Introduction: Poland and Irish Anti-Colonialism

Abstract

Healy explains the importance of the Poles, relative to other subject peoples like the Hungarians, within Irish nationalist discourse in the long nineteenth century. While Irish men and women had little direct contact with Poland, many believed that Ireland’s loss of political sovereignty in the Act of Union of 1800 and its experience of religious persecution were mirrored by developments in contemporary Poland. The introduction argues that the Irish nationalist assertion of this parallel should be considered anti-colonial, in that it reflected an insistence on the right to free cultural expression and self-determination in Poland as well as Ireland. Moreover, it was compatible with, and often accompanied by, a commitment to the freedom of non-European peoples.