Editing History of Poland (section)

====Economic development and social change====

[[File:Gierymski Feast of trumpets I.jpg|thumb|right|Many [[History of the Jews in Poland|Jews]] emigrated from the Polish–Lithuanian lands in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but most remained to form a large [[Minority group|ethnic minority]]]]

Under the partitioning powers, economic diversification and progress, including large-scale [[industrialisation]], were introduced in the traditionally agrarian Polish lands, but this development turned out to be very uneven. Advanced agriculture was practiced in the Prussian Partition, except for [[Upper Silesia]], where the coal-mining industry created a large labor force. The densest network of railroads was built in German-ruled western Poland. In Russian Congress Poland, a striking growth of industry, railways and towns took place, all against the background of an extensive, but less productive agriculture.<ref name="Lukowski 187–192, 199">{{Harvnb|Lukowski|Zawadzki|2006|pp=187–192, 199}}.</ref> The industrial initiative, capital and know-how were provided largely by entrepreneurs who were not ethnic Poles.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wereszycki|1990|p=294}}.</ref> Warsaw (a metallurgical center) and [[Łódź]] (a textiles center) grew rapidly, as did the total proportion of urban population, making the region the most economically advanced in the Russian Empire (industrial production exceeded agricultural production there by 1909). The coming of the railways spurred some industrial growth even in the vast Russian Partition territories outside of Congress Poland. The Austrian Partition was rural and poor, except for the industrialized [[Cieszyn Silesia]] area. [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]]n economic expansion after 1890 included oil extraction and resulted in the growth of [[Lviv|Lemberg (Lwów, Lviv)]] and [[Kraków]].<ref name="Lukowski 187–192, 199"/>

Economic and social changes involving [[land reform]] and industrialization, combined with the effects of foreign domination, altered the centuries-old social structure of Polish society. Among the newly emergent strata were wealthy industrialists and financiers, distinct from the traditional, but still critically important landed aristocracy. The [[intelligentsia]], an educated, professional or business [[middle class]], often originated from lower gentry, landless or alienated from their rural possessions, and from urban people. Many smaller agricultural enterprises based on serfdom did not survive the land reforms.<ref>{{Harvnb|Buszko|1986|p=44}}.</ref> The industrial [[proletariat]], a new [[Privilege (social inequality)|underprivileged]] class, was composed mainly of poor peasants or townspeople forced by deteriorating conditions to migrate and search for work in urban centers in their countries of origin or abroad. Millions of residents of the former Commonwealth of various [[ethnic group]]s worked or settled in Europe and in [[North America|North]] and [[South America]].<ref name="Lukowski 187–192, 199"/>

Social and economic changes were partial and gradual. The degree of industrialisation, relatively fast-paced in some areas, lagged behind the advanced regions of [[Western Europe]]. The three partitions developed different economies and were more economically integrated with their mother states than with each other. In the Prussian Partition, for example, agricultural production depended heavily on the German market, whereas the industrial sector of Congress Poland relied more on the Russian market.<ref name="Lukowski 187–192, 199"/>