Rising Subjects

Marzec’s book is an important addition to what we already know about the impact that 1905 had on Polish history. . . . [It] adds theoretical sophistication that provides for a deep understanding of the conflict between the elites and the masses, and as a result, it is an excellent study for the specialist and graduate students.

Thought-provoking . . . an innovating and convincing analysis of the dominant role workers played in the emergence of mass politics in Poland.

In his brilliant analysis of the significance of the 1905 Revolution in Russian Poland, Wiktor Marzec shows how workers broke into the public sphere of a modernizing imperial periphery, turning the street and factory floor into the space of protest and debate.

Rising Subjects is a highly valuable and original contribution to the constantly growing historiogra­phy of Russian Poland. Because it is a book with such a keen awareness of the broader significance of Pol­ish history, the monograph helps to locate the European periphery at the center of studies of modernity and modernization.

The study will remain an important item in the 1905 Revolution bibliography, as an obligatory point-of-reference to the other scholars embarking on an exploration of the topic. Wiktor Marzec has once again confirmed his position as a scholar of international recognition in the field of the 1905–7 events.

Wiktor Marzec has produced a major contribution to our understanding of how the 1905 revolution in the cities became the defining moment in a profound reconfiguration of Polish political culture with a legacy that stretches well into the present. The product of a fertile mind, Rising Subjects offers a new and revealing social history of the triumph of nationalism in modern Poland.

In this dynamic new study, Wiktor Marzec offers a fresh, theoretically informed interpretation of the 1905 Revolution in the Polish Kingdom, arguing that it shaped modern political attitudes and encampments despite its apparent short-term failure. Rising Subjects provides a nuanced examination of working class mobilization that will engage students of modern Eastern Europe, global social movements, and labor history.

Meticulously researched, theoretically informed, and lucidly written, Rising Subjects shines new light on the 1905 revolution. Marzec convincingly shows how the revolution set the stage for modern politics in Poland. Essential reading for those seeking to understand the origins of major cleavages that continue to shape the Polish public sphere today.