This Review Can Only Touch on Some Aspects of This Excellent Volume

This review can only touch on some aspects of this excellent volume. Although the editor modestly states that it just provides an introduction to the Polish Renaissance and that many important matters have had to be left out, the volume is a real mine of knowledge relating to the Polish Golden Age. Like all true scholars, the panelists explain and clarify. Thanks to their efforts the Polish Renaissance will be better known in Poland and abroad. One would also like this volume's βndings to enter textbooks, particularly those relating to Western civilization. The Polish Golden Age is often ignored by textbook authors, and Poland is hardly mentioned prior to its partitions during 1772-95. Is the growth of Russia and Prussia, for example, more important than great cultural achieve- ments? Where should our priorities be? Adam A Hetnal New Mexico State University Polish Democratic Thought from the Renaissance to the Great Emigration: Essays and Documents Edited by M. B. Biskupski and James S. Pula. Boulder, CO: East European Monographs, 1990. x, 252 pp. $32.00. Distributed by Columbia University Press. Every student of Polish history and society eventually confronts the question of the nobility and its role in the Commonwealth. Was this a co- hesive-group which strove only to protect its own narrow class interests? Did it carry within itself the seeds of democratic idealism? Ultimately, the question is whether the attitudes and actions of the szlachta destroyed independent Poland or whether their views of "axlachta democracy"* served the cause of national self-preservation and the rise of modern democratic ideas in the era of the partitions. The editors have succeeded admirably in defining the parameters of the debate. Individual essays trace the growth of democratic concepts in Polish society from the Renaissance to the mid-nineteenth century. Each author analyzes the political thought of the szlachta in both its contempo- rary context and its signiixcance for future Polish political history. The first half of the work consists of an introduction and five essays spanning more than three and a half centuries. The editor's introduction ties the essays together and provides a broad comparative context within which to view the growth of Polish ideas. The essays provide solid, diverse interpretations which will foster further debate on the subject. All are careful to stress that early Polish "democratic" ideas bear no resemblance to modern concepts of equality for all in society. A key thread running through the essays is that these concepte, which served the political interests of the nobles, preserved and, over time, nurtured the growth of modern democratic thought in the nineteenth century. In his opening essay, James Miller emphasizes the actions of the six- teenth-century sxlachta to retain its collective liberties against the treat of royal power and also to preserve religious liberties at a time when Reformation thought had penetrated Polish lands and society. He argues that the Sxlachta manifested "proto" democratic thought in the concept of the narod polski, the Polish nation. Narrowly defined, this view of the szk�chtu as the sole embodiment of the nation to the exclusion of the peas- ants and burghers, with its emphasis on equality within the group may be taken as a precursor of modern democratic thought. Robert F'rost takes a somewhat more pessimist approach toward the development of democratic ideas. In his view, the seventeenth-century szlaclata, using the liberum veto, established itself as the uncontrolled sovereign over the state. Furthermore, he argues that local sejmiks would place specific restrictions on the delegates to the larger Sejms. Such actions paralyzed government, prevented the possibility of political compro- mise, and weakened the state structure to the point of total vulnerability. By the eighteenth century the Polish conception of democracy clashed with the newer ideals of the Enlightenment. Daniel Stone persuasively shows that a dichotomy between the old traditional views and practices and modern ideas developed. His analysis of the writings of Hugo Kollataj and Stanislaw Staszic demonstrates that the szlachta could enlarge the concept of nation to include a broader spectrum of society. The Third of May Constitution, as an attempt to reassert Polish independence, was the culmination of Enlightenment thought in eighteenth-century Poland. After the Partitions, the Poles faced the problems of whether they could sustain some form of national existence, develop a national identity and establish a political and philosophical basis for a future independent existence. Forced at last to face their shortcomings, many of the sztcachta responded by redefining the narod to include the entire population. An era of rising democratic thought coincided with an era of nationalism. Joan Skurnowicz traces this development in the thought of Joachim Lelewel and Mauryey Mochnacki, establishing clearly that the origins of modern political thought stem from the writings of these two members of the szdezcht�a who could transcend traditional concepts. The first practical test of new Polish democratic thought came in the uprising of 1830-31. Its subsequent failure sent thousands of Poles into exile, where, in closer contact with other democrats, they refined their attitudes. Kenneth Lewalski ably chronicles the political career of Lelewel in exile and the rise of democratic ideals through the medium of the Polish hrernocxatic Society. Serving as a carrier for the Polish aspirations, the Society and its members cooperated extensively with other European democrats of the left. Lewalski clearly ties the fraternal politics of the Polish democrats to the nationalistic self-image of the Poles in the modern worlai. The second half of the book is at least as valuable as the first for un- derstanding Polish thought. The editors have collected the major documents relating to these democratic concepts and presented them in their original Latin or Polish as well as in English translations. These include: Nih,il novi; the General Confederation of Warsaw (1573); the Henrician Articles (acta C'onventcs); Fredro's Defense of the Liberum Veto of 1660; the Constitution of May 3, 1791; the Polaniec Manifesto of 1794; and the Manifesto of the Polish Democratic Society (1836). Taken together, these documents provide an excellent overview of the development of those democratic concepts which served as the basis for future political growth. The editors are to be commended for their work. The essays and documents found in this volume do a great service in furthering our under- .

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