The Revolution of 1905
The Revolution of 1905 symbolizes the redefinition of Poland's future politics and society. Polish leaders learned a lot from this failed revolution to develop strategies to attain self-rule and liberty. Blobaum writes, “As tsarist Russian suppressed this last of a series of challenges by the Polish nobility, or szlachta, to its hegemony in central Poland, it set in motion forces that were to reshape Polish society and redefine Polish politics for decades to come.” Consequently, the current society and politics of Poland is a redefinition of the 1905 Revolution.
Gurko-Apukhtin
Gurko-Apukhtin represents the Russian bureaucracy's failure to transform the education sector to attain the goals of the empire. Gurko-Apukhtin is tasked with overseeing all the provincial and the city schools' directorates, but his policies fail miserably. The author writes, "In short, when the Gurko-Apukhtin era came to a close, the Russian bureaucracy had failed to transform the population of the Kingdom into docile, loyal subjects of the tsar. Rather, the Kingdom was under governed, especially at the local level, where the state authority came into direct contact with society."
Russian bureaucrats
The Russian Bureaucrats represents the massive corruptions that had invested the Kingdom of Russia. They awarded those who were loyal to them and did everything to disenfranchise the gentry because they are believed to be behind the Polish resistance. The Bureaucrats took bribes from those who wanted to continue controlling their properties. The author writes, "The escalating demands by Russian bureaucrats for bribes also took their toll. The imposition of high land taxes, the new cost of hiring farm laborers, and the inability to compete with the large estates all eventually led to the outright sale and parceling of gentry property.”
The Gentry
The gentry is a symbol of tactful eviction by the Russian Authorities. Russian Bureaucrats started by imposing highs land taxes for the gentry so that they can leave their lands. Those who survived were forced to part with large sums of money as bribes. The other tactic used was lowering grain prices by introducing American and Russian Grains. Consequently, the gentry had no option but to get out. The author writes, "The resulting departure of the gentry from the land was a slow, gradual process in the two post-emancipation decades. Then, with the collapse of the local grain prices by 50 to 60 percent in the 1880s, as cheap American and Russian grain became available to the European markets, gentry departures became a mass phenomenon."
Catholic Church
The author uses the catholic church to represent the Polish religious groupings' oppression by the Russian authorities. Religious groups were accused of supporting the resistance movements, which were meant to speed up the Polish self-rule ambitions. The Catholic Church was in the front line in championing for self-rule, but the Russian authorities greatly terrorized it. The author says, "The Roman Catholic Church was simply terrorized into submission. Some hierarchy members were kidnapped and held hostage in Russia's death; others forcibly removed from their ecclesiastical offices."
