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Adam Gurowski: Polish Nationalism, Russian Panslavism and American Manifest Destiny Author(s): Andrzej Walicki Source: Russian Review, Vol. 38, No. 1 (Jan., 1979), pp. 1-26 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The Editors and Board of Trustees of the Russian Review Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/129074 . Accessed: 04/07/2011 05:23
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PolishNationalism, AdamGurowski: and Russian Panslavism American Manifest Destiny

By ANDRZEJ WALICKI

For the generationof Polishpatriotswho had witnessed the defeat of the Novemberuprising,the meaningof Polish historyceased to be selfevident and takenfor granted.Alien to them was the notion (characterthat the existenceof istic of moder, ethnocentricformsof nationalism) a nationis an end in itself and does not need any higher sanction.Polish thinkersof the "romanticepoch" were convinced that Poland had to was necessaryfor mankind.The existenceof prove that her restoration a nation, they thought, is not of value as such; on the contrary,only such nationshave an undisputableright to existence which can claim to representa universalvalue, to be endowed with a special mission in the serviceof the universal of progress humanity. It is easy to notice that such an attitudecan lead to exaggerated, even megalomaniacnotions about the importanceof one's nation. On the other hand, however,the same attitudemight justify complete disbelief in the given nation:the existenceof a nationcan indeed be meaningless if it must derive its meaning from a supranational, universalsystem of values. A good example of such a conclusion was Petr Chaadaev's "PhilosophicalLetter," proclaiming that the Russians were a superfluous nation, a nation which had no "idea"of its own and, therefore, contributed nothing to the common heritage of mankind.1An even more drastic example is to be found in Adam Gurowski's"national The existence of the Russian state was a fact which could apostasy." not be questionedand for which Chaadaevhimself,in his later writings, found at last a providentialsanction.In the case of the defeated, subjugated Poles, however, Gurowski'ssevere verdict was tantamountto condemningthem as not worthyto exist as a nation,to sanctioningtheir defeatas an inevitableand just decreeof Providence. Adam Gurowski (1805-1866) was born near Calissia, the oldest Polish town, the son of a rich landownerwho had had the Polish title of Castellanand the Prussiantitle of Count. He studied four years in
1 Cf. A. Walicki, The Slavophile Controversy(Oxford, 1975), pp. 98-101.

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Germanyand belonged to the groupof Poles who had the good luck to listen to the lecturesof the old Hegel. Returningto Poland he became a prominent member of the conspiratorialorganization which was to bring about the Novemberuprising.He was also the initiatorand the main organizerof the so-called, "coronationplot"-the unfulfilled attempt to kill TsarNicholasI on May 24, 1829,the day of his coronation as King of Poland.2During the uprising he representedthe extreme of Left: he demandedthe dethronement the Romanovsas Polish kings, demonstration honorof the Decembrists,and proclaimed in organizeda the national (with his friend,MaurycyMochnacki) idea of transforming insurrectioninto a social revolution which would penetrate into the Ukrainianand even the Transcaucasian territoriesof the RussianEmpire. In accordancewith this he promised to enfranchisethose of his own peasantswho would enlist in the revolutionaryarmy. Himself a brave soldier,he was given a Crossof Virtuti Militariand promotedto officer rank. In March 1831, he was sent to France to talk with the French governmentand also, unofficially, establishcontactswith the to circles.There he published a brochure,La Cause French revolutionary polonaise sur son veritable point de vue (Paris 1831), in which he wared the peoples of Europe against the "new Attilla"(Russiantsar) and exhortedthem to abandonthe idea of a constitutional monarchy, which was merely a despicablejuste milieu between freedom and despotism. After the defeat Gurowskiwas among the most active representatives of the emigre extremeLeft. On his initiative,in March1832,the former Club withdrew from Lelewers membersof the WarsawRevolutionary National Committee and founded their own organization,the Polish DemocraticSociety. Gurowski's philosophicaland social views were being formed at that time underthe influenceof French utopiansocialists,especiallyFourier and the saintsimonianswith whom he had direct personal contact. tradition of the Politically he remained faithful to the conspiratorial representedby Filippo Buonarroti,a disciple revolutionaryCarbonari, of the utopiancommunistBabeuf. These influencesfound expressionin the journal"Przyszos6c" (The Future) whose first (and only) issue was him in January1834. The future of the entire world, propublishedby claimedthe Polish Count,belongs to the industrialproletariat, only the is social class whose revolutionism trulyradicaland in accordancewith the principlesof Europeancivilization.3
2 Concerningthe "coronationplot" see M. Zizan, P. Hertz, Glossy do "Kordiana" (Warsaw, 1967), pp. 275-291. 3 The importance of these ideas has been stressed in S. Kalembka, Wielka Emigracja (Warsaw, 1971), p. 121.

Adam Gurowski

Unfortunately,Gurowskidid not develop these ideas in his further writings. The failure of all revolutionaryventures undertakenby the Polish6migresin 1833-1834-such as Col. Zaliwski's attemptto organize warfare in Poland, the "Frankfurt campaign,"organized to guerrilla an abortiverevolutionin Germanyas well as the "Savoyexpedihelp tion,"inspired by Mazzini4-brought him to serious doubts about the He in revolutionin generaland Polish revolutionaries particular. noted were resolute opponentsof revoluthat Fourierand the saintsimonians tionarymethods.It is properalso to mentionin this contextthe death of his wife and the marriageof his sisterto a high officialin the Petersburg court.5 whateverreasons,the year 1834becamethe time of a sudden For volte-facein his life. On September8, 1834,the initiatorof the "coronation plot" and spiritusmovens of the dethronementof the Romanovs Zeitung"saying that he was publisheda statementin the "Augsburger to acceptamnestyand to servethe Russiangovernment. ready The ideological motivation for this risky move was presented in Gurowski's pamphletLa Veritesur la Russie et sur la r6volte des provinces polonaises (dated Dec. 12, 1834). He declaredthat political and social studies had made him aware that his true fatherlandwas Russia -"the great sum total of Slavdom." Today only Russia represents Slavonic vitality;Poland is but a corpse which has passed through all phasesof decomposition.6 The Reasonsof Apostasy This strikingconclusionwas based upon the following argument. The recent heroic effortsmade by the Poles to regain their independence should not be taken as symptomsof the vitality of the Polish nation;sometimesfalling nationsseem to grow strongerin the moment of theirfinaldecay.7 Polandwas never significantfromthe point of view of the great,vital interestsof mankind.Historicalprogresslies in the increaseof unity and Polandwas always lacking the unifying force of attraccentralization; the spiritof hierarchyand discipline.She was not able and did not tion, even want to care about Slavdom.She always kept herself apart from the main currentof Europeanhistory.Her own state was growingmore
4 See E.E.Y. Hayes, Mazzini and the Secret Societies (London, 1956), pp. 111135. 5 Gurowski'sfriend, J. N. Janowski, claimed to know with certainty that it was Gurowski'ssister who had insisted on her brother's return to the Russian Empire. See Z. Gross, "Diabel Asmodeusz w binoklach-Adam Gurowski,"Zeszyty Naukowe Wyzszej Szkoly Pedagogicznej w Katowicach.Prace Filozoficzno-SpoleczneKatedry Filozofii 3 (1968): 28. 6 A Gurowski, La Vdrit4 sur la Russie et sur la revolte des provinces polonaises (Paris, 1834), p. 81.
7 Ibid., p. 2.

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and more decentralized, more and more isolated and consciouslyisolationist. The union with Lithuania,so much idealized by historians, was the main factor separatingPoland from the EuropeanWest. It would have been incomparablybetter if the Poles had decided to conquer Lithuania,to impose on her the right of the victor and to incorporate her into a centralizedstate, instead of strengtheningcentrifugalforces. Empiresare made by conquests,not by unions.8 The notorious vehicle of anarchic tendencies was, of course, the Polish nobility. Poland'sgentry republicanism was an imitation of the worst features of the political system of Venice. The Jagellons often quarrelledwith the gentry but were not able to subordinateit to the raison d'etat. Unlike the Russian monarchsthey failed also to impose their power on the Churchand, as a result,became puppetsof the pope and the jesuits. The free election of kings, introducedafter the extinction of the Jagellons dynasty, proved that the Polish ruling class was deprived of any sense of statesmanship.In addition, Poland always lacked greatprovidentialmen. At the beginningof the seventeenthcento tury, Poland carelesslywasted all opportunities gain the upper hand in with Russiawhich had been offeredto her by the "timeof troubles" Soon after, Russia, having overcome her inner disorders, Moscovy. startedher rapid growth at the cost of Poland. Her historicalsuccesses were legitimate,showing that she was truly God's elect. Russiahas had everything which Poland has lacked: great statesmen,unifying, centralizingforce,directionandpurpose.9 Another proof of Russian superioritywas seen by Gurowskiin the peculiarly Russian capacity of assimilatingeverything good without losing national originality. The Poles, on the contrary, were always aping what was bad in other nations, unable to assimilate anything good. Even the Polish language had become a victim of this.10Under the influenceof Latin, Italian,and French,it became de-Slavonizedand degenerate. Its monotony and dryness contrasted with the growing richness,rhythm,flexibility,melody,and power of the Russianlanguage. Poles was also A characteristic featureof the "conceitedand careless" their total indifferencetowards industry.l That is why Polish towns are inhabited by Jews and other foreignerswhile neighboring Russia and has alwayshad her own burghers her own industry. This reasoningled to the inescapableconclusionthat only Russiacan unite all Slavonic nations and, having done this, perform the great, civilizing and Christianizingmission in Asia. In a word, only Russia
8 Ibid., p. 29. 9 Ibid., p. 58. 1o Ibid., p. 35. 1 Ibid., p. 59.

Adam Gurowski

can representthe interests of all the peoples between Germany and China. In comparisonwith such tasks, what significancecould be attachedto the petty,particular interestsof Poland?12 later,in the prefaceto his book Russiaas it is, Gurowski Twenty years gave an interestingexplanationof the theoreticalgenesis of these views. in He had looked for the theoreticaljustificationof his "apostasy" the firstof all saintsimonians. an historof the Frenchsocialists, For writings ian of nineteenth-century ideas this is not surprising.The theory of as an increase in unity and centralization was typically saintprogress element of Gurowsimonian;the same held true for the characteristic ski's views, the emphasison the necessity of hierarchy,authority,discipline and clear social purpose.The saintsimonians proclaimedthat a new "organicepoch" was imminent;in the loosening of social bonds, weakening of authorityand underminingthe hierarchicalstructureof In epochs."l3 the light societythey saw a symptomof the sterile"critical of such ideas it was easy to see the whole span of Polish historyas one long process of "critical" decay and to find in Russia all elements of a of Gurowskiwas correct in his interpretation truly "organic" society. the saintsimonians, as that they "established an axiomthat society saying ought to be directedby a supremewill embodied in one individual."14 His own inventionconsistedmerelyin the identification this powerful of had individual,whom the saintsimonians called "loi vivante,"with the Russiantsar. In anotherpart of the preface Gurowskireferred"to the great truths revealed by Fourier"; even confessed that Fourier'spersonaladvice he had powerfullyinfluencedhis decision to serve the tsar: "Whoeverhas read his works, knows how repeatedly Fourier points to Russia and even to a Csar,as to the means of the speediestrealizationof the theory of association. And thus I went to Russiaand to the Czar."15 There is no reasonto doubt this. Fourier(unlike the saintsimonians) was not an advocateof centralization; however, he did believe that "the of means of the speediestrealization" his vision of the future might be a monarch, especially an absolute monarch, like the Russian tsar.16 and There were also some analogies between Fournier's"association" associationof craftsmen)and village comthe Russianartel (traditional mune. In the 1840sthese analogieswere discoveredand emphasizedby many differentwriters,such as Baronvon Haxthausenand Adam Mic12

par Bazard.Deuxieme Annee) (Paris, 1877), pp. 326-329. 14 A. Gurowski,Russia as it is (New York,1854), p. x.
15 Ibid., p. xii.

Ibid., p. 64. 13 Cf. Oeuvres de Saint-Simonet d'Enfantin, vol. 42 (Doctrine Saint-Simonienne

1 Cf. N. V. Riasanovsky, The Teaching of Charles Fourier (Berkeley, 1969), p. 122.

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kiewicz, Russian Slavophiles, and some Russian Fourierists from "Petrashevsky's circle."17 Gurowski, however, was certainly among the first men who wrote about this real or alleged similarity. In his book La Civilisation et la Russie (Saint Petersburg, 1840) he maintained (before Haxthausen!) that the entire Russian people was permeated by the spirit of association and that the principle of association was supported by the Russian government as well.18 The lack of such reasoning in La Verite sur la Russie was due, probably, to a reasonable caution: the word "association,"belonging to the vocabulary of the European Left,19 was not a good means to winning the confidence of the tsar. To achieve this end the staintsimonian terms "social order,""hierarchy,""authority," "reglamentation" ("le RtGLEMENT de tous les actes collectifs ou individuels"),20and so on were much better. To see Gurowski's views in their proper context one should remember also that the idea of Russian superiority among Slavs was not new and unique in Polish thought of the epoch. Before the November uprising the main ideologists of Polish Slavophilism, Ignacy Benedykt Rakowiecki and Zorian Dotlga-Chodakowski, maintained that the Polish people had become polluted by the Latinism of the Polish clergy and nobility, that only Russia had remained faithful to the truly Slavonic culture. After the uprising similar ideas were being developed in the historical writings of Waclaw Aleksander Maciejowski. In a different form, i.e., without condemning Roman Catholicism and the ancient Polish nobility, the idea of reducing Poland to the status of a province in the all-Slavonic Empire of the Russian tsars had been proclaimed by the leaders of the extreme right wing of the Polish nobility, Count Henryk Rzewski and the literary critic Michal Grabowski. Strange to say, even some Polish political emigres were fascinated by Russia. Gurowski's "national apostasy," although the most drastic, was not the only such scandal in the Polish Great Emigration. In 1843 Prince Swiatopelk-Mirski announced his conversion to Orthodoxy-"the natural religion of all Slavs"--and proclaimed his devotion to the "Slavonic idea" represented by Russia.21 At the same time the emigres were deeply
17 See August Freiherr von Haxthausen, Studies on the Interior of Russia (Chicago, 1972), pp. 89-93. For Mickiewicz's views and for the views of the Russian Slavophiles, see A. Walicki, "The Paris Lectures of Mickiewicz and Russian Slavophilism," The Slavonic and East European Review 46, no. 106 (January, 1968). 18Le Comte A. Gurowski, La Civilisation et la Russie (St. Petersburg, 1840), pp. 117, 305. 19 This word was used as a symbol of the coming "new epoch" as opposed to the existing state of society. Cf. N. Assorodozraj,"Elementy swiadomosci klasowej mieszczanstwa,"Prezglqdsocjologiczny,vol. 10 (Lodz, 1949), p. 183. 20 See Oeuvres de Saint-Simonet d'Enfantin,v. 42, p. 325. 21 See Z. Klamer6wna, Slowianofilstwo w literaturze polskiei lat 1800-do 1848 (Warsaw, 1926), p. 105.

Adam Gurowski

shocked by the fact that Prince Waclaw Jablonowski, a prominent figure in Hotel Lambert,had admitted the possibility of solving the Polishquestionby uniting all the Slavsunderthe scepterof Romanovs.22 Anotherchallengeto the emigres'national patriotismwas providedby the russophiletendenciesin Towianiski's circle and in the Paris lectures of Mickiewicz.In spite of his patriotic and revolutionary fervor, Mickiewicz acknowledgedthat Russia'sstrengthhad its source in spiritual power and that the real reason for Poland'sdefeat and subjugationby For Russia was the greater strength of the Russian spiritual"tone."23 many emigrejournalsthis was enough to accuse the poet of a tendency toward nationalapostasyand even to draw parallelsbetween his ideas and the RussianPanslavismpreachedby Gurowski.The unfairnessof such parallelsis obvious,but, nonetheless,it was true that Mickiewicz's view of the superiorityof the Russian"tone"was indeed an acknowledgement of the legitimacy of Russianconquests: in accordancewith Towianski'sdoctrine,spiritualsuperiority-the greaterpower of "tone" -was seen by Mickiewicz as the only legitimate right to rule over people, to lead the "inferiorspirits"towards accomplishmentof the destiniesof mankind. eschatological We must rememberalso that Nicholas I was sincerely respected by many people who otherwise belonged with his political enemies. The Russian throne had still preserved something of its charismaticglory. Bakuninwas not just flatteringwhen he indicated in his famous "Confession"that many Europeans,including the Poles, saw the tsar as the only monarch sincerely believing in his divine right and imperial calling. That is why Mickiewiczsaw Nicholas I as the alternativeto a new Napoleon.That is why he quite seriouslytried to induce Krasiniski to stand before the tsar,to challengehim to a spiritualduel and to win had it, showingthus that the Polish"tone" maturedand become superior to the Russian.24 "nationalapostasy" In spite of its extremelydrasticform, Gurowski's
Ibid., pp. 105-108. Cf. A. Mickiewicz, Dsiela, 20 vols. (Warsaw,1929), 10: 416-417. 24 Cf. Adama Mickiewicza wspomnienia i mysli, ed. S. Pigon (Warsaw, 1958), pp. 157 and 309. The most extreme expression of reverence for the tsar in Towianski's circle was a letter to Nicholas I, written by Alexander Chod'zko, a former Russian diplomat, but inspired by Towianski himself. It contained the following words: "The salvation of millions is in your hands, Your Majesty. As the leader of so many Slavonic peoples you are now the most powerful instrumentof God on earth." A. Makowiecka,Brat Adam (Warsaw,1975), p. 58. An instructive comment to Chod'zko'sletter is provided by Towianski's letter to Mickiewicz of July 18, 1844. Referring to Nicholas I the Polish mystic wrote "His Israelite spirit still remainsuntouched.... He is the only monarch who shines with full tone and who will succumb only to our tone." Ibid., p. 48.
22 23

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cannotbe explainedin termsof mean, personalambitions.The ideological climate of his epoch allows us to interprethis writings and actions as an expressionof authenticconvictions,as an effortto be consistent, and to drawfromthese convictions theirultimateconclusions. The Theoryand Practiceof Panslavism Gurowski'spamphlet (La Verite) favorably impressed Nicholas I but, understandably enough, did not at once win his full confidence. To break the ice, Gurowskiwrote a special memorialconcerningthe Polishquestionand sent it to Benkendorf, chief of Russia'ssecretpolice. Its content is unknownbut known is Nicholas'reactionto it: "... It is as if I have dictatedto him my own confession.One cannotspeak more in strongly the defenceof a rightcause." The apostategot what he had wanted: he was allowedto come to the Russian border and to render himself at the disposal of the Russian authorities. was sent to his familyestateand soon after,in connection He with the proposed rally of the monarchsin Calissia, informed Prince Paskevich,the Russianruler in the CongressKingdom, about vicious intentionsof the Polish gentry of the province. He did not hesitate to makea list of personsand to demandfor them severereprisals.25 Having passed this test of loyalty, Gurowskigot permissionto settle in He temporarily St. Petersburg. imagined that his sincere repentance and the protectionof his sister'shusbandwould enable him to make a of quick careerin the apparatus the state. He was deeply disappointed when he got the very modest post of a provincialclerk,but he did not abandon his hopes and did not cease to give advice to top Russian authorities. One of his memorials, sent to Benkendorf May 1839,dealt in with the problem of educationin the CongressKingdom.He was concerned with two main questions:(1) how to russifythe Poles linguistically and culturallyand (2) how to implantin them the cult of autocracy. As a solution to the first question he advised the replacementof the Polish language in the Polish schools by Church-slavonic; was to this be only a temporary afterwhich Church-slavonic should gradsolution, ually give way to moder Russian. The second question was to be solved by basing the education of the Poles upon the naturalsciences and not upon classical languagesand history.Classicismin the educational system, Gurowskiargued,always concentrateson the republican virtues of ancient Greeksand Romansand thus is not suitable for the subjectsof a monarchy. The proposed reform, Gurowskibelieved, would lead to the most
25 See J. Kucharzewski,Epoka Paskiewiczowska. Losy Oswiaty (Warsaw, 1914), p. 265.

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desirableresults: young Poles will become convinced that the Russian tsar is a "livingimage of God";the Polish language will lose its cultural significance,survivingonly as a "poordialect, a patois of the common Gurowski's memorialwas measuredagainstanother,more reasonable, project preparedby Count S. Uvarov, Russian minister of education, and refrained from advocating a who was a follower of "classicism" forcible linguisticrussification. Nicholas I sympathizedwith Gurowski's project but did not want to create a situation in which a Polish exrevolutionary holding the post of an obscure,small clerk would win in with the eminentRussianstatesman. competition his In 1840Gurowski publishedin St. Petersburg big book La Civilisation et la Russie.Unlike the brochureLa verite sur la Russie,this book was based upon direct knowledge of Russia. In order to write it, of Gurowskimade a specialjourneyover the vast territories the Empire. La Civilisationet la Russiedeservesto be comparedin detail with the two most famousbooks on Russiaunder NicholasI, La Russie en 1839 by Marquis de Custine (who, by the way, must have talked with Gurowskiduringhis stay in Russia)and the solid study of the Russian social and economic relationsby the GermanconservativeBaron von Haxthausen.However, I must limit my task to a brief presentationof the mainfacetsof Gurowski's imageof his new fatherland. book may be defined as The peculiarsocial philosophyin Gurowski's for the use of autocracy. During the saintsimonianism reinterpreted last three centuries,he argued,a spiritof criticismand negationreigned supreme in Europe. Today, however, symptoms of a new "organic epoch" are clearly visible: many people want to returnto religion, to rehabilitatethe principles of unity, authority and hierarchyso much discreditedby the French eighteenth-century As philosophers.27 always role in new epochs,the providential will fall to greatkings and dynasties. (organic)form Religiouslysanctionedmonarchyis the most "synthetic" best suitedto expressthe law of hierarchyand attraction of government, ruling over the great whole (grand tout) of the earthly and planetary world. The person of the ruler must be dignified and remote from the masses;otherwise,it becomes 'la proie du vulgaire"and cannotaccomA of plish a lofty providentialmission.28 secularization power leads to the same result,even if (formally)power remainsabsolute.Machiavelli, in spite of his greatpoliticalgenius, committeda graveerrorin reducing powerto "apurelyhumanmechanism."29
26 Ibid., pp. 269-271. 27 A. Gurowski,La Civilisationet la Russie, pp. 153-154. 28 Ibid., p. 165. 29

people."26

Ibid., p. 168.

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The ideal embodiment of a providential ruler is the Russian tsar. To define the essence of his power Gurowski used the saintsimonian term "loi vivante."30The power of the Russian tsar truly deserves this name because it is not limited by written law, by the past. What such a power can achieve was shown to the astounded world by Peter the Great. This great tsar surpassed all other great monarchs, including Charles the Great and Napoleon, because he had owed his greatness neither to his predecessors nor to his epoch but solely to his own sovereign will.31 Social life in Russia has always been "'oeuvre du Pouvoir, l'manation de sa volonte."32This is precisely the reason why the Russian tsar has to be an absolute monarch, an autocrat: any weakening of autocracy would be tantamount to weakening all social bonds; it would lead to a progressive dissolution of Russian social life and to the complete destruction of the Russian State. An excellent support to Russian autocracy has always been the Russian Orthodox Church. She endows secular power with the aureole of the sacred but, at the same time, humbly subordinates herself to it in all earthly matters and, thus, in contrast to the Roman Church, cannot become an obstacle to progress. Protestantism-this "discussing confession," characteristic of the "critical epoch"-could not have been born from the womb of Orthodox Christianity. The Orthodox clergy was never taught rhetoric and, consequently, was never inclined to demagogy. Also it did not succumb to influences from abroad. Latin, the carrier of the vicious influences of pagan antiquity, has contaminated the Christian character of the Roman Church; by contrast, Church-slavonic has helped the Orthodox Church remain faithful to the pure Christian spirit and, at the same time, enhanced in the hearts of the faithful feelings of national identity and solidarity with the rest of Slavdom. Central autocratic power has always coexisted in Russia with some form of local self-government in which the principle of eligibility-in its legitimate, i.e., strictly local sphere-was encouraged and applied. The basic units of this local self-government were the village communes. Gurowski saw them as representing not only the principle of selfgovernment but also the principle of "association," permeating the entire Russian life and supported by the Russian autocracy as a safeguard against the atomizing influences of Western individualism. Because of the lack of individual, hereditary ownership of land, the situation of the Russian peasantry is incomparably better than that of Western workers or the landless Polish peasants. In his relations with the gentry and with the State, the Russian peasant is always a member of a commune and
30

Ibid., p. 20 and 61.

31 Ibid., p. 281. 32 Ibid., p. 20.

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11

never an isolated individual. In Gurowski'seyes this was additional of proof of the "organicity" Russianlife, which sharply contrastswith the atomisticindividualism the West. of the social structure of Russia, Gurowski repeated his Analyzing favoriteideas concerningthe existenceof Russiantownspeopleand the indigenous Russianindustry.This time, however, he put emphasis on the role of the Russiannobility, to which he assigned the mission of The last pages of leaders in the process of further industrialization. his book containa true paean in honorof nobility-not only the Russian nobility but nobility in general.Thanksto its corporatespirit of sacrifice, generosity,and patriotic duty, nobility has always been a chosen instrumentof Providence.The French nobility was the first to hurl itsself into the whirl of revolution,which served in fact the interestof the bourgeoisie.Nobility should not abuse itsself by mixing with the urban middle classes.What religion,what institutionswere createdby them? of The bourgeoisiewas only an expression the spiritof negation,which with an egoistic greed faith with skepticism,noblemindedness replaces for profit.33 main conclusion was that divine Providencehad chosen Gurowski's Russiato lead the othernationsinto a new organicepoch. The political dogma of a "balanceof power,"he argued, is false because an artificial balance of heterogeneousforces is incompatiblewith organicity.The necessary condition of peace and order in Europe is an undisputed dominationof one principleand one nation,and only the Russianshave missionof the The what is needed to accomplishthis task.34 providential Russiannation is shown by its adventurousspirit of expansion,the instinctive strivingfor conquest.35 Only a nation with such qualities can unite smallerSlavonicpeoples and performa civilizing missionin Asia. The latter task can be accomplishednot only by colonizationbut also by exportingindustrialcommodities,which would create enormousopfor (In portunities the industryof the CongressKingdom.36 this Gurowski had anticipatedthe main argumentof the so-calledWarsawpositivists of the 1870s, who claimed that Poland had to come to terms with Russiabecause an easy access to easternmarketswas a necessarycondition of her industrial development.) The publicationof La Civilisationet la Russie did not help its author win the confidenceof Nicholas I and become a Russianstatesman.On the contrary,for unknown reasons (perhapsbecause of an attempt to denouncethe governorunder whom he served),he lost his right to stay
33 Ibid., pp. 295-296. 34 Ibid., pp. 172-175. 35 Ibid., pp. 119-120. 36 Ibid., p. 274.

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in St. Petersburg had to take a post as a minorclerkin the Congress and Kingdom. Irrespectiveof frustratedambitions, it created for him an unbearablesituation: he had been ostracizedby the Poles and could expect from them only humiliation. Moreover,the protection of his sister was now too remote to strengthenhis position in the inevitable conflictswith the Russianclerkswho did not like his restive character and aristocratic manners.This probably explainshis sudden escape to Germany.Tsar Nicholaswas enragedby Gurowski's escape-he wanted to put him at the disposalof a court martial.Gurowskiwas fully aware of the irreversibleconsequencesof his decision. He confessed that he had once more become an exile "a la suite d'une persecutionet d 'une hostilite de bas lieu, subalternemais implacable,contrelaquelle echouerent meme les bienveillantes intentions du souverain."37

Despite this Gurowski did not change his basic attitude towards Russia.In 1848in Florencehe publisheda book on panslavismin which he continued to proclaimthe providential mission of tsardom.This is, perhaps, the best argumentfor the thesis that his prior writings were an expressionof authentic convictions and not merely a convenient disguisefor careerism. Le Panslawismeopens with rather lengthy and sometimesfantastic on considerations the origin of the Slavs and the legendary period of their history. Much more interesting are the elements of a general philosophyof historywhich areto be found in the book. According to Gurowski,philosophy of history was born with the Christianidea of Providence.Among its best representatives listed he Augustine, Orosius, Bossuet, Vico, Ballanche and Hegel.38He maintained, however, that they had merely created a foundation upon which, in the near future, the Slavonic genius would build a complete construction.This construction,he claimed, is already historiosophical Russianthinkerslargelyunknownin the West being built by prominent but propheticof the future.He meant,of course,the RussianSlavophiles, first of all the Slavophileand PanslavistAleksei Khomiakov,whom he called"oneof the deepestthinkersof the contemporary epoch."39 Gurowski's philosophyof historyis a combinationof a providentialist theory of progress with the theory of historical cycles. The universal history is the history of an inevitable progress,guaranteedby Providence, while the histories of particularnations, races, and states are subjectto a cyclicalrhythm:every nationhas to pass throughthe phases
37 A. Gurowski, Le Panslawisme, ses veritables elements: religieux, sociaux, philosophiques et politiques, vol. 1 (Florence, 1848), p. 150, note. (Vol. 2 has never appeared.) 38 Ibid., pp. 190 and 229. 39 Ibid., p. 233.

Adam Gurowski

13

of childhood and youth, maturity,and decay. A reconciliationof the "law of progress" with the "law of cycle" is provided by the universal law of the successionof races. Each civilization,being a manifestation of a race, containsin itself two principles:an "inner" principle,peculiar to the given race and subject to cyclical evolution, and a seemingly "outer" principle,representinga universalvalue. The latter is part of the "spiritual current"running through the history of all mankind. A race may exhaust itself and disappear,but the universal progressof mankind cannot be halted or reversed.After one race another comes and continuesthe workof universal history.40 In the history of particularraces Gurowski saw the action of the cosmic law of increasingunity. There are two stages in the progressive development of nature: disintegrationand the conflict of centrifugal forces and integration,which consistsin the beginning of bringing together and reconcilingthe differentforces and which ends, finally,with their organic fusion. The same stages are to be found in history. In historicalevolutiona preconditionof the second stage is the emergence of the unifying self-consciousness the entire race, finding expression of in "Pan"-ism. The achievement of this self-consciousness a given by race is testimony to its maturity and readiness to fulfill its historical destinies. The Slavonic nations, awakened by "Panslavism," now are enteringthis historicalstage. Gurowski's conceptionof the historicalmissionof the Slavswas given a certainreligious coloring,more pronouncedin Le Panslawismethan in his previousworks.Echoing the RussianSlavophiles,the Polish Panslavist claimed that the Slavs, in contrast to the Romano-Germanic peoples,had not been infected by the miasmataof pagan antiquityand, therefore, preserved and embodied the pure spirit of Christianity.41 Sometimeswe can trace in Gurowski's reasoningthe influence of the Paris lecturesof Mickiewicz.True, he set himself against Mickiewicz's he apotheosisof imaginationand exaltation;42 rejected also some scholarlyhypothesesof the poet, such as the Slavonicoriginof Assyria(based "Balthasar" and upon the similarityof sounds in "Nabuchodonosor," It "Tsar").43 seems, however, that the image of the Slavs as a virgin people, a people without a past, whose only heritageis the divine Word, was taken from Mickiewicz.The Slavs, Gurowskiasserted,should not feel ashamedof the lack of great, historicaltraditionsof their own; the less they have in the past,the morethey will have in the future.44
40

41 Ibid., p. 117. 42 Ibid., p. 241.

43

Ibid., pp. 115-116.

Ibid., p. 20.

44Ibid., pp. 117-118.

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Dead Souls.

There were moments in the history of Slavdom when Providence offered opportunities to the Poles. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Poland was given the opportunity to unite under her leadership all eastern Slavs. This great chance, however, was wasted. The Poles, like the Czechs, entered the phase of decay without passing through the phase of maturity. Only the Russians have preserved intact the original spirit of the race. Even Russian peasants speak a pure, uncorrupted language and possess an historical, national consciousness completely alien to their Polish counterparts.45Unlike the other Slavonic languages, Russian is well-suited for legislation and military command.46 The superiority of the Russians is felt immediately in any international company: they speak with a certainty which commands respect and leaves no doubt as to their right of leadership.47 Unlike other Slavs, Russians have an inborn need for speed, an onward rush, rapid and violent like a wind unfettered over a vast space. "Et voila pourquoi le Russe, portant le Pan definitif dans son char (troika oudalaia), lance sa course rapide vers l'infini de l'avenir, et 6tend toujours son orbite. Et les autres nations et Etats tout en faisant la grimace, se rangent ebahies sur son parcours."48It is easy to recognize in these words a paraphrase of the famous lyrical passage from Gogol's

Another interesting motif in Gurowski's ideas about the economic advantages of autocracy reflects the influence of saintsimonianism. The best solution for the economic problems of a state was seen by Gurowski in the uniting of the divergent, centrifugal forces in a harmonious, "synthetic" organization based upon hierarchy and discipline. Economic liberalism might be good for England but ruinous to her weaker competitors. Since the sixteenth century Poland has been a country of "free trade" and this is precisely the reason why her native industry had had no change to develop.49 In Russia, happily, economic individualism has never been sanctioned by law, political power dominates in the economic sphere and can impose on it an "intelligent discipline."50 If the Russian tsar wants to change something in the economic system of the state, he does not have to consult the bankers. That is why the coordination and reconciliation of the interests of labor, industry, and trade is quite feasible in Russia. She is in fact "a country of labor," her
45

46 Ibid., p. 217. Similar opinion was expressed by Mickiewicz in connection with his analysis of the reasons for Suvorov's victory over Kosciuszko. (A Mickiewicz, Dziela 10:417-418.) 47 Ibid., p. 256. 48 Ibid., p. 170. 49 Ibid., p. 271. 50 Ibid., p. 309.

Ibid.,pp. 168-170.

Adam Gurowski

15

The greatesttsar was the "workeron the throne"-Peter the Great.51 great mission of the Slavonic peoples united under Russianleadership will consistof building a society based upon labor,organizedaccording to the principleof association.52 This conceptionwas firstoutlinedin La Civilisationet la Russie. Now, however, Gurowskiadded to it an importantelement: a postulate of the emancipationand enfranchisementof the Russian peasants as a necessary condition for the desired association of labor and capital. was a definite This postulate,formulatedat the end of Le Panslawisme, political appeal by the Polish Count to the Russian monarchand the Russiannobility. In his conclusion,Gurowskiunexpectedlymade reference to Hegelianism.The Slavs, he maintained,will not enter the arena of historyas "new barbarians" because their true task consistsnot in destructionbut In in harmoniousreconciliation.53 its conciliatorymission Panslavism will make use of Hegelian dialectics, the method of solving contradicin tions by their reconciliation a higher synthesis.It is worth recalling that the same conceptionof the historicalmissionof the Slavs (although with a quite differentappraisalof Poland) was proclaimedin 1848 by August Cieszkowski-heterodoxHegelian and the greatestphilosopher of PolishRomanticism. The New Image of Russia As a matterof fact, alreadyin the early 1840s Gurowskihad set his hopes much more on the Russiannation than on the Russian tsar or In even the Russianautocracy.54 1848,under the impact of the Springtime of the Peoples, his belief in the tsar broke down completely.The apologist of Russian autocracybecame a sympathizerwith European revolutionists.55 rightly suspected,however, that the Polish emigrEs He would never forget his past, and that they would do everythingto compromisehim in the eyes of Europeandemocrats.Thereforehe made a decision which opened an entirely new chapterin his life: he decided to emigrate the United States. to He went firstto Boston, hoping to get a chair at HarvardUniversity. Abandoningthis hope (the main reason for which was his insufficient
51 Ibid., pp. 309-311. 54 In his later book Gurowski tried to present the evolution of his thinking in such a way as to make his readers believe that the change in his attitude toward Russian autocracy had occurred earlier and was the real cause of his escape from Russia. (A. Gurowski,Russia as it is, p. xii). 55Cf. L. H. Fischer, Lincoln's Gadfly, Adam Gurowski (Norman, Oklahoma, 1964), p. 43.

52 Ibid., p. 312. 53 Ibid., p. 200.

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knowledge of English), he settled in New York.Very soon he became knownin the milieu of local writers,journalists, politicians,winning and among them the reputationof an unsurpassed experton Russia.Thanks to this he was given the post of an editor for the New York Tribune, with responsibilityfor the foreign policy column. This was quite an importantpost, especiallyin the years of the CrimeanWar, when the American in publicbecamegreatlyinterested Russia. In spite of his disappointmentin Russian autocracy,Gurowskiremained very favorablydisposedtowardsRussiaand greatlycontributed to the disseminationof pro-Russianfeelings in Americansociety. The most interestingand curiousepisode of his editorial activity was, perhaps, his censoringof articleswrittenby Engels. Marxand Engels had sent to the Tribunenine articleson the Eastern Question in which, as usual, they consideredtsaristRussia the main bulwarkof reactionand sharply condemned the idea of Panslavism.Gurowskipublished the first two articles (written by Engels) after rewriting them in his own way, and the other articleshe simply rejected.A good example of his "editorial" workis the followinginsertioninto Engels article: "Panslavism a politicaltheoryhas had its most lucid and philosophic as in expression the writingsof CountGurowski.But that learnedand distinguishedpublicist,while regardingRussiaas the naturalpivot around which the destiniesof the numerousand vigorousbranchof the human did family can alone find a largehistoricaldevelopment, not conceive of Panslavismas a league against Europe and European civilization.In his view the legitimateoutlet for the expansiveforceof Slavonicenergies was Asia. As comparedwith the stagnant desolationof that old continent, Russiais a civilizing power, and her contact could not be other than beneficial.This manly and imposing generalization has, however, not been accepted by all the inferior minds which have adopted its fundamentalidea. Panslavismhas assumed a variety of aspects; and now, at last, we find it employedin a new form,and with greatapparent effect, as a warlike threat.As such, its use certainlydoes credit to the boldnessand decisionof the new Czar."56 Gurowski'sAmerican biographer,Le Roy H. Fisher, commented: "Gurowski's effortsto reorientthe ideas of Marx and Engels on Panslavism were far-reaching their effect. The two revised Tribune arin ticles were in later years reprinted separatelyor together in at least three languagesand were presentedas the authenticPanslavicthinking of the two socialistcollaborators."57 Marx and Engels were inclined to see in Gurowskia paid, Russian
56 Ibid., pp. 64-65. 57 Ibid., p. 65.

Adam Gurowski

17

agent. Marxwrote to Engels on Oct. 30, 1856: "We thus have also the honor that our articles are, or ratherwere, directly watched over and censoredby the RussianEmbassy."58 fact, however,this was not true, In Gurowski'spro-Russianstand was based on authentic conviction and, in spite of appearances, not run counterto his commitmentto the did causeof the radical,AmericanLeft. A novel explanationof Gurowski'srussophilism was provided in his book Russiaas it is (New York,1854),writtenon the eve of the Crimean War. In it Gurowskirepeated many of his earlier ideas but did this selectively, adding new motifs and considerablychanging the ideological meaningof his Panslavism. The most importantchange was a severe criticism of contemporary Russianautocracy.In the past tsarismhad been superiorto the Western estate monarchies, alone the parliamentary let Its monarchyof Poland.59 lay superiority in its wider social basis: it was based, in principle,not on a privilegedclass but on the "wholemass of the people"who saw in it an expressionof its own power. That is why powerful tsars always inThe most spiredin their subjectsa feeling of unlimitednationalpride.60 glorious period in the history of Russian autocracywas the reign of Peter the Great.Soon afterwards, however,the RussianEmpire showed some dangeroussymptomsof a progressivedegeneration.The lowest point in this degenerative process was reached under the reign of Nicholas I. Gurowskiattacked Tsar Nicholas ad personam, accusing him of an insanemegalomaniacombinedwith a cowardlypusillanimity (shown, among other ways, in his treatmentof the defeated Decembrists),making him personallyresponsiblefor the universalcorruption, the demoralizingsystem of spying, persecuting Russian culture and and the deathsof Ryleev, Pushkin,and thought (includingPanslavism), In Lermontov. the generalconclusionhe said: "TzarNikolaiwill appear in history as fatally precipitatinginto inevitable destructionthe power embodiedin his person."61 The diagnosis of an incurabledisease in contemporary Russian auof tocracy was accompaniedby changes in the general interpretation Russianhistory.These changes consistedfirst of all in emphasizingthe republicantraditionsin the Russianand Slavonicpast. Gurowskibegan
58 K. Marx, F. Engels, Briefwechsel, 4 vols. (Berlin, 1949-50), 2:193-194, pp. 211-212. Fischer, Lincoln'sGadfly,p. 66. 59 Gurowski, Russia as it is, p. 41. (An English edition of this book, published in London, 1854, was entitled Russia and Its People.) 60 Ibid., p. 41. Marquisde Custine (in his La Russie en 1839), also wrote about the "unlimited ambitions" of the Russians, inspired and supported by autocracy. However, his explanation of this feature was different: in dreams of collective power he saw a compensationfor the lack of individual freedom.
61

Ibid., p. 68.

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of a glorification "ancientSlavonicfreedom,"dismissingautocracyas a In "politicaland social enslavement."62 accordance with the Decembrists'and Lelewels conceptionof Russianhistory,he stressedthe importance of the city-republicsof Novgorod and Pskov and the libertarian tradition of UkrainianCossacks. He also changed, partially at least, his view of Polish history, recognizing in the Polish "gentry a democracy" genuine attemptto preserve,althoughin a distortedform, the ancientSlavonictraditionof freedomand equality.He did not hesitate to assertthat even the Polish liberumveto, in spite of its fatal political consequences, deserves attention as an expression of Slavonic The foundationand the only real safeguardof a republicansystem was seen by Gurowskiin local self-government. The Republicshouldbe organizednot fromabove, as in France,but frombelow, as in the United is States. True republicanism thus tantamountto communalism, i.e., to the truly Slavonicideal of society.This concept of course,cast new light on the significance the Russianvillage community. of In nineteenth-century Russian social and political thought, we can distinguishtwo differentways of idealizing the peasant commune: as an institution based upon common ownership of the land and thus representinga principle of agrariancommunism,or as an institution embodying the principle of self-government.Some Russian thinkers (especially Herzen) combined both points of view, but, in general,the commune was appreciatedas a germ of socialism. The Decembrists, who saw peasantcommunesas "smallrepublics" relics of (Kakhovsky), the "ancient Russian freedom,"were an exception.64Later Russian thinkerswho, like Herzen or Shchapov,highly appreciated principle the of communalself-government, were extremelycareful to avoid association with Europeanrepublicanism. Polish thoughtthe situationwas In quite different:the Slavonic community (of course the ancient community and not the contemporaryvillage commune in Russia) was idealized first of all as a prototypeof modem republicanism; thinkers who saw it as a germ of a socialist(Dembowski)or cooperative(Podowere morerareand less influential. lecki)formof ownership In these brief remarks,we can see some characteristic features of Gurowski's view on the Russiancommunedeveloped in Russiaas it is. This view representsan extremeversion of the "republican" interpretation of communalismand was completelydevoid of the anti-capitalist spirit permeatingthe conceptionsof the Russian Slavophiles(the con64 Cf. A. Walicki, "Russian Social Thought: An Introduction to the Intellectual History of Nineteenth-CenturyRussia,"The Russian Review 36, no. 1 (1977): 2-6.

spirit striving for political equality.63

63 Ibid.,pp. 24-25.

62Ibid., p. 23.

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19

servative variant of Russian communalism),as well as the ideas of Herzen and the laterRussianpopulists (socialistvariant).Thus, Gurowski's pro-Russian sentimentswere in full harmonywith his enthusiasm from for the capitalistAmericandemocracy.In spite of her "corruption above," Russia was in his eyes a society healthy "frombelow," more healthythan Francewhere the communalorderhad been destroyedby centralist tendencies.65 The mostpeculiarfeatureof Gurowski's conception-a feature equally alien to the Russianand the Polishromanticidealizationsof the Slavonic commune-was the fact that his high appraisalof communalismwas bound up not with the ideal of an agrariansociety but with a pronounced pro-bourgeoistendency. Even in his early works Gurowski had emphasizedthe existence of a native Russianbourgeoisie;we remember, however, that in La Civilisationet la Russie he pinned his hopes on the Russiannobility. Now, in Russiaas it is, he appearedan enthusiasticadmirerof the Russianburghers.In contrastto the Western bourgeoisie,he claimed, Russiantownsmen were always close to the people, permeatedby the republicancivic spirit of ancient Novgorod, always ready to gather at a moot. They have never been a separate middle class;they belong wholly to the people, to its holy cause. Therefore, "onecannoterrin assertingthat in any futureattemptsor struggles for regeneration, Russianbourgeoisiewill stand foremost,strengththe and not palsying the efforts for a large and radical emancipaening
tion."66

concludedthat Russia'spoliticaland At the end of his book Gurowski social emancipation an historicalinevitabilitybecause "democracy is is If as as absoluteand irresistible the laws of the physicalworld.67 so, one can ask why did he wish tsaristRussiato win in the CrimeanWar?Why did he refuse to accept the thesis that the defeat of the tsarist state would be the best meansof accelerating emancipation the Russian of the people? The answer to this question is contained in the last chapter of the book and furtherdeveloped in Gurowski's brochureThe TurkishQuestion. The tsar is a despotbut the sultanis at least equally despotic,and, unlike the Turks,the Russiansare a civilizing force in Asia; they are a young nation, "growing, expanding and tending onward,"while the Turksare "diminishing, withering,and sinking down both morallyand and the liberationof the The conquest of Constantinople physically."68 TurkishSlavs would open for Russiaa window to the entireworld (not
65 66 67

68A. Gurowski,The TurkishQuestion (New York,1854), pp. 42-43.

Ibid., p. 169. Ibid., p. 270.

Gurowski,Russiaas it is, pp. 231-232.

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just to Europe, as it had been in the case of St. Petersburg). The capital of the Empire would have to be transferred to the legendary 'Tsargrad," bringing about a denationalization of the dynasty and weakening its control over the Russian people. Finally, conditions would be created for an easy overthrow of autocracy. Through the gates of Hellespont the Russians will enter the arena of civilization without the tsar and his hirelings.69 Very similar ideas were proclaimed at the same time by Alexander Herzen. In 1849, in his Lettre d'un Russe a Mazzini, he had expressed

his convictionthat the Russianconquestof Constantinople "will be the beginning of a new Russia, of a democraticand social federation of Slavonic peoples."70 1854, in his La Russie et le vieux monde, he In wished his country to win in the war with Turkey, claiming that the Russian victory would be a "splendid and martial entering" of the Slavonic world to universalhistory. The annexationof Constantinople would be followed by transferring it the capitalof the Empire;this, in to turn, would markthe end of the GermanPetersburgperiod of Russian
history. "Constantinople will kill St. Petersburg."71The Russian people, instinctively striving for the annexation of Constantinople, "unconsciously realizes the hidden aims of history, deepens the abyss which, sooner or later, will engulf Tsar Nicholas or his successors."72 These Slavonic conceptions of Herzen and Bakunin were given the name of "democratic Panslavism." This name well fits the new version of Gurowski's view on Russia which abandoned the pro-tsarist variety of Panslavism for a democratic one.

The UnitedStatesand the "OldWorld"

In the last chapter of Russia as it is (entitled "Manifest Destiny") Gurowski took up de Tocqueville's well-known idea: that of a parallel between Russia and the United States as two great, young countries, destined to dominate the future of the world.73 The similarity between Russia and the U.S., he asserted, is limited; the differences are more essential. While Russia is a relatively young state, she is also old; her future will be, essentially, a continuation of the "old world." America, by contrast, is a completely new world and not only in the chronological sense; she represents a completely new principle and opens an entirely new historical epoch.74
71 Ibid., 12:165.

69 Gurowski,Russia as it is, pp. 285-286. 70A. I. Herzen, Sobraniesochinenii, 30 vols. (Moscow, 1958-65), 6:230.

Ibid. See the last two pages of the first part of de Tocqueville's, De la democratie en Amerique.
74 Gurowski, Russia as it is, pp. 261-262.

72 73

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Gurowskidevelops this idea in his book Americaand Europe (1857). Americansuperiority over the Old Worldwas seen by him in her transof the law of the "succession races."Unlike Slavs,Americans cendence of arenot a race but a mixtureof differentraces."TheAmericanworld was not called to life, and is not circumscribed the narrow,blind, fatalby istic physicallaws of race";75 emergedout of nothingnessin an act of a it free, consciouschoice of constitutional principles.The developmentof American society refutes the generalizationsof the hitherto existing of philosophyof history;it refutes as well the generalizations sociology which claim that all societieshave to develop from the phase of organic unity, based upon authority and religious synthesis, to the phase of analysis and criticism. "America,religiously or philosophically considered, is the creationof analysis, and accordingly of that phasis in which other societieshave terminated;politicallyand socially, America personifiesthe combinationof free individualitywith association,in a self-consciousdemocracy-a combinationhithertounknown in the history of nations."76 One can easily notice that by "sociology" authormeant the socithe a philosopherof history)and also as ology of Comte (whom he classified the doctrine of the saintsimonians which he called in another context the "most powerful new social conception for the remodelling of society."77 The assertion that "sociology . . . is at fault"78 was, thus, tantamountto abandoningthe thesis of the necessity for the "organic epoch" which restoreshierarchyand authority-the thesis which had been the main theoretical foundation of Gurowski'sapologia for the Russianautocracy. America'strue mission, her "ManifestDestiny," consists of building a social system based upon democracy,self-government, and law, comall ethnic divisions.Up to now all republicshave been pletely ignoring but the Americanrepublic has embodied the principle of aristocratic, democracy. Everywhere political rights are merely another form of privilege;in the United States they are "aninbornright, a social duty." Libertyin the Old Worldwas a privilegebestowed upon towns, guilds, or estates; in contrastwith this, "in Americaat the outset, liberty was a right settled in the individual."79 Democracy will finally win in the Old World;at present,however, it has to struggle with the principleof authority.That is why Europeanthinkersaccuse democracyof bringing that "instability the is about "socialinstability"-theydo not understand
75 A. Gurowski,Americaand Europe (New York, 1859), p. 58. Ibid., p. 125-126. 77 Ibid., p. 325. 78 Ibid., p. 126. 79Ibid., pp. 98-99.
76

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principal agency and condition of progress and development."80 That is why democracy is so often distorted in Europe by attempts to combine it with the principle of the French type of centralization. The philosophical conclusion to these considerations was expressed by Gurowski in lofty words about spirit rising above matter, ethical law finally triumphing over the physical. "Liberty, essentially a moral law and force, absorbs authority, which, even in its most philosophical and exalted conception, resolves itself into material substance."81 A rather surprising justification for this view was provided by an enthusiastic eulogy for American "money-making." Money-making, Gurowski argued, cannot be reduced to a trivial, practical materialism; it is, in fact, "one of the noblest manifestations of the consciousness of human dignity."82 It does not derive from a hedonistic striving for pleasures; it is a noble striving for success "considered as God's virdict."83It is, thus, not a "material"but a "spiritual"passion, resulting in the conquest of nature, in subjugating rough matter to the power of the human spirit. Equally enthusiastic was Gurowski's eulogy for "private enterprise" and "private association."84 In earlier years Gurowski had seen the essence of "association" in the effort to bring economic life under the conscious control of society; now he conceived of association as a union of people acting within the framework of a free play of economic forces, as a corollary of self-government and the opposite of the "socalled governmental action." In a sense, it was a return to the older, pre-Fourierist concept of association.85 Complete freedom of economic activities was for Gurowski not only a guarantee of maximum productivity but also a necessary condition for and a consequence as well of self-government. "Self-government," he wrote, "is the healthy, everlasting maturity, is the full manhood of man in the social state.... If humanity is to be modelled according to abstract types, self-government is its present most perfect typical form."86 Gurowski's view of democracy, as present in America and Europe, was thus a truly "bourgeois" democracy consciously accepting the basic principles of a capitalist democracy. Within these limits, however, it was a radical democracy, close to the ideas of John Stuart Mill, whom
80 Ibid., pp. 105. 81Ibid., pp. 410-411. 82Ibid., p. 68. 83 Ibid., p. 71. This conclusion is in perfect agreement with Max Weber's famous essay on the protestantethic and the spirit of capitalism. 84Ibid., pp. 149-150. 85 As used, above all, in A. de Laborde, De 'lsprit de l'association, vols. 1-2 (Paris, 1815). Cf. N. Assorodozraj, "Elementy,"p. 183. 86Gurowski,Americaand Europe, pp. 166-168.

Adam Gurowski
saintsimonianism.

23

Gurowskihad met in the early 1830s,thanksto their mutual interestin Americaand Europewas, on the whole, warmlyreceivedin the United States. A leading American journal compared it to de Tocqueville's work, saying that "it is, in truth,a more perceptive and philosophical treatise than de Tocqueville's."87 Today, Gurowski'sbook has been completely forgotten. Undeservedly forgotten, I should say, since it containsnot only a social philosophybut also a perceptive description of Americanrealitiesin a very interestingperiod of Americanhistory. The image of Americaas a countrydestinedto liberatemankindfrom the sway of the "lawof races"collided,of course,with the legal existence of slaveryin the southernStates.Awareof this, Gurowskifromthe very beginning committedhimself to the cause of abolitionism.In America and Europehe devoted a separatechapterto the poisonousinfluenceof slaveryon Americanlife. He had thoroughlystudied the argumentsof of the advocates slavery(includingsix volumesof J. D. Calhoun's Works) and resolutely rejected them. It cannot be true, he maintained, that "Theapologistsof slavery, slaveryis betterthan being made proletarian: to that of food, of physical maintenance, as reducing this question forming a compensationfor all the destructionof manliness in their victims, prove how under the influence of slavery the comprehension, the feeling of manhoodis loweredin the masterhimself."88 In 1860 on the eve of the Americancivil war, Gurowskipublished a book entitled Slaveryin History.This work, which analyzes and criticizes all historicallyknown forms of slavery,gave him the reputationof an experton the subjectand made him a well-knownfigure among the radical abolitionistLeft. During the war Gurowskibecame one of the He leaders of the Americanradicals known as "Jacobins." demanded for the former slaves but also (perhapsrenot only complete equality calling the agrarian problemin Polandand in Russia)giving them land. Lincoln of a desireto achieve a compromise with the South, Suspecting attackedhim violently and brutally.Because of this, he was called he The great Presidentwas seriouslyafraidof him. He "Lincoln's Gadfly." said once: "So far as my personalsafety is concerned,Gurowskiis the only man who has given me a serious thought of a personal nature. From the known dispositionof this man, he is dangerouswhereverhe may be. I have sometimesthoughthe might try to takemy life."89 The last of Gurowski'sworks were the three volumes of his Diary,
87Putnam'sMonthly Magazine of American Literature,Science and Art 9 (Junet, 1857): 659. Fischer, Lincoln'sGadfly,p. 67. 88Gurowski,Americaand Europe, p. 197. 89Ward Hill Lamon, Recollection of AbrahamLincoln, 1847-1865 (Washington, 1911), p. 274. Fischer, Lincoln'sGadfly,p. 3.

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coveringthe years 1861-1865.J. S. Mill called it "an importantpart of the evidence which future historiansof these great events will have to This opinion has been shared by some American scholars. study."90 Gurowski's Diary "remains the Jacobin bible,"91wrote LeRoy F. Fischer. It 'reflects the plans, aims, passions,ambitionsand hatreds of the Radicalsbetter than almost any other printed source,"2 wrote historianGeorgeFort Milton. As can be seen, the last phase of Gurowski's intellectualevolutionwas in a sense a dialecticalreturnto the first.This is corroborated Gurowby ski's impressiveletter to J. N. Janowski,the co-founderof the Polish DemocraticSociety. Writtenin 1863, i.e., in the year of anotherPolish uprising,the letterreads: that "In one respectthere is an abyss between us, but you understand a man of true convictionsis not a monster.I am deeply shockedby the bloody struggle in Poland and, although I look at this struggle from the same standpointwhich I had chosenin 1834,sometimesI am driven to desperation.Victusor Victor,Polandas a country,Polandas a people (and even more as a nation) will be so destroyedthat she will need a century to heal her wounds and recoverfrom poverty.... My convictions, although always pure and sincere, have separatedme from men whom I most appreciated33 years ago and whom I still appreciatetoday. What am I doing? That which I startedas a boy of thirteen.I am struggling with all means of my nature, struggling for holy human rights, in defense of humanity, which is violated by the pride and egoism of the aristocratsof the New World who sell human bodies, who are more rotten, corrupted,and dangerousthan the aristocrats of the old Europeagainstwhom I fought in my youthful years. Moreover, I have to struggleagainstprejudices,egoism and intellectualnarrowness amongpeople who claimto belong to my own party.ThereforeI remain faithful to the principleswhich we developed together, more than 30 Society."93 yearsago, in ouryoung Democratic
* * O

"Lincoln'sGadfly"died in Washingtonin May 1866. Accordingto Walt Whitman,"all big radicals"were present at his funeral.94 There were also many otherpolitical figures,includingthe officialrepresenta91 Fisher, Lincoln'sGadfly,p. 196. ^92 George Fort Milton, The Age of Hate: Andrew Johnson and the Radicals (New York,1930), p. 687. Fischer, Lincoln'sGadfly,p. 196. 93 Jagellonian Library, manuscript 368512, letter written in Washington, Oct. 3, 1863. Z. Gross,"Diabel,"p. 49. 94 Fischer, Lincoln'sGadfly,p. 271.
o9 Fischer, Lincoln'sGadfly,p. 189.

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tives of Russia. The funeral service was held by a Unitarian preacher, Reverend John Pierpont. This choice was made out of respect for Gurowski's religious views: he was known among his American friends as a sympathizer with religious rationalism.95 There was not a single Pole at this funeral ceremony and this was, of course, not accidental. Also very significant is the fact that Gurowski's colorful life has not become a subject of scholarly interest in Poland.96 Polish public opinion did not forgive him his "apostasy"and sentenced him to oblivion. Today he does not hold any place in the Polish national memory. It seems to me that he deserves such a place not only because of his unusual life, but because he is interesting also as a thinker. His significance in Polish intellectual history can be formulated in two points. First, as I have already pointed out, Gurowski's "apostasy" was an expression of the utter despair of his nation-a despair of a frustrated romantic nationalist. He had cherished great national ambitions and precisely because of this he could not agree to belong to a weak, peripheral nation, a nation not able to perform a great historical mission. He wanted Poland to be a great nation, capable of unifying under her leadership the other Slavs and opening a new epoch of universal regeneration; otherwise he would conceive of her as not worthy of existence. In this sense his "apostasy"was a product of the same spirit which gave birth to the Polish romantic messianism. Minimalization of national ambitions, reducing them to the mere maintenance of national existence devoid of any higher mission, was for him utterly unacceptable. If Poland is not a truly great country, she is not worthy to exist; she is despicable if she does not deserve admiration. This is why, having abandoned his faith in Poland's universal mission, Gurowski had no other choice than to change totally his loyalties and become a "national apostate." Second, Gurowski was perhaps the only nineteenth-century Pole who had the courage to break with the "francocentrism"so characteristic of both his and subsequent generations of Polish intellectuals and to adopt a point of view which we could call "de Tocqueville's perspective." I mean, of course, his analysis of America and Russia. At the time of the Crimean War or the American War of Secession, such a point of view was neither novel nor rare. We should note, however, that before Gurowski nobody had adopted this viewpoint, both in theory and in practice, as systematically and consistently as Gurowski did. The author of Ibid.,pp. 268-269. 96The only outlineof Gurowski's in biography Polishis the articleby Z. Gross, "Diabel."
95

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America and Europe-Polish admirer of Khomiakov and personal friend of Henry Longfellow and Walt Whitman-was, perhaps, the only man who has succeeded in joining Russiawith Americain his life, thought, and political activity. He is the only thinkerwho has been at the same time a theoretician RussianPanslavismand an ideologistof of AmericanManifestDestiny.