The nation as a community of ideas and not a community of blood – the casus of Poland

The concepts of nation and nationalism have not enjoyed a good press since the middle of the 20th century. They are often equated with the concepts of chauvinism and racism. This is unjustified, however, as nationalism can take different forms, not only those related to the concept of common origin.

The concept of modern nation is relatively recent, and most social historians see the emergence of this phenomenon in the nineteenth century. Moreover, it is difficult to point to a specific moment in history when a modern nation, a homogeneous structure inhabiting a single territory, emerged from a “pre-nation” community. Instead, we should refer to a specific process spanning a number of years, which took on a varied course in different countries. While in the case of France we can talk about the formation of a modern nation as early as at the end of the 18th century, in the territory of the Borderlands of the former Republic of Poland some communities, such as the Belarusians, acquired their national identity only in the 20th century.

The concept of nationalism, a certain political doctrine linked to the concept of nation, is also defined varyingly. Nationalism is treated as a monolith, particularly by left-wing journalists, which is identical around the world and which invariably leads to war and extermination of other nations. This is undoubtedly an excessive simplification, which greatly complicates our understanding of what nation is and how different nationalisms can be. There are a great many nationalisms, which all treat such fundamental issues as family, religion, ownership of political system in a completely different way. The nationalism of nations which enjoyed the status of empires for many centuries, such as the nationalism of the English or the Russians, is completely different. Irish nationalism is different, in the same way as German or Polish nationalism. A very specific type of nationalism is Jewish nationalism. It emerged in the Diaspora in the second half of the 19th century, under the name of Zionism. The exceptionally original concept of Japanese nationalism, which is in contrast to European perceptions, came into existence in conditions of island isolation. It would be a mistake to speak of nationalism as a single aspect – it would seem more appropriate to speak of multiple nationalisms. Would it be possible to identify one feature which is common to different nationalisms? To put it very simply, it could be said that such a feature is the conviction that every national community should have its own state.

This factor was at the core of most political and social changes in Europe which started with the French Revolution and continued throughout the entire 19th century. Until that time, the concept of state was primarily linked to a ruler or dynasty. With a few exceptions, such as Switzerland and the Republic of Venice, all European countries were monarchies. As folk wisdom states, kings have no nationality. They rule a “nation” which is made up of their subjects who belong to different ethne and are representatives of diverse cultures or religions. In the region commonly known as Germany, since the time of Charlemagne, there existed for many centuries numerous countries and states inhabited by people speaking the same German language or similar dialects of that language. These people, however, above all felt bound by their duties towards the local ruler and not towards an indistinct German community. It was not until the 19th century that the consolidation of the Germans around the idea of a single nation state took place. It was Prussia, the most aggressive representative of the German principalities, which succeeded in unifying the Germans into an empire under the Hohenzollern sceptre. Not all of them, however, because beyond the borders of the Reich there were many Austrians or Germans subservient to the Habsburg dynasty, while the German-speaking population of Switzerland was unwilling to support the concept of the great German Reich. This process had a similar course in the Apennine Peninsula, where numerous Italian states coexisted since the Middle Ages. It was not until the 19th century when they were united under the House of Savoy.

Nonetheless, the concept of nation remains of crucial importance to nationalisms of any variety. However, when it comes to the definition itself, diverse varieties of nationalism show considerable differences. The etymology of the Polish word “nation” (naród) is the same as for the verb “give birth” (rodzić). This would point to the original meaning of the concept of nation as a community of people connected through ancestors, in short – a community bound by blood. The situation is similar in other European languages. It should be stated that for some theorists of nationalism the notion of nation was the same as the notion of ancestral community, in simple terms – a nation was a large family with common ancestors, perhaps a long time ago, in mythical times. Nationalism understood in this way took its most extreme and racist from in Germany. National Socialism, which comprised racist nationalism, reigned as the official ideology in the Third Reich; however, its origins are prior to that. In the second half of the 19th century, under the influence of the works by Joseph Arthur de Gobineau from France and Huston Chamberlain from England, the völkisch movement was born in Germany. It treated the nation as a community bound by blood, and its key concept was “Blood and Soil” (Blut und Boden), having the characteristics of a mystical link between all Germans. Such an understanding of the nation excluded anyone without “German blood”. In particular, the reluctance or hostility of the members of the völkisch movement was directed against the Jews, considered to be the embodiment of a complete contradiction of all the positive traits allegedly resulting from their German ethnicity. The völkisch movement, the German neo-paganism and the associated occult movements all had a major impact on the ideology of National Socialism in the Third Reich.

The peoples of Central Europe – Poles and Hungarians – entertained a completely different approach to the concept of nation. This is partly down to similar history. Both Poles and Hungarians once owned large, powerful states, which they then lost. These countries, like most countries in the Middle Ages, were associated with the idea of a common crown, and not with a single language or a sense of shared origin. Despite the fact that a single ethnic principle dominated on the plains of both Vistula and Pannonia, this did not equal chauvinistic desistance from other nations. In the heyday of the Polish Republic, the country covered a wide area inhabited by very different ethnic and religious groups. The concept of nation existed and often featured in documents from the Polish Sarmatian period, but it meant something else than it does today. The concept of nation was strictly limited to the “nation of the nobility” – i.e. only those who could boast their own coats of arms. In European terms, the Polish nobility was quite numerous, as it formed over 10 per cent of the population. It was these nobles who were the political community of the Polish Republic, who made the law and chose their own kings. They were also Poland’s armed wing. There was a sense of equality among members of the nobility, expressed in the saying “a nobleman at his farm is equal to the palatine”.

The nation of the nobility of the Polish Republic included ethnic Poles, inhabitants of Mazovia or Greater Poland, Ruthenians, or according to today’s criteria Ukrainians and Belarusians, as well as Lithuanians, Germans, Courlanders and even such exotic peoples as Tatars. Members of the nobility from Scotland or the Netherlands also settled in Poland after completing their military service. Apart from the representatives of Catholicism (the king had to be Catholic), there were many Orthodox, Protestant and even Muslim believers living in the Polish Republic. A similar situation could be seen in the land of the Crown of Saint Stephen, which was also inhabited by diverse nations and religions.

Poland lost its independent statehood at the end of the 18th century, exactly at a time when modern European nations began to emerge. Despite being stateless, the Polish nation continued to shape itself throughout the entire nineteenth century and the notion of Polishness was so alluring that numerous foreign families which settled in Poland became Polonised. Surnames such as Gloger, Wedel, Blikle, Bruckner and many others have become a permanent part of Polish tradition. Although their ancestors came from German countries, the influence of Polishness was so great that subsequent generations became the best representatives of Poland, involved in promoting Polishness or even participating in the armed struggle for Poland’s independence. Many of them gave their lives during these battles. A symbolic figure, and a representative of many other Poles with German ancestors, was Juliusz Burshe, a bishop of the Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland. Despite his German roots, he did not renounce Poland even when he was put to the ultimate test, at the time of being arrested by the Nazis during the Second World War. He paid the highest price for his staunch stance of a Polish patriot, and he was martyred by the Germans in prison in 1942.

At the end of the 19th century, Polish nationalism began to develop based on the ideas of National Democracy activists, including Roman Dmowski, Zygmunt Balicki, and Jan Ludwik Popławski. It was completely different from the nationalism born in Germany. From the very beginning, Polish nationalism was associated with cultural values and not a mythical community of blood or ancestry. Wincenty Lutosławski, an eminent Polish philosopher who often discussed the concept of nation, described the notion as follows:

“Polonised Germans, Tatars, Armenians, Gypsies, [and] Jews can belong to the Polish nation if they live for the common ideal of Poland. Negro or a Redskin can become a real Pole, if he adopts the spiritual heritage of the Polish nation, which is contained in its literature, art, politics, customs, and if he has an unwavering will to contribute to the development of the national life of the Poles”.

Journalism shows the image of a Pole as a Catholic. Does this mean that people of other faiths or those without Polish ancestry do not belong to the Polish nation? Of course not. People of German, Russian, Tatar, Armenian, Jewish and other descent all belong to the great historical national community. Religious aspects, therefore, are not a rigid stipulation. We have extensive evidence of impressive patriotic attitude shown by the Polish Tatars who are followers of Islam, who rose up to defend the Polish Republic, the great Polish patriots of the Jewish faith or atheist Poles. What remains crucial, however, is that the members of the national community respect a certain set of values regarded as fundamental for the nation. In the case of Poland, this undoubtedly means considering Christianity, or more strictly Catholicism, as a very important factor which had shaped the Polish nation. This also means respect for tradition and customs, the awareness of shared history and even certain vices.

A nation formed around a community of values, instead of being a community bound by blood, is more open to people from other countries, it is not afraid of any racist “blood contamination”, and it remains free from the greatest danger that always accompanies nationalism, i.e. chauvinism.

Author: Marcin Bąk / Instytut Współpracy Polsko-Węgierskiej im. Wacława Felczaka / Photo.: PAP