Defending Our Own: Government and the Russian Minority in the Kingdom of Poland, 1905-1914

Abstract

The Russian Empire is often portrayed as a hodge-podge of rival nationalities, with the imperial government, dominated by Russians, lording it over the nonRussians throughout the empire's Eurasian expanse. While this portrait has much to recommend it as a general description of relations within the Russian Empire, it can be accepted only cautiously and with many reservations. In fact, the fundamental understanding and conception of and ethnicity in the late Russian Empire differed so greatly from the presently accepted discourse on this issue that the researcher must be constantly attentive against overly presentist argumentation. The very definition of nation and ethnic group used, say, in the Russian Empire of 1910, does not coincide with our present understanding. Moreover, when a tsarist official used the term russkii, he did not necessarily mean Great Russian-the writer could have had in mind Ukrainians, Belorussians, or even simply loyal subjects or non-Poles. To complicate matters further, very little attention has been paid in the historical literature to Russians as a national minority.' In this essay, one specific instance of Russians as a minority nationality will be examined: the Russian community in the Kingdom of Poland (or, officially, Vistula Land) from 1905 to 1914.2 This was a period of great change for the Russian state. With such reforms as a parliament (of sorts) and a much freer press, the Russian government found itself forced to adapt old policies and procedures to new circumstances. This redefinition of the government's aims and methods of rule was also reflected in government policy toward Russians residing in the Polish provinces.