The political situation of the region led many intellectuals (Poles and Ukrainians) to believe that the only alternative to
decadence is getting back to the folk roots: moving out of large cities and mixing with "simple men". Focusing on
chłopomania within
Polish culture,
Romanian literary historian Constantin Geambaşu argues: "Initially, the
Cracovian bohemians' interest in the village followed purely artistic goals. Preoccupied with the idea of national freedom, the democratic Polish intellectuals were made aware of the necessity to attract and enlist the peasantry's potential in view of [Poland's]
independence movement. The notion of social solidarity is formed and consolidated as a solution to overcome the impasse faced by Polish society, especially given the failure of the
January 1863 insurrection."
Chłopomania spread into
Carpathian Ruthenia and the Russian Empire, touching the westernmost parts of
Ukraine (
Right-bank Ukraine,
Podolia etc.). This section of the movement merged into the larger
Ukrainophile current, which brought together partisans and sympathizers of
Ukrainian nationalism irrespective of cultural or ethnic background.
Russian scholar Aleksei I. Miller defines the social makeup of some
chłopomania groups (whose members are known as
chłopomani or
khlopomany) in terms of reversed
acculturation: "
Khlopomany were young people from Polish or traditionally
Polonized families who, due to their populist convictions, rejected social and cultural belonging to their stratum and strove to approach the local peasantry." In reference to the cultural crossover between the two ethnic versions of
chłopomania,
French historian Daniel Beauvois noted that "in certain numbers",
chłopomani from within the Polish gentry contributed to "reinforcing the Ukrainian movement". Other prominent figures include intellectuals associated with the Ukrainian magazine
Osnova, primarily
Volodymyr Antonovych and
Tadei Rylsky, Neubauer also traces the inspiration of
chłopomania to
Władysław Reymont and his
Nobel-winning
Chłopi novel, as well as seeing it manifested in the work of Young Poland authors such as
Jan Kasprowicz. According to Beauvois, the participation of various Poles in the Ukrainian branch of the movement was later echoed in the actions of
Stanisław Stempowski, who, although a Pole, invested in improving the living standard of Ukrainian peasants in
Podolia. Miller also notes that the movement had echoes in areas of the Russian Empire other than Congress Poland and Ukraine, highlighting one parallel, "albeit of a much lesser dimension", in what later became
Belarus. The notion of
chłopomania was specifically linked by Geambaşu with the
Sămănătorist and
Poporanist currents cultivated by
ethnic Romanian intellectuals from the
Kingdom of Romania and
Transylvania. ==See also==