Abstract

A constitutive part of the political opposition in Austria-Hungary in the second half of the 19th century against the political and philosophical stands of liberally oriented New school were also the pro-government newspapers Krajan and Vlastenec. Although their formal ground were the principles of civic liberalism, they in fact subordinated the last to the idea of Hungarian patriotism and the strategy of preserving the status quo. These pro-government periodicals defended politically the idea of exclusivity of the political rights of the previous natio hungarica. Concomitant to it was the idea of meritocracy and superiority of the fatherland over the individual nations, or the whole over the part. The dominating interpretation of Hegel’s philosophy of history, adopted by Hungarian political elite, as well as its romantic one-sidedness made it in the long run impossible to implement the liberal principles of civic and cultural equality in the Hungarian region of Austrian-Hungarian monarchy