O mniejszościach etnicznych w publicystyce Bolesława Prusa
On Ethnic Minorities in Bolesław Prus’s Journalism

Summary/Abstract: Among the many subjects Bolesław Prus dealt with in his journalistic practice is the problem of Polish attitude to national minorities. Apart from Prus’s repeatedly and penetratingly discussed Jewish, German (already discerned by literary historians) and Russian issues – also comprehensive but still demanding further research – worthy of notice are Ruthenian (Ukrainian), Lithuanian, Czech questions, taken up less often but with an intention of developing the examination perspective. Commenting on them, Prus yielded the then Polish moods, sometimes failed to go beyond contemporary evaluations, but usually advocated the idea of agreement of the Slaves (which is to be distinguished from Pan-Slavism). Such approach to the issues of ethnic communities that make up the Polish social organism is an effect of Prus’s conscious strategy dealing with presenting the coexistence of similar phenomena and of their mutual fluctuations. The journalist’s remarks are set into a broader context of positivist reflections on the antonymy of the “familiar” and “foreign”. These two are made dissimilar from other commentaries of that time by an ambition of expressing the real reasons for tensions, an attempt to raise above ethnic stereotypes, nationalisms, xenophobia, megalomania. Traits of didacticism, being characteristic of Prus’s journalistic writing, is also present in his treatment of the issues in question. Convinced of educational values of every situation, Prus called for gaining knowledge from those situations about oneself and about other nations, enhanced sound and fair competition and resort to experience gained by the “foreigners”, who – when proved useful for the Polish society – might deserve the status of “one of us”.

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