Industrializacja w miastach zaboru pruskiego na prawach powiatu, na początku XX w. na podstawie spisów pruskich

Industrialisation in the towns of the Prussian Partition on the basis of the Prussian censuses at the beginning of the 20th century

Abstract: The subject matter of the article is inscribed in a broad current of research on the economic history and civilisational changes in the Prussian Partition in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The aim of the study is to analyse the economic situation and the level and characteristics of industrialisation in six towns with poviat (districts) rights located within the Prussian Partition: Bydgoszcz, Elbląg, Gdańsk, Grudziądz, Poznań, Toruń. This analysis is based on the exploration of two Prussian censuses of 12 June 1907: the Berufszählungen occupational census and the Betriebszählungen industrial/business census. Selected census data are presented in the form of tables and a graph. Employment in non-agricultural divisions and branches of the national economy is presented, including the 5 most numerous in terms of the number of employed workers. The structure of the working population in the main occupation is also presented, including for the 5 occupations with the highest employment. For the six urban poviats (districts), the importance of crafts and the small-scale nature of industry was observed. The cities most significant in terms of industrialisation processes were Gdańsk and Poznań, but also Elbląg. Each city had its own characteristics in terms of economic conditions and development. It can be concluded that industrialisation was one of the most important, though not the only, factor for the cities in question (economic factor). Despite the fact that the authorities of the Second Reich took good care of the civilisational progress of the Prussian Partition, the backwardness of this area in terms of development processes was still visible.