National Polish school and Russian bureaucracy, 1905–1907

Abstract

The  history  of  the  movement  for  a  national  Polish  school  in 1905–1907 was for a long time a part of research on the history of the first Russian revolution; the “school strike” in the Kingdom of Poland was studied separately, but the position of the top Russian bureaucracy on that issue was not considered in detail. The article considers an evolution in the positions of the top Russian bureaucracy on the issue of teaching in Polish in the schools of  the  Kingdom  of  Poland  during  the  first  Russian  revolution.  For  the  first time,  the  differences  between  the  positions  of  official  Petersburg  and  the provincial administration of the Kingdom of Poland are shown. The provincial administration was more interested in achieving stability in the province by liberal  methods  and  was  ready  to  make  concessions  when  the  members  of the Council of Ministers and Nicholas II initially held an ambiguous stance. Based on the analysis of the interdepartmental correspondence, part of which is  introduced  in  the  scientific  circulation  for  the  first  time,  it  is  concluded that hesitation of the tsarist government in resolving the issue of the national Polish  school  did  not  contribute  to  the  stabilization  of  the  situation  in  the region during the revolution, and the winning liberal course did not have the anticipated effect.