Pan Slavism would naturally be under the Russians leadership - No thank you! ....but
the idea is somehow still alive in Russia where some think Poland has betrayed the Slavs and perhaps should pay for it.
Many Poles on the other hand want to improve Russia, make it more European and accuse its people of being not civilized enough, not really European. Then Poles think they are the only ones in Europe taking Russia seriously, giving Russia a credit, a chance to be "normal" one day. Like we haven't lost hope Russia would be ... better. Of course they'd have to follow us, our example, forget about violence, learn some manners, respect freedom, love personal liberty....
Think about comparing Russia and Poland for a minute, and consider the history of the two countries. Poland has mostly been a Western-leaning country following the Catholic religion, always very cosmopolitan... Russia, on the other hand, is a large peasant country that experienced modernization only within the last century. Comparing Poland and Russia is like comparing oranges and roast beef.
Interesting comment on an interesting reply of Forza on my Pan-slavic statement. I both understand the Russofobia of other Slavic, Baltic,
Latin (Rumania/Moldavia) and Mayagar (Hungarian) peoples, because of the Russian occupation of Poland for decades, but also see the influences to both sides of Poles and Russians on eachothers cultures.
In Dostojevski or Gogols Nevski Prospect I read about Polisch merchants walking through the boulevard. An aunt of my Polish grandfather was a succesful piano player in Sint Petersburg before the Russian revolution,
the social class of the intelligentsia was only really developed and played an important role in Russia and Poland. Read:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IntelligentsiaOnly later there was a sort of intelligentsia in France, Germany, Great Britain and America, but never so influential and taken seriously as in Poland and Russia, where there was a crossover between the cultural world and political activists. In Russia and Poland the influence of writers, poets, philosophers, artists, psychologists and other writing influential intellectuals
was always much higher than in the West, were economists, businesspeople, and non-intellectual career politicians had more infleunce.
I don't know how this has become so, because I can't get to the bottom of the Slavian mystery, the Slavian society and a culture which is deeply infuenced by it's linguistic history and progression.
You can have that Metaphysical or Empirical experiance when you are a Pole or Russian yourself, living in a Slavian society and experiancing the differances, simularities, synthetical elements in Polish and Russian cultures.
For the Poles it would be a great loss if they blocked themselves of for Russian culture, like some Duch stubbornly ignored Germany for a long time, because Russia is near has a great culture, beautiful cities and art.
Pan-Slavianism ofcourse never will have a chance, for the same reason Pan-Germanism has noc chance. Poeple always love their land the most and hate their neighbours the most, like Kane and Abel.
In my opinion Poland and Russia are very differant, because of what Eric said, the Western Roman Catholic church links Poland to Catholic Europe,
and the Bysantian Eastern-Orthodoxy of Russia links it more to Greece and Turkey (Istanbul was Constantinople). While in the Catholic lithurgy there was a philosophical tradition of Saint Augustine of Hippo, Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), John Duns Scotus (1265/66-1308), St. Thomas Aquinas, Desiderius Erasmus and the Irish Bisshop and philosopher George Berkeley (1685-1783) and the Pole Father Józef Tischner (1931-2000).
On the Russian Orthodoxy I found The Russian school of modern Orthodox theology that has made an immense but undervalued contribution to Christian thought, because it is less known than the Western Catholic and Protestant theology. Three of the greatest thinkers of the Russian school are Aleksandr Bukharev (1824–1871), Vladimir Soloviev (1853–1901), and Father Sergii Bulgakov (1871–1944). Through their life and thought each of them represented a generation. But this is a fairly late developement in the very traditional and formative Eastern-Orthodox tradition.
The language of the Orthodox lithurgy greatly influenced the Russian language, like the translated Lutheranian and Calvinist (Presbytherian) bibles during the Reformation influenced the German, Scottish, English,
Duch and French (Huegenot) languages, with the language and sayings of especially the old testamony. Polish Mideaval literature was influenced by the Bohemian lithurgy and literature. Russian Othodoxy must have a significant influence of old Greek, via the Bysanthian alphabet and way of organising, building churches, making Icons and dressing clegrymen.
An intersting link about the Eastern Orthodox Church is:
www.answers.com/topic/eastern-orthodoxySometimes I ask myself if the Polish Catholicism has ever been influenced
by the Eastern Orthodox Church, because of the mystical worshipping of
the Icon of the black Madonna in Chestochowa, the way the Interior of some Polish Gothic churches is (see the interior of the Polish Gothic Cathedral on the central square of Krakow). I am not an expert, so
I can't say much about theology and churchorganisations, but from a cultural and historical point of view I can say that the Polish Catholicism
is differant than the Catholicism in other European countries.
Jaga and Eric wrote about the simularities and differances and difficulties between Poland on the Bella Polish Forum.
Pieter