Historia — polityka — eschatologia. Wizja propagandy powstańczej Cypriana Norwida — cz. I

The purpose of the paper is to offer some insight into Cyprian Norvid’s vision of propaganda which emerged out of his criticism of the propagandistic campaign pursued by the authorities of the January uprising of 1863. Reviving the original use of the concept of propaganda which was meant to convey the meaning of “spreading the Christian religion” or “preaching the gospel,” Norvid put forth the idea of propaganda regarded as a vehicle of salvation. The poet relied on this eschatological perspective for his judgment of the January uprising and it is this religious context that accounts for the evolution of his political views during the Uprising. He began with an enthusiasm for the Uprising thought of as the kind of epiphany (to be understood here as the action that remained in accordance with God’s will) and ended disappointed, judging the struggle for independence as bereft of its “originality,” that is to say, its entrenchment in God’s will. One is thus justified in saying that his approach to propaganda reveals a religious core of his thought.