THE GROWTH OF THE MODERN NATION 47how the fall will end,' Brandes concluded; 'but so long as one is in the air, it is
not so bad.'^49
The limited achievement of Polish nationalism during the nineteenth century
was compounded by its signal failure to make common cause with a wide vari-
ety of potential allies. In theory, Polish nationalists considered themselves the
natural partners of all oppressed people in Eastern Europe, if not in the world.
Their illusion was shared by many idealists of the age, from Marx to Macaulay.
In practice, they found that their demands for Polish independence monoto-
nously antagonized their would-be associates, causing bitter conflicts and
inconsolable rivalries.
One such conflict constantly recurred in connection with social policy.
Agrarian reform in the first half of the century, industrialization and urbaniza-
tion in the second, were always thought to be problems of proper national
concern. Emancipation of the serfs from the landlords, and later the liberation
of the working class from the capitalists were increasingly regarded as the nec-
essary adjunct to the deliverance of the nation from the partitioning powers. In
an ideal world, the nation was to be liberated by the efforts of a united society.
In reality, matters turned out rather differently. As shown by one of the best-
known verses of the century composed in 1836 by Gustaw Ehrenberg (1818-95),
social divisions continued to disrupt political unity:
When the people went forth with the sword to the fray,
The gentry were chatting in parliament.
When the people declared 'We shall conquer or die',
The nobles were counting their rent.
The cannon at Stoczek were captured by youths
Whose arms had been tanned at the plough,
Whilst the gentry in town were smoking cheroots
As they talked and debated and furrowed their brow
On the problem of meeting their Muscovite friends,
And of finding a formula of good common sense
That could lead to a treaty and patch up a peace.
So thanks very much, gentlemen, noble MPs!
Many thanks indeed, you earls and you prelates,
You counts and masters, you lords and magnates!^50The idea that the peasants had done the fighting during the insurrections, whilst
the noblemen stayed at home smoking their cigars is very wide of the mark.
Most historians would agree that the risings were launched and supported by
the nobility but that they failed, among other reasons, because the mass of the
peasantry remained apathetic towards them. Even so, Ehrenberg was perfectly
correct in stressing the gulf in social attitudes which separated the nobility from
the peasantry and which hindered consolidated political action. His savage par-
odies of the landowning classes made him very popular in later times, and his
own conspiratorial activities earned him half a lifetime spent in Siberian exile.
His verse quoted above was set to music, and became one of favourite songs of