THE RUSSIAN PARTITION 73censoring the work of the censors. Its aim was to control all knowledge and
all sources of information. In the Western provinces, it strangulated all works
in non-Russian languages, and on non-approved subjects, such as
politics, or sex, or Catholic theology. It was particularly harsh on all manifesta-
tions of Polish History, where any mention of the 'Golden Freedom', of
'Elections', the 'Constitution', the 'Republic' or, worst of all, of the 'Risings'
was construed as an act of incitement. In all works of popular history, the 'King
of Poland' had to be referred to as 'the Grand-Duke of Poland' so as not to
offend the status of the Tsar. As a result, almost all the classics of Polish litera-
ture from the Romantic Era had to be published abroad - in Austria or
Germany, if not in France or England. None of the dramas of Mickiewicz,
Slowacki, or Krasinski were ever staged in Warsaw. The pettiness of the censors
was proverbial. As early as 1784, the publication of the first volume of
Naruszewicz's History of Poland was banned because Catherine's ambassador
in Warsaw objected to the Poles being awarded a more prominent role in the
prehistory of the Slavs than the Russians. A century later, in 1888, the first vol-
ume of Georg Brandes's two-volume Danish-English Dictionary was
confiscated, on the grounds that one volume was insufficient to work the code.
To anyone unfamiliar with the Russian system, it is most surprising to learn
that many of its most rigorous practices could be put into effect as mere admin-
istrative measures, at the whim of an official. The prisons were full, not of con-
victs, but of suspects 'waiting to assist the police with their inquiries'. Suspects
had fewer known rights than condemned men. Deportation to Siberia could be
ensured simply by withdrawing the victim's permission to continue at his place
of residence. It was frequently applied to persons who could not be charged with
a criminal offence, but whose temporary absence was desirable for official
reasons. Surveillance and harassment could not be objected to, since every loyal
citizen's duty was to co-operate with the authorities. In such circumstances, it
was often a privilege and a relief to be brought to court, or sentenced to a term
of imprisonment. Yet there again, many people did not enjoy that privilege. It
was a punishable offence for a serf to complain to the authorities against his
master, or for a soldier to report an officer for misconduct. (See pp. 000.)
Education played a key role in the Tsarist strategy; and the Ministry of
Enlightenment in the work of the state. It was in the schools and universities that
Polish pupils first came into contact with systematic efforts to change the atti-
tudes and loyalties of their families. It was there that they met with the criticisms
and conspiracies of the Russian intelligentsia. In the schools, the rote learning of
the titles and birthdays of the endless imperial Grand Dukes and Grand
Duchesses, and the unceasing controls of government inspectors, were outward
signs of official policy. But nothing riled so much as the compulsory use of the
Russian language. After 1864, the absurd situation was reached in Warsaw
where Polish teachers had to use Russian as the means of instruction for teach-
ing Polish to Polish children (in accordance with the official myth that Polish
was a 'foreign' language). Under Aleksandr Apuchtin (1822 1903), Curator of