Ludowa reakcja na szlacheckie kłamstwo. Galicyjscy chłopi w obronie Jakuba Szeli

Abstract

People’s response to the nobleman’s lie. Galician peasants in defence of Jakub Szela This article examines two different narratives (legends) that arose around the figure of Jakub Szela — one of the leaders of the peasant revolt of 1846 in Austrian Galicia. The first one, named the black legend, was fabricated by the noble family of Bogusz, who suffered severely during the peasant revolt. They placed the entire responsibility for their suffering on their subject Szela, with whom they had been in a violent legal dispute for years, and accused him of a plethora of crimes. This negative image, originating from personal hatred, became the dominant view on Szela in Polish history and literature due to a number of artists and historians who reproduced it in their writings. However, as the article demonstrates, the peasants’ view of Szela was different. In the countryside he was perceived as a hero who brought serfdom and nobility’s violence to an end. Interestingly, the white legend was not supported by the peasant movement, which was erected in Galicia at the end of the 19th century. At the time, peasant politicians followed the goal of gaining independence for Poland and raising peasants’ national consciousness, both of which stood in contradiction of the positive memory of Szela, who was perceived by the ruling class as a mass murderer. This changed in the 1930s with the radicalisation of the peasant movement’s modus operandi and fierce clashes with the government. Szela was revitalised by younger and radical politicians who needed a telling symbol of conflict between the people and the elite. He was also used as a figure for revising the history of Poland — occupied and written predominantly by the nobility. So, again Szela was used instrumentally.