The Russian Question: Poland in the Discussion on Reform in the Russian Empire (1856–1863)

Abstract

After the Russian Empire had suffered defeat in the Crimean War, the Russian elites seemed to have forgotten the so called Polish question. In the Kingdom of Poland, however, the succession of Tsar Alexander II had evoked hope for sovereignty or at least a far-going autonomy. Only when the dis appointment of Polish national aspirations once again led to encounters with the tsarist state power in 1861, did Russian political and intellectual elites become aware of the need to find a solution for the Polish question. This discussion was part of the broad modernization debate and intensified the search for identity of Russian elites in their relation to ‘the West’ as well as to the state power. The discourse included a great diversity of opinions reaching from conservative self-criticism to socialist ideas of national liberty. The discourse changed abruptly as soon as the Polish national movement threatened the territorial integrity of the Russian Empire. By the outbreak of the uprising in January 1863 the discussion of the Polish question was no longer connected to the quest of the Russian way to modernity. The majority of the Russian elites was consolidated around the autocracy, whose multinational imperialism became an integral part of the Russian national identity.