Polish issue and political police of the Russian empire in the second quarter of the 19th - early 20th centuries: legal aspects

Based on the laws, regulations and other sources being available and introduced, the authors analyze the development of political police on the territory of the Kingdom of Poland in the second quarter of the 19th - early 20th centuries. The research elaborates on all kinds and types of its local subdivisions in the region, reveals the composition features, and finds the causes of their evolution. The authors concluded that the political police arrangement was characterized by the specific features combined with a growing tendency to unify this service in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. This was one of the reasons for the effective responses of the above-mentioned institution to the political organizations in Privislinsky Krai focused on the dismantlement of statehood and social system of the Russian Empire.