page_title: Revolution in the Kingdom of Poland (1905–07)
section_title: The revolution
hierarchical_section_title: Revolution in the Kingdom of Poland (1905–07) / The revolution
caption_attribution_description: Pomnik Rewolucji 1905r w Łodzi
context_page_description: The Revolution in the Kingdom of Poland, also known as the Polish Revolution of 1905, was a major part of the Russian Revolution of 1905 in Russian-partitioned Poland. One of the major events of that period was the insurrection in Łódź in June 1905. Throughout that period, many smaller manifestations, demonstrations and armed struggles between the peasants and workers on one side, and the government on the other, took place. The demands of the demonstrators included both the improvement of the workers' living conditions, as well as political freedoms, particularly related to increased autonomy for Poland. Particularly in 1905, Poland was at the verge of a new uprising, revolution, or a civil war. Some Polish historians even consider the events of that period a fourth Polish uprising against the Russian Empire.
context_section_description: During the 19th century Łódź had become a major Polish industrial center, heavily urbanized and industrialized, and hence a stronghold of the socialist movement. By January 22, 1905, workers in Łódź were already on strike, and on January 31 tsarist police reported that the strikers carried placards with the slogans "Down with the autocracy! Down with the war!". Similarly in Warsaw, former capital of Poland and another major industrial center, uprisings and demonstrations were common. There was a general strike in Warsaw on January 14; there were over 90 fatalities in Warsaw over the next few days and on January 17 the Russian government declared that Warsaw was under a state of siege.
  On 28 January the PPS and the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania called for a general strike; over 400,000 workers became involved in strikes all over Poland, lasting for four weeks. This was only a prelude to an even larger series of strikes that rocked Poland over next year. In the years 1905-1906 close to 7,000 strikes and other work stoppages occurred, involving 1.3 million Poles. Protesters demanded both improved conditions for workers and more political freedom for the Poles. By February, students at Polish universities had joined the demonstrations, protesting against russification and demanding the right to study in the Polish language. They were joined by high school pupils and even some from the elementary schools. While the Russian government gave in and agreed to some concessions towards the Polish nationalist movement (removing some restrictions on the use of Polish in the classrooms), many - particularly the workers - were still dissatisfied. In some places in Poland, the school strikes lasted for close to three years. Major demonstrations occurred on May 1 (Labour Day), and about 30 people were shot during a demonstration in Warsaw. Later that month, public order disintegrated in Warsaw for a time    during a spontaneous campaign against both the criminal elements and the Russian collaborators.
  In mid-June 1905, Russian police opened fire on one of many workers' demonstrations in Łódź. The resulting Łódź insurrection saw several days of fighting within the cities and over two thousand casualties including over a hundred fatalities among the civilians. Several protests and strikes occurred in major Polish cities under Russian control throughout the year but, as Polish journalist Włodzimierz Kalicki wrote, the Łódź insurrection was the most dramatic one. The Russian government contributed to the chaos, by trying to incite some anti-Jewish pogroms. Another notable occurrence was the establishment of the Zagłębie Republic (Republika Zagłębiowska), a Polish socialist statelet centered around the region of Zagłębie Dąbrowskie, that existed from October to November 1905. A similar socialist state of the Ostrowiec Republic (Republika Ostrowiecka) around the city of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski existed from late December 1905 to mid-January 1906.
caption: Łódź monument to the 1905 insurrection
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