What happened in Poland while Joseph Conrad was writing "Heart of Darkness"?

Though English author Joseph Conrad set his acclaimed novella Heart of Darkness in Africa, his native Poland remained embroiled in its own political turmoil during the period he was drafting the novel in 1898-1899. Examining Poland’s contemporaneous struggle for independence from imperial powers provides enlightening biographical context on Conrad’s fiercely anti-colonial work.

Poland's Struggle for Independence in Conrad's Early Years

Born in Russian-occupied Poland in 1857, Conrad grew up under Tsarist autocracy in his homeland. This fueled a desire for Polish sovereignty that Conrad held even after leaving home in his teens. In the 1890s as Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness, Poland remained divided and subjugated by Russia, Prussia, and Austria after a century of failed uprisings.

Parallel Oppression: Poland and the Belgian Congo

In particular, Polish nationalists were violently persecuted by Russia at this time, as Conrad developed his scathing critique of Belgian exploitation of the Congo. Though Heart of Darkness focuses on Africa, Conrad’s condemnation of imperial brutality was likely equally informed by abuses in his Polish homeland happening concurrently.

The Subtle Influence of Polish Oppression in Heart of Darkness

However, Conrad did not overtly interject his Polish political views into his writing, focusing on universals of human nature. Still, his firsthand understanding of Poland’s oppression can be sensed in Heart of Darkness’s disgusted portrayal of the hypocritical civilizing justifications for colonial plunder.

The depths of Conrad’s anti-imperialism undoubtedly stemmed in part from witnessing imperial domination over his fellow Poles during his literary career. Heart of Darkness implicitly channels that contemporary Polish repression into a broader humanist indictment of Europe’s racist colonies.