“Musų Lietuva” vs. “Our Lithuania”? Rhetoric of two nationalisms in selected journals about Lithuania published before the Great War

The article focuses on the beginning of nationalistic rhetoric in Polish and Lithuanian journals published in 1883–1914. The contents and formal features of nationalistic journals published in Polish: Litwa (1908–1914), Kwartalnik Litewski (1910–1911), and Litwa i Ruś (1912–1913), were analyzed. Journals published in Lithuanian: Aušra (1883–1996), Šviesa (1887–1888, 1890) and Varpas (1889–1905) were described on the basis of reviews in the St. Petersburg journal Kraj.
It was concluded that the Lithuanian national movement was infl uenced by some European ideological tendencies but the social changes, after the failure of the January’s Uprising, were its important inspirations as well. After fi nancial stabilization, Lithuanian migrants to the West, the most of them political refugees, supported Lithuanian nationalistic organizations. Their journals and program were addressed to a newly created Lithuanian middle class, more active than the Polish one at the time. The journals about Lithuania, edited by the Polish minority in Lithuania as its response to the Lithuanian nationalistic periodicals, were more elitist and provoked little interest of the Polish society.

Abstrakt

W artykule przedstawiono nacjonalistyczną retorykę na łamach polskich i litewskich czasopism z lat 1883–1914. Przeanalizowano zawartość treściową, cechy formalne i warunki wydawania nacjonalistycznych czasopism polskojęzycznych: Kwartalnika Litewskiego (1910–1911), Litwy (1908–1914) oraz Litwy i Rusi (1912–1913), a wydawane po 1883 r. litewskojęzyczne czasopisma: Aušra (1883–1886), Šviesa (1887–1888, 1890) i Varpas (1889–1905) zaprezentowano na podstawie ich omówienia zamieszczonego przez petersburski tygodnik Kraj.
W artykule wykazano, że litewski ruch narodowy kształtował się pod wpływem europejskich prądów ideowych oraz zmian społecznych zachodzących na Litwie po klęsce powstania styczniowego. Uchodźcy pochodzenia litewskiego, emigrujący po 1863 r. na Zachód, po ustabilizowaniu materialnym wspomagali finansowo patriotyczne organizacje litewskie. Głoszony przez nie skrajny nacjonalizm budził duże zainteresowanie litewskiej klasy średniej. Redagowane przez polską mniejszość na Litwie czasopisma, stanowiące przeciwwagę medialną dla periodyków nacjonalistów litewskich, miały charakter elitarny i budziły niewielkie zainteresowanie polskiego społeczeństwa.

“Musų Lietuva” vs. “Our Lithuania”? Rhetoric of two nationalisms in selected journals about Lithuania published before the Great War

The article focuses on the beginning of nationalistic rhetoric in Polish and Lithuanian journals published in 1883–1914. The contents and formal features of nationalistic journals published in Polish: Litwa (1908–1914), Kwartalnik Litewski (1910–1911), and Litwa i Ruś (1912–1913), were analyzed. Journals published in Lithuanian: Aušra (1883–1996), Šviesa (1887–1888, 1890) and Varpas (1889–1905) were described on the basis of reviews in the St. Petersburg journal Kraj.
It was concluded that the Lithuanian national movement was infl uenced by some European ideological tendencies but the social changes, after the failure of the January’s Uprising, were its important inspirations as well. After fi nancial stabilization, Lithuanian migrants to the West, the most of them political refugees, supported Lithuanian nationalistic organizations. Their journals and program were addressed to a newly created Lithuanian middle class, more active than the Polish one at the time. The journals about Lithuania, edited by the Polish minority in Lithuania as its response to the Lithuanian nationalistic periodicals, were more elitist and provoked little interest of the Polish society.