Współczesne implikacje mesjanizmu politycznego w Polsce

Abstract

Messianism is generally a belief in Messiah, who will come and change the relations in
the world. Messianism has taken many different forms, depending on the political and
environmental conditions. Polish researcher, Andrzej Walicki, claimes that literature on
the issue has a tendency to use this term in a broad sense, including a conviction about the
specific role of the nation. From this viewpoint, the idea of Poland as “bulwark of Christianity”
and then the nineteenth century beliefs in the mission of our nation should be considered as
a kind of Messianism. Yet Walicki is a follower of a narrow definition, but many researchers,
such as Jacob Talmon, use the term as a general descriptive concept. The term of Messianism
is a simplification which makes the extension of the research possible and it enables to find
a general plane of understanding this term. Polish romantic Messianism wasn’t a school, but rather a spontaneous expression after the treaty of third partition and then the collapse of
the November Uprising. A growing popularity of messianism marked of the 20th century.
Messianism claimed that the Polish nation should initiate the new organising of international
relations, propagating moral values in politics. Polish messianism was composed of
catholicism, specifically polish myths, exacerbated nationalism. Now, messianic ideology
merges description and prescription according to a common sense of entrenched myths and
specific social demands.
Key words: History of political thought, messianism, utopia