Abstract
As one tries to follow Cieszkowski in his travels at the turn of the 1840’s, one finds him shuttling restlessly across Europe. Paris, Berlin, Warsaw are all equally home to him as, for varying periods, are Baden, Aix or Rome. In part, this instability can be explained by the devouring curiosity which finds its reflection in the multitude of observations and names recorded in the Diaries. To some extent, this mobility corresponds to the conventions of fashionable aristocratic life in the period. Above all, this rootlessness expresses a deep political dilemma: Cieszkowski seems to be wavering between the liberty in exile which Polish intellectual leaders had chosen after the ill-fated insurrection of 1830 and submission to an arbitrary and oppressive régime in his native land. Torn between these two alternatives, Cieszkowski attempted a sort of semi-emigration, a voluntary and partial exile from Poland, and adopted a peculiar relation to the dominant emigré ideology of Messianism. It was this peculiar relation which was to dominate the Our Father discussed in the concluding chapter. Here, I wish to study the exile milieu in which Messianism was born and the principal proponents of Messianism whose doctrines Cieszkowski did not espouse but whose influence is evident in his work.
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Notes
The most recent and complete account of the history and politics of the emigration is S. Kalembka, Wielka Emigracja, Warsaw, 1971.
Quoted from L’Avenir 2.1.1831 in Maria Straszewska, Zycie literackie wielkiej emigracji we Francji 1831–40, Warsaw 1970. See also R. Przelaskowski, ‘‘L’Avenir et la question polonaise’ in Études sur les mouvements libéraux et nationaux de 1830, Comité français des sciences historiques, ed., Paris, 1932.
On Lelewel see Stefan Kiniewicz, Samotnik Brukselski, Warsaw 1960.
Marian Kukieł, Dzieje Polski Porozbiorowej 1795–1921, London, 1962, p. 261.
Jan Koźmian, quoted by Straszewska, op. cit., p. 172.
J. Ujejski, ‘Allgemeiner Überblick der religiös — sozialen Strömungen unter der polnischen Emigranten nach dem Jahr 1831’ Bulletin de l’Académie des Sciences de Cracovie, 1915, pp. 11–28.
J. L. Talmon, Political Messianismi the Romantic Phase, New York, 1960, p. 15.
Dzieje polskiego mesjanizmu do powstania listopadowego włacznie, Lwow, 1931.
A. Walicki, Filozofia a Mesjanizm, pp. 9–22; also his ‘Milenaryzm i mesjanizm religijny a romantyczny mesjanizm polski’, Pamietnik Literacki, LXII, 4, 1971, pp. 23–40.
Walicki, Filozofia i Mesjanizm, p. 10.
Ibid., pp. 11–12 referring to G. Shepperson, ‘The Comparative Study of Millenarian Movements’ in Sylvia L. Thrupp, ed., Millenial Dreams in Action. Essays in Comparative Study, The Hague, 1962.
M. Zdziechowski, Mesjaniści i słowianofile; szkice z psychologji narodów słowianskich, Krakow, 1888, p. V & p. 189.
S. Cywiński, Romantyzm a Mesjanizm, Vilno, 1914, p. 36.
Ibid. Nevertheless, Cywiński names the three leading romantic poets — Mickiewicz, Słowacki, Norwid — as the principal Messianists. As elements of Polish Messianism he mentions five points: the notion that only life and creativity are criteria of truth; that one must relate to the world not merely through the knowledge of truth but through surrender to it; that Catholicism is a necessary component (although he acknowledges that Mickiewicz wanted to found a new Church); that the world must be spiritualized; that nations must develop a sense of solidarity.
For instance, W. Lutosławski, a latter-day Polish Messianist and philosopher, who defines Messianism in conventionally vague terms as “a movement religious, philosophical, social and political whose goal is to transfer entirely the life of both individuals and society and to inaugurate a new era in the history of humanity”. Curiously, Lutosławski sees Polish Messianism as derived partly from Christian ascetism and partly from Hindu Yogi. Volonte et Liberté, Paris, 1912; and ‘Le messianisme polonais’, IV congresso internationale di filosofia, Bologna, April 1911.
Walicki, Filozofia a Mesjanizm, p. 6.
See Ujejski, ‘Dzieje polskiego mesjanizmu’, who finds properly Messianic traces in Bengiel, Lessing and even Kant, not to speak of the barely shrouded presence of Swedenborg. See also J. D’Hondt, Hegel Secret, Paris, 1968.
Walicki’s polemical purpose is to stress the French sources of Cieszkowski’s thought as he has done in his article, ‘Francuskie inspiracje…’, op. cit.; as I have suggested before, the point seems to be a valuable rectification of the exclusively Hegelian Cieszkowski previously presented but to the extent to which it is more than a rectification it is a distortion.
Przelaskowski, op. cit., p. 208, citing L’Avenir, 9 June 1831.
Zdziechowski, op. cit., p. 35, citing Mickiewicz’ letter to Lelewel of December 1832 from Dresden.
Adam Mickiewicz, Ksiegi narodu polskiego i piełgrzymstwa polskiego, Stanisław Pigoń, ed., London, 1940 (?), p. 93; also Handelsman, Études, p. 96.
Diary II, 14, January 1839, indicates “musical evening at Prince Cz (artoryski ? A.L.).
Straszewska, op. cit., pp. 214ff.
Kiniewicz, Samotnik Brukselski, op. cit., passim.
See D’Arcy’s work on Wroński, op. cit. An exposition by a contemporary Wrońskiite is Jerzy Braun, Aperçu de la philosophie de Wroński, trans. Adam de Lada, pub. by Les Amis de Wroński, Ireland n.d. An excellent recent study in Polish is Adam Sikora’s Posłannicy Słowa, Warsaw, 1967.
Sikora, op. cit., p. 36, suggests the comparison with Saint-Simon. For the latter see in addition to works previously cited, Frank E. Manuel, The Prophets of Paris, Cambridge, Mass., 1962.
This was the Philosophie critique découverte par Kant, published in 1803. See Sikora, op. cit., p. 15; D’Arcy gives a slightly different title: Philosophie critique fondée sur le premier principe du savoir humain. D’Arcy discusses the place of Kant in Hoëné-Wronski’s doctrines quite thoroughly; op. cit., esp. pp. 57ff.
Braun, op. cit., pp. 171–172.
Hoëné-Wronski, Développement progressif et but final de Vhumanité, Paris, 1861, quoted in d’Arcy, op. cit., p. 112.
Bronisław Trentowski, Panteon Wiedzy Ludzkiej, vol. II, Poznan 1874, pp. 142ff.
Braun, op. cit., p. 190; see also Kozłowski, op. cit. Comparisons with Cieszkow-ski’s Prolegomena come to mind.
Sikora, op. cit., p. 94, places the beginning of Hoëné-Wronski’s national Messianism in Epitre écrite en janvier 1827 et destinée au Souverain Pontife Léon XII.
Braun, op. cit., p. 190; the transition according to Braun appears in Epitre au prince Czartoryski sur les destinées de la Pologne et des nations slaves (1848). Another pamphlet of that year, however, omits all specific reference to either Poles or Russians and speaks only of Slavs in general thus suggesting that Hoëné-Wroński maintained some hopes for the Russians also. See Odezwa do narodów słowiańskich wzgledem przeznaczeń świata, Paris, 1848.
B. Gawecki, Wroński i o Wrońskim, Warsaw, 1958, p. 31, refers to an undated letter from Cieszkowski to Hoëné-Wroński, apparently in the National Library, Warsaw. The same source shows that Hoëné-Wroński’s theories were known to Carové in his Messianismus, die neue Templar… op. cit., In Poland, Karol Libelt was among the first to draw attention to Wroński in 1838 in the Tygodnik Literacki. For Cieszkowski’s meeting with Wroński see Diary II, p. 11, 17th October 1838 and Diary II, p. 14. January 1839.
Drogi Ducha, Ojcze Nasz vol. I, pp. III-XXXIX.
Sikora, op. cit., part III.
For example, J. Kallenbach, Towianizm na fle historycznym, Cracow, 1926, or Boleslaw Gawecki, Pokcy myśliciele romantyczni, Warszawa, 1972, esp. chap. V.
For biographical information on Mickiewicz see his son’s account in, Władysław Mickiewicz, Pamietniki, 2 vols., Warsaw, 1926; as well as St. Pigoń, Adam Mickiewicz: Wspomnienia i Myśli, Warsaw, 1958.
Pigoń, introduction to Ksiegi,…, p. 24. The first creation of this new period in Mickiewicz’ work was part III of the long poem-drama Dziady.
Mickiewicz, Ksiegi…, p. 51.
Ibid., p. 101.
Czesław Miłosz, The History of Polish Literature, London, 1969, p. 226.
A. Mickiewicz, Cours de littérature slave, vol. II, Paris 1860, lesson XLVIII, 14 December 1841, pp. 308.
Ibid., p. 15.
Z. Krasiński, Listy do Delfiny Potockiej, vol. I, Poznan, 1930, p. 491, quoted in Sikora, op. cit., p. 138; and Kallenbach, op. cit.
See Sikora, op. cit., p. 135, and Kallenbach, op. cit., pp. 46ff.
Apparently, Christ was the first great man and Towiański is the second, thus leaving unclear the role of Napoleon who elsewhere is referred to in Messianic terms. It may be noticed that if 1900 years separate the first and the second great man, then prehistory has a long course yet to run. The division is borrowed from the Apocalypse. See Sikora, op. cit., pp. 221ff.
Krasiński drew attention to this in his Listy do Delfiny, vol. I, p. 274, cited in Sikora, op. cit., p. 152.
See Kallenbach, op. cit., and also Kamil Kantak, Mickiewicz i Towiańskiego Sprawa Boża, London, 1957, p. 20.
See A. Walicki, ‘Dwa Mesjanizmy…’, op. cit., pp. 57–59.
See Cours de littérature slave, op. cit., lecture XVII, 2 May 1843, vol. IV, pp. 318–337.
Ibid., lecture XXII, 6 June 1843, pp. 427–448.
Władyslaw Mickiewicz, Pamietniki, vol. I, p. 68.
Krasiński, Listy do Augusta Cieszkowskiego, vol. I, dated 21 February 1847, p. 242. Krasiński adds: “he has judged us as God would have if God were heartless…”
Pigoń, op. cit., p. 220. This is recounted by Seweryn Goszczyński following a conversation between Mickiewicz and Cieszkowski dated 20 December 1843; Pigoń also quotes Krasiński telling Cieszkowski that Mickiewicz had promised to read the Our Father if Cieszkowski would say an Our Father with faith.
M. Zdziechowski, ‘Krasiński i Schelling’, in Wizja Krasińskiego, Cracow, 1912, pp. 43ff, speaks of a similarity rather than a debt. Maria Janion appears to be closer to the truth in describing Krasiński as a “pseudo-Hegelian”, i.e., as belonging to the religious right-wing of Hegelianism much susceptible to Schelling’s influence. See her ‘Krasiński — filozofujacy poeta romantyczny’. Filozofia Polska, vol. II, ed. B. Baczko, Warsaw, 1967.
Janion, Ibid., pp. 327ff.
Ibid., p. 322; also M. Janion, ‘Romantyczna Wizja Rewolucji’, Problemy polskiego romantyzmu, Wroclaw, 1971.
See Miłosz, op. cit., pp. 245–246.
The Dawn (Przedświt) is especially important in this regard. See Juljusz Kleiner’s introduction to the fourth edition, Edinburgh, 1942, as well as Bolesław Gawecki, ‘Cieszkowski i Krasiński’, Pokcy myśliciele romantyczni, pp. 69–88.
Kallenbach, op. cit., p. 131; the term “infernal gangs” is taken directly “from Hoëné-Wroński.
Krasiński, Listy do Augusta Cieszkowskiego, vol. II, dated 4 July 1848, p. 34 from Babylon (i.e., Paris -sic).
Letter to Delfina Potocka, dated 31 March 1848, cited in Kallenbach, op. cit., p. 124.
Krasiński, Listy do Augusta Cieszkowskiego, vol. II, 21 May 1848, p. 26.
Ibid., vol. I, dated 8 April 1841, p. 3. This is interesting for the suggestion that Krasiński moderated Cieszkowski’s ascetic zeal.
Ibid., vol. II, dated 3 June 1848, p. 8.
Krasiński wrote Delfina Potocka regarding his conversation with Mickiewicz about George Sand: “She has negated everything; she is only critique and destruction. But the divine spark of harmonizing life which puts something in the place of ruins is not there! She is a great spirit said he (i.e., Mickiewicz) — Oh yes, I answered — everywhere she speaks of the ideal of love and yet she is an awful debauchee; everywhere she says that we have to join with the workers — said he (Mickiewicz — AL) but why did she not have her daughter marry a worker?” Cited in Kallenbach, p. 105, dated 20 February 1848. Regarding Proudhon, Krasiński wrote to Cieszkowski, Listy…, vol. I, p. 194, 8 June 1846: “I have read Proudhon’s critique of communism — excellent but what he writes about God is disgusting — as if written in a brothel — without his pants on”.
Pigoń, op. cit., p. 156, cites Krasiński: “He (Mickiewicz — AL) said many beautiful things, exactly the same mystically as August said logically and historically, not an iota of difference. He spoke beautifully of Christ, I will not say it was true but it was beautiful”. Krasinski’s letter to Delfina Potocka, 27 February 1848, cited in Kallenbach, p. 112: “in Mickiewicz there are many things of August but in a fevered state of feeling; there is neither calm judgment nor proof of thought. How is it that these two people understood each other so little? It is only form which separates them. Here there is feeling; there, intelligence!”
Charles Stoeffels was the author of Resurrection (Paris, 1840?) whose last chapter was entitled ‘May your kingdom come’. Krasiński spoke of the work with the utmost enthusiasm and told Cieszkowski in his letter of 26 March 1843 that Stoeffels’ ideas matched Cieszkowski’s completely. Krasiński, Listy…, vol. I, pp. 69–73.
Krasiński, Listy do Delfiny, pp. 684 and 689, 12 and 18 January 1843.
Ibid., letter 17 October 1843; also his letter to Delfina Potocka cited in Kallenbach, op. cit., p. 31, and dated 5 January 1842.
Krasiński, Lisry…, vol. I, p. 124: “You are a man not of humanity but of coterie and system — not logos acts in your ears but instinct, custom, the din of Berlin is so strong that you cannot hear the voice of humanity”, dated 31 March 1844. Some three years later he writes: “How you are sometimes mistaken in regard to human character… and do you know why? Because you never look at the whole of man, only at his relation to his theory!” Ibid., p. 280. Krasiński, like so many other reactionary observers of 1848, blamed Hegel among others for the conflagration of that year. He wrote to Delfina Potocka on 28 May 1848: “… such a deep and terrible movement which is false but tries to pretend it is true, began with the Hegelians, began with the Mazzinists, began with the Towiańskiists, in each of them in a different form and in each similarly because against Christ… all eliminate Christ: Hegelians as philosophers, Mazzinists as politicians, Towiańskiists as mystics… Quoted in Kallenbach, op. cit., p. 136.
Krasiński, Lisry, vol. II, 13 June 1849, p. 175, Krasiński writes somewhat patronizingly: “You do not know people, my dear August, you know nothing and cannot guess and sometimes you are simplex simplicitas, with the angels and incompatible with Towiańskis, reds and company”.
Krasiński to Cieszkowski Lisry…, op. cit., vol. I, dated 30 April 1843, p. 75. In a letter of 18 October 1843 Krasiński wrote to Delfina Potocka: “The whole day is spent reading August. The work about which I told you so many strange passages in Rome is becoming broader. It alone will be the bright fulfillment of the dark forefeeling of Towiański. The hidden seed of years has given fruit”.
Jan Koźmian writing to S. Egbert Koźmian from Paris, dated 27 February 1842 quoted in Krasiński, Listy do Konstantego Gaszyńskiego, ed., Sudolski, p. 253. Sudolski also cites an interesting letter on the same subject from Cezary Plater (Jan Kozmian’s informer) to Prince Czartoryski dated 17 March 1852 from Munich: “I am still not without a certain well-founded fear concerning the direction of Zygmunt’s (Krasinski’s — AL) thought which together with the strivings of Jan (Zamoyski — AL) Cieszkowski, Trentowski and still some others, among whom I would count the teaching of Alexander Wielopolski, and today perhaps even Mickiewicz, represents to my mind a great danger… if I were to limit this to its principal aspect, this would be in my opinion the movement towards… a considerable weakening in obedience and submission to the Church”. Ibid., p. 252.
Krasiński to Delfina Potocka, 16 August 1842, cited in Kallenbach, op. cit., p. 36: “… Thank you for the course (presumably, Mickiewicz’s Slavonic lectures — AL) and for the Towiański stuff. Whoever has read Fourier will recognize extraordinary similarities between his method and this suite, this fire, this tone. Whoever has heard August and Konstanty (Danilewicz — AL) and understood their exposition of the will of God and man based on Christ’s words: ‘Thy will be done on earth as in heaven’ -the basis of this whole new doctrine — the conciliation of the will of God and man will not seem new”.
For Danilewicz’s views and their obvious dependence on Cieszkowski, see the former’s article ‘Historyczna Zasada’, Biblioteka Warszawska, III, 1844, pp. 481–493.
Krasiński to Delfina Potocka, 18 May 1848, in Kallenbach, op. cit., p. 135.
Krasiński to Delfina Potocka, 17 March 1848, cited in Ibid., p. 117.
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Liebich, A. (1979). Exile and the Messianic Option. In: Between Ideology and Utopia. Sovietica, vol 39. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9383-9_10
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