Bloody Wednesday ( pl, Krwawa środa) refers to the events of 15 August 1906 in the (Congress) Kingdom of Poland, where the

Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party The Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party ( pl, Organizacja Bojowa Polskiej Partii Socjalistycznej, abbreviated ''OBPPS''), also translated as Fighting Organization of the Polish Socialist Party; also known as ''bojówki'' ( paramilita ...

(OB PPS) carried out a series of attacks on Russians, primarily police officers and informants. This took place in the context of the

Revolution in the Kingdom of Poland (1905–1907) A major part of the Russian Revolution of 1905 took place in the Russian Partition of Poland and lasted until 1907 (see Congress Poland and Privislinsky Krai). It was the largest wave of strikes and widest emancipatory movement that Poland had e ...

, and represented one of the biggest actions in the history of OB PPS.

Events

The aim of OB PPS was to stop repressions following in the wake of the revolution, and demonstrate its strength to the Russian government. It organized a series of simultaneous attacks on Russian officials, primarily policemen, in the

Russian partition The Russian Partition ( pl, zabór rosyjski), sometimes called Russian Poland, constituted the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that were annexed by the Russian Empire in the course of late-18th-century Partitions of Po ...

of Poland that occurred on August 15, 1906. There were about 100 incidents, with attacks reported in 18, 19 20 cities and towns. Sources vary significantly with regards to the number of fatalities, reporting about 80, 70, 51, fatalities among Russian officials (primarily policeman) and informants (see

Okhrana The Department for Protecting the Public Security and Order (russian: Отделение по охранению общественной безопасности и порядка), usually called Guard Department ( rus, Охранное отд ...

), and 43 or 69 injured. In

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

alone, sources note "over 100 civilian casualties"; another notes 50 Russian policemen killed and 100 wounded, Yet another talks of about 200 fatalities. There, an OB PPS group led by Henryk Baron attacked police offices and clashed with a Cossack military unit, which led to a panic in the Russian garrison, suspecting an uprising, and the retreat of some military units from the town. There was also a demonstration at Grzybowski Square. Another large assault took place in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...

, where a 25-strong OB PPS group under F. Lipiński attacked a police station, and ambushed several patrols.

Aftermath

Three days later, on 18 August 1906, OB PPS carried out another of its landmark operations, when OB PPS female activist

Wanda Krahelska-Filipowicz Wanda Krahelska-Filipowicz (15 December 1886–1968), code name “Alinka”” or “Alicja”, was a leading figure in Warsaw’s underground resistance movement throughout the years of German occupation during World War II in Poland, co-fou ...

attempted to assassinate the Russian

Governor-general of Warsaw The Namiestnik (or Viceroy) of the Kingdom of Poland ( pl, namiestnik Królestwa Polskiego, russian: наместник Царства Польского) was the deputy of the Emperor of Russia who, under Congress Poland (1815–1874), styled himse ...

Georgi Skalon Georg Karl de Scallon ( pl, Gieorgij Skałon, russian: Гео́ргий Анто́нович Скало́н, tr. ; 24 October 1847 – 1 February 1914) was a Russian general of Huguenot origin, Governor-general of Warsaw and the commander-in-chie ...

, in

. OB PPS was not fully united behind this operation; it was notably opposed by

Józef Piłsudski ), Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire (now Lithuania) , death_date = , death_place = Warsaw, Poland , constituency = , party = None (formerly PPS) , spouse = , children = Wan ...

. Other, more moderate organizations like

Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania The Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania ( pl, Socjaldemokracja Królestwa Polskiego i Litwy, SDKPiL), , LKLSD), originally the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland (SDKP), was a Marxist political party founded in 1893 and ...

and Bund were also critical of this operation. The Russian response was a new wave of arrests and persecution of anti-state activists. The

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

terrorized worker districts in Warsaw, Łódź and other towns; the most infamous of the reprisal actions was the Russian-organized

Siedlce pogrom Siedlce pogrom refers to the events of September 8–10 or 11, 1906, in Siedlce, (Congress) Kingdom of Poland. It was part of a wave of pogroms in Russia and controlled territories (such as the Kingdom of Poland), in the larger context of the wi ...

on 8–10 September 1906. Those events became among the best known actions of the OB PPS. They were also among the biggest

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

-like events in the history of OB PPS. It also marked the high point of OB PPS activity, which would wind down over the next year or so.

References

{{reflist, colwidth=33em, refs= {{cite book, author=Wacław Jędrzejewicz, title=Piłsudski, a life for Poland, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K3-1AAAAIAAJ, accessdate=30 December 2011, year=1982, publisher=Hippocrene Books, page=42, isbn=9780882546339 {{cite book, author=Józef Piłsudski, title=Pisma wybrane, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HSFAAAAAIAAJ, accessdate=30 December 2011, year=1943, publisher=Krakowskie Towarzystwo Wydawnicze, page=60 {{cite book, author1=Józef Piłsudski, author2=Leon Wasilewski, title=Pisma zbiorowe: wydanie prac dotychczas drukiem ogłoszonych, year=1937, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yTg7AQAAIAAJ, accessdate=30 December 2011, publisher=Instytut Józefa Piłsudskiego, page=32 {{cite book, author=Zakład Naukowo-Badawczy Archiwistyki (Poland), title=Archeion, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YxvvAAAAMAAJ, accessdate=30 December 2011, date=1 January 1997, publisher=Naczelna Dyrekcja Archiwów Państwowych, Zakład Naukowo-Badawczy Archiwistyki, page=334 {{cite book, author=Ludwik Bazylow, title=Ostatnie lata Rosji carskiej, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-9weAAAAMAAJ, accessdate=30 December 2011, year=1972, publisher=Państwowe Wydawn. Naukowe, page=162 {{cite book, author=Norman Davies, title=God's playground: a history of Poland in two volumes, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Tbed6iMNLEC&pg=PA275, accessdate=30 December 2011, year=2005, publisher=Oxford University Press, isbn=978-0-19-925340-1, page=275 {{cite book, author=Anna Geifman, title=Thou shalt kill: revolutionary terrorism in Russia, 1894–1917, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U_SU7fxj9BMC&pg=PA341, accessdate=30 December 2011, year=1995, publisher=Princeton University Press, isbn=978-0-691-02549-0, page=341 {{cite book, author=Anna Geifman, title=Death orders: the vanguard of modern terrorism in revolutionary Russia, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U2XFtbJOPNsC&pg=PA33, accessdate=30 December 2011, date=20 May 2010, publisher=ABC-CLIO, isbn=978-0-275-99752-6, page=33 {{cite book, author=Feliks Gross, title=Violence in politics: Terror and political assassination in Eastern Europe and Russia, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xUWGAAAAMAAJ, accessdate=30 December 2011, year=1973, publisher=Mouton, page=142, isbn=9783111948973 {{cite book, author=Marian Kukiel, title=Dzieje Polski porozbiorowe, 1795–1921, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ELUAAAAMAAJ, accessdate=30 December 2011, year=1963, publisher=B. Świderski, page=537 {{cite book, author=Jerzy Jan Lerski, title=Historical dictionary of Poland, 966–1945, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QTUTqE2difgC&pg=PA183, accessdate=30 December 2011, year=1996, publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group, isbn=978-0-313-26007-0, page=183 {{cite book, author1=Roy Francis Leslie, author2=R. F. Leslie, title=The History of Poland since 1863, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0tYVKUsnw9IC&pg=PA81, accessdate=30 December 2011, year=1983, publisher=Cambridge University Press, isbn=978-0-521-27501-9, page=81 {{cite book, author=Władysław Pobóg-Malinowski, title=Najnowsza historia polityczna Polski, 1864–1945, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PEtJAAAAIAAJ, accessdate=30 December 2011, year=1990, publisher=Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, page=166, isbn=9788303031624 {{cite book, author=Feliks Tych, title=Rok 1905, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0g_UAAAAMAAJ, accessdate=30 December 2011, year=1990, publisher=Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, isbn=978-83-03-02915-7, page=81 {{cite book, author=Janusz Wojtasik, title=Idea walki zbrojnej o niepodległość Polski, 1864–1907: koncepcje i próby ich realizacji, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YlFJAAAAIAAJ, accessdate=30 December 2011, year=1987, publisher=Wydawn. Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej, page=216, isbn=9788311072541 {{cite book, author=Alicja Wójcik, title=Ruch robotniczy na Lubelszczyźnie do 1918, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S9YzAAAAMAAJ, accessdate=30 December 2011, year=1984, publisher=Wydawn. Lubelskie, isbn=978-83-222-0328-6, page=118 {{cite journal, title=Łódź w ogniu rewolucji 1905 r., journal=Ilustrowana encyklopedia historii Łodzi. Miesięcznik Łódzki "Piotrkowska 104" (Supplement Historyczny), volume=VII/12, issue=7, pages=196–197, url=http://uml.lodz.pl/get.php?id=835, accessdate=30 December 2011, editor1-first=Arkadiusz, editor1-last=Grzegorczyk, publisher=URZĄD MIASTA ŁODZI, issn=1731-092X Tadeusz Władysław Świątek, Rafał Chwiszczuk
Warszawski ruch społecznikowski
Fundacja Cultus, Warszawa, 2010, {{ISBN, 978-83-62679-00-3, p.149 {{cite magazine, url=http://archiwum.polityka.pl/art/kiedy-bylismy-terrorystami,398785.html , author=Jerzy Besala, title=Kiedy byliśmy terrorystami, magazine=Polityka, issue= 21 (2453), pages=80–82, date=2004-05-22 , accessdate=2011-12-30 {{cite web , url=http://polonia.h2.pl/index.php?id=pw01 , title=Początki walki zbrojnej , publisher=Świat Polonii – witryna Stowarzyszenia Wspólnota Polska – Kraj i Polonia – O Polsce , date= , accessdate=2011-12-30 {{dead link, date=July 2017 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes {{Cite web, url=http://przeglad-socjalistyczny.pl/wielcy-socjalici/33-jozef-anastazy-montwi-mirecki.html, title = Józef Anastazy Montwiłł – Mirecki (1879 - 1908) {{cite web , url=http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/3927864/8222krwawa-sroda8221.html , title=krwawa środa , publisher=Encyklopedia.pwn.pl , date= , accessdate=2011-12-30 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180915192630/http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/3927864/8222krwawa-sroda8221.html , archive-date=2018-09-15 , url-status=dead {{cite web, url=http://portalwiedzy.onet.pl/43402,,,,organizacja_bojowa_polskiej_partii_socjalistycznej,haslo.html , title=Organizacja Bojowa Polskiej Partii Socjalistycznej – WIEM, darmowa encyklopedia , publisher=Portalwiedzy.onet.pl , date= , accessdate=2011-12-30 {{cite web, url=http://portalwiedzy.onet.pl/75782,,,,krwawa_sroda,haslo.html , title=Krwawa Środa – WIEM, darmowa encyklopedia , publisher=Portalwiedzy.onet.pl , date= , accessdate=2011-12-30 1906 in Poland 1906 in the Russian Empire Conflicts in 1906 Terrorist incidents in Poland Terrorism in the Russian Empire Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party 1906 crimes in Poland 1906 disasters in the Russian Empire

Events

Aftermath

See also

References