Page:Russian Realities and Problems - ed. James Duff (1917).djvu/130

 this commercial boycott is carried out without any manifestations of violence on the part of the Poles, and that everything written about the use of brutal force by the Poles is pure invention.

One of the results of these fundamental social changes is the limitation of the social rôle heretofore played by the great landowner class. In the past the nobility in Poland constituted the nation itself. It ruled the country without competition on the part of any other class, the middle class being small in numbers and wealth, and the peasants being serfs. In the second half of the nineteenth century the area of great landed property was considerably reduced, at first by the peasant reform and afterwards gradually reduced still more by the selling out of bigger units in lots to peasants. This process of internal colonisation progressed rapidly down to the most recent times, and it is to be expected that after this war, owing to destruction and financial ruin, a great part of the large landed properties will disappear and be colonised by peasants.

Thus on the one hand the class of great landowners lost very much of its power and on the other hand new social elements appeared on the arena and developed great strength. In this way the Polish community lost its old character, and became like other European nations.

With regard to the political situation of Poland, there are three divisions of the country. First, there is Austrian Poland, which enjoyed until the outbreak of the war some national freedom and had national