There is no country in Europe which does not have in some corner or other one or several ruined fragments of peoples (
völkerabfall), the remnant of a former population that was suppressed and held in bondage by the nation which later became the main vehicle of historical development. These relics of a nation mercilessly trampled under foot in the course of history, as
Hegel says, these residual fragments of peoples always become fanatical standard-bearers of counter-revolution and remain so until their
complete extirpation or loss of their national character, just as their whole existence in general is itself a protest against a great historical revolution.
Such,
in Scotland, are the
Gaels, the supporters of the
Stuarts from 1640 to 1745. Such, in France, are the
Bretons, the supporters of the
Bourbonsfrom 1792 to 1800. Such, in Spain, are the
Basques, the supporters of Don Carlos. Such, in Austria, are the pan-Slavist Southern
Slavs, who are nothing but the residual fragment of peoples [alternative translation: "racial trash"], resulting from an extremely confused thousand years of development. That this residual fragment, which is likewise extremely confused, sees its salvation only in a reversal of the whole European movement, which in its view ought to go not from west to east, but from east to west, and that for it the instrument of liberation and the bond of unity is the
Russian knout — that is the most natural thing in the world.