Who is afraid of the January Uprising?
The experience of the January Uprising – instead of being removed from the collective memory as a decisive defeat, a shameful event, or fading away as a historical event which happened 150 years ago – is widely remembered and celebrated by the citizens even now, in 2013, despite the reserve shown by government institutions, journalists calling it wrong attitude, and negative reception by the media.
Many questions arise. What is the origin of both phenomena: celebration by the society and negation by the elite? Who was and still is afraid of the January Uprising? What is the common bond between its opponents from the period when it was still being planned (Wielopolski, the ‘white' fraction), the critics of uprising ethic who wrote about it a century ago (Koźmian, Dmowski), journalists repeating their argumentation on the 100th anniversary (Somma, Kijowski), and those mocking the Uprising today (Kutz, Niesiołowski, Jedlicki), when they are separated by history and ideology? What is the source of the diverse character of this criticism? Why is the insurgent creation myth of the modern, liberal and left-wing Poland currently defended by the Polish right-wing against the leftist-liberal elites, even if in the past it was attacked by conservatives and nationalists? Is the January Uprising a critical part of the Polish contemporary ethic? Was and is this great dispute a result of a crisis of Polish identity? Is that the reason that the historical anniversary mobilised some citizens and scared the others? Or maybe those who are afraid represent the political reason, trying to remain distant from the sentimental and ignorant ‘people'?
Dr hab. Andrzej A. Zięba