2.78 REWOLUCJA
not by native forces. Meanwhile, after 1908 reactionary policies were reasserted
in almost every sphere. The assassination of Stolypin in 1911 brought Reform to
an end. The Polish Macierz Szkolna was disbanded. The expansion of the zetn-
stva into the western provinces was bedevilled by conflicts between peasantry
and landowners. The implementation of municipal reform in the cities was
obstructed by Polish-Jewish rivalries. In 1912 the nationalization of the
Warsaw-Vienna Railway resulted in the dismissal of thousands of Polish
employees. The secession of the district of Kholm (Chelm) to the Gubernia of
Kiev was clearly intended to facilitate Russification and to prepare the way for
the wholesale reconversion of Uniates. In a darkening international scene, fears
of a German invasion could be easily excited. On 3 August 1914, when War was
declared and the first Cossack regiment passed through Warsaw on its way to
the front, the Polish population lined the streets and cheered.