South-Slavic State would take place through the economic integration of Serbia and Bulgaria, which, by improving their economic position, would simultaneously strengthen their political situation and join Macedonia. Boev’s views are presented on the basis of speeches given during the Student Balkan Congress in Sofia on 6–8 March (22–24 February old style) 1904, and subsequently published in the Journal of the Bulgarian Economic Society as “Poseshtenieto na Srŭbski kral i srŭbsko-bŭlgarskoto sblizhenie” [The Visit of the King of Serbia and the Serbian-Bulgarian Rapprochement] and “Balkanskata federatsiia kato ideal na srŭbsko-bŭlgarskata mladezh” [The Balkan Federation as the Ideal of the Bulgarian-Serb Youth].

* This paper is a part of an OPUS 13 project, funded by the National Science Centre in Cracow, called “Between two congresses in Prague: relations among the Slavs in Central and South-East Europe in 1848–1908” (2017/25/B/HS3/00240).

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).

Czech historian Jaroslav Bidlo and his involvement in the neo-slav movement before World War I

The Czech historian Jaroslav Bidlo (1868–1937) was one of the few Austro-Hungarian scholars who possessed vast and critical knowledge in the field of history of Slavic nations. His knowledge was based on his own experience gathered in Polish and Russian academic circles before World War I. As a professor of the Czech Charles-Ferdinand University he was involved in the so-called Neo-Slav movement, which culminated in the “Slavic Congress” in Prague in July 1908, and in the edition of a collective monograph about the Slavic nations (Slovanstvo, Prague 1912). Bidlo used these opportunities to create his own synthetic concept of Slavic history, which he later successfully developed during the interwar period.

* Artykuł stanowi część realizacji projektu badawczego „Jaroslav Bidlo a Milada Paulová: zakladatelské osobnosti historické slavistiky v kontextu vývoje české vědy”, dofinansowanego przez Agencję Grantową Republiki Czeskiej (grant nr 18-20451S).

The Croats and and the 1908 neo-Slavic congress in Prague (on the basis of the Croatian press)

The first congress of the Neo-Slavists took place in Prague, in July 1908. It was the culmination of the movement: the largest and most successful meeting of supporters of Slavic solidarity and mutual cooperation of the Slavic peoples at the beginning of the 20th century. The congress had an anniversary character: it was organized on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the 1848 Slavic congress in Prague. However, the Prague congress was also a preparatory meeting for the planned great congress and Slavic exhibition in Moscow. The author shows the reactions of the Croatian political public to the preparations for the congress in Prague, as well as to the congress itself.

Second Congress of Slav Journalists in Cracow in 1899

The aim of the article is to present the organization, course and consequences of the Second Congress of Slavic Journalists in Cracow in 1899. Due to the political nature of the congress, it will also be important to address the questions of the political goals held by the participating journalists and the attitude of the authorities to the event.

* 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).

Slovak scholars maintained close contacts with the Czech milieu in the 19th century, for which there are several reasons (for example, the historical background, related to the issue of language and religion, the political situation in the Habsburg Monarchy). This paper sheds light on certain types of cooperation which took place between Czech and Slovak scholars between the years 1850 and 1882: cooperation in the field of journalism, publishing and editing the first Czech encyclopaedia.

Attempt to create a Muslim-Serbian alliance during the struggle for the religious and educational autonomy in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1899–1902

The article explains the reasons why in 1899–1902 the Serbs wanted to form an alliance with the Muslims. During the Austro-Hungarian period, the Orthodox in Bosnia and Herzegovina fought for autonomy and religious schools. They needed an ally in their efforts; that is why they turned to the Muslims with an alliance proposal. They appealed to the Muslims because, since 1897, they had also fought with the ZMF (Zajedničko Ministarstvo Finansija) and governor of Bosnia Benjamin von Kàllay.

Last act of political cooperation of Slavs on the Balkans. Balkan alliance, 1912