Łódź insurrection (1905)

The Łódź insurrection, also known as the June Days, was an uprising by Polish workers in Łódź against the Russian Empire on June 21–25, 1905.Ref_label|a|a|none It was one of the largest disturbances in the Russian-controlled Congress Poland during the Russian Revolution of 1905. Poland was a major center of revolutionary fighting in the Russian Empire in 1905–1907, and the Łódź insurrection was a key incident in those events.

Background

At the beginning of the 20th century, worsening economic conditions contributed to mounting tensions in Russia and Poland: the Russo-Japanese War had damaged the economy of the Kingdom of Poland, and by late 1904, over 100,000 Polish workers had lost their jobs.Ascher, pp. 157-158] In the 19th century, Łódź had been a major Polish industrial center, heavily urbanized and industrialized, and a stronghold of the socialist movement. News of the 1905 Russian revolution, together with its revolutionary spirit, spread quickly into Russian-controlled Poland from Saint Petersburg, where demonstrators had been massacred on January 22. Workers in Łódź had already begun striking sometime before 22 January, and by 31 January the Tsarist police were reporting demonstrators carrying placards with slogans such as "Down with the autocracy! Down with the war!". This was capitalized on by factions in Russia and Poland that wanted more or less radical changes. Soon over 400,000 workers became involved in strikes in Poland.

The wing of the Polish Socialist Party ("Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS") that was loyal to Józef Piłsudski believed that Poles must show their determination to regain independence through active, violent protests against the Russians.Zamoyski, p.330] Urbankowski, p. 118] This view was not shared by Roman Dmowski's National Democratic Party ("endecja") nor by the PPS's own "Left" (or "Young") wing.Chojnowski] The National Democrats favored cooperation with the Russian authorities, while the PPS Left wanted to work together with Russian revolutionaries to topple the Tsar and saw the creation of a socialist utopia as more important than Polish independence.

In mid-June 1905, Russian police opened fire on one of the many workers' demonstrations, killing approximately ten workers, whose funerals escalated into major demonstrations on June 20 and June 21.Kalicki] The funeral on June 21 was met by Russian Cossack cavalry; the crowd threw stones, and the Russian cavalry returned fire, killing 25 people and wounding hundreds. Tensions mounted further, and in the evening, angry workers began assaulting police and military patrols, killing those who did not surrender.

The uprising

Piłsudski's PPS, while not planning for a major uprising then and there, had a policy of supporting the protest and harassing Russian forces. Hence the PPS was as surprised by the scale of the revolt as the Russian authorities; PPS forces in Łódź consisted of 10 regular and armed PPS members and few dozens of semi-enlisted workers. A larger group sent from Warsaw under Walery Sławek never made it in time to take control or affect the uprising; it was, in the end, an anarchic and unorganized violent protest against the Russian government.

The insurgents had no organized agenda, and commonly fought under red standards; common demands were the improvement of workers' living conditions and greater rights for the Polish population. On 23 June the Tsar signed a decree of martial law in the city. Several infantry regiments entered the city. The PPS-supported insurrection found itself facing not only Russian police and regular troops, but "endeks" militia. Armed clashes broke out between gunmen loyal to Piłsudski's PPS and those loyal to Dmowski. Indeed, as Zamoyki writes, over the course of the "June Days", as the Łódź uprising became known in Poland, a miniature civil war raged between Piłsudski's PPS and Dmowski's "endeks." The last of the barricades was captured by the Russian troops by 25 June, but unrest—including occasional shots at police or military patrols—would continue for days afterwards.

Aftermath

The uprising was ultimately crushed by the Russian authorities. Official reports indicated 151 civilian deaths (55 Poles, 79 Jews and 17 Germans) and 150 wounded; unofficial reports spoke of over 200 fatalities and between 800"Rewolucyjna Warszawa"] and as many as 2,000 wounded.

The Łódź uprising was neither the first nor the last disturbance in what has been described in Polish historiography as the revolution in the Kingdom of Poland (1905–1907)"Rewolucja 1905-1907"] —various protests and strikes occurred in major Polish cities under Russian control throughout the year—but it would be the most dramatic one. Strikes in Łódź continued until mid-1906, when the large Russian military presence and mass layoffs of striking workers from the factories finally pacified the city.

Notes

a Note_label|a|a|none It is hard to define clear lines as to when the insurrection started and ended. Many sources give dates of 22–24 June; however, the police and military were attacked as early as the 21st, and the final barricade fell on 25 June.

References

* Ascher, Abraham. "The Revolution of 1905: Russia in Disarray". Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994. ISBN 0804723273.
* Chojnowski, Andrzej. [http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo.php?id=3957301 "Piłsudski, Józef Klemens"] . "Wydawnictwie Naukowym PWN". pl icon
* Kalicki, Włodzimierz. [http://www.gazetawyborcza.pl/1,75478,3058864.html "Rok 1905: Przebudzeni bombą"] , Gazeta Wyborcza, December 09, 2005. Retrieved on 9 October 2007. pl icon
* [http://portalwiedzy.onet.pl/20246,,,,rewolucja_1905_1907_w_krolestwie_polskim,haslo.html "Rewolucja 1905-1907 w Królestwie Polskim"] , portalwiedzy.onet.pl. Encyklopedia WIEM Retrieved on 9 October 2007. pl icon
* [http://www.mowiawieki.pl/artykul.html?id_artykul=1312 Rewolucyjna Warszawa] , "Mówią Wieki". Retrieved on 9 October 2007. pl icon
* Urbankowski, Bohdan. "Józef Piłsudski: marzyciel i strateg" ["Józef Piłsudski: Dreamer and Strategist"] , Vol. 1. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo ALFA, 1997. ISBN 8370019145. pl icon
* Zamoyski, Adam. "The Polish Way A Thousand-Year History of the Poles and their Culture". London: John Murray Ltd, 1987. ISBN 0-7195-4674-5.

Further reading

* Blobaum, Robert. "Rewolucja: Russian Poland, 1904-1907". Cornell: Cornell University Press, 1997. ISBN 0801432871.
* Korzec, P. "Walki rewolucyjne w Łodzi i okręgu łódzkim w latach 1905-1907". Warsaw: Publisher?, 1956.