Чешский национализм и богемская, моравская и силезская идентичности в 1860-е – начале 1870-х годов (на примере сокольского движения)
Czech nationalism and Bohemian, Moravian and Silesian identities in the 1860s and early 1870s (The case of the Sokol movement)

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the regional stratum of Czech nationalist political thinking in the 1860s and early 1870s. This historical problem is explored through the case of Sokol societies, which combined sports and political activities. The research is largely based on the analysis of Czech newspapers and magazines. It was concluded that belonging to Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia was one of the subsidiary identities of Czech nationalists. Also, the author identified the linguistic means used by the inhabitants of the so-called Czech lands to express their belonging to the Czech nation. They denominated their imagined community not only with the words «český» («Czech» or «Bohemian»), «Moravian» or «Silesian», but also with the terms «national», «Czech-Slavic», «Slavic» and «Czech-Moravian». The author also examined the functioning of regional symbols within the Czech nationalist culture. Bohemian symbols such as various medievalistic images (including St. Wenceslas), Prague, the crown and the coat of arms (and separately the image of the lion and the red and white colours) achieved Czech-wide significance. In addition, some Moravian symbols, specifically the images of Jan Amos Comenius and Saints Cyril and Methodius have acquired a similar position. The image of eagles from the coats of arms of Moravia and Austrian Silesia was used only to manifest the brotherhood of Bohemian and non-Bohemian Czechs. At the same time, Silesian symbols can be found in the Sokol related texts and visual materials exclusively together with the Moravian ones. Thepolitical message about the unity of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia was present in many Czech nationalist texts published in the studied period. This fact indicates that the process of spreading the Czech totalistic identity in the so-called Czech lands was far from complete.

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