Travelling counter-concepts in revolutionary Europe: individualism-socialism from Pierre Leroux to Polish ‘democratism’

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article analyses the ways in which travelling counter-concepts forged under specific intellectual conditions can penetrate a new, absorbing national context and contribute to the emergence of an original and coherent ideology. We focus on the juxtaposed pair individualism-socialism, coined in France in the 1830s by Pierre Leroux as an attempt to respond to the social and political tensions in his country at that time and to promote democratic reforms. In subsequent years, this juxtaposition gained popularity not only among representatives of the French left but in other countries as well. These paired counter-concepts appeared likewise in works of the Polish democrats (in the political discourse of the Polish Democratic Society). As a result of the ideological evolution in this organization, the paired juxtaposition individualism-socialism finally led to the emergence of a new, fully fledged ideology forged by the Polish democrats, namely: ‘democratism’. Even if ‘democratism’ turned out to have been quite ephemeral, it still provides an example of how concepts may travel over different countries, languages, and social strata.