DOI issue:
Rozprawy
DOI article:Arciszewska, Barbara; Górzyński, Makary: Urban narratives in the age of revolutions: early 20th century ideas to modernize Warsaw
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42380#0116
114
BARBARA ARCISZEWSKA, MAKARY GÓRZYŃSKI
To address these increasingly urgent urban needs, several projects of
municipal reform aimed specifically at the Polish Kingdom were pro-
posed by the local, Warsaw-backed Russian administration and Polish
intellectuals45. Suligowski, Bouffai and Grabowski (among others) ana-
lysed fiscal policies of municipal authorities in anticipation of these
changes. The conclusions of these studies were disturbing. Most provin-
cial towns were forced to keep their capital in the Russian National Bank
at low interest rates, thus neglecting to accumulate money essential for
communal investments46. According to a study by Stanisław Koszutski
(1872-1930), between 1867 and 1915 none of the municipalities ex-
amined (excluding Warsaw) founded any buildings for elementary
schools47. In 1908 Józef Polak (1857-1928), chair of the Warsaw Society
of Hygiene, another member of this “nebula” of professionals48, published
“A lecture on hygiene in towns, including sanitary conditions and re-
quirements of Polish towns”49. The text can be perceived as a striking ac-
cusation of the entire municipal economy in Russian Poland, resulting in
unhealthy, corrupted urban space, deprived of proper infrastructure that
even Russian cities were able to maintain50. The local administration is
shown as highly disorganized and led by officials vastly underestimating
the scale of urban problems51. In 1905, when revolutionary unrests shook
the Imperial government, Suligowski became the head of a special com-
mission established to draft a project of municipal reform that was to be
submitted to the Russian authorities. While focusing on the immediate
45 For a fuller discussion of history of municipal reform projects in Russian Poland,
see Th.R. Weeks, Nation and State in Late Imperial Russia. Nationalism and Russifica-
tion on the Western Frontier 1863-1914, Northern Illinois University Press, 1996, pp. 152-
172. and cf. A. Suligowski, Projekty ustaw samorządu miejskiego w Królestwie Polskim,
Warszawa 1906; idem, Potrzeba samorządu, Warszawa 1915; J. Burza, Starania o samo-
rząd miejski w Królestwie Polskim na przełomie XIX i XX wieku (MA thesis, University of
Warsaw 1988). On municipal administration in Warsaw see: M. Nietyksza, Miasto pod
zaborami. Władze Warszawy w XIX wieku, próba syntezy, „Rocznik Warszawski”, 36, 2008,
pp. 247-260.
46 Boufałł, op. cit., pp. 149-215, esp. 184-185.
47 S. Koszutski, Nasze miasta a samorząd. Zycie miast w Królestwie Polskiem i refor-
ma samorządowa, Warszawa—Lwów 1915, p. 32.
48 Regarding the term see M.R. Levin, Dynamic Triad: City, Exposition, and Museum
in Industrial Society, in: Urban Modernity. Cultural Innovation in the Second Industrial
Revolution, ed. M.R. Levin, S. Forgan, M. Hessler, R.H. Kargon, M. Low, Cambridge
(Mass.)-London 2010, p. 9.
49 J. Polak, Wykład Hygjeny miast z uwzględnieniem stanu zdrowotnego i potrzeb
miast polskich, Warszawa 1908, M. Demel, W służbie Hygei i Syreny. Zycie i dzieło dr.
Józefa Polaka, Warszawa 1970.
50 Polak, op. cit., pp. 55-78.
51 Koszutski, op. cit., pp. 35-6.
BARBARA ARCISZEWSKA, MAKARY GÓRZYŃSKI
To address these increasingly urgent urban needs, several projects of
municipal reform aimed specifically at the Polish Kingdom were pro-
posed by the local, Warsaw-backed Russian administration and Polish
intellectuals45. Suligowski, Bouffai and Grabowski (among others) ana-
lysed fiscal policies of municipal authorities in anticipation of these
changes. The conclusions of these studies were disturbing. Most provin-
cial towns were forced to keep their capital in the Russian National Bank
at low interest rates, thus neglecting to accumulate money essential for
communal investments46. According to a study by Stanisław Koszutski
(1872-1930), between 1867 and 1915 none of the municipalities ex-
amined (excluding Warsaw) founded any buildings for elementary
schools47. In 1908 Józef Polak (1857-1928), chair of the Warsaw Society
of Hygiene, another member of this “nebula” of professionals48, published
“A lecture on hygiene in towns, including sanitary conditions and re-
quirements of Polish towns”49. The text can be perceived as a striking ac-
cusation of the entire municipal economy in Russian Poland, resulting in
unhealthy, corrupted urban space, deprived of proper infrastructure that
even Russian cities were able to maintain50. The local administration is
shown as highly disorganized and led by officials vastly underestimating
the scale of urban problems51. In 1905, when revolutionary unrests shook
the Imperial government, Suligowski became the head of a special com-
mission established to draft a project of municipal reform that was to be
submitted to the Russian authorities. While focusing on the immediate
45 For a fuller discussion of history of municipal reform projects in Russian Poland,
see Th.R. Weeks, Nation and State in Late Imperial Russia. Nationalism and Russifica-
tion on the Western Frontier 1863-1914, Northern Illinois University Press, 1996, pp. 152-
172. and cf. A. Suligowski, Projekty ustaw samorządu miejskiego w Królestwie Polskim,
Warszawa 1906; idem, Potrzeba samorządu, Warszawa 1915; J. Burza, Starania o samo-
rząd miejski w Królestwie Polskim na przełomie XIX i XX wieku (MA thesis, University of
Warsaw 1988). On municipal administration in Warsaw see: M. Nietyksza, Miasto pod
zaborami. Władze Warszawy w XIX wieku, próba syntezy, „Rocznik Warszawski”, 36, 2008,
pp. 247-260.
46 Boufałł, op. cit., pp. 149-215, esp. 184-185.
47 S. Koszutski, Nasze miasta a samorząd. Zycie miast w Królestwie Polskiem i refor-
ma samorządowa, Warszawa—Lwów 1915, p. 32.
48 Regarding the term see M.R. Levin, Dynamic Triad: City, Exposition, and Museum
in Industrial Society, in: Urban Modernity. Cultural Innovation in the Second Industrial
Revolution, ed. M.R. Levin, S. Forgan, M. Hessler, R.H. Kargon, M. Low, Cambridge
(Mass.)-London 2010, p. 9.
49 J. Polak, Wykład Hygjeny miast z uwzględnieniem stanu zdrowotnego i potrzeb
miast polskich, Warszawa 1908, M. Demel, W służbie Hygei i Syreny. Zycie i dzieło dr.
Józefa Polaka, Warszawa 1970.
50 Polak, op. cit., pp. 55-78.
51 Koszutski, op. cit., pp. 35-6.