Pre-industrial Poland

1. Pre-industrial Poland • Economic and political decline in late 17th and 18th centuries • Reversal of economic trends after ca. 1720 (recovery from population and economic losses of Great Northern War 1700-1721), while rising political dependence from Russia • Political and economic reforms at the beginning of reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski – stopped by Russian intervention, 1st partition of Poland in 1772 • Warsaw becomes major city in terms of population and economic life (1780’s – no.1 position belonged to Gdańsk (Danzig) since 15th century) • Revival of city life and bourgeoisie in 1780’s supported by state policy, development of trade companies and banking • 2nd wave of reform attempts during Russian engagement in conflict with Turkey (1788-1792 – the Great Sejm, constitution of May 3rd, 1791) • Russian intervention in 1792, banking crisis, 2nd partition 1793 • Kościuszko uprising against Russia & Prussia 1794, 3rd partition 1795 • Summing up partitions: 62% of lands – Russia, 20% - Prussia, 18% - Austria • Economic decline after partitions due to economic disintegration and heavy fiscalism of new rulers 1

2. Pre-industrial Poland • Polish support for Bonaparte, creation of Duchy of Warsaw (1807, lands of Prussian 2nd and 3rd partition without Gdańsk (Danzig) and Białystok, since 1809 lands of Austrian 3rd partition), Napoleonic Code, equality against the law, while exchanging old feudal obligations with tenancy (often rent still in the form of corvee) • Congress of Vienna (1815) – Polish lands again divided among 3 powers, although with significant doses of autonomy • Kingdom of Poland (most of Duchy of Warsaw) – formally independent state being in personal union with Russia • Eastern parts of former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – provinces of Russia, de facto autonomy in education until 1820’s – perceived mistakingly by Poles as sign of future reunification • Grand Duchy of Poznań – autonomous land inside Prussian state • Republic of Cracow – formally free city under protection of 3 powers • Most unfavourable situation of Poles under Austrian rule (Galicia being normal province inside absolutist state, separated from rest of Austria by mountain barrier – cause of deepening of economic backwardness) 2

3. Kingdom of Poland (Congress Kingdom) • industrial policies: Old Poland industrial district near Kielce (since 1817 Stanisław Staszic, since 1824 treasury minister Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki), new coal deposits (Dąbrowa Górnicza, discovered by Staszic), textile industry based on German settlers (Łódź and Lodzermenschen), schools supporting industrial development • trade war with Prussia 1823-1825 (Augustów Canal joining Vistula with Niemen) • infrastructure development (paved roads system with Warsaw as its center) • restricitive fiscal measures (trademark of Drucki-Lubecki ministry since its beginning in 1821) meet opposition of liberal landowners focused on development of agriculture (so called Kalisz opposition) 3

4. Kingdom of Poland (Congress Kingdom) • industrialization policies enhanced by creation of Bank of Poland in 1828 (money issuance combined with active credit policy) • new industrial ventures planned from the beginning under Drucki-Lubecki as more ambitious and capital intensive than in the years of Staszic (source of future problems) • economic modernization not paired by political counterpart – November uprising 1830-1831 • after Polish defeat Kingdom’s constitution suspended (rule of marshall Paskevich) • economic policy subordinated to Russian strategic defensive plans • Bank of Poland failures in industrial finance under count Łubieński • tariff barrier between Kingdom and Russian Empire until 1850 – capital jumps the border – development of textile industry around Białystok • mechanization of textile industry in Łódź (1840’s – Ludwig Geyer, 1850’s – Karl Scheibler) – rapid technological advancement • sugar beet refineries (1830’s & 1840’s) – rich landlords, often with financing from Bank of Poland, industrialization not followed by urbanization • hope for political reform after Crimean War (1853-1856) 4

5. Prussia & Austria • gradual land reforms in Prussia (1807-1850) – feudal obligations exchanged by cash & land, only rich & medium peasants allowed to participate – strong landlords but also market-oriented peasant farms, use of hired labour, fastest modernization • Grand Duchy of Poznań - reform more favourable for peasants (political motives) but results the same as in the rest of Prussian state; development of local industry cooperating with agricultural sector • Galicia – backward during Metternich era, attempt of Polish uprising in 1846 stopped by peasant rebellion against landlords and annexation of Cracow Republic by Austria • 1848 – Spring of Nations – land reform including all peasants in Austria – in overpopulated Galicia resulting in constant agricultural crisis • 1848 – Polish uprising around Poznań, after defeat Prussian repressions, end of German sympathy for Polish cause, basis for social unity against germanization 5

6. Congress Kingdom after 1864 - Aleksander Wielopolski reforms (1861-1863, abandoning of corvee as allowable form of settling tenancy payments, end of discrimination of Jews, polonization of administration) stopped by January uprising of 1863-1864 • tsarist repressions ending the rest of Kingdom autonomy (Bank of Poland being part of Russian State Bank, end of separate budget, russification of administration, degradation of smaller towns into category of villages, keeping village status of new industrial centers until early 1900’s) • 1864 – land reform (3 years after rest of Russia) • slow development of railways due to military doctrine, despite this fast industrialization 1870’s-1880’s and concentration of industry • rebirth of coal & smelting district around Dąbrowa and Sosnowiec, Old Poland reconstructed) • Congress Kingdom for short time was the most industrialized part of Tsarist Empire (until French credits industrialized Ukraine and Russian heartland) 6

7. Prussian partition after 1848 • Intense economic rivalry between Poles and Germans in former Duchy of Poznań, despite unfavourable state policy (Bismarck’s Kulturkampf in 1870’s) won by Poles thanks to dense network of economic & cultural institutions • Regional specialization in agriculture and cooperating industries (Poznań becoming heavy industry centre thanks to Hipolit Cegielski’s agricultural machines factory), besides domination of small business & lack of bigger industrial centers • Gdańsk (Danzig) germanized and marginalized as port city, mostly because of dominance of North Sea ports, important as centre of shipping industry (Schichau shipyard), as Elbląg (Elbing) diverging from rest of formerly Polish lands • 2nd wave of germanization around Poznań after 1894 due to activity of Eastern Land Colonization Society (so called Hakata – from names of the founders: Hansemann, Kennemann, Tiedemann) – failed again • The richest part of former Poland despite European agricultural crisis in 1870’s-1880’s (partiallly thanks to protectionist turn in trade policy of German state in 1879) • Revival of Polish identity in industrialized Upper Silesia after 1890 – basis for its future cooptation as industrial basis of recreated Polish state

8. Galicia after 1867 • Wide autonomy after 1867 reform of Habsburg monarchy as one of the lands belonging to Austrian part of empire. • Domination of Poles in provincial government, known of socially conservative policies, preventing growth of significance of Ukrainian minority • Underindustrialized economy with 2 big urban centers: Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine) and Cracow, besides them oil mining district (Drohobycz, Borysław), despite that modern municipal facilities throughout the province • Backward and overpopulated rural areas with famines as late as 1890’s and with big transoceanic emigration