Libmonster ID: ID-1252
Author(s) of the publication: S. KALYABINSKY

The initiative for comprehensive research on the history of the Polish working class meets both the public need and the trends in Polish historiography that have been clearly manifested, especially in recent years. Polish historians are increasingly undertaking research on the social history of their people in the 19th and 20th centuries, on the origins and process of social changes that took place in the past, and finally on the genesis of those fundamental changes in the social structure that we are witnessing and participating in. The task of specialists in the modern history of Poland is to understand the "anatomy" of its society in the past, to find out the mechanisms that govern the social life of the country, the complex of historical conditions that determined the direction of development and dynamics of social changes, social movements, ideological and cultural trends. The inclusion of the broad masses of the people in the field of view of historians is now a requirement of modern historiography, primarily Marxist. This line of research, of course, was intended to draw particular attention to the history of the working class. The Working Class History section of the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), historians from other sectors of the Institute, as well as specialists in this field from university centers in Poland play an active role in its study. Their activities are aimed at studying and clarifying the complex of objective and subjective factors that led to the fact that the working class, this youngest class of modern Polish society, which was formed a hundred years ago as a certain social force, moved to the first place in the political and social life of the country, became the main driving force of its liberation, political and social It is also the main factor that accelerates the course of Poland's history today.

Despite the undoubted scientific achievements of Polish historiography, there are still many gaps in our knowledge of the history of the working class. Thanks to the Marxist methodology, the field of knowledge of social history is constantly expanding, especially as research methods are improved and the achievements of related disciplines are used. There is also a growing role of quantitative research, which leads to the enrichment of generalizing assessments, so that they become closer to reality, to more objective, close to the truth views on the problems of mass social phenomena. All this directly affects the constant expansion of the list of research questions, indicates the need to study the interrelationships and interdependencies that arise between the problems from which they are based.-

page 54

This is how the history of the working class and the definition of its place in society are shaped.

We have attempted to develop a holistic research plan based on detailed Marxist methodological guidelines, on a broad source base that corresponds to them, and on the use of a modern arsenal of research techniques that meets new requirements. The implementation of this plan will make it possible to present all the problems of the history of the working class in a holistic and generalized way, and the axis around which individual problems would form in logical subordination will be the process of developing those objective and subjective elements that determine the role of this class as the leading force of the Polish people in as the main force of society in the process of socialist construction.

* * *

The search for the social pedigree of today inclines historians to study the significance of social factors in the historical process, the role of social systems and mass movements in the history of the Polish people in modern and modern times. The analysis of this complex of problems already made allows us to state that only the appearance of the working class on the Polish historical scene marked the beginning of a new era of social and national liberation struggle; that the very conditions of the socio-political situation of this class under the rule of the powers that divided Poland objectively predetermined its liberation mission. We consider these problems primarily in relation to a particularly difficult period in the country's history - the century of the absence of national freedoms and the division of the country into three parts, and at the same time the dynamic development of the working class, the formation of its consciousness and rapidly growing activity. So, this will still be the period up to 1918, although we are already developing a study of the next stages up to the formation of people's Poland.

Under the conditions of the disintegration of the feudal system in the first half of the 19th century, a spontaneous class struggle took place against both the old, feudal, and new forms and methods of exploitation. This struggle was waged in spite of various hindering factors typical of the transition period from the feudal to the capitalist formation, such as the heterogeneity and dispersion of the proletariat, dependence on commercial capital, insufficient isolation of the working class due to the still strong connection of its numerous categories with the land, and so on. From a social point of view, this development went from various forms of resistance, often still passive, through sporadic actions against the masters and manufacturers, the first "conspiracies" or actions still directed against the machines as imaginary perpetrators of poverty - to spontaneous strikes. From these first class demonstrations, it was already possible to see that the authorities of the states that divided Poland, who were the guarantors of the feudal privileges of the aristocracy and gentry in relation to the corvee peasantry, were also becoming the guarantors of the new, capitalist privileges of the developing bourgeoisie; that they were the guardians of the emerging capitalist "peace and order." At the same time, the active role of the proletariat in political and national liberation movements was growing. The participation of apprentices, labourers, and servants in the first national uprisings was a new impetus to these events and gave them a new direction. This was the case, for example, during the denominator-

page 55

during the days of the uprising of Comrade Kosciuszko and on the November night of 1830, when the uprising was saved by the simple Warsaw people, who spontaneously rushed to the Arsenal, armed themselves and, helping the army, captured the city center during the night. When popular discontent with the way the struggle was conducted was growing, and the "gentlemen in the capital", not believing in the strength of the people, did not agree with the radical and revolutionary methods of waging war against tsarism, the city people again spoke out against "treason" on the streets of Warsaw.

The growing front of the class struggle and the activity of the Plebeian masses in the liberation movement strengthened the power of the democratic camp, the left political wing, and increased their pressure on the protective, conservative, and compromising forces. As G. Jablonski notes, the flight of social strata threatened by the reformist patriotic movement under the wing of the enemies of Poland's independence, reconciliation with those who divided the country, encompassed ever wider circles of the propertied classes "as the self-consciousness and strength of the masses of the people developed. As a result, every Polish national liberation movement definitely had two opposing currents. One of them is socially conservative, unwilling to appeal to the Polish and foreign masses of the people; it seeks allies among European governments that are more or less hostile to one of the powers that divided Poland, against which the uprising is directed. The other trend is socially progressive; it combines national liberation with the struggle of the masses for social liberation, it is directed not only against the governments of the powers that divided Poland, but also against the social classes that support them and the system that is the expression of their interests, and it tries to solve the question of external help, seeking support in progressive social movements throughout Europe, including in the liberation struggle of the masses of the people in the countries that divided Poland. " 1
Since the 1940s, the activity of proletarian elements in the movement of the Plebeian masses has undoubtedly increased. Apprentices and workers meet among the members of secret circles in the Kingdom of Poland. In 1846, during the days of the Cracow Uprising, which, as I. Lelewel wrote, was the "first social revolution" that "openly appears on the Polish horizon" and was the work of the revolutionary democrats, who combined the cause of national liberation with the solution of social problems not in words, but by armed action, the miners and metallurgists of Cracow rose up Basna and Wieliczki, apprentices and laborers of Krakow. On the second anniversary of the Cracow Uprising, K-Marx said: "The Cracow Revolution gave a glorious example to the whole of Europe, identifying the national cause with the cause of democracy and with the emancipation of the oppressed class." 2 During the Revolution of 1848, agricultural workers, apprentices, artisans, and unskilled laborers participated in street demonstrations in Greater Poland and in the Poznan Uprising. The Silesian proletariat took an active part in the revolutionary events of 1848-1849, especially in Upper Silesia, which greatly contributed to the awakening of national consciousness in this Polish land and marked the beginning of the emergence of centers of Polish national agitation there. It was the growth of class antagonisms and social consciousness in the Polish lands under Prussian rule that contributed to political and national activism throughout the area. In Galicia, CCA-

1 Н. Jablonski. Narodziny drugiej Rzeczypospolitej (1918 - 1919). Warszawa. 1962, str. 18 - 19.

2 K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch. Vol. 4, p. 490.

page 56

Proletarian elements were also most active in the street battles of 1848.

In the Kingdom of Poland, during a period of widespread national and political revival, numerous representatives of the proletariat took part in demonstrations before 1863: factory workers, apprentices, servants. They also belonged to secret circles that fought for the restoration of the country's independence. Death on the gallows of three Warsaw apprentices, perpetrators of attempts on the governor of the Kingdom of Poland great book. According to S. Keniewicz, "for the first time in the history of Poland, representatives of the urban people came to the forefront in the spotlight as the main heroes of the national cause, and the red camp recognized them as martyrs of the liberation struggle." 3 The participation of workers and apprentices as defendants in the" trial 65", arrested in 1862, and in the insurrectionary ranks of 1863 among the members of the national gendarmerie, the influx of volunteer workers from abroad clearly revealed the presence of the proletariat in the political life of the country and at the same time its transformation into a support for the activities of the left forces in the national liberation movement.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, in the context of the rapid formation of capitalist relations and especially the development of large-scale capitalist industry, a new correlation of class forces in the country was already clearly emerging. New lines of division of Polish society became more and more clearly visible, and the main feature of this division was the class antagonism of the two main groups of society: the working class and the bourgeoisie. The development of capitalism and the associated processes of urbanization, migration, etc. led to the breaking of old ties, the former class structure, sharply increased social mobility, and activated wide circles of society in the industrial, social, and cultural fields. The process of growing class consciousness has been intensified, especially in the working environment. The system of social and political relations increasingly clearly reflected the specific situation of the Polish lands: the lack of national freedom and the division of them between the three powers, which represented a clear threat to national existence due to the anti-Polish policy of their governments. This situation was an essential prerequisite for the growth of patriotic feelings and national consciousness among the masses, and at the same time a sense of national community. It also favored the spread of programs of class solidarity, given the obvious fact that a certain social position does not always coincide with an adequate class identity. At the same time, national oppression increased social inequality and sharpened class conflicts. This increased the national liberation sentiments of the masses, especially when the apparatus of the powers that divided Poland was protecting the "peace and order" of the growing capitalist system. Thus, the processes of developing the class and national consciousness of broad strata of society not only interpenetrated and strengthened, but also directly conditioned each other. The propertied classes, desiring the elimination of national oppression in the Polish lands and trying to guarantee their influence over the leadership of their destinies, at the same time feared the political emancipation of the masses and, as the years 1905 - 1907 clearly showed, despite the manifestation of opposition on their part, were inclined to compromise with those who divided and oppressed the country. The acuteness of social conflicts was influenced both by the development of capitalism and its underdevelopment, which led to the fact that the life of the entire country, especially its masses, was dominated by strong changes in the economy.-

3 S. Kieniewicz. Powstanie styczmowe. Warszawa. 1972, str. 251.

page 57

remnants of feudalism. The contradictions between the police-bureaucratic system of absolutist power and the developing structure of modern capitalist society were particularly evident in the lands of the Kingdom of Poland, which was one of the most economically, socially and culturally advanced regions of the Russian Empire.

It was precisely in this situation that the struggle of the working class against social oppression and those who oppressed Poland was, for more than 40 years after the defeat of the uprising of 1863, the only mass movement against tsardom and brought to Polish society that creative beginning, the political result of which eventually became the emergence of an independent Polish republic in 1918. The proletariat became such a force in an economically backward country with a low proportion of the proletariat in the population on a European scale, but characterized by a special tension of social conflicts, lack of political freedoms, and increasing national oppression and at the same time strong national liberation traditions. Even the first programmatic formulations of the political movement of the working class , the social-revolutionary Proletariat party, being the result of a Marxist analysis of the capitalist development of Polish society, stated the process of isolating the working class into an independent social force and emphasized that the results of the struggle of this particular class are given by the Proletariat! new chances for the social and political emancipation not only of the proletariat, but of the entire people. It is worth recalling the thoughts formulated by L. Varynsky and his comrades that "active participation in the struggle against the established social order is the duty of every Pole who prefers the fate of millions of Polish people to the interests of the Szlachta - capitalist part of our nation", and that "the triumph of the principles of socialism is a prerequisite for a happy future for the Polish people"4 . The young Political movement of the Polish working class, the socialist movement, "in the new social conditions," as Mr. Jablonski writes, "had the right to be called the heir of the Polish progressive movements of the previous era, and therefore of that current of the national liberation struggle which was considered to represent the interests of the Polish people and saw its ally in the liberation struggle of other peoples." 5 .

It followed from the very essence of the programs of the political movement of the working class that each of them, for both subjective and objective reasons, concerned not only the cause of the proletariat, but also the history of the entire people. You should agree with the wording of F. You know that none of the parties of the Polish proletariat confined themselves to the current economic struggle for the improvement of the material condition of the working class, but put in the foreground fundamental political transformations, that is, transformations that concerned the entire people. The political parties of the proletariat were not only aware of their responsibility for the fate of the people, but also believed that only the struggle of the proletariat could restore political freedom to the Polish people. In addition, the working class of the Polish lands, because of its social and political position and the subordination of these lands to the power of foreign states, could not strive only for its own liberation. Even his speeches, whose starting point was typically economic demands addressed to factory owners, almost always led in practice to clashes with the administrative and police department.-

4 "Rownosc", N 1, pazdziernik 1879 ("Polskie programy socjalistyczne 1878 - 1918". Febr. F. Tych. Warszawa. 1975, str. 66).

5 H. Jablonski. Op. cit., str. 12.

page 58

paratomized the powers that divided Poland and protected the interests of the capitalists. This fact alone determined the attitude of the working class towards the question of the political emancipation of the entire people.

The vanguard role of the proletariat in the life of the people was particularly pronounced during the people's revolution of 1905 and 1907. Kingdom of Poland. The working class was not only the initiator of this socio-political impulse, but also its main driving force, and its struggle not only determined the paths and stages of the liberation movement, but also predetermined its direct and indirect results. The industrial proletariat of the Kingdom of Poland, which at that time made up 6% of the country's population, led to an active and direct revolutionary struggle many times larger sections of the population: agricultural workers, peasant masses, school and student youth, and broad circles of intellectuals. With his first speech in January 1905, he succeeded in turning the Kingdom of Poland, for the first time since the defeat of the 1863 uprising, into one of the leading centers of the struggle against tsarism, and the proletarian methods of struggle adopted by other groups of the people gave a new appearance to the general democratic, political and liberation movement. Many contemporaries were aware of this fact immediately after the beginning of the revolution, as early as January 1905. A proclamation issued by the Main Board of the SDKPiL stated at the time: "It is we, exhausted by labor, we, with rough hands, we, deprived of funds, who are now ahead of society, we, the working class, are today the leaders of the people in Poland." 6 It was precisely from the experience of the first general strike of 1905 that it became clear to many of our contemporaries that in the course of the first few days of the revolution, a new alignment of forces and methods of action emerged. By its position and degree of involvement in the revolutionary struggle against tsarism and social oppression, the Polish proletariat was able to provide, as V. I. Lenin noted, referring to the armed uprising in Lodz, "not only a new model of revolutionary enthusiasm and heroism, but also the highest forms of struggle." 7 The revolutionary enthusiasm and advanced position of the Polish proletariat throughout Russia led to the fact that in the autumn of 1905, during the next and strongest onslaught on the autocracy, "heroic Poland," as Lenin stated at that time, " once again joined the ranks of the strikers, as if mocking the impotent malice of the enemies who thought to defeat it by their blows, and which only served to forge its revolutionary forces more firmly. " 8 Looking forward to the decades that have passed since then, we are now fully aware that the events of 1905 in the Kingdom of Poland, which were an essential part of the revolution in Russia, were at the same time the first political, social and national liberation movement on such a large scale in the Polish lands during the period of capitalism. It was then that millions of people realized the possibility and reality of the struggle to overthrow foreign domination, to change the conditions of their material and political existence. The revolutionary and national liberation actions initiated by the working class at that time were one of the most significant political stages that prepared for the revival of the Polish State in 1918.

In Upper Silesia, where national oppression was directly linked to class oppression, the growth of the proletariat's class consciousness, economic struggle, and political activity in conditions where the national division coincided with the class division and, in principle, was absent on the whole.-

6 S. Kalabinski, F. Tych. Czwarte powstanie czy pierwsza rewolucja. Lata 1905 - 1907 na ziemiach polskich. Warszawa. 1976, str. 633.

7 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 10, pp. 310-311.

8 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 12, p. 2.

page 59

The national capitalist class was a particularly important prerequisite for the growth of the political and national consciousness of the Polish population of Silesia and the development of a sense of belonging to the Polish nation. In Greater Poland and Pomerania, along with the formation of the class consciousness of the proletariat, the national consciousness of the working class developed and its participation in the struggle against national oppression grew. The actions of the proletariat in the Polish lands under Prussian rule against the bourgeoisie and the administration of the Prussian State were a significant contribution to the struggle against Germanization and the entire system of denationalization. In Galicia, the working class was the most active and advanced detachment of the broad front of the people's struggle against the remnants of feudalism that hindered the economic and social development of the region, against national humiliation, and represented the vanguard in the struggle for the modernization of the economy and social structure, for the democratization of the political system.

Yu. Markhlevsky, analyzing the problem of the connection between the class and national liberation struggles, noted that the Polish proletariat, in its own class interests, must overthrow "modern capitalist states, militaristic states, police states based on the rule of one class over another, on exploitation, violence and disenfranchisement"; that it is precisely its struggle with "a state governed by the State of national liberation". Prussians", with the tsarist satrapy controlled by "Cossack whips and theft of officials", and the archaic Austrian monster - "the domain of the rotten aristocracy and bourgeoisie", serves the interests of the Polish people most fully, so "the proletariat and only the proletariat can be the defender of national interests" 9 .

The concept of "working class"requires at least a brief explanation. There has been a lot of discussion on this issue, and points of view have fluctuated between covering all proletarianized elements in our research with this term and narrowing this concept to the industrial proletariat. In our work, we have taken the view that the concept of "working class" is a historical category; therefore, it undergoes evolution along with the development of the economic and class structure of society, with the development of the working class itself, with the growth of its role and significance. Therefore, the study of changes in the composition and structure of groups that make up the working class is undoubtedly an essential research task, especially since the class structure does not always appear in its pure form and is not always clearly outlined. We should agree with the opinion of X. By studying the class function of borderline social groups, Yendrushchak demands that we strive to establish the historical, and therefore changing, boundaries of the class and to define it not by an a priori, but by an inductive method, using the methodological guidelines of Marxist theory, and not by a scheme derived from them, finally, to bring to the fore not so much classification as clarification of the ways of attraction that is, to study the extent to which a particular system of socio-economic, cultural, and political relations in a given place and time contributed to the proletarianization of these strata, and, consequently, whether we can classify them as working class. An important criterion for class membership is the Marxist concepts of " class in itself "and" class for itself", which establish that the working class, being primarily an economic category, is also a social category. Therefore, objective signs can be supplemented in specific cases with criteria of an original way of life.,

9 J. Marchlewski. Stosunki spoleczno-ekonomiczne w ziemiach polskich zaboru pruskiego. "Pisma wybrane". T. I. Warszawa. 1952, str. 522.

page 60

feelings of belonging to a given class, internal cohesion or contrasts, are cultural criteria, that is, a number of sociological features that are especially useful when considering the question of belonging to the working class of intermediate or border layers with it. These reflections should not, however, obscure the fact that both socially and politically, in terms of the role played by the working class, the main focus should be on the industrial proletariat, on emphasizing the place and importance of the large-industrial proletariat.

* * *

As we begin our work, we have outlined a preliminary set of problems concerning the history of the working class during the period when the Polish lands were under the rule of the powers that divided the country. In compiling the problem, we were helped by the suggestions of the following researchers: E. Kaczynska, V. L. Karwacki, R. Kolodziejczyk, S. Mikhalkiewicz, K. Muzhinowska, J. Molenda, V. Naidus, Z. Pustula, K. Vaida, A. Zayonets and A. Zharnowska.

The starting point and first cycle of our research program is to establish the economic prerequisites that determined the genesis and development of the working class. Along with describing the main factor that was capitalist industrialization, as well as the growth of industrial production, changes in production techniques, and then the sphere of craft production and services, it is advisable to show the role of urban processes, the development of urban utilities, and transport (especially railway). Special attention should be paid to the impact of peasant reforms, the development of capitalism in agriculture, the stratification of the countryside, the pauperization of the broad peasant masses, and the growth of the labor supply in the labor market. The role of indirect factors (for example, the impact of state economic policy, economic conjuncture and simultaneously depressions and crises, foreign capital inflows), as well as the capacity of the domestic market and the importance of foreign markets require research.

The next challenge is to understand the social consequences of the changes that have taken place in industry and the main directions of its development. Here it is necessary to clarify the influence on the development of the working class and on its internal structure of the formation of manufacturing production and the special role of the technical revolution both in increasing the number of the proletariat and in intensifying labor, increasing the degree of exploitation, leveling wages and reducing the cost of labor power of existing cadres of workers. These factors led to the drawing of new layers of workers into the orbit of capitalist production, including the employment of women and minors on a larger scale. It is also possible to raise the question of how the development of factory production affected the emergence of new classes in the working class, a new division into strata - in structural, cultural, and other respects, etc. There is also a typical problem for large cities of developed handicrafts, services and the system of distribution of work at home. An important task is to show the impact of: military operations and martial law in 1914-1918. the division of Poland into separate industrial districts, the military policy of the states that divided Poland and the occupation authorities, mobilizations, as well as determining the overall balance of losses caused by the First World War and the economic exploitation of Polish lands by the administration of foreign states.

The second cycle of problems concerns the pedigree, composition and social structure of the working class, quantitative changes and their dynamics,

page 61

territorial placement, etc. The starting point here is the study of the sources of replenishment of the working class and the problem of its mobility. For the period of manufacturing production and the beginning of the formation of the first cadres of the working class, this will be a problem (posed by N. Assorodobrai for the end of the XVIII century in general, and T. Lepkovsky for Warsaw) about the so-called luzny people (vagabonds), proletarianized elements of the peasantry, artisans and gentry, about the role of the urban plebs, as well as immigrants. For the period after the peasant reform, this will be the determination of the role, participation and ways of direct and indirect influx of people from the countryside, pauperized peasants, small gentry, rural artisans and handicraftsmen into industry, then the problem of proletarianization of the small bourgeoisie and gentry, which represented an essential source of replenishment of the proletariat. The changing nature and role of immigration from outside the borders of Polish lands, which is significant during the manufacturing period, needs to be investigated; migrations within and within the three parts of divided Poland; the problem of" peasant workers", the nature of industrial workers ' ties with the countryside, and the process of their disappearance, especially in large urban centers. These issues are related to the territorial limits of the labor market and the size of population inflows to urban industry. For large proletarian centers, the problem of replenishing the working class at the expense of the families of the workers themselves and the role of this factor in the development of the proletariat is specific. A separate problem is the question of seasonal workers (so essential for construction and municipal works), sources of replenishment of crafts, service industries, domestic workers, etc.

The problem of the size of the working class as a whole and its individual groups, taken in dynamics, includes an analysis of the professional composition, which is especially significant for multi-industry industrial centers with a developed service sector, not excluding the craft proletariat, builders, people employed in trade, domestic workers, handicraftsmen, lower employees of private and public institutions. The problem of unemployment and objective prerequisites for social degradation in specific conditions of crisis years is important. For the history of the development of cities and their populations, the question of territorial placement of workers in terms of their place of work and residence, the emergence of typical working settlements or neighborhoods that create a specific housing picture is important. Here it would be necessary to show and compare the heterogeneous types of the population of workers, which is related to the nature of individual industrial centers (for example, Warsaw and Lodz or the Dombrow basin). An important task is to analyze the composition and structure of the proletariat, including the branch and professional structure in accordance with the size of enterprises, the degree of their mechanization, as well as the type of ownership and organizational and legal nature of enterprises.

Such an approach will help to further analyze the differences in the material status, qualifications, educational level, culture, consciousness, and socio-political activity of the working class. Demographic analysis should be used, both in general and in relation to individual groups, to clarify the specifics of the evolution of the social and professional structure (for example, the proportion of adolescents in the proletariat, the role of women's work), which again is related to the sectoral structure of industry and crafts. We are aware of the difficulties that the researcher will encounter in this kind of approach, which concerns people working in crafts, trade, services, etc.The question of the national structure of the working class is projected onto many problems. Since it is impossible to apply subjective criteria here, it would be necessary to rely on the criteria of religious freedom.

page 62

without absolutizing them and being aware of their essential flaws. Additional criteria should also be introduced, for example, in the field of culture, with the help of which religious criteria can be partially adjusted. It is advisable to understand the specifics of the correlation between the social and professional structure of the proletariat of other nationalities, as well as to establish to what extent the national composition influenced the structural division of the working class in individual industrial centers. A significant challenge would be to investigate how the evolution of the socio-professional structure of the working class in large urban centers was affected by the economic, political and cultural functions of cities in comparison with smaller industrial centers. It would be appropriate to analyze the impact of a large (metropolitan) center on the size and intensity of social mobility of the working environment, on the chances of promotion, on the problem of professional stabilization (applied to different generations), and then analyze the place of the working class in the social structure of the same urban centers. After all, the development of this class is, after all, one of the most noticeable symptoms of the modernization of the social structure of the population, both in cities and throughout the country. Special attention should be paid here to the share of the large-scale industrial proletariat in the social structure of cities, industrial districts, and the whole country, and to its particularly significant, if not dominant, role in the social and political life of the working class, in shaping its culture, class consciousness, and so on.

It would be desirable to show the evolution of the working class against the background of changes taking place in Polish society as a whole, in order to present in this aspect and in comparison with the processes taking place in other classes or social strata the special dynamics of the development of the working class and at the same time, despite the existing internal differentiation, its a tightness that also grew with the development of the proletariat itself. I would like to show the problem of the size and composition of the rural proletariat against the background of the processes caused by peasant reforms and then capitalist transformations in agriculture, highlighting regional differences and the impact of land parcel formation on structural changes in this group of the proletariat, and so on. With the study of the problems of social and professional stabilization of the working class, which became particularly clear at the turn of the XIX century.-XX centuries, the analysis of the process of slow separation of workers from the countryside, changes in the nature of migration processes, stabilization of the majority of the working class and the increasing role of replenishment of the proletariat at the expense of the families of the workers themselves is connected. The solution of the above-mentioned problems for the period of the First World War should show the changes in the size of the working class, the dispersion of large-scale industrial workers, and the role of rural migration, job hunting, and forced removal of workers abroad, as well as the impact of these phenomena on the composition and structure of the working class.

The third cycle of problems concerns the political, legal and material situation of the working class. In it, one can first look for the reasons for such a clear disparity between the immaturity of capitalism in the Polish lands in comparison with the more advanced countries of Europe, which were the cradle of the modern working-class movement, and such a significant movement of the Polish working class. In this case, it is necessary to analyze the problem of overlapping social conflicts and tensions caused by the development of capitalism and at the same time its underdevelopment, as well as feudal remnants and the consequences of territorial affiliation.

page 63

Polish lands to three state organizations-absolutist Russia, Junker Germany and the bureaucratized Habsburg monarchy. For the Kingdom of Poland, which concentrated the largest part of the Polish working class and became an area of its particularly pronounced socio-political and national liberation activization, this will be a problem of increasingly pronounced contradictions between the capitalist development of the region, which belonged to one of the most industrially advanced regions of the state, and the feudal-police system of power. Here the researcher may be interested primarily in the impact on the life of the working class of that particular interweaving of social, political and national oppression, which left such a strong imprint on the position of the working class of the Kingdom of Poland, on the development of the working-class movement and Polish socialist thought. Thus, it is necessary to show the police conditions in which the working class found itself, and the significant lag and underdevelopment of social legislation. For all Polish lands, it is advisable to analyze the systems of social legislation that were in force in certain parts of these lands, and its actual scope and implementation, as well as its impact on the life of the working class. It is also necessary to show the legislation in relation to artisans, the influence of guild customs on relations in handicraft production and in the factory, the hiring system and legal working conditions in transport and construction, etc. The problem of material living conditions of the working class should be considered in terms of changing the economic situation of the country, the movement of market prices, and independent in the social sense of the class itself, of the interweaving of economic and social circumstances, of the question of the spontaneous or conscious influence of workers on their way of life, of the role played by the growth of their cultural aspirations, consciousness, the impact of the working-class movement, and so on. living standards and lifestyles of individual groups of workers.

In this regard, the research program should include consideration of conditions at the place of work, the impact of technological progress, differences between enterprises in certain industries, their size, issues of occupational safety and health, etc. The problem of studying wages in the framework of long-term trends in its movement should include an analysis of calculation systems, the size of nominal wages by industry, qualifications employees, the size of enterprises, as well as by gender and age of workers. This approach will form the basis for analyzing the movement of nominal wages and changes in real wages, relying on price indices and the purchasing power of money to establish objective determinants of the scale and nature of these changes, as well as for studying the problem of consumption, primarily by finding out the financial capabilities of certain categories of workers in this area. The problem of housing conditions associated with capitalist urbanization should concern the types of working-class neighborhoods and apartments, factory and charitable construction, sanitary and communal equipment, as well as the prices of apartments and the costs associated with their maintenance. For the rural proletariat, the problem of the ordinary (in-kind payment)will be essential here The problem of sanitary conditions should not bypass the issues of medical care, occupational diseases, social diseases, alcoholism, etc. It would be interesting to show the differences in the material situation and the nature of consumption between the stabilized, largely hereditary cadres of the proletariat

page 64

and groups that only join the ranks of this class, semi-proletarian elements, etc.

One important element in summing up the results of a study of all aspects of the proletariat's material situation would be to analyze the benefits of belonging to the working class in comparison with the situation of the environment from which it was recruited - the social benefits of industrialization and urbanization, professional stabilization and social advancement. We are referring here not only to the issues of material life, but also to the no less significant impact of living conditions in the city on the formation of cultural level, professional honor and self-esteem, on the education, consciousness of workers and their activity in the mass labor movement. For the period of the First World War, I would like to show the limited scope of labor protection and social legislation, changes in working conditions, working hours and wages under the conditions of the card system and speculation in food products, a sharp deterioration in sanitary conditions as martial law continues, etc.

The next, fourth cycle of problems, especially launched in Polish historiography, concerns cultural issues that cover elements of the material and spiritual life of the proletariat. The significance of this problem is confirmed by the fact that the cultural sphere reflects all the elements of working class life that have been studied so far. In this sphere, the elements of both the internal integration of this class and the differentiation of its positions, opinions, aspirations, evaluation criteria, ambitions, ideals and life goals, that is, the totality of elements that make up the consciousness of the proletariat, its social, political and national aspirations, are particularly evident. An important task here is to find out the factors that shape the culture of the working environment in the conditions of urban civilization, the influence of elite strata and propertied classes, the petty bourgeoisie, the traditional craft environment and the factory, the modern production system in relation to certain professional groups among large-scale industrial workers, as well as those employed in small enterprises, crafts, work at home, etc. etc. An essential role is played here by the study of the influence of the social origin of the proletariat, and therefore of the cultural values introduced into the working class (for example, rural traditions, ethics and morals), and the influence of the city on changing customs and changing attitudes when confronted with urban civilization; in this area, this also applies to the declassed gentry, intelligentsia, etc. P. Important aspects of family life can be shown by an analysis of the emerging family status of individual working groups, which determines the position of individual members in the family, which was associated, in particular, with the work of women. This concerns the issues of the culture of married life, the evolution of the model of the middle-class and peasant families in the new working environment, the problems of the culture of feelings, the upbringing of children and views on their social advancement, on the place of the elderly in the family, etc. for personal dignity and new ethical values. This cycle of problems also includes questions of social pathology as a phenomenon typical of large urban centers, its influence on the emerging models of proletarian culture, and at the same time the spontaneous reaction of counteraction to this phenomenon, as well as the conscious struggle for new moral values, directly related to the growth of culture, consciousness of the working class and the impact of the labor movement.

The next problem is the culture of work, adaptation to the conditions of industrial production, to technical discipline.

page 65

about professional training, about the principles of living together within a certain professional group. A major research problem is the folklore of the working environment, its customs and traditions, both introduced into the working class and assimilated by the working environment, and new ones that grow spontaneously or are inspired by the working-class movement. This applies to issues of free time, entertainment, recreation, communication culture, the role of art and literature (both those that existed at fairs, in courtyards, on the streets, and also came from religious institutions, as well as fiction, theater, cinema, and the press; finally, socialist publications that promote certain models of moral and moral values).ethical and domestic behavior). This is also related to the problems of education, interest in reading, working libraries, amateur activities, etc. The source of knowledge of the views and customs of the working class will be an analysis of typical and widespread legends introduced to cities and working-class towns, as well as typical village legends and new songs created in the working environment (both street and courtyard songs, "lantern songs", historical and patriotic songs, etc.). as well as being the result of the original work of the working class), which reflected everyday issues of life, reactions to them; finally, revolutionary songs related to the impact of the socialist movement. The problem of workers 'and cultural-educational institutions and societies, the demands of workers in the field of culture and education, the role of activities of the ruling classes in this area, as well as the contribution of progressive organizations, especially the socio-cultural role of workers' parties and trade unions, require research.

A study of this whole cycle of problems would, in turn, make it possible to establish the place and role of culture in the life of the worker, and would help to determine the general elements of culture of both individual strata and the entire working class, and at the same time to establish the characteristics of the culture of various groups or generations of the proletariat. All this would be a significant contribution to the knowledge of the national, social and political consciousness of the working class and the factors that shape its views, would allow us to better understand the traditions of the social and national struggle of the urban plebs and artisans that exist in the working environment, the traditions of popular uprisings, the traditions of the already typical proletarian struggle, and separateness and internationalism, and at the same time patriotic views and national liberation tendencies. At the same time, the role of workers ' participation in social and political life, the problem of the political culture of the proletariat, and the influence of both major events in the labor movement and national events on it should be studied.

Finally, the last and fifth cycle of questions concerns the problems of the mass movement and political organizations of the working class. The scope of research includes the first manifestations and forms of workers 'resistance, from which the spontaneous strike movement was born, the participation of the proletariat in the liberation movement, especially in national uprisings, the sphere of influence of the first socialist organizations and their influence on the form, content and ideas of workers' actions, forms and methods of agitation in the working environment, as well as the participation of workers in political organizations. It is necessary to study the turning point in the mass movement on the threshold of the 90-ies of the XIX century, the place of the mass movement of the working class in the national liberation struggle, the impact of the level of consciousness of the proletariat, and especially its vanguard, on the tactics and programs of the workers ' parties. In connection with the emergence of modern proletarian struggle programs, it is necessary to study the limits of the influence of individual parties in the working class, and new elements in the forms of the proletariat's struggle.

page 66

the impact of modern parties on the working class environment, including the significance of political demands, the appearance of national slogans in the arsenal of means of influence, the role of the workers ' press, etc. At the same time, we do not intend to lose sight of the impact of non-socialist organizations and trends on the working class, and we strive to identify both direct and indirect carriers of ideas of a certain content in particular, based on the fact that a certain social situation does not always coincide with the social consciousness that is adequate to this situation; that in none of the classes is consciousness absolutely isolated from the influence of other classes. The analysis of the dynamics of working class strike actions should also include a study of the development of forms of workers ' struggle for their rights, an analysis of their demands, the moral and material results of the struggle, the specifics of the movement in certain regions of the country and in different political and social conditions, as well as in certain industrial districts and industries, with The study of these problems will make it possible to identify and characterize the ways and stages of the influence of workers ' parties and socialist ideas on the spontaneous movement of the working class, which was largely manifested in 1890-1903 and deepened during the revolution of 1905-1907. Here the problem of the disproportion between the rapidly growing movement of the working class and the rapid growth of its class and political consciousness, on the one hand, and the lagging development of industry and structural changes in the Polish working class in comparison with the proletariat of economically highly developed countries, on the other, will need to be clarified. The scope of this problem also includes such significant issues as the impact of programs and organizations, the spheres of influence and developing methods of influence of the party, ways to attract new members to the party and their motives for joining the organization, analysis of the social composition of individual organizations, perception of the proclaimed slogans in the working environment and their impact on the behavior of certain circles of the proletariat. Undoubtedly, the events of 1904-1907 in the Kingdom of Poland will attract the attention of researchers in this regard. It is necessary to study the mechanism of the growing revolutionary crisis, the emergence and spread of large mass movements, the role of elements of spontaneity and organization in this, the mutual connection between the economic and political movement, the analysis of new demands and the effectiveness of the movement, the growth of new forms of workers 'struggle, as well as the problems of their social mobility during the revolution, the impact of workers' actions on other social strata. Here it is necessary to pay attention to the role of the general strike not only as an instrument of the political struggle of the workers, but also as a powerful means of mobilizing the proletariat, rapid growth of the mass movement and their politicization. It is necessary to study the role of repression and political reaction in changing the behavior of workers, the influence of bourgeois groups in the working environment during both the growth and decline of the revolutionary wave.

An essential task would be to study the emergence (in the course of revolutionary actions) of workers ' educational and cultural organizations and the trade union movement, as well as their significance for the working class. An analysis of the dynamics of the strike movement during the revolution of 1905-1907 would make it possible to determine the activity of the proletariat in individual branches and groups depending on the size of industrial enterprises, the special role of the large-scale industrial proletariat, the degree of subjective and objective politicization of the movement, the growing importance of workers ' parties, the role of program slogans and methods of mobilizing workers to fight for their implementation. The same questions would apply to the analysis of materials from the period of the First World War with the disclosure of special information.-

page 67

military conditions, and in the territory under German and Austrian occupation - socio-economic and national-political performances. Here we should show the development of workers ' institutions and organizations of mutual social assistance, educational organizations, etc.We would like to highlight the participation of workers in the Polish military formations, in the events of the 1917 revolution in Russia, in the overthrow of tsarism and in the growing socialist revolution there, as well as their contribution to the October events and the struggle for the consolidation of Soviet power. A significant problem is to show the influence of the revolution in Russia on the activation of the Polish working class, on the dynamics of workers 'actions in 1917-1918, the growing influence of workers' parties in the working class, as well as their significance in the political life of Poland, and the attitude of the working class to the Polish state institutions that were being created under the German-Austrian occupation. The study of this cycle of questions should end with an analysis of changes in the consciousness of the working class, as well as determining its place in the struggle against the German and Austrian occupiers for the restoration of the country's independence, for the unification of all Polish lands into a single independent state, as well as in the struggle for the shape of the

The research program outlined above covers, in addition to the Polish lands, clusters of Polish workers in Russia, Germany, and other emigration centers. It would certainly be interesting to present the problems of the history of the Polish working class also in broad comparative terms from an international point of view, first of all in comparison with the processes of development of the proletariat of Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary.

* * *

Since the beginning of our research on the history of the working class in 1969, we have been aware that the broad development of these studies and especially their scientific results can be essential for a more complete understanding of the important problems of the entire process of historical development of Poland in modern and modern times, especially the social and political history of the Polish people in the XIX-XX centuries. After all, as we have already emphasized, studying the anatomy of Polish society in the past, finding out the mechanisms that govern the social life of the country, the mechanisms of the origin of trends and dynamics of social changes will allow us to more fully reveal the origins of all social and political movements, ideological and cultural trends. It is also impossible to fully understand what political parties, their programs, and their activities were like if we show them in a social vacuum, in isolation from the various classes or strata, and therefore from the social conditions that gave rise to them. Research of this kind will help to understand the problem of the impact of programs and organizations, their spheres of influence, as well as changing ones.depending on the situation or stage of development, methods of influence, ways to attract supporters, their motives for joining this direction, the social composition of individual organizations, as well as the perception of programs and slogans in a particular environment and their impact on the positions of certain circles of society. The study of social development also makes it possible to better explain the mechanism of growing social and revolutionary crises, the spread of modern mass movements, the role of elements of spontaneity and organization in them, and reveals the problems of social and political mobility of certain social strata. Special attention is drawn to periods of rapid changes, as well as social and political upheavals, which create

page 68

especially interesting in terms of research opportunities for studying the reactions and positions, moods and views of certain classes or circles of society. Such periods are the best way to test the true content and actual goals of programs and aspirations of entire political trends.

The results of research on the history of the working class should serve, first of all, to better understand the history of the working class movement in Poland, to understand the difficult, complex, and sometimes downright dramatic history of the search by the Polish working class and its political parties for the most correct ways to realize the goals of the movement during the long process of its development. One of the main tasks of historiography of the working class and the working-class movement is to examine certain workers ' parties and organizations in relation to their social background. Hence the special importance of the research requirement concerning the knowledge of the connection between the mass movement of the proletariat and the impact of the activities of workers ' parties on it. Only the results of a study of the history of the working class can make it possible to fully trace the process of combining the spontaneous movement of the working masses with the socialist ideology and the emergence of the workers ' Party. Only against the background of quantitative and qualitative changes in the working class can the phenomenon of the working-class movement be fully understood, elements of its development and dynamics typical for each epoch can be revealed, and new content and forms of influence of parties in the working-class environment can be revealed at each historical stage. Only against this background can we find out the true history of the workers ' parties and analyze the formation of various trends and trends in the working-class movement. Such approaches will allow us to better understand the ways and stages of identifying the aspirations of the proletariat and the working-class movement with the demands of the broad masses of the nation, and will allow us to show the role of the party as the vanguard of the working class.

Our previous view of the history of the workers 'movement will be expanded by studying the composition and socio-political structure of workers' organizations, and by analyzing the links between the proletariat and the workers ' parties. Consequently, we seek to view the history of the working-class movement and the mechanisms of its development in direct connection with the history of the working class that gave rise to it, and at the same time to show how the movement, in turn, shaped this class. This approach makes it possible to characterize the process of raising the proletarian movement to the role of a factor capable of taking responsibility for the fate of the entire country. Thus, the results of a broad study of the history of the working class can be essential as a key to understanding the most important problems of the history of not only the working class movement, but also the entire recent history of Poland.

A comprehensive understanding of the diverse forms and aspects of working class activity, a method of analyzing organizational and ideological problems aimed at revealing their social conditionality, and above all the desire to reveal the mechanisms of the processes under study are especially necessary for us now, when the historiography of modern Polish history faces an important scientific and social task of preparing generalizing works on the formation and transformation of. Innovative analytical research and even preliminary generalizing works are, as is well known, one of the conditions for the further development of social sciences. They can also seriously contribute to the elucidation of the sources of strength and strengthening of the socialist current in the past, as well as to the identification of those elements that were the cause of its weaknesses and failures. It is the works based on a modern research program that can only fully show the process of connecting indigenous peoples.

page 69

the interests of the Polish people's masses, their life, independence and prospects of development, together with the cause of social progress, democratic and then socialist transformation. Conclusions drawn from the history of the working class, as well as from the entire social history of the nation in general, can not only represent a significant element in shaping the modern consciousness of society, but should also serve to better understand both the past and the present. They could also serve the purposes of scientific planning for the further social development of the country to a greater extent. I would like to conclude my remarks on the research program with a statement that we have already formulated earlier, in the preface to vol. I of the series " The Polish Working Class. Historical research" (we were able to present it to all interested parties back in December 1970). Then we stated that the study of the history of the working class should be subordinated to one main principle: that understanding the place of the working class in the recent political and social history of Poland should become an integral part of the view of the Polish historical process over the past century up to the present day.

* * *

The outlined range of research issues sets us the task of making efforts to significantly expand the range of sources that are currently in the field of view of historians. Reference to mass sources is a condition for setting new research problems, and it makes it possible to obtain a more objective picture of the social phenomena that interest us. The tasks provided for in the program cannot be implemented without the use of new research techniques and tools. Here, first of all, we have in mind the development of quantitative research, which leads to the enrichment and refinement of generalizing estimates, to more objective and close to the truth views on the problems we are interested in. This is a laborious task, but today, when studying social phenomena, it is clearly not enough to resort to writing historical works based mostly on intuitive methods and created "to encourage hearts". The first achievements in the field of quantitative research are very interesting. For example, let's mention only the research problems we are studying, some of which have already been implemented, and some are still under development. They relate mainly to the Kingdom of Poland, as topics related to this area were particularly scarce until recently, although the proletariat of the Kingdom of Poland played a special role in the implementation of the social, political and national liberation aspirations of the Polish working class until 1918. For example, the best possible estimate of the size (and its dynamics) of the Kingdom of Poland's industry, as in all other branches of non-agricultural material production, depends crucially on obtaining relatively complete and homogeneous, and thus comparable, data for successive periods up to 1918, and then for the decades after 1918. Official Russian statistics, primarily of local origin, but also of central origin, do not meet these requirements. Its summary data is distinguished not only by a very different degree of accuracy for individual years, but also by non-compliance with the accepted industry system for submitting information and, most importantly, the lack of uniform criteria for enrolling certain institutions in the category of industrial enterprises. From this point of view, the annual reports are particularly unprofitable.-

page 70

reports of governors to the tsar - so-called reviews, which sometimes still form the basis of many historians ' works on the state of industry and the large factory proletariat in the Kingdom of Poland.

In this situation, in order to accurately identify the number and other features of the population of industrial workers under study, we used indexes and lists of industrial establishments published in different years at the initiative of economic departments and business associations as the main source. At the same time, the basic unit of calculation was in each case a record concerning the number of workers of an individual enterprise. These indexes are currently the only available source that, with all its disadvantages and the need for very painstaking and time-consuming comparisons and calculations, makes it possible to verify and clarify the material contained in it, and moreover allows us to unify for the entire period of interest here both the industry systematization of individual material and the criteria separating industrial institutions from industrial enterprises. non-industrial companies. An additional advantage of these lists and indexes is also the ability to capture, by equally laborious calculations, changes in the composition of industrial workers from the point of view of their concentration and the organizational and legal nature of enterprises, and also to present the territorial distribution of the proletariat not in accordance with the administrative division, which had nothing to do with the economic zoning of the real industrial districts. This makes it possible to compare changes in the dynamics and structure of the working class in different historical areas, regardless of the changing administrative divisions.

In the field of the situation of the working class in the Polish territories, we have attempted to study real wages in more depth. The method of calculating it based on the so-called "shopping basket" raises too many reservations to be worth using, especially with such unreliable and fragmented data. Human needs are constantly changing and are motivated by psychological rather than biological factors. The shopping basket changes depending on time, geographical environment, market fluctuations, the supply structure of individual products, the social status and aspirations of not only different groups of the population, but also each family. To study real wages with a shopping cart, we would first have to study actual consumption in the work environment, and this is almost impossible. Otherwise, it would be an investigation of a questionable thing with the help of a completely unknown one. In such a situation, the calculation of the so-called minimum cost of maintenance is completely unreliable; attempts to determine exactly what the worker should buy in certain periods are only arbitrary variations on the topic of what, in the opinion of the historian, the worker should buy.

The best and most reliable method of comparing real wages in time and space remains the use of a" biological criterion " of the purchasing power of money using the caloric content indicator. We must also take into account not only the absolute number of calories, but also the structure of nutrition necessary for life. Our goal is only to find the most objective and universal indicator that allows us to compare real wages in time and space, that is, to study the value of money, and not how it was practically disposed of. However, in order not to take as a basis the daily food ration that is completely divorced from reality, we will try to analyze the norms as follows:

page 71

so-called rational nutrition and record observations regarding the actual consumption of workers. Our indicator will then be "grounded", and we will see what chances the workers had in certain periods in order to eat rationally.

At the same time, we attempted to trace the evolution of earnings and their differentiation by individual industries and groups of enterprises in accordance with their size and location against the background of the situation in the Kingdom of Poland as a whole in 1904-1910.by analyzing the salary fund of workers of almost 300 industrial enterprises. We recommend an attempt to look at the question of differentiation of wages of industrial workers of the Kingdom of Poland in 1904-1910. It is based on data on average daily earnings calculated for the year for individual industrial enterprises. The data collected by us cover from 740 to 918 industrial enterprises of the Kingdom of Poland during the above-mentioned period, which employed from 175,613 to 206,595 workers. Such a wide range of data sources has led us to attempt to analyze the differentiation in the remuneration of industrial workers in the Kingdom of Poland based on the size and changes in the average daily earnings of workers at each industrial enterprise, in each branch of industry for individual districts and for each year of the above-mentioned period. The source material collected in this way concerns 51-60% of the industrial proletariat (together with miners and metallurgists). Kingdom of Poland.

We are aware of how dangerous and questionable it can be to use "average" figures, especially when you want to use them to determine the amount of the daily fee. We know, after all, that the length of the working day was not the same in certain branches of industry and in different districts; that the situation with downtime and overtime was not the same; that the payment systems were different, although they were subject to unification as the industry developed. Nor will the wage gap at every industrial enterprise, which has reached ten times the difference between the lowest and highest levels, make our tasks any easier. However, the situation is quite different when we are dealing with the average daily earnings of only individual enterprises or even a certain group of them, and on this basis we want to draw broader conclusions; it is quite different when we have information about the average daily earnings for a number of enterprises in a given industry or region. In this case, comparing them in accordance with certain criteria allows you to exclude dubious data that was deliberately underestimated or overstated by those who filled out the questionnaire, or because of an error in the entry. This grouping of data makes it possible to establish general patterns of changes in the average figures for the entire selected group of industrial enterprises (for example, in our case - for almost all coal mines, metallurgical plants, and a significant number of textile industry enterprises). Thus, we treat average daily earnings not as a basis for calculating daily wages in a given enterprise or industry, but as comparative determinants of wage differentiation. For us, therefore, these will be the determinants that will shed light on trends in earnings, especially on the mutual relations in this area.

We are convinced that the presentation of the results of such a data search will bring us closer to uncovering the essential problem of changes in average daily wages in the industrial sector of the Kingdom of Poland and the differentiation in the wages of the industrial proletariat in 1904-1910, that is, at a time when significant changes occurred in this area.-

page 72

positive changes. However, presenting search results for many thousands of individual and hundreds of generalized recalculations is only part of the research task. It would also be necessary to find out all the economic and non-economic factors, objective and subjective, that caused certain trends and fluctuations in relation to the entire industry of the Kingdom of Poland, as well as its individual branches and individual industrial centers.

Our research further includes an analysis of the mass strike movement of the proletariat, initially the industrial workers of Warsaw and the Warsaw region, during the period of its highest intensity, which falls in 1905-1907, and then the entire Kingdom of Poland during 1870-1914. These studies make it possible to seriously test the statistics that are still in scientific use, to reveal the dynamics of the movement and the vanguard groups of workers in this movement, the importance of large urban centers in the class struggle, and also indicate the role of the strike movement, which determined the direction and stages of development of the overall political situation in the country, and 1905-1907, on the fundamental role of this movement in the struggle for the realization of the social, political and national liberation aspirations of the working class.

We rely on a broad search of sources, covering both official acts and the legal working press. The acquisition of basic single data made it possible to present a new picture of the statistics of the strike movement, and the possibility of the required grouping of individual data provided the basis for raising a number of research questions, which, for example, the data of the factory inspection of the Kingdom of Poland, which is also significantly underestimated for areas of particularly intense strike struggle (1915-1917), And in this case, therefore, we can now carry out an analysis by industry, area, and size of industrial enterprises, etc. Here, as in the above-mentioned analysis of the size of the working class, we have moved away from the artificial and changing administrative division in favor of the existing industrial districts, which, by the way, allows us to compare information about the strike movement with the data analysis of changes in the size of the working class. In this way, we have obtained a broad picture of the social and political activity of the working class of the Kingdom of Poland over the past 44 years, showing the extent to which the proletariat participated in the strike movement in certain districts and branches, the forms of action, the different intensity of movement of workers in different branches during certain periods of crisis and economic conditions, etc.

The results of these studies will contribute to a deeper understanding of the labor movement. After all, it was precisely this movement that determined to a decisive degree the revolutionary mobility of the entire working class, the growth of mass initiative, the spread of revolutionary sentiments in the most backward strata of the proletariat, which had hitherto been essentially outside the movement, the formation of the class and political consciousness of the broadest strata of the workers, their solidarity, training and experience in the struggle. On the scale of the Kingdom of Poland, the strike movement objectively represented the main element of the general revolutionary struggle for the overthrow of tsarism, the democratization of the existing system, and the achievement of national freedoms. This movement was also a significant mobilising factor in relation to other strata of the people. It was the strike movement, especially general political strikes in tsarist Russia, where there were no political freedoms (freedom of speech, organization, and assembly) that were the most effective means of drawing people into active political activity

page 73

the broadest circles of society. The same presuppositions led to the nationwide character of the political strike, and in a situation where the entire power of the state apparatus (moreover, the apparatus of the state participating in the partitions of Poland) was guarding "peace and order", the economic strikes on Polish lands were objectively of the same character.

Our essential task is to present the activities of workers ' parties among the working class, including the ideological values they bring to the working class, the methods, forms and limits of their influence. In this case, we have turned to the workers ' press, especially to newspaper reports from factories, factories, workshops, etc., and to collections of proclamations as the most widespread means of agitation and organizing the workers.

We have not exhausted the problem, which requires extensive and long-term research, although to some extent, as one might think, the search for new sources has brought the solution of this problem closer.

In view of the need to develop a new program for studying the working class in Poland, the Polish labor movement and its political organizations, we have set as one of the essential points of this program the task of studying the composition and structure of participants in the Polish labor movement from the beginning of its existence until the consolidation of people's power in Poland. These studies thus cover a long period of almost a century. To obtain a reliable picture, it was necessary to expand the previous means and methods of research by applying new research methods - to quantitative research using electronic computers. We have abandoned the sample method based on individual examples, which leaves a wide field for arbitrary interpretation of facts, and have made it a rule to analyze all available biographical data (party, judicial, police, administrative, memoir, newspaper, and encyclopedic) about participants in the labor movement. This became possible only by applying a broad questionnaire search in archival and printed materials. As a result, about 28 thousand rubles were received. questionnaires about participants in the labor movement in Poland from its beginning to the time of the seizure of power by the working class.

We assumed that it is impossible to fully understand political parties, their programs and activities if they are shown in a social vacuum, in isolation from the classes or strata of the population, that is, from the social conditions that gave rise to them, which will allow us to identify historically those groups that in the ranks of the Polish proletariat played a special role in the development of consciousness and organization, and will also provide an opportunity to establish the patterns that were manifested in this case.

The questionnaire we have compiled will allow us to use electronic computers to answer approximately 60 fundamental research questions related to this problem, with about 300 possible answers available for each of the parties of the Polish labor movement and each stage of development of this movement (if we use the system of cross-questions). The mass nature of the obtained material made it impossible to process it using classical methods. This is the first research initiative of this kind and scale in Polish historiography, and it may pave the way for further promising research.

And finally, the theme of working-class culture and mores, which makes it possible for the first time, within the framework of all three parts of divided Poland, to consider this new topic in the historiography of the working class.

page 74

an important problem in which all other questions (including the origin, structure, position, activity of the proletariat) are refracted. We tried to present the possibility of a broader view of workers ' culture, to draw attention to the richness of its problems and the complexity of its phenomena. Using the example of complex problems related to the literary culture of workers, their song repertoire, the function of theater and cinema, the culture of entertainment and political culture, we wanted to point out the broad research opportunities (and at the same time needs) that give a chance to more fully identify the values adopted by workers from the culture of other classes and social groups, and created in their own environment, which, integrating workers with the whole people, simultaneously determined the originality of their ethical and moral positions and political goals.

Above, we were mainly concerned with showing the range of these problems and outlining broader research prospects, because only in a broad context will it be possible to define the complex elements that make up the workers ' culture with greater depth and try to study its complex structure.

* * *

The results of the research described above, as well as the development of a number of other problems carried out by the staff of the Polish Working Class History Section of the Institute of History of the PAN and its collaborators, have already been reflected in the press. Until 1972, a significant stage of publishing Sources on the History of the Working Class in the Polish Lands was completed; in 1970-1976, we published seven volumes of the Polish Working Class series. Historical research". In 1974, he published " The Polish Working Class. Historical Essay", vol. I, part 1 (from the end of the XVIII century to 1870); in 1976, the following two parts of the first volume of this essay were completed, covering the years 1870-1918. Monographs on the working class of individual Polish lands are also being prepared, as is an essay on its history for the years 1918-1945.

We have undertaken our work in the belief that after the monographs and works already completed, as well as the volumes of historical research "The Polish Working Class", the volumes of essays on the history of the Polish working Class prepared by the Polish Working Class History Section of the Institute of History of the PAN will represent a significant stage in expanding our knowledge of the particular social class whose entry-political life has created new prospects for social progress, achieving political freedom and restoring Poland's independence.

page 75


© elib.co.il

Permanent link to this publication:

https://elib.co.il/m/articles/view/THE-HISTORICAL-ROLE-OF-THE-POLISH-WORKING-CLASS-AND-ITS-HISTORY-RESEARCH-PROGRAM

Similar publications: L_country2 LWorld Y G


Publisher:

Sarah BelmanContacts and other materials (articles, photo, files etc)

Author's official page at Libmonster: https://elib.co.il/Belman

Find other author's materials at: Libmonster (all the World)GoogleYandex

Permanent link for scientific papers (for citations):

S. KALYABINSKY, THE HISTORICAL ROLE OF THE POLISH WORKING CLASS AND ITS HISTORY RESEARCH PROGRAM // Tel Aviv: Israel (ELIB.CO.IL). Updated: 18.01.2025. URL: https://elib.co.il/m/articles/view/THE-HISTORICAL-ROLE-OF-THE-POLISH-WORKING-CLASS-AND-ITS-HISTORY-RESEARCH-PROGRAM (date of access: 19.02.2025).

Found source (search robot):


Publication author(s) - S. KALYABINSKY:

S. KALYABINSKY → other publications, search: Libmonster IsraelLibmonster WorldGoogleYandex

Comments:



Reviews of professional authors
Order by: 
Per page: 
 
  • There are no comments yet
Related topics
Publisher
Sarah Belman
Jerusalem, Israel
33 views rating
18.01.2025 (32 days ago)
0 subscribers
Rating
0 votes
Related Articles
NUBIAN MONUMENTS OF THE 13TH CENTURY BC
Catalog: Art history 
21 days ago · From Sarah Belman
MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY IN THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR
Catalog: Bibliology History 
27 days ago · From Sarah Belman
V. And M. GROKHI. CRUSADERS IN THE EAST
Catalog: History Bibliology 
31 days ago · From Sarah Belman
Alexander Dugin: building a bridge between eschatology and conspiracy theory
36 days ago · From Sarah Belman
В поисках "теологии Септуагинты": методологические аспекты
Catalog: Science 
38 days ago · From Israel Online
STATE AND TASKS OF DEVELOPING THE HISTORY OF THE PARTISAN MOVEMENT DURING THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR *
Catalog: History 
39 days ago · From Sarah Belman
V. O. KLYUCHEVSKY-STUDENT*
Catalog: History 
39 days ago · From Sarah Belman
Newman, Barbara (2013) Medieval Crossover: Reading the Secular against the Sacred. (Conway Lectures in Medieval Studies.)
Catalog: History Theology 
54 days ago · From Sarah Belman
ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL AND TAPHONOMIC DATA ON THE MIDDLE AND UPPER PALEOLITHIC COMPLEXES OF BONDI CAVE (REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA)
Catalog: History 
56 days ago · From Sarah Belman
ONTOGENETIC CHANGES OF THE SKELETON IN THE ADULT POPULATION IN VARIOUS SOCIAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS: ANTHROPOECOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Catalog: Anthropology 
57 days ago · From Sarah Belman

New publications:

Popular with readers:

News from other countries:

ELIB.CO.IL - Israel Digital Library

Create your author's collection of articles, books, author's works, biographies, photographic documents, files. Save forever your author's legacy in digital form. Click here to register as an author.
Library Partners

THE HISTORICAL ROLE OF THE POLISH WORKING CLASS AND ITS HISTORY RESEARCH PROGRAM
 

Editorial Contacts
Chat for Authors: IL LIVE: We are in social networks:

About · News · For Advertisers

Digital Library of Israel ® All rights reserved.
2024-2025, ELIB.CO.IL is a part of Libmonster, international library network (open map)
Preserving Israel's heritage


LIBMONSTER NETWORK ONE WORLD - ONE LIBRARY

US-Great Britain Sweden Serbia
Russia Belarus Ukraine Kazakhstan Moldova Tajikistan Estonia Russia-2 Belarus-2

Create and store your author's collection at Libmonster: articles, books, studies. Libmonster will spread your heritage all over the world (through a network of affiliates, partner libraries, search engines, social networks). You will be able to share a link to your profile with colleagues, students, readers and other interested parties, in order to acquaint them with your copyright heritage. Once you register, you have more than 100 tools at your disposal to build your own author collection. It's free: it was, it is, and it always will be.

Download app for Android