Old Slovenes
Encyclopedia
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 main Old Slovene leaders were Janez Bleiweis
, Lovro Toman
, Luka Svetec
, Etbin Henrik Costa
, and Andrej Einspieler
.
, and the recognition of the linguistic rights
of the Slovene language, split into different factions. The differences were both ideological and tactical.
After the beginning of the constitutional period
in the Austrian Empire, the Slovene nationalists gathered around the moderate conservative and liberal Catholic editor of the newspaper Kmetijske in rokodelske novice
, Janez Bleiweis
. Bleiweis and his allies led a policy of tactical alliances with different power groups in the Austrian Empire, like the Roman Catholic Church
, František Palacký
's Czech federalists, and a small part of the Carniola
n regionalist
landed nobility. From the mid 1860s onwards, a group of young nationalist activists and intellectuals, gathered around Fran Levstik
and Josip Stritar
, challenged this pragmatic policy, demanding a more radical approach which would fully embrace liberal
ideas. After a decade of friction between the two factions, the break came in 1872, when the Young Slovenes
established their own political organization. Consequently, the group remaining loyal to the old leadership and the traditional policies, became known as Old Slovenes.
Contrary to the Young Slovenes, who were critical towards the Catholic hierarchy, the Old Slovenes promoted traditional values
, such as family, religion, and loyalty to the Habsburg dynasty, on an Austroslavist
background. Their motto was "Everything for Religion, Home, the Emperor!" (Vse za vero, dom, cesarja!).
, and both supported the Taaffe
government. This tactical alliance between conservatives and liberals, which also included a substantial group of radicals
, was known as "The Concord" . In the mid 1880s, the Concord came under sharp criticism of the new generation of Catholic activists, led by the theologian Anton Mahnič
, and sponsored by part of the Roman Catholic establishment (especially the Cardinal Jakob Missia). The Old Slovenes opposed this new trend of political Catholicism
, which was able to mobilize the peasant masses, and continued to support a more traditional understanding of politics.
With the death of most of the Old Slovene leaders in the 1880s, the Slovene conservative political movement was replaced by a new type of political conservatism, based initially on traditionalist political Catholicism and later on Christian Social and Christian Socialist ideas. The establishment of the Catholic National Party
in 1892 marked the end of the policy of "Concord", based on an alliance between Old Slovenes and Young Slovenes. Instead, two opposing political movements emerged, the "Clericals" and the "Liberals". Many of the surviving Old Slovene leaders, like Luka Svetec
, preferred to join the National Liberals
.
Slovene Lands
Slovene Lands or Slovenian Lands is the historical denomination for the whole of the Slovene-inhabited territories in Central Europe. It more or less corresponds to modern Slovenia and the adjacent territories in Italy, Austria and Hungary in which autochthonous Slovene minorities live.-...
from the 1850s to the 1870s, which was opposed to the 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...
national liberal Young Slovenes
Young Slovenes
Young Slovenes were a Slovene national liberal political movement in the 1860s and 1870s, inspired and named after the Young Czechs in Bohemia and Moravia. They were opposed to the national conservative Old Slovenes. They entered in a crisis in the 1880s, and disappeared from political life by the...
. The main Old Slovene leaders were 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....
, Luka Svetec
Luka Svetec
Luka Svetec was a Slovene politician, lawyer, author and philologist. In the 1870s and 1880s, Svetec was one of the most influential leaders of the so-called Old Slovenes, a national conservative political group in 19th century Slovene Lands...
, 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....
, and Andrej Einspieler
Andrej Einspieler
Andrej Einspieler was a Slovene politician, Roman Catholic priest and publicist, and one of the early leaders of the Old Slovene national movement in the 19th century. He was known as the "father of the Carinthian Slovenes"....
.
The origins
In the 1860s, the Slovene National Movement, which had a wide political platform, based on national emancipation of Slovenes in the Austrian EmpireAustrian 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...
, and the recognition of the linguistic rights
Linguistic rights
Linguistic rights are the human and civil rights concerning the individual and collective right to choose the language or languages for communication in a private or public atmosphere...
of the Slovene language, split into different factions. The differences were both ideological and tactical.
After the beginning of the constitutional period
October Diploma
The October Diploma was a constitution adopted by Habsburg Emperor Franz Joseph on October 20, 1860. The Diploma attempted to increase the power of the conservative nobles by giving them more power over their own lands through a program of aristocratic federalism...
in the Austrian Empire, the Slovene nationalists gathered around the moderate conservative and liberal Catholic editor of the newspaper Kmetijske in rokodelske novice
Kmetijske in rokodelske novice
Kmetijske in rokodelske novice , frequently referred to simply as Novice , was a Slovene language newspaper in the 19th century, which had an influential role in the Slovene national revival....
, 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....
. Bleiweis and his allies led a policy of tactical alliances with different power groups in the Austrian Empire, like 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...
, František Palacký
František Palacký
František Palacký was a Czech historian and politician.-Biography:...
's Czech federalists, and a small part of the 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...
n regionalist
Regionalism (politics)
Regionalism is a term used in international relations. Regionalism also constitutes one of the three constituents of the international commercial system...
landed nobility. From the mid 1860s onwards, a group of young nationalist activists and intellectuals, gathered around 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 Stritar
Josip Stritar
Josip 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...
, challenged this pragmatic policy, demanding a more radical approach which would fully embrace 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,...
ideas. After a decade of friction between the two factions, the break came in 1872, when the Young Slovenes
Young Slovenes
Young Slovenes were a Slovene national liberal political movement in the 1860s and 1870s, inspired and named after the Young Czechs in Bohemia and Moravia. They were opposed to the national conservative Old Slovenes. They entered in a crisis in the 1880s, and disappeared from political life by the...
established their own political organization. Consequently, the group remaining loyal to the old leadership and the traditional policies, became known as Old Slovenes.
Contrary to the Young Slovenes, who were critical towards the Catholic hierarchy, the Old Slovenes promoted traditional values
Traditional values
Traditional values refer to those beliefs, moral codes, and mores that are passed down from generation to generation within a culture, subculture or community.-Summary:Since the late 1970s in the U.S., the term "traditional values" has become synonymous...
, such as family, religion, and loyalty to the Habsburg dynasty, on an Austroslavist
Austroslavism
Austroslavism was a political concept and program aimed to solve problems of Slavic peoples in the Austrian Empire.It was most influential among Czech liberals around the middle of the 19th century...
background. Their motto was "Everything for Religion, Home, the Emperor!" (Vse za vero, dom, cesarja!).
The demise of Old Slovene conservativism
By 1876, the two factions forged a tactical alliance against Austrian centralism and German nationalismGerman 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 both supported the Taaffe
Eduard Taaffe, 11th Viscount Taaffe
Eduard Franz Joseph, 11th Viscount Taaffe was an Austrian statesman who held a hereditary peerage in the Peerage of Ireland.-Family background and early years:...
government. This tactical alliance between conservatives and liberals, which also included a substantial group of radicals
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...
, was known as "The Concord" . In the mid 1880s, the Concord came under sharp criticism of the new generation of Catholic activists, led by the theologian Anton Mahnič
Anton 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....
, and sponsored by part of the Roman Catholic establishment (especially the Cardinal Jakob Missia). The Old Slovenes opposed this new trend of political Catholicism
Political Catholicism
Political catholicism is a political and cultural conception which promotes the ideas and social teaching of the Catholic Church in public life...
, which was able to mobilize the peasant masses, and continued to support a more traditional understanding of politics.
With the death of most of the Old Slovene leaders in the 1880s, the Slovene conservative political movement was replaced by a new type of political conservatism, based initially on traditionalist political Catholicism and later on Christian Social and Christian Socialist ideas. The establishment of the Catholic National 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...
in 1892 marked the end of the policy of "Concord", based on an alliance between Old Slovenes and Young Slovenes. Instead, two opposing political movements emerged, the "Clericals" and the "Liberals". Many of the surviving Old Slovene leaders, like Luka Svetec
Luka Svetec
Luka Svetec was a Slovene politician, lawyer, author and philologist. In the 1870s and 1880s, Svetec was one of the most influential leaders of the so-called Old Slovenes, a national conservative political group in 19th century Slovene Lands...
, preferred to join the National Liberals
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...
.
Personalities
The most important exponents of the Old Slovene political current were:- Janez BleiweisJanez BleiweisJanez 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 TomanLovro TomanLovro 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....
- Andrej EinspielerAndrej EinspielerAndrej Einspieler was a Slovene politician, Roman Catholic priest and publicist, and one of the early leaders of the Old Slovene national movement in the 19th century. He was known as the "father of the Carinthian Slovenes"....
- Etbin Henrik CostaEtbin Henrik CostaEtbin 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....
- Luka SvetecLuka SvetecLuka Svetec was a Slovene politician, lawyer, author and philologist. In the 1870s and 1880s, Svetec was one of the most influential leaders of the so-called Old Slovenes, a national conservative political group in 19th century Slovene Lands...
- Jovan Vesel KoseskiJovan Vesel Koseski205px|thumb|Jovan Vesel KoseskiJanez Vesel, known by his pen name Jovan Koseski , was a Slovene lawyer and poet.Born as Janez Vesel in Spodnje Koseze in the Duchy of Carniola in the...
- Davorin TrstenjakDavorin TrstenjakDavorin Trstenjak , was a Slovene writer, historian and Roman Catholic priest.He was born in the village of Kraljevci near Sveti Jurij ob Ščavnici, in what was then the Austrian Duchy of Styria...
- Peter KozlerPeter KozlerPeter Kozler or Kosler was a Slovene lawyer, geographer, cartographer, activist and manufacturer...