Revolution of the Intelligentsia on the Periphery of the Russian Empire and its Contemporary Effects: Landed Gentry’s Heritage in the Polish Model of Citizenship

Abstract

Tomasz Zarycki — Director, The Robert B. Zajonc Institute for Social Studies, University of Warsaw. Address: 5/7, Stawki St., Warsaw, 00-183, Poland. E-mail: t.zarycki@uw.edu.pl.

Rafał Smoczyński — Associate Professor, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences. Address: 72, Nowy Świat St., Warsaw, 00-330, Poland. E-mail: rsmoczyn@ifispan.waw.pl.

This paper examines the still existing milieu of former landowners in Poland from a wider perspective of the transformation which took place from 1917 on the territory of the former Russian Empire. The results of this analysis are further discussed in the context of comparing two distinct ‘intelligentsia’s revolutions’ — the Polish and the Russian one. The authors present the preliminary results of a research project devoted to the role played by the landowners’ milieu in the development of the modern citizenship model in Poland.

The study under discussion, financed by the Polish National Science Center, refers to the earlier works on the gentry roots of the Polish intelligentsia and the key role played by that group in the development of the Polish national identity. Although much has been already written about the affect of gentry (landowners) traditions on the identity of Polish intelligentsia, there is still lack of systematic research on the functions played by the landowners’ milieu from the perspective of development of the modern citizenship model in Poland. This model has been marked by the lack of statehood in the so-called partition period (1795-1918), the lack of a revolutionary phase, and the weak role played by the bourgeoisie. This paper reveals the key role of the landowner class in the genesis of the modern Polish political culture by pointing out to specificity of the Polish model of citizenship in relation the classic European models symbolized by the German and French cases At the same time, it explores to the role of the Russian Empire in the development of its late incarnations.