THE RISE OF THE COMMON PEOPLE 149European context; but they did turn Warsaw into one of the more modern cities
of the Russian Empire. Much of the initiative was due to the long-serving
Russian President of the City, General Sokrates Starynkievitch (1820-92), who
repeatedly intervened at St. Petersburg with the Tsarist authorities on behalf of
Warsaw's welfare. Yet nothing could adequately conceal the towering symbols
of Warsaw's spiritual subjection. To the north of the city, on the banks of the
Vistula, the homes of 15,000 people were demolished to make way for the colos-
sal Alexander Citadel (1831—65); in the city-centre, the architect Henri Marconi
designed a splendid new Prison (1835) in Renaissance style - the infamous
'Pawiak'; on the Saxon Square, rose the intrusive silhouette of the Cathedral of
St. Alexander Nevski (1912). The Citadel and the Prison were unmistakable
reminders of Russian power; the Cathedral, with its five gilded domes and its
detached Byzantine belfry, 240 feet high, the incarnation of Holy Russia, could
be seen from almost every street corner.
In many ways, Warsaw was but ill equipped to deal with the tidal wave of
urban immigrants. Most of the public services arrived very late, and proved
quite inadequate to the demand. In 1890, only one house in three possessed run-
ning water, only one in fifteen any form of sanitation. The great majority of
Varsovians were crowded into large multi-storied tenements, each built round
an enclosed courtyard with its pump and well-head. Many streets were
unpaved, or lined with open sewers. Electrical power was not generally avail-
able until the last years before the War. Typhus and tuberculosis claimed many
victims. The death rate stood at 32 per thousand. Educational services were
rudimentary. The one Russian University was fed by six boys', and four girls',
secondary schools. Entry was largely confined to the 'protected' sons and
daughters of Russian officials. At the primary grade, schooling in the Russian
state system was less popular than private lessons in secret Polish or Jewish
classes. In 1882, 46 per cent of the population had received no form of education
whatsoever. The institutions of local government had never been allowed to
develop. With the brief exception of Wielopolski's experiment in 1862-3,
Warsaw had been directly subject to the Russian army authorities ever since the
suppression of the November Rising. The City President, appointed by the Tsar,
was checked by a Vice-president who traditionally acted as chief representative
of the Third Department. All political activities were strictly controlled by the
police. In this respect, Warsaw was deprived of the municipal liberties normal
for all cities of comparable size elsewhere in Russia.
Varsovian society was transformed out of all recognition. In the early part of the
century, the urban plebs largely consisted of independent tradesmen and crafts-
men, of whom in 1854 there were more than 15,000. In succeeding years, the grow-
ing labour force was rapidly drawn into dependence on larger firms managed by
wealthy entrepreneurs. The number of industrial workers trebled and quadrupled,
to reach more than 40,000 by the turn of the century. At the same time, a distinct
class of blue-collar, or rather 'wing-tie', workers emerged, to staff the overblown
bureaucracy. -At the upper end of the social scale, the remnants of the city