The Polish Uprising of 1863 in Slovak Public Opinion and Slovak Press

Abstract

In the article the author analyzes the views of leading Slovak public and political fi gures and the Slovak press on various aspects of the Polish national movement. Particular attention is paid to the attitude of the Slovak press and public fi gures to the prerequisites, course and features of the Polish uprising of 1863 in the territory of the Kingdom of Poland and in the Belarusian-Lithuanian provinces of the Russian Empire. In contrast to the Czech press, which generally took the pro-Polish stand, Slovak fi gures and Slovak press, including the infl uential Slovak “Peshtbudinske Vedomosti” journal, demonstrated a critical attitude towards the Polish uprising, which they interpreted as an attempt by the Polish gentry to defend their class and social interests. In addition, Slovak leaders criticized the Polish movement for its detachment towards common Slavic interests, emphasizing at the same time that Russia had always sought to protect the interests of the Slavic peoples. They also criticized the slogan of the Polish rebels about the restoration of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth within the borders of 1772, which the Slovak press interpreted as the desire to impose Polish domination on the population of the Ukraine and Belarus. The critical attitude towards the Polish national movement, which manifested itself in 1863, also infl uenced the subsequent attitude of Slovak public towards the Russian-Polish historical dispute.