«Polish Risorgimento»: Visions of the Modern Polish Nation and their Italian Foundations

418 Pages·2012·45.611 MB·English

by  Lidia Jurek

EastErn EuropEan CulturE,
politiCs and soCiEtiEs
edited by Irena grudzinska-gross
and andrzej tymowski
Vol. 1
Peter Lang
Frankfurt am Main · Berlin · Bern · Bruxelles · new York · Oxford · Warszawa · Wien
Lidia Jurek
Polish Risorgimento
Visions of the Modern Polish nation
and their Italian Foundations
Peter Lang
Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche
Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the
Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is
available in the internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
Cover Design:
© Olaf Gloeckler, Atelier Platen, Friedberg
This book is based on the EUI PhD thesis
written in the History and Civilization Department
and defended in 2010.
It has been published with a financial subsidy
from the European University Institute, Florence;
ouvrage publié avec le concours
de l’Institut Universitaire Européen.
ISSN 2192-497X
ISBN 978-3-631-62401-2
© Peter Lang GmbH
Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Frankfurt am Main 2012
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Contents

Introduction ....................................................................................................... 11
Themes and perspectives ................................................................................. 16
Historiographical account and contribution to current research ...................... 23
Methodology .................................................................................................... 29
The actors of the study – the intelligentsia ...................................................... 36
Time frame ....................................................................................................... 42

PART I
The democrats – from alleanza dei popoli to Polonia fara da se ................... 47
Introduction ......................................................................................................... 49
The Polish and Italian democratic nationalists ................................................ 51
First redefinitions of the nationhood ................................................................ 53
Mutually inspired ideology of national mission .............................................. 57
1 Path to independence: alleanza dei popoli 1848-60 ........................................ 63
1.1 ‘Self in the other’- Italian and Polish sibling nations before 1848 ............ 63
1.1.1 Together: Carboneria and Young Poland ....................................... 70
1.1.2 Alone: republican partisan paradigm (Kościuszko and Mazzini) ... 73
1.2 The republican legion of Adam Mickiewicz in Italy, 1848-49 ................. 76
1.3 In opposition to the monarchical facet of the Risorgimento 1848-51 ......... 90
1.3.1 Against the legions in Italy – toward national egoism? .................. 95
1.3.2 Critique of Italia fara da se 1851-60 ............................................ 100
2 The lingering demise of Romantic ideology 1860-71 ................................... 105
2.1 Growing intransigence of the democrats ................................................. 111
2.2 Questioning the Italian model ................................................................. 118
2.3 Last epigones and lasting emotions ......................................................... 124
6 Contents
3 Multi-cultural nation – the civil religion vs. Catholicism .............................. 135
3.1 The democrats’ attitude to religion .......................................................... 141
3.2 Support for the Italians in their conflict with the Pope ............................ 145
Conclusions: The peculiar legacy of the democrats: from solidarity
of nations to national egoism ............................................................................ 159
PART II
Hôtel Lambert – ‘A vote for Italy is a vote for Poland’ ............................... 163
Introduction ....................................................................................................... 165
Hôtel Lambert – conditions of exile .............................................................. 169
Modus operandi – diplomacy, press, agents, networks ................................. 173
4 Risorgimento and the dawn of the ‘principle of nationality’ ......................... 179
4.1 The genesis of the Roman and Piedmontese options .............................. 180
4.2 The uses of the growing significance of Italy as the centre
of European attention .............................................................................. 184
5 The Risorgimento and the Polish communication with ‘Europe’ .................. 193
5.1 Violence: Polish legions in Italy as an instrument of appeal to Europe .. 193
5.1.1 Legions in Piedmont and Rome .................................................... 196
5.1.2 Poles as mediators of the alliance between Italy, Slavs
and Turkey .................................................................................... 201
5.1.3 Violence as a traditional right of free people to defence .............. 207
5.2 National discourse – Italian ‘principle of nationality’ applied
to the Polish case ..................................................................................... 210
5.2.1 For the same rights of the Italian and Polish nations .................... 213
5.2.2 To make Italians out of Poles ....................................................... 218
5.2.3 Risorgimental metaphors in the Polish literary-linguistic sphere ...... 228
6 Morals vs. pragmatics: a growing rift between the Italians
and Poles 1861-71 .......................................................................................... 233
6.1 Polish speranze versus the reality, 1860-61 ........................................... 233
6.2 The Polish-Italian relations towards new challenges, 1863-66 .............. 239
6.3 Divisive effect of the Roman Question, 1860-71 .................................... 241
Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 262
Contents 7
PART III
The conservatives: Risorgimental background of ‘Pole Catholic’ .............. 265
Introduction ....................................................................................................... 267
The quandary over the historiographical image of the revolutionary
Pole Catholic .................................................................................................. 269
The Church in Italy and Poland: a carrier of national identity? ..................... 275
7 The Krakow conservatives against the revolutionary Risorgimento ............. 283
7.1 Italian lawbreakers .................................................................................. 283
7.1.1 Violation of European customs by the Italians, 1848-60 .............. 285
7.1.2 Misdeeds of the final stage of the Risorgimento, 1860-71 ........... 294
7.1.3 Pius IX: the foundation of peace and justice ................................ 299
7.2 Polish national survival through moderation, caution and tradition ....... 304
7.2.1 Joining loyalism with patriotism – the alternative way
of the Krakow group after 1866 .................................................... 305
7.2.2 'The Roman Question' and the future of the Polish nation ........... 311
8 The ultramontanes – Pole Catholic versus Italian dissenter .......................... 319
8.1 The ongoing degeneration of Italian morals ............................................ 319
8.1.1 Early hopes set by the Italian moderates, 1848 ............................ 319
8.1.2 The rise of a dangerous pagan state in the 1860s ......................... 327
8.1.3 The Italy of 1871: a picture of a post-revolutionary despair ........ 336
8.2 The moral condition of the nation above its political existence .............. 341
8.2.1 The ultramontanes – disappointed revolutionaries seeking
consolation? .................................................................................. 341
8.2.2 ‘Organic work’ against Italianate struggle ................................... 352
8.2.3 ‘Piedmont and Russia, the Pope and Poland, these are
the synonyms’ ............................................................................... 358
Conclusions: Catholicism as a means of national resistance ............................ 370

Conclusions ...................................................................................................... 373

Bibliography .................................................................................................... 391

Acknowledgments
It is a great pleasure to thank my supervisor, Professor Arfon Rees, who invited
me to write this thesis, had confidence in me, and has offered me help and guid-
ance throughout. His valuable suggestions and critique were always expressed
kindly and supportively, and thus were always encouraging rather than disheart-
ening.
Moreover, I would like to express my gratitude to the professors who,
despite their demanding timetables, always made themselves available to
discuss my thesis: those I met at the European University Institute – Prof. Heinz
G. Haupt for judiciously directing me to ‘cultural transfers’, Prof. Philipp Ther
for his assistance as a liaison advisor, Bernhard Struck for his enthusiasm at the
early stage of my work and Prof. Ray Taras for his advice during the later stages
of writing. I am very grateful to professors with the Italian sphere of expertise:
especially to Prof. Marta Petrusewicz, Bogdan Szlachta and Krzysztof
Żaboklicki who appeared to be very responsive to the inquiries of the young
researcher. Finally, I would like to express my deep appreciation to Alberto M.
Banti and Brian Porter-Szűcs for their inspiring ideas on the relationship
between nationalism and Catholicism.
The thesis would not have been possible without the generous funding for
research and travel from the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European
University Institute in Florence which has also financially supported this
publication. The helpfulness of the staff at the EUI far exceeded the bounds of
duty and I would like to thank in particular all the librarians for their unending
support in every possible way. It has been the greatest pleasure to have the
opportunity to spend these years in the intellectual atmosphere at San Domenico,
set amidst the artistic splendor of Florence, the remarkable flavour of Tuscany
and the beauty of the diverse landscape of Italy.
On a personal note, my thanks to all those who have offered friendship,
intellectual stimulation and logistical support during these incredible years in
Florence, especially to my partner, and excellent colleague, Philipp who has
enriched my thesis in a number of ways and comfortingly accompanied me
during the long hours of writing, but also to Zuzana Loubet del Bayle, Michał
and Asia Gołąbek, Magda and Rafał Silscy, Priti and Ujjwal Kumar, Ula
Wójtowicz, Magda Jarosz, Tomasz Woźniak and Pietro de Sarlo.
My special thanks go to Bruno Kamiński, a good spirit of my life, without
whom this whole project would have been a far more mundane task. Because of
him, it has proved a great adventure. It would be impossible to account for all
the times he has been extremely helpful.
10 Acknowledgments
Finally, thanks go to my family, my ever supportive grandmother, my sister
Ewelina and my parents, who surely never imagined just how far further
education could go, but have provided me with the best environment for
intellectual development and it is to them, Rodzicom, that I dedicate my work.