Melting Puzzle B IBLIOTHECA EUROPAE ORIENTALIS XLIX studia 7 U K O W A E • N • O W A W R T S S Z Y A Z W E R A S K W I E O T • • Warsaw Scientific Society Societas Scientiarum Varsaviensis Leszek Zasztowt MELTING PUZZLE THE NOBILITY, SOCIETY, EDUCATION AND SCHOLARLY LIFE IN EAST-CENTRAL EUROPE (1800s-1900s) WARSAW 2018 Finananced by The Józef Mianowski Fund – A Foundation for the Promotion of Science: Jadwiga June Kruszewski Fund The University of Texas at El Paso (The Kruszewski Family Foundation) Translation and English editors: Tristan Korecki and Bolesław Jaworski Technical editing: Dorota Kozłowska Index compiled: Dorota Kozłowska Cover and cover pages design by: Jan Jerzy Malicki (based on the BEO series design by Maryna Wiśniewska) Typesetting: OFI, Warszawa Front cover illustrations: Dariusz Grajek, Szlachciury (Petty nobles), oil on canvas, 2016 Tomasz Makowski, The Radziwill’s map of the Great Duchy of Lithuania, 1613. A copy from the Willem Janszoon Blauew’s Appendix Theatri, 1631 (copy of the map from T. Niewodniczański Collection, deposit at the Royal Castle in Warsaw - Museum, sign. TN 1141) © Copyright by Leszek Zasztowt © Copyright by Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw, Warsaw 2018 © Copyright by Oficyna Wydawnicza ASPRA-JR, Warszawa 2018 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Centre for East European Studies, University of Warsaw Published by: Studium Europy Wschodniej Oficyna Wydawnicza ASPRA-JR Uniwersytet Warszawski 03-982 Warszawa, Dedala 8/44 Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28 phone 602 247 367, fax 22 870 03 60 00-927 Warszawa e-mail: [email protected] www.studium.uw.edu.pl www.aspra.pl ISBN 978-83-61325-63-5 ISBN 978-83-7545-816-9 23,5 ark. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction . 9 I. Nobility and Society Chapter 1. Education and Upbringing at the Border of Cultures – Ethnic Processes, Religious and Political Transformations, and their relation to education in East Central Europe . 25 Chapter 2. Th e Degradation of the Petty Nobility in the Russian Empire’s Western Provinces (1831–1868) . 41 Chapter 3. Petty Nobility in the Western Provinces of the Russian Empire – A Contribution to the Discussion on the Scale of Petty Noble Degradation . 63 Chapter 4. Structure Modernised – Implementation of the “Honorary Citizen” Category into the Social Structure of the Russian Empire (1830–1900) . 71 Chapter 5. Criminal Procedures and Actions in Lithuanian-Ruthenian Lands aft er the Liquidation of the Church Union in 1839. 83 Chapter 6. Th e January Uprising of 1863–1864 and its Demographic Consequences – Deportations and Displacements of Poles from the Western Provinces into the Depths of the Empire . 105 II. Education and Tradition Chapter 7. Under Constraint or in Self-Defence? Polish School Funds and Scholarships on the Territories of Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine . 131 Chapter 8. “Forgotten” Grand Duchy of Lithuania – A Few Critical Remarks on the Regression of the Term in 19th and 20th Century Polish Historiography. 143 5 Chapter 9. From Capital to Provincial Town – Vilnius in the Structural Conception of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita) in the Polish Historical Narrative. 153 Chapter 10. Illegal Schooling in the 1870s – Vilnius Educational District . 161 Chapter 11. “Old Lithuanians” – Some Critical Remarks on the Socio-Ethnic Origins of Poles in Historical Lithuania . 185 III. Scholarly Life Chapter 12 Science for the Masses – Th e Political Background of Polish and Soviet Science Popularisation in the Post-War Period . 199 Chapter 13. Marxism and the Leap to the Kingdom of Science – Th e Unbearable Issue of “Scientifi c Consciousness” . 215 Chapter 14. Iconvenient Neighbour – Some Refl ections on Polish Historical Research Concerning Russia and the USSR. 227 Chapter 15. Miraculous Ascension – Materialism as Political Tool for the Prosperity of Socialist/Communist Society. Th e Case of Science in Poland (mid-1940s to 1950s) . 241 Chapter 16. Historians at the Crossroads (1945–1956) – Polish Historians and their Attitude to Stalinism. Th e Case of Henryk Wereszycki and Stefan Kieniewicz . 253 Chapter 17. Outcast Scholar in the Shadow of Historical Lithuania – Professor Wiktor Sukiennicki (1901–1983) . 263 Conclusion . 271 Bibliography . 273 Index. 6 Th e (Congress) Kingdom of Poland and the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1569–1772, 1815–1914 (authors: Jerzy Sajdak, Leszek Zasztowt); fi rst published in “History of Education” Vol. 19, June 1990, No 2, p. 150 INTRODUCTION obility’ is probably of no relevance to anyone today. It is an archaic term and an archaic phenomenon. To borrow from Tadeusz Kantor, who now feels ‘Nthe need to discuss this “dead class”?1 Even in the 20th century, it was a relic of ancient social divisions, having successfully been wiped out in a process that started with the French Revolution. It may seem like “social archaeology” to tackle such an opponent – akin to Kantor’s mannequin – who aft er decades of communist rule in East Central and East Europe, ceased to exist, with only a few remnants left behind on the Western peninsula. On the other hand, we “progressive people” do not like the gentry, and landlords in general. Th ose were people who – using de mode communist propaganda associations – were responsible for a lack of equality, of intensifying social divisions, for poverty, humiliation, degradation and all manner of adversity in the hu- man environment. Th ey were vampires, “blood suckers”, and they deserved contempt, on par with other bourgeois elements (to use revolutionary Marxist vocabulary). Th is conviction is still held even in the highest academic circles, and has resulted in our vi- sion of Europe and its social (but also national) dysfunction up to the present time2. But when one begins to explore the fi nal stages of the nobility’s existence as a stra- tum, it becomes evident that this social class – not only in the Eastern part of the Eu- ropean peninsula – was the most demeaned and humiliated social milieu. Th ey were deprived of their property, displaced, sent into exile, and fi nally purged, condemned, eliminated, sentenced to oblivion – even death3. However, we would do well to recall that the social group we are discussing was never united and never constituted a monolith. At its highest rung, there were just 1 Th e Dead Class (in Polish: Umarła klasa) is one of Tadeusz Kantor’s most renown stage works. Cre- ated in 1975, in it the author suggested the end of a certain civilization depicted as a school class. Th e play was made into a TV movie by Andrzej Wajda, two years aft er its debut. 2 See memoires of D. Beauvois, Mes pierres de lune. Essai d’autobiographie professionnelle, “Organon. Numero Special”, No. 46: 2014. 3 T. Snyder, Th e Reconstruction of Nations. Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569‒1999, New Ha- ven & London 2003. 9 THE NOBILITY, SOCIETY, EDUCATION AND SCHOLARLY LIFE IN EAST a few representatives of the aristocracy (called magnates, or later the oligarchy in East Central Europe), who were fairly separate – a limited elite within the upper class, it- self. Th ey were diff erent from the rest of the nobility, because of their social status, which came directly from their ancient family roots and their state position (i.e. in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or in Muscovy/Russia). Th ey were the successors of historic knightly families, and held the hereditary titles of princes and dukes. In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, until its partitions in the 18th century, the titles of earl, count or baron were not in use, while in the neighbouring countries of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, they were broadly implemented by monarchs, who ennobled and bestowed these distinctions on their lieges. At fi rst glance, there is not much diff erence between the magnates and – let us say – “regular” nobles. Both had ancient roots, ancient coats of arms, ancient estates and ancient traditions. But when we look closer, it is clear that those few magnates were in fact much closer to the kingly caste, than to the rest of society. Th ey had their own principalities, their own towns, castles, palaces, and extensive villas, oft en ruled almost like separate states4. Th ey bought the nobility’s votes during regnum elections, thus possessing a crucial voice on who would be the next king. Th ey provided means for the existence of numerous clients and in some cases maintained vast groups of vas- sals, mirroring the feudal interrelations of the noble stratum. Th ey even commanded large private armies, sometimes comparable in size to the armies of the crown. In the majority, they managed to survive during the Partitions of the Commonwealth, mostly thanks to their inter-family bonds with aristocratic families in the surrounding countries5. Going down the social ladder, the next rung contained wealthy landlords, oft en called “crimsons”. Th eir situation was similar to the aristocracy, with whom they had numerous family and businesses interests. In fact, the line separating these two circles was sometimes blurred. Th is was also due to the fact that a signifi cant portion of these people gained aristocratic titles shortly before, or just aft er, the Partitions. Th ey began using the titles of earl, count or baron handed out by the Habsburgs and Romanovs, thus entering the ranks of the aristocracy. But some of them remained in their previ- ous positions. Most landlords also managed to survive following the Partitions, despite that the number of them involved in uprisings against the partitioning powers was much more signifi cant compared with the old aristocracy.