Author
Leon Rzewuski 1808-1869

He was born on 13 April 1808 in Vienna as the son of Wacław “Emir” Rzewuski (who had been a member of the Bar Confederation) and of Rozalia Rzewuska née Lubomirska. He was brought up in Vienna where he established close contacts with F. Lamennais and F. Oznam. In 1824, he joined the Military Application School in Warsaw and reached the rank of second lieutenant three years later. During the November Uprising, he served in General Józef Chłopicki’s staff and later in the staff of General Franciszek Żymirski’s corps. For his heroic deeds at Wawer (19 February) and Grochów (25 February) he was awarded the Golden Cross of the Virtuti Militari, and was promoted to captain. After Warsaw had capitulated, he went to Lviv, asking to be admitted to the Austrian army, but was refused. He settled in the family castle in Podhorce, joined the Kraków Academic Scientific Society and supported the development of the Ossolineum academic and cultural institute. From 1845, he maintained regular contacts with the conservative emigré camp referred to as Hotel Lambert and drew up reports on the situation in Galicia at its request. He appealed to Russian governors for amnesty, Polish schools and the implementation of land reform. He contributed to Galicyjski Tygodnik Rolno-Przemysłowy [“Galician Agricultural and Industrial Weekly”], pointing out the need for changes in agrarian relations and encouraging readers to examine the solutions suggested by socialists. Rzewuski supported the abolition of serfdom, but together with A. Potocki he tried to find a legal solution to introduce the reform and hence was accused of trying to halt changes altogether. He himself released peasants in his estate from serfdom, although he remained in favour of granting privileges to educated people, landowners and burghers in parliamentary elections. In 1848, he started publishing the Postęp [“Progress”] newspaper in Lviv (edited by Karol Widman and Jan Zachariasiewicz), where he published articles on current events in Poland and Europe and popularised socialist theories by L. Blanc, Ch. Fourier, G. Mazzini and P. Proudhon. However, huge opposition from landowners caused the newspaper to be quickly closed. In 1849, he published brochures in Paris on the idea of sovereignty and the principle of representation. In the 1850s, he became involved with the Czas [“Time”] magazine published in Kraków, writing columns on economic and political matters, mainly the abolition of serfdom. After his marriage to Taida Małachowska in 1850, Rzewuski became closer to the Church, maintained close contacts with Father J. Vianney and began to study the writings of John of the Cross, which resulted in his Polish translation of Ascent of Mount Carmel (Droga na Górę Karmel), which was published in 1855. At that time he also started to correspond with members of the Resurrectionist Order. In the 1860s, he travelled to Paris and Rome where he informed the Holy See about the situation of the Church in Poland. Towards the end of his life, he published the work Opinions et croyances in which he reflected on the concept of God, prayer, sanctity of work, the duty to serve others (especially by the wealthy) and the necessity of the new arrangement of relations between the state and the Church. The book was immediately included in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. He died on 21 October 1869 in Kraków. He was the author of numerous brochures, including List do p. L.S. (Ludwika Skrzyńskiego) o socjalizmie [“Letter to Mr L. S. (Ludwik Skrzyński) on socialism”] (1848), Essai sur le principe de la souveraineté (1849), Essai sur le principe de la representation (1849), Etude sur l’organization de la societé politique (1849), O dążnościach reorganizacyjnych w społeczeństwie [“On tendencies towards reorganisation in society”] (1849), Wstęp do praktycznego wykładu teorii produkcji rolniczej [“Introduction to a practical presentation of the theory of agricultural production”] (1850), O prawdziwości religii katolickiej [“On the truth of the Catholic religion”] (1853).

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