Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and the South Slavic Problem in 1848–9

KARL MARX, FRIEDRICH ENGELS, AND THE SOUTH SLAVIC PROBLEM IN 1848-9 H. MALCOLM MACDONALD RECENT occurrences in Europe, culminating in the partition of Czechoslovakia, have centred men's attention once more on the Bohemian Citadel and its posltlOn in the game of power politics. Those who are cognizant of the long-time trend of German imperialism, and of the views set forth in Mein Kampj, cannot justly feel any astonishment at the turn of contemporary events. Nor can they regard the Czechoslovakian drama as anything more than the prelude to a potential spear-head drive to the grain fields of the Ukraine and the oil wells of Roumania. It is widely known that German imperialist statesmen were long enchanted by the jata morgana of the "push towards the East," but the fact that a similar attraction was felt by the so-called founders of "scientific Socialism" is much less generally recognized. It is, then, to the attitude of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels towards the problem of the future of Central Europe and of the South Slavic peoples that we turn our attention. To understand the South Slav question at the time when Marx and Engels first came into immediate contact with it, in the revolutionary days of 1848-9, one must recall something of the nature of the Slavic national movement itself. The attitude of Marx and ,Engels towards the South Slavic problem was conditioned by a curious deviation in the evolution of Slavic nationalism; for in the rise of nationalism amongst the Slavs the accepted thesis of the liberal, ~ineteenth-cent~ry reform~rs) that democracy ~nd natiqnalisll ) necessarily go hand in hand, was seemingly disproved.' This arose from the"·fact that the Slavic nationalities were so situated, especially'in the Hapsburg monarchy, that they preferred, for purely nationalistic reilso'ns; 'to align ' themselves with the forces of the reaction rather ·th~n with the co~temporary r~.voh,ltionary, demo~ eratic movement. , ,The cause is not far to seek. The 'three forces contending for mastery-in the whirlpool of Aust~ia in 1848~9 were: (i) the Hapsburgs themselves, supported by a bureaucracy and army devoted to the dynastic interests as opposed to the national aspiraIFor an interesting discussion of this point, see H. O. Ziegler, Die Moderne Niltion, Tubingen, 1931. 452 MARX, ENGELS, AND THE SOUTH SLAVIC PROBLEM 453 tions of the minority peoples;2 (ii) the liberal, revolutionary "German " party, which strove to introduce democratic and constitutional principles in to the empire, and which looked towards Germany for its inspiration; and (iii) the Magyar minority in Hungary, which sought to break away from the Hapsburg yoke and set up its own independent nation-state.3 Between the disruptive forces of pan-Germanism on the left and Magyar nationalism on the right, the Hapsburg dynasty stood as the only force committed to the maintenance of Austrian unification. It might have been supposed ·that in this situation the Slavic groups, whose national feelings were just commencing to awaken, would have hailed the victory of the centrifugal forces of the revolution as the means whereby, in the confusion attending the collapse of the autocracy, they might have liberated themselves and formed their own independent political organizations. This probably would have been the case had it not been for the anti-Slavic policies of the Magyar and German groups. The Magyars were determined to rule Hungary in the interests of their own nationality and in defiance of the rights and hopes of the Slavic majority within their boundaries, while the Germans, for their part, were known to regard themselves as the divinely appointed bearers of Western culture to the backward hinterlands.4 In the choice between supporting the revolutionary but anti-Slavic movement of the Germans and Magyars, and the reactionary but at least un-national policy of the Hapsburgs, the Slavs made the only choice possible if they were to remain loyal to their national ideals: they supported the Vienna government. Under the autocratic rule of the Viennese bureaucracy there was some hope for the granting of a species of national autonomy to the Slavs-a hope which was considerably strengthened by the promises made by the...