The idea of regionalism in Nikola Tommaseo’s Iskrice and Poslanice

Abstract

The author analyses Tommaseo’s work Iskrice with the emphasis on the fact that in different editions of this work some concepts were defined in differant, even contradictory, ways. The concepts analysed are: Illyrian Movement, Yugoslavian idea, Croatian and Serbian. The changes found in Tommaseo’s Iskrice could be useful in the present investigation of the Illyrian Movement and the diferentiation of this movement from the Yugoslav idea. The author first analyses Tommuseo's ideas on the busis of his work Iskrice and Spis starog kaludera which were written during the Illyrian Movement and reflected the events in those times. Tommaseo was educated in classicism and in the tradition of classical culture. His attitude towards the past and projections into the future were lied to the special character of Dalmatia, Italian culture and Illyrian Movement, that is, Slavic (Croatian) civilisation area in Dalmatia, Italian and Mediterranian culture of Dalmatian cities, towns on the islands, coastal areas. Tommaseo did not see this ns some importation directly connected to Italy but as a long-lusting local tradition. The middle European cultural atmosphere and the political and governmental structure in Croatia beyond Velebit was foreign to him and he did not think it wise to impose it on Dalmatia. On the other hand, he was looking forward to changes leading to modem civic society and did not think it necessary for modern nation to be formed in big centralistic states which level existing historical and geopolitical units, lie tried to find an equilibirum between territorial autonomies formed in developed feudalism and modem estate, free market and trade, without realizing that these two categories were in opposition in his time, negating one another because of the need for the concentration of capital, work force, and the building of unitary market mechanism. He did not accept the modern concept of nation characteristic of Romanticism, that is, the formaton of big national centralistic states on the basis of the same language. He knew that the nation united under the same language spoken also by the people in his Dalmatia, would neglect the specific characteristics of Dalmatia and they would be lost. He was aware that this would mean not only "Centralisation" of the area under the Illyrian name but also the hegemony of the Serbs, i.e., the realization of their plans to recreate Dušan's empire. He accepted that Dalmatia belonged historically to Croatia hut he wanted to sec it realized by taking into consideration Dalmatian autonomy. He fought lor the Ideas oT the French revolution, civic society, liberalism but opposing Bonapartism. To some extent Tommaseo supported the idea of the emancipation of the nation from the Austrian rule, Hungarian hegemony, great Serbian and Italian pretensions towards Dalmatia but he did not accept the Illyrian aim of cultural unification of Croatian region and the tendency towards a centralized unification.