Grzela–Rocho

Grzela and Rocho’s alliance takes shape around a proposed school in Lipce: Rocho supplies political guidance, while Grzela helps turn that guidance into a shared plan of action. Their cooperation is more than agreement on a single vote. It joins quiet instruction, preparation for a public meeting, and direct persuasion of hesitant villagers, showing how political resistance is organized within the community—and how difficult it remains to act when officials are watching.

An alliance formed around the school question

The partnership begins when Rocho interrupts Antek’s questions with news that the Prefect has ordered the people of Lipce to gather in two weeks and approve a school. Płoszka dismisses the issue as something for the older generation to decide. Grzela rebukes that withdrawal: leaving every public concern to their fathers, he argues, is part of why the village is in its present condition. His response establishes a generational dimension to the dispute. The school proposal is not only an administrative matter; it is a test of whether the younger villagers will take responsibility for decisions affecting their community.

Antek says Lipce needs a school but should not approve even a small payment for the Prefect’s school. Rocho supports resistance, warning that an apparently modest contribution could grow into a much larger charge. He invokes the earlier courthouse resolution as a cautionary example: villagers’ money had enriched those handling the project rather than serving the community. The episode gives their opposition a practical basis in taxation and mistrust of official arrangements, rather than presenting it as a simple rejection of education.

Rocho’s work with Grzela is particularly deliberate. After saying that he supports withholding the community’s approval, Grzela sits beside Rocho. Rocho draws him aside, quietly hands him pamphlets and small books, and gravely instructs him. The clandestine exchange shows that their association includes political education as well as shared opinion. The materials are not described in detail, and the text does not identify their contents; what matters is that Rocho privately equips Grzela and prepares him to take a more active part in the debate.

From private instruction to a common plan

Before the meeting at the chancellery, roughly twenty peasants gather discreetly at Boryna family farmstead. Witek watches the road so that no uninvited person will overhear their discussion. Those assembled side with Antek and Grzela, while Rocho explains the consequences of approving the school and Grzela goes from person to person, advising each villager what to say to the Prefect and how to vote. Their roles are complementary: Rocho lays out the wider stakes; Grzela translates the discussion into individual preparation for the coming encounter with authority.

The gathering is not effortless or unanimous from the outset. The peasants deliberate late into the night, and the discussion includes quarrels and opposition. By the end, however, they have agreed on a single course. They disperse hurriedly before dawn because they must leave early the next day. This agreement is a concrete result of the collaboration: the villagers do not merely share a general suspicion, but enter the official meeting with a coordinated position and some preparation for stating it.

Persuasion in public

At the public gathering, the presence of gendarmes makes the political risk visible. Grzela, identified as the Voyt’s brother, warns that the Prefect cannot be far away if the gendarmes are there. He joins Antek, Mateusz, Kłąb, and Stacho Płoszka; the men move among the crowd, greeting people and explaining the issue. The villagers listen closely, but their reactions remain unsettled. They sigh, scratch their heads, and glance toward the gendarmes, drawing closer together without yet knowing what to do.

Grzela’s public work now forms part of a broader effort with Antek and Mateusz. Each speaks to a different group, and each uses a different manner: Antek speaks briefly and firmly by the inn; Mateusz entertains a group beneath the trees with jokes; Grzela speaks near the graveyard with an air of careful, bookish explanation. Their styles differ, but their message is the same: villagers should not heed the Prefect or those who side with officials, and should vote against the school. Grzela’s earlier preparation thus carries into a coordinated public campaign rather than remaining private advice.

Limits and significance of their cooperation

The persuasion has force, but it does not erase the villagers’ fear. Many understand that the school could bring them new taxes without an apparent benefit, yet opposing the Prefect and disputing with officials still feels dangerous. They look toward the richer farmers for cues, while the miller and leading farmers from other villages stand conspicuously apart, near the gendarmes and the notary. The scene places Grzela and Rocho’s organizing between two pressures: a collective sense of material risk and the intimidating visibility of official power.

The evidence presents Rocho as Grzela’s discreet instructor and strategic adviser, and Grzela as the organizer who carries their shared position from private counsel into individual and public persuasion. Their work helps a group of peasants reach agreement before the meeting and gives the opposition a common message in the crowd. It does not, in the scenes shown, establish the final result of the vote. The alliance’s significance lies instead in the process it makes visible: political agency begins with preparation among villagers, but must still contend with uncertainty, division, and the authority embodied by the officials.