Lithuanians, poles and the Russian imperial government at the turn of the century

NOTES

• In general on the “nationality policy” of the Russian Empire, see Kappeler Andreas Rußland als Vielvölkerreich: Entstehung, Geschichte, Zerfall Munich 1992
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• 57.7% of the population of Suvalki province were Lithuanian Ezhegodnik Rossii St. Petersburg 1904 I 87 88 for Kovno province the figure was 66.02%; for Vilna, 17.59% [Pervaia vseobshchaia perepis' naseleniya Rossiiskoi Imperii 1897 g., Obshchii svod, volume II, pp. 20–21]. The case of Vitebsk province is more complicated. The census of 1897 indicates only 2,303 Lithuanians living in the province, but according to statistics gathered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as of January 1, 1908, 18% of that province's population were Lithuanian [Russian State Historical Archive, St. Petersburg (RGIA), f. 1278, op. 2, 1909, d. 885, 1. 51].
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• Łossowski , Piotr . 1985 . Po tej i tamtej stronie Niemna: Stosunki polsko-litewskie 1883–1939 87 – 87 . Warsaw See also Petras Klimas, Litwa: jej mieszkańcy i granice (Wilno, 1919).
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• MiŁosz , CzesŁaw . 1968 . Native Realm: A Search for Self-Definition Garden City, NY passim.
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• On the history of the Jewish community in this region see, inter alia, I. 6.22 Cohen Vilna Philadelphia 1943 Jacob D. Kamson, ed., Yahadut Lita (Jerusalem, 1958–1959); and Jacob Shatzky, Kulturgeshikhte fun der haskole in Lite (Buenos Aires, 1950).
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• On 1863 in the northwest, see Smirnov A.F. Vosstanie 1863 goda v Litve i Belorussii Moscow 1963 and S. Kieniewicz, Powstanie styczniowe, 2nd ed. (Warsaw, 1983), pp. 488–97.
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• RGIA f. 1149, op. 13, 1901, d. 183, ll. 93v.
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• On this period of repressions, see especially the files of the Zapadnyi komitet 1861–1868 RGIA, fond 1267. The infamous governor general of Wilno, M.N. Muravyov “the Hangman” describes his policies 1863–1865 in ibid., f. 1622, op. 1, d. 719.
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• 1865 . PSZ , 15 ( 42759 ) : 326 – 327 . 2nd series part 2
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• On the “protsentnyi sbor”, see Leliva Graf Russko-pol'skie otnosheniya Leipzig 1895 32 34 (pseud. for Antoni Tyszkiewicz)
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• 1865 . RGIA f. 1284, op. 189 d. 4, 1. 10v.
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• Mosolov , A. 1898 . Vilenskie ocherki 1863–1865 gg. 58ff – 58ff . St. Petersburg (Muravyovskoe vremya)
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• Ochmański , J. 1990 . Historia Litwy 216 – 216 . WrocŁaw
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• On the early years of the Lithuanian culture and national movement, see Römer MichaŁ Litwa. Studium o odrodzeniu narodu litewskiego Lvov 1908 (Mykolas Römeris) and Józef Albin Herbaczewski, GŁos bolu (Sprawa odrodzenia narodowego Litwy w związku ze sprawą wyzwolenia narodowego Polski) (Cracow, 1912).
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• 1865 . RGIA f. 1284, op. 189 d. 4, ll. 338–342].
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• 1905 . RGIA f. 1276, op. 1 d. 106, ll. 3–5].
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• Local governors constantly pointed out this fact. See, for example, the annual report from Vilna province for 1900, where the governor, Prince N. I. Gruzinskii, stated that Poles were not only the largest landowners in the province but also controlled the Vilna Land Bank RGIA 1901 f. 1282, op. 3 d. 455, l. 10.
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• In general on Polish Wilno during this period, see Dobaczewska Wanda Wilno i Wileńszczyzna w latach 1863–1914: Dzieje ruchów spoŁecznych i politycznych Wilno 1938
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• For a Polish-nationalist (endek) description of Polish landholdings in the northwest provinces, see PopŁawski Jan Polska wŁasność ziemska na Litwie i Rusi Pisma polityczne Cracow 1910 II 69 77 in [essay originally published in 1897]. Compare also the reports of Vilna governor general V. Trotskii, a very conservative official, for the year 1898 [RGIA, f. 1263, op. 2, zh. st. 307 i 310, March 1899, d. 5385, ll. 583–622, esp. ll. 588–603] and of his successor, Prince P. Sviatopolk-Mirskii, who was known for his liberality and sympathy for the Poles [ibid., f. 1284, op. 190, 1899, d. 84B, esp. ll. 3–5, 26v–34v <tt>he report is for the years 1902–1903</tt>]. Both Governors General agreed on the continued cultural and economic strength of the local Poles.
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• See, for example Bardach Juliusz O świadomości narodowej Polaków na Litwie i BiaŁorusi w XIX i XX w. Między Polską etniczną a historyczną WrocŁaw 1988 225 272 in and Jan Jurkiewicz, Rozwój polskiej myśli politycznej na Litwie i BiaŁorusi w latach 1905–1922 (Poznań, 1983).
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• Obviously the treatment here is of necessity simplified. For more detail, see Łossowski P. Auszra's i początek narodowego ruchu litewskiego Studia z dziejów ZSRR i Europy środkowej 1965 I 81 129 and Leon Wasilewski, Litwa i jej ludy (Warsaw, 1907).
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• 1905 . RGIA f. 1276, op. 1 106, l. 18v. The actual liturgy was, of course, in Latin, but the so-called “supplemental service” such as hymns, prayers, homilies, and the like, was held in the “local” tongue.
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• Contemporary Poles, especially those of a conservative bent, never tired in bewailing this situation. See, for example Korwin-Milewski Hippolyt Observations sur le conflit des langues polonaise et lithuanienne dans le diocèse de Wilna Paris 1913
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• For one example of the stereotyped image of the Jews in the western territory, see RGIA 1908 f. 1284, op. 194 d. 54 (Vitebsk province, 1907 report), 1. 6v.
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• Vilna province annual report, 1903 RGIA 1904 f. 1284, op. 194 d. 52, l. 3). In official Russian parlance, “fanatical,” when used describing Catholics, might be best translated as “devout.”
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• The Western Zemstvo project revealed this fact perhaps most clearly. On this issue, see Avrekh A.Ia. Vopros o zapadnom zemstve i bankrotstvo Stolypina Istoricheskiezapiski 1961 LXX 61 112 and T. Weeks, “The National World of Imperial Russia: Policy in the Kingdom of Poland and Western Provinces, 1894–1914” (Ph.D. diss., University of California, Berkeley: 1992), chapter 4: “The Western Zemstvo Project.”
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• See, for example Kornilov Ivan P. Zadachi russkogo prosveshcheniya v ego proshlom i nastoyashchem St. Petersburg 1902 and idem., Russkoe delo v severo-zapadnom krae (St. Petersburg, 1908).
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• 1900 . RGIA f. 1282, op. 3 d. 355, 1. 3.
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• 1900 . RGIA f. 1282, ll. 43–45.
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• 1900 . RGIA f. 1282 l. 45.
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• RGIA f. 1282, op. 3, d. 230, l. 14. It should be remembered that among the ten provinces that the Warsaw Governor General administered was Suvalki, populated mainly by Lithuanians.
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• RGIA f. 1282, op.3, d. 545, l. 118. Batatsi also remarked that he had advocated the elimination of the ban in his reports (as Suvalki governor) of 1898 and 1899.
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• 1903 . RGIA f. 1284, op. 194 d. 85, l. 5. (This is the report for 1902.)
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• 1905 . RGIA d. 48, l. 2v. This was, one should recall, the time of the Russo-Japanese war
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• 1899 . RGIA f. 1284, op. 190 d. 84B, ll. 35–39, quotation from l. 39.
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• 1906 . RGIA f. 1284, op. 194 d. 49, l. 2v.
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• 1906 . RGIA f. 1284, l. 18v.
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• 1905 . RGIA f. 1276, op. 1 d. 114, 1. 5. The letter, addressed to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Sergei Witte, was dated December 2, 1905.
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• Perhaps the most wide-spread example of this accusation is the still prevalent belief that the Russian government fomented pogroms. For a many-sided look at this accusation (and a refutation of it), see Rogger Hans Conclusion and Overview Pogroms: Anti-Jewish Violence in Modern Russian History Klier John Lambroza Shlomo Cambridge 1992 314 372 in
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• 1907 . RGIA f. 1284, op. 194 d. 49, l. 5 (report, Suvalki province, 1906).
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• 1908 . RGIA f. 1284 d. 66, l. 6v.
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• See, for example, the reports from Suvalki province for 1908 RGIA 1909 f. 1284, op. 194 d. 45) and 1911 (ibid., 1912, d. 43); and the 1913 report for Kovno province (ibid., f. 1276, op. 17, d. 427, l. 14v).
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• 1905 . RGIA f. 1276, op. 1 d. 106, l. 18v.
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• 1909 . RGIA f. 1284, op. 194 d. 45, l. 5.
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• 1913 . RGIA f. 1276, op. 17 d. 427, l. 13v.
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• On MichaŁkiewicz, see Bardach O świadomości narodowej Polaków na Litwie i BiaŁorusi w XIX i XX w. 258 258 A copy of the petition, dated in Vilna, March 24, 1911, is found in RGIA, f. 821, op. 128, 1911, d. 36, ll. 46–49.
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• Bardach . O świadomości narodowej Polaków na Litwie i BiaŁorusi w XIX i XX w. 258 – 258 . l. 47. It is perhaps worth noting that the author of this petition, and the president of the “Union for the Restoration of Language Rights” bore the rather un-Lithuanian name of Pashkevich.
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• Hippolyt Korwin-Milewski 18 – 20 .
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• 1911 . RGIA f. 821, op. 128 d. 36, ll. 156–160.
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• 1914 . RGIA op. 10 d. 1074, ll. 40–88.
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• On the term “Russification” and its various usages, see Thaden Edward C. The Russian Government Russification in the Baltic Provinces and Finland, 1855–1914 Thaden Princeton 1981 15 108 in
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