The Russian Empire, after humiliating defeats in…

The Russian Empire, after humiliating defeats in the Crimean War, embarks on major liberal reforms under Tsar Alexander II.

For Congress Poland this means political amnesty, conciliatory measures in cultural and religious matters, and the creation of an Agricultural Society to tackle the peasant question.

Simultaneously, Alexander II warns the Poles against political “daydreaming”.

The Tsar's imposition of land reforms in Poland arouses hostility among the landed nobles and a group of young radical intellectuals influenced by Karl Marx and the Russian liberal Alexander Herzen.

The Agricultural Society, a union of reformist landowners headed by the popular Hrabia (count) Andrzej Zamoyski, debates changes in the agrarian sector but finds it hard to avoid politics.

A patriotic movement later known as the Whites grows around and partly out of the society.

It includes landowners and members of the bourgeoisie (often of German or Jewish origin), such as the banker Leopold Kronenberg.

A Polish-Jewish dialogue promotes close cooperation.

On the other side of the political spectrum there develops a number of conspiratorial groups composed of students, younger army officers, artisans, and members of the lesser gentry.

Subsequently called the Reds, these radicals act as a pressure group on the Agricultural Society and stage demonstrations commemorating Polish patriots or historic events.