“Who Sows Discord?”. The Confrontation between Progressives (Liberals) and the Catholic Side from the Founding of the Slovenian Society in 1891 to the Announcement of the First Slovenian Catholic Congregation in 1892

Abstract

Following the establishment of the Catholic Political Society in 1890 and the progressive (liberal) Slovenian Society in 1891, the progressive side continued to make accusations against political Catholicism regarding its aspirations for hegemony, its misuse of religion, and its stateless nature. These reproaches became particularly pronounced in the summer of 1891 when an extensive cultural polemic erupted between the Catholic Slovenec and the progressive Slovenski narod and Rodoljub newspapers over the issue of who kept stirring up the ideological and political disputes in Carniola. The polemic was initiated by Slovenec, which accused the progressive side of opposing religion (the claim was untrue, as the progressives were also Catholics) and rejecting the public and thus also political activities of the clergy, whose love for the nation the progressives refused to recognize. The Catholic side claimed it did express it, but unlike the progressive faction, they did not perceive it as absolute, for the absolute belongs solely to God. Consequently, they accused the progressives of causing the resulting dispute. Meanwhile, the progressive side attributed the responsibility for the conflict to the ideological terror and exclusivism of the Catholic Church, which placed religion above the nation and sought to dominate all aspects of political, cultural, and social life. The question of religion and nation became crucial in various substantive forms, and the struggle for ideological supremacy in the country was conducted on this foundation. With the discord in Carniola, political life assumed broader dimensions. Through the cultural struggle, the progressive side embarked on the path of further expression of its ideological and political beliefs.