Young Slovenes
Encyclopedia
1860s
The 1860s were an extremely turbulent decade with numerous cultural, social, and political upheavals in Europe and America. Revolutions were prevalent in Germany and the Ottoman Empire...
and 1870s
1870s
The 1870s continued the trends of the previous decade, as new empires, imperialism and militarism rose in Europe and Asia. America was recovering from the Civil War. Germany declared independence in 1871 and began its Second Reich. Labor unions and strikes occurred worldwide in the later part of...
, inspired and named after the Young Czechs in Bohemia and Moravia. They were opposed to the national conservative Old Slovenes
Old Slovenes
Old Slovenes is the term used for a national conservative political group in the Slovene Lands from the 1850s to the 1870s, which was opposed to the radical national liberal Young Slovenes...
. They entered in a crisis in the 1880s
1880s
The 1880s was the decade that spanned from January 1, 1880 to December 31, 1889. They occurred at the core period of the Second Industrial Revolution. Most Western countries experienced a large economic boom, due to the mass production of railroads and other more convenient methods of travel...
, and disappeared from political life by the 1890s
1890s
The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the "Mauve Decade" - because William Henry Perkin's aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion - and also as the "Gay Nineties", under the then-current usage of the word "gay" which referred simply to merriment and frivolity, with no...
. They are considered the precursors of Liberalism in Slovenia
Liberalism in Slovenia
This article gives an overview of liberalism in Slovenia. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ means a reference to another party in that scheme...
.
Historical background
The movement was founded in the early 1860s, when a group of young Slovene radicals, led by author and activist Fran LevstikFran Levstik
Fran Levstik was a Slovene writer, political activist, playwright and critic. he was one of the most prominent exponents of the Young Slovene political movement.-Life and work:...
, challenged the influence of the conservative leadership of the Slovene National Movement, led by the so-called triumvirate of Janez Bleiweis
Janez Bleiweis
Janez Bleiweis was a Slovene conservative politician, journalist and public figure. He was the leader of the so-called Old Slovene political movement. Already during his lifetime, he was called father of the nation....
, Lovro Toman
Lovro Toman
Lovro Toman was a Slovene politician and author. Together with Janez Bleiweis and Etbin Henrik Costa, he was part of the leadership of the national conservative Old Slovene party....
and Etbin Henrik Costa
Etbin Henrik Costa
Etbin Henrik Costa was a Slovene national conservative politician and author. Together with Janez Bleiweis and Lovro Toman, he was one of the leaders of the Old Slovene political party....
. Levstik and his peers rejected the pragmatic tactic of the conservative mainstream within Slovene nationalism, and demanded a more decisive political actions, which would include a direct confrontation with the Austrian
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
authorities with a mass mobilization of the Slovene pesantry. Levstik's demands were backed mostly by Slovenes from Styria
Lower Styria
Lower Styria or Slovenian Styria is a traditional region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy of Styria. The population of Lower Styria in its historical boundaries amounts to around 705,000 inhabitants, or 34.5% of the population of Slovenia...
and the Austrian Littoral
Austrian Littoral
The Austrian Littoral was established as a crown land of the Austrian Empire in 1849. In 1861 it was divided into the three crown lands of the Imperial Free City of Trieste and its suburbs, the Margraviate of Istria, and the Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca, which each had separate...
, while the Slovenes from Carniola
Carniola
Carniola was a historical region that comprised parts of what is now Slovenia. As part of Austria-Hungary, the region was a crown land officially known as the Duchy of Carniola until 1918. In 1849, the region was subdivided into Upper Carniola, Lower Carniola, and Inner Carniola...
and the Carinthian Slovenes
Carinthian Slovenes
Carinthian Slovenes are the Slovene-speaking population group in the Austrian State of Carinthia. The Carinthian Slovenes send representatives to the National Ethnic Groups Advisory Council...
remained mostly on the side of their conservative leadership. By the mid 1860s, two distinct factions within the Slovene National Movement emerged: the liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
and radical
Radicalism (historical)
The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
Young Slovenes and the national conservative Old Slovenes
Old Slovenes
Old Slovenes is the term used for a national conservative political group in the Slovene Lands from the 1850s to the 1870s, which was opposed to the radical national liberal Young Slovenes...
. The two groups collaborated closely until 1872, when they broke away. In 1876, they forged a fragile tactical alliance against Austrian centralism and German nationalism
German nationalism in Austria
German nationalism is a political ideology and a current in Austrian politics. It has its origins in the German National Movement of the 19th century, a nationalist movement of the German-speaking population in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and had striven for a closer connection of the...
, and united in support of the coalition government of Eduard Taaffe.
Rise and decline
The importance of the Young Slovenes rose after 1867, when they criticized sharply the inconsistent policy of the Slovene conservative leadership, especially of theis support for the Austro-Hungarian compromiseAusgleich
The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 established the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. The Compromise re-established the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Hungary, separate from and no longer subject to the Austrian Empire...
in the Austrian Parliament
Reichsrat (Austria)
The Imperial Council of Austria from 1867 to 1918 was the parliament of the Cisleithanian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was a bicameral legislature, consisting of the Herrenhaus and the Abgeordnetenhaus...
. As a response to what they considered inefficient "cabinet politics", the Young Slovenes organized mass popular rallies in support of the United Slovenia
United Slovenia
United Slovenia is the name of an unrealized political programme of the Slovene national movement, formulated during the Spring of Nations in 1848...
program, modelled after of Daniel O'Connell
Daniel O'Connell
Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847; often referred to as The Liberator, or The Emancipator, was an Irish political leader in the first half of the 19th century...
's monster meetings. These rallies, held between 1868 and 1871, proved to be very successful for the mass mobilization of the peasantry for the Slovene national cause, although they did not have any consequence in the Austrian policy toward the Slovene national question.
The Young Slovenes sought to get rid of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
's influence. Although they supported a laicist and secularist view, they tried to avoid direct confrontation with Roman Catholisim; several liberal Catholic priests, such as the poet Simon Gregorčič
Simon Gregorcic
Simon Gregorčič was a Slovene poet and Roman Catholic priest.- Biography :Gregorčič was born in the small mountain village of Vrsno above the river Soča in the County of Gorizia and Gradisca. In 1851, he attended primary school in Libušnje, but was in 1855 sent to school in Gorizia. After...
, were also sympathetic to the Young Slovene movement.
After a period of sharp political struggle between the Young and Old Slovenes in the early 1870s, a compromise between them was reached in 1876. However, both factions maintained their own political infrastructure, including their own media. The Young Slovenes issued the newspaper Slovenski narod, founded in Maribor
Maribor
Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia with 157,947 inhabitants . Maribor is also the largest and the capital city of Slovenian region Lower Styria and the seat of the Municipality of Maribor....
in 1868, and controlled the editorial policy of the cultural magazine Ljubljanski zvon
Ljubljanski zvon
Ljubljanski zvon was a journal published in Ljubljana in Slovene between 1881 and 1941. It was considered one of the most prestigious literary and cultural magazines in Slovenia.- Early period :...
.
After the 1880s, with the death of Fran Levstik
Fran Levstik
Fran Levstik was a Slovene writer, political activist, playwright and critic. he was one of the most prominent exponents of the Young Slovene political movement.-Life and work:...
and Josip Jurčič
Josip Jurcic
Josip Jurčič was a Slovene writer and journalist. He was born in Muljava, Austrian Empire and died in Ljubljana, Austria-Hungary...
, the Young Slovene movement slowly declined. Its legacy was however taken over by younger generations of Slovene liberals
Liberalism in Slovenia
This article gives an overview of liberalism in Slovenia. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ means a reference to another party in that scheme...
who founded, after the final break in the Slovene National Movement in the late 1880s, the Slovene National Progressive Party
National Progressive Party (Slovenia)
The National Progressive Party was a political party in the Carniola region of Austria-Hungary. It was established in 1894 by Ivan Tavčar as the National Party of Carniola and renamed in 1905 to The National Progressive Party...
.
Radicals vs. Elastics
In the CarniolaCarniola
Carniola was a historical region that comprised parts of what is now Slovenia. As part of Austria-Hungary, the region was a crown land officially known as the Duchy of Carniola until 1918. In 1849, the region was subdivided into Upper Carniola, Lower Carniola, and Inner Carniola...
n regional elections of 1883, the Slovene nationalists gained a landslide victory over the mostly German speaking Austrian centralists. Following that victory, the differentiation within the Slovene national movement rose again. It started as a differentiation between the moderate Young Slovene faction, represented by Fran Šuklje and Janko Kersnik
Janko Kersnik
Janko Kersnik was a Slovene writer and politician. Together with Josip Jurčič, he is considered the most important representative of Literary realism in the Slovene language.- Biography :...
, and their radical liberal nationalist opponents, led by Ivan Hribar
Ivan Hribar
Ivan Hribar was a Slovene and Yugoslav banker, politician, diplomat and journalist. At the turn of the century, he was one of the leaders of the National Progressive Party, and one of the most important figures of Slovene liberal nationalism...
and Ivan Tavčar
Ivan Tavcar
Ivan Tavčar was a Slovene and Yugoslav writer, lawyer, and politician.- Biography :Tavčar was born into a poor peasant family of Janez and Neža née Perko in the Carniolan village of Poljane near Škofja Loka in what was then the Austrian Empire and is now in Slovenia. It has never been entirely...
. The moderates became known by the derogative name "elastics".
The strife between the two faction reached its height between 1886-1887, when the Young Slovene newspaper Slovenski narod, controlled by the radicals, started publishing a series of articles with a pronounced Pan-Slavic and Anti-Catholic content, written by the controversial pro-Russian nationalist publicist Davorin Hostnik. The radical turn in the editorial policies of the liberal press provoked a fierce reaction in some Catholic circles, and was one of the elements that contributed to the rise of the Kulturkampf
Kulturkampf
The German term refers to German policies in relation to secularity and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck. The Kulturkampf did not extend to the other German states such as Bavaria...
in the Slovene Lands in the mid 1880s.
The "Division of Minds" and the rise of mass politics
In the mid 1880s, several influential Roman Catholic groups, rallied around the Bishop of Ljubljana Jakob Missia (later Archbishop of Gorizia) and the theologian Anton MahničAnton Mahnič
Dr. Anton Mahnič, also spelled as Antun Mahnić in Croatian ortography , was a Slovene and Croatian Roman Catholic bishop, theologian and philosopher, founder and the main leader of the Croatian Catholic movement....
, launched an attack on modernism
Modernism (Roman Catholicism)
Modernism refers to theological opinions expressed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but with influence reaching into the 21st century, which are characterized by a break with the past. Catholic modernists form an amorphous group. The term "modernist" appears in Pope Pius X's 1907...
in the Slovene Lands. Mahnič's circle called for a "division of minds" or "division of souls" , that is a clear-cut political and ideological differentiation between the Catholics and the secularists. As a consequence, the Slovene political scene was largely re-configured along the divide between clericalism
Clericalism
Clericalism is the application of the formal, church-based, leadership or opinion of ordained clergy in matters of either the church or broader political and sociocultural import...
and anti-clericalism
Anti-clericalism
Anti-clericalism is a historical movement that opposes religious institutional power and influence, real or alleged, in all aspects of public and political life, and the involvement of religion in the everyday life of the citizen...
. The New Slovenes, with their mixture of agnosticism
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
and liberal Catholicism
Liberal Catholicism
Liberal Catholicism was a current of thought that was influential, especially in France, in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th.Being predominantly political in nature, Liberal Catholicism was distinct from the contemporary theological movement of Modernism, and is distinct also both...
, did not fit this new differentiation, and were replaced by the more radical Progressive nationalists
National Progressive Party (Slovenia)
The National Progressive Party was a political party in the Carniola region of Austria-Hungary. It was established in 1894 by Ivan Tavčar as the National Party of Carniola and renamed in 1905 to The National Progressive Party...
(also known as Liberals
Liberalism in Slovenia
This article gives an overview of liberalism in Slovenia. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ means a reference to another party in that scheme...
).
Besides, the old model of politics, based on small elites, was gradually being replaced by an emerging mass politics
Mass politics
Mass politics is a political order resting on the emergence of mass political parties.The emergence of mass politics generally associated with the rise of mass society coinciding with the Industrial Revolution in the West around the time of President Andrew Jackson...
, characterized by the Christian Socialism
Christian socialism
Christian socialism generally refers to those on the Christian left whose politics are both Christian and socialist and who see these two philosophies as being interrelated. This category can include Liberation theology and the doctrine of the social gospel...
of Janez Evangelist Krek
Janez Evangelist Krek
Janez Evangelist Krek was a Slovene Christian Socialist politician, priest, journalist and author.He was born in a peasant family in the village of Sveti Gregor , in what was then the Austrian Empire. His father died when he was a child...
on one side, and on the radicalised liberal nationalism of Ivan Hribar
Ivan Hribar
Ivan Hribar was a Slovene and Yugoslav banker, politician, diplomat and journalist. At the turn of the century, he was one of the leaders of the National Progressive Party, and one of the most important figures of Slovene liberal nationalism...
and Ivan Tavčar
Ivan Tavcar
Ivan Tavčar was a Slovene and Yugoslav writer, lawyer, and politician.- Biography :Tavčar was born into a poor peasant family of Janez and Neža née Perko in the Carniolan village of Poljane near Škofja Loka in what was then the Austrian Empire and is now in Slovenia. It has never been entirely...
on the other side. By the mid 1890s, the Marxists, gathered in the Yugoslav Social Democratic Party also appeared on the scene.
In this changed configuration, the Young Slovenes vanished from the political scene by the 1890s. The radical Young Slovene faction formed the core of the new National Progressive Party
National Progressive Party (Slovenia)
The National Progressive Party was a political party in the Carniola region of Austria-Hungary. It was established in 1894 by Ivan Tavčar as the National Party of Carniola and renamed in 1905 to The National Progressive Party...
, while some moderates chose the Slovene People's Party
Slovene People's Party (historical)
The Slovene People's Party was a Slovenian political party in the 19th and 20th centuries, active in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Between 1907 and 1941, it was the largest and arguably the most influential political party in the Slovene Lands...
instead.
Personalities
Important Young Slovene leaders and activists included:- Fran LevstikFran LevstikFran Levstik was a Slovene writer, political activist, playwright and critic. he was one of the most prominent exponents of the Young Slovene political movement.-Life and work:...
- Josip JurčičJosip JurcicJosip Jurčič was a Slovene writer and journalist. He was born in Muljava, Austrian Empire and died in Ljubljana, Austria-Hungary...
- Karel LavričKarel LavričKarel Lavrič, also spelled Laurič or Lauritsch , was a Slovene liberal politician and lawyer from the Slovenian Littoral, and one of the most prominent activists of the Young Slovene movement. Together with the conservative Lovro Toman, he was considered among the most popular Slovene politicians...
- Josip VošnjakJosip VošnjakJosip Vošnjak was a Slovene politician and author, leader of the Slovene National Movement in the Duchy of Styria, and one of the most prominent representatives of the Young Slovene movement....
- Josip StritarJosip StritarJosip Stritar was a Slovene writer, poet, playwright, publisher and translator.Stritar spent his early childhood in his home village in rural Lower Carniola and was sent to school in Ljubljana...
- Valentin Zarnik
- Simon JenkoSimon JenkoSimon Jenko was a Slovene poet, lyricist and writer.Jenko was born in Podreča in the Sora Plain in Upper Carniola, then part of the Austrian Empire, now in Slovenia, as an illegitimate son of poor peasant parents...
- Janko KersnikJanko KersnikJanko Kersnik was a Slovene writer and politician. Together with Josip Jurčič, he is considered the most important representative of Literary realism in the Slovene language.- Biography :...
- Fran Erjavec
- Fran Levec
- Fran Šuklje
- Anton Tomšič
Sources
- Ivan Prijatelj, Slovenska kulturnopolitična in slovstvena zgodovina, 1848-1895, Vol. III: Mladoslovenci (Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije, 1958).