The quotidian methods of Organic Work, not nearly as colorful as Poland's rebellions nor as loftily enshrined in national memory, prove well suited to the political conditions of the later nineteenth
century.

The international balance of forces does not favor the recovery of statehood when both Russia and Germany appear bent on the eventual eradication of Polish national identity.

The German Empire, established in 1871 as an expanded version of the Prussian state, aims at the assimilation of its eastern provinces inhabited by Poles.

At the same time, St. Petersburg attempts to Russify the former Congress Kingdom, joining Berlin in levying restrictions against use of the Polish language and cultural expression.

Poles under Russian and German rule also endure official campaigns against the Roman Catholic Church: the Cultural Struggle (Kulturkampf) of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck to bring the
Roman Catholic Church under state control and the Russian campaign to extend Orthodoxy throughout the empire.