Pan-Slavism in Austria-Hungary

(in Russian, Austro-Slavism), a program advanced by the Czech bourgeoisie for the reorganization of the Austrian Empire (after 1867, Austria-Hungary) into a federal state under the Hapsburgs. As the political conception of liberal-bourgeois circles of the Slavic nations of the Hapsburg monarchy, Pan-Slavism spread in the 1840’s; it survived, in various forms, up to World War I. Its appearance marked a reaction of sorts against German nationalism, against attempts to include Slavic lands in a German union. The basic principles of Pan-Slavism were first expressed by K. Havlícbreve;ek-Borovskíin 1846. F. Palacky advanced an expanded program of Pan-Slavism during the Revolution of 1848–49. To a certain extent, Pan-Slavism corresponded to the national interests of the young bourgeoisies of Slavic nations (especially the Czechs), interested in exploiting the vast markets of Austria-Hungary.

The broad propaganda for Pan-Slavism, especially in 1848–49 and then later in the 1860’s, distracted the masses from class struggle and from revolutionary struggle for national independence.