Throughout that period, many smaller demonstrations and armed struggles between the peasants and workers on one side and the government on the other took place.

The demands of the demonstrators included the improvement of the workers' living conditions, as well as political freedoms, particularly related to increased autonomy for Poland.

[4] Worsening economic conditions (the recession of 1901-1903)[3] contributed to mounting political tensions in the Russian Empire, including Poland; the economy of the Kingdom of Poland was also being significantly hit by the aftershocks of the Russo-Japanese War; by late 1904 over 100,000 Polish workers had lost their jobs.

The wing of the Polish Socialist Party (Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS) that was loyal to Józef Piłsudski believed that Poles must show their determination to regain independence through active, violent protests against the Russians.

[6][7] This view was not shared by Roman Dmowski's National Democratic Party (endecja)[7] nor by the PPS' own "Left" (or "Young") wing.

[2] On 28 January, the PPS and the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania called for a general strike.

[2][7] Later that month, public order disintegrated in Warsaw for a time during a spontaneous campaign against both the criminal elements and the Russian collaborators.

[3][5][9] The resulting Łódź insurrection saw several days of fighting within the cities and over 2000 casualties, including over 100 fatalities among the civilians.

A vigilante group also carried out executions during this time, leaving corpses in the street for officers to find the next day.

The power plant for an electric traction system in the city was also shut down, and streetcars were turned into barricades.

[16] Piłsudski's Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party, founded in 1904, contributed to some escalation of the hostilities and became more active during the over few years.

[18] Piłsudski eventually succeeded in securing Polish independence and became an important political figure in interwar Poland.

Despite the failure to achieve the most radical goals of the revolution, the Russian government conceded some of the demands, both in the social and in the political spheres, which counteracted the defeatist feelings among many Poles, who still remembered the total defeat of previous uprisings.