Between Hell and the Kingdom of God. The Concept of Industrial Civilization in the Political Discourse of the Polish Pre-Marxist Left (1830s-1860s)

Abstract

The main aim of the following paper is to interpret the meaning of the concept (or, more precisely – the cluster of concepts) of industrial civilization within the discourse of the Polish early left, that is to say, in the period of the 1830s-1860s. Therefore, I examine understanding of such concepts as, for instance, proletariat, development, machine and labour. Referring to the political discourse of my protagonists (eg. Edmund Chojecki, Henryk Kamieński, or Ludwik Królikowski), I indicate that in this period one can distinguish three main approaches to the industrial civilization: negative, moderate, and positive one. The multidimensionality of their reflections on this sphere was being deepened by the specific character of the economy on Polish lands and by the situation of difficult living conditions in exile that they had to face. What is more, their thoughts were to some extent inspired by the French radical thought in this period.