2. The Emancipation of the Serfs

• How did long term discussion of reform contribute to the emancipation of the serfs?

  Westerners believed that Russia would be strengthened by the adoption of western technical and philosophical ideas. Writers such as Gogol and Dostoevsky wrote about them obliquely in literature. Russia's defeat in the Crimean War suggested that the Slavophiles were wrong, allowing better educated officials, such as the Milyutin brothers, Dmitri and Nikolai to emerge as leaders of reform under Alexander II.
• How did reform under Nicholas I contribute to the emancipation of the serfs?

  Answers:

  • Nicholas I had told his Council of State in 1842 that 'there is no doubt that serfdom in its present situation in our country is an evil, palpable and obvious to all'.
  • In 1833, a law forbade the splitting up of families by the sale of individuals.
  • In 1841, a law banned the auction of serfs.
  • These measures provoked further support for reform, with 712 peasant outbreaks between 1826 and 1854.
• How did Alexander II himself contribute to the emancipation of the serfs?

  Answers:

  • In March 1856, he said that 'the existing system of serf-owning cannot remain unchanged. It is better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait for the time when it begins to abolish itself from below'.
  • He considered it his role as Emperor of Russia to protect the Russian state.
  • He was also influenced by liberal members of his family. The Grand Duke Constantine and the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlova supported emancipation. Her palace was a meeting place for leading liberal reformers such as Nikolai Miluytin.
• How did economic reasons contribute to the emancipation of the serfs?

  Answers:

  • Some historians have argued that the serf system was failing economically and this was the main reason for the decision to end it, suggesting that the Russian economy was slowly making the transition from a rural to an industrial economy.
  • They suggest that the practice of serfdom was already changing, with the number of serfs converting their labour to rent was growing, suggesting that a more industrialised, free market was growing, as these peasants remained only loosely tied to the landowner's estate.
• How did economic reasons contribute to the emancipation of the serfs (card two)?

  Answers:

  • Historians argue that 80% of serfs lived on estates of 100 serfs or more, and these larger landowners continued to be economically successful.
  • However, the peasants themselves were resistant to change and the farming methods they used limited production. They still used the three-field rotation system, which meant that 1 field was kept fallow to allow the soil to recover, while the other two were used to grow cereal crops.
• How did economic reasons contribute to the emancipation of the serfs (card three)?

  Answers:

  • Serfs also used the strip system, which was also unproductive as time was wasted going between strips and land had to be used between the strips for pathways, rather than being used to grow crops. Yields tended to be low, as landowners took any surplus.
  • Serfs were uneducated and resistant to innovation and new farming methods.
• How did economic reasons contribute to the emancipation of the serfs (card four)?

  Answers:

  • Up to 30% of peasants had to earn their living away from the village as there was insufficient land to farm. Lack of food led to unlocalised unrest and reduced the amount of grain available for export. Lack of productivity also meant that many of the nobility could not fund their lifestyles.
  • 60% of serfs had been mortgaged to pay off noble debts.
  • Large tracts of land in Russia were not suitable for cultivation, transport, communications were poor, with no history of innovation.
• How did fear of peasant revolt contribute to the emancipation of the serfs?

  Answers:

  • From 1826-1834, 148 uprisings took place.
  • From 1835-1844, 216 uprisings took place.
  • From 1845-1854, 348 uprisings took place.
  • There was a growing sense among Russian elites that the regime could not continue to rely on simply crushing protests as they arose; more fundamental reform was needed.
  • The Crimean War itself provoked an increase in uprisings, as it created an expectation that they would be rewarded for their sacrifices. Many serfs had volunteered in the belief they would be later freed.
• How did moral and legal arguments contribute to the emancipation of the serfs?

  Answers:

  • The Slavophile landowner A.I. Koshelyov wrote to Alexander in 1858 arguing that the ownership of serfs undermined the moral wellbeing of the nobility, and it should be abolished because 'the abolition of the right to dispose of people like objects or like cattle is as much our liberation as theirs for at present we are under a yoke of law that destroys still more in us than in the serfs any human quality'.
• How did moral and legal arguments contribute to the emancipation of the serfs (card two)?

  Answers:

  • Serfdom has been introduced to reassure the nobility who were bound to serve the Tsar when called upon, that their estates would be safe in their absence. This obligation was ended by Tsar Paul III in 1762, but serfdom remained.
  • Westerns pointed to the abolition of the system in nearly all other European states. The most vocal critic was Alexander Herzen who published journals like 'The Bell', aimed at Russian leadership, but safe from Tsarist censorship.
• When was the Emancipation Decree?

  19th February 1861
• What terms of the Edict of Emancipation favoured the peasants?

  Answers:

  • Serfs were granted their freedom over a period of 2 years.
  • Now possessed the same legal freedoms enjoyed by others (own land, marry without interference, use law courts).
  • Freed peasants were granted ownership of the houses in which they had lived, and the plots where they had previously worked.
  • Same terms applied to state peasants, but their transition to freedom was 5 years.
• What terms of the Edict of Emancipation favoured the landowners?

  Answers:

  • Confirmed the landlords' legal ownership of the land on their estates, BUT provided from 1863 for the purchase of some of that land by the peasants.
  • The government was to compensate landlords for land transferred to the peasantry, paying them the purchase price in the form of government bonds.
  • Domestic serfs who had not previously worked the land did not receive land under the terms of the Edict.
• What terms of the Edict of Emancipation favoured the state?

  To recoup its losses, the government charged the peasants 'redemption dues' in the form of regular repayments over a period of 49 years, with some of this money going to the nobles.
• When did Alexander II speak to the Moscow nobility regarding the abolishment of serfdom?

  March 1856
• When was the Secret Committee on the Peasant Question established?

  January 1857
• When was the Secret Committee on the Peasant Question renamed to make it public?

  January 1858
• What was the new name of the Secret Committee on the Peasant Question?

  The Main Committee
• When was the Nazimov Rescript?

  November 1857
• What was the purpose of the Nazimov Rescript?

  To give each province a chance to form a committee to discuss the possibility of the ending of serfdom.
• How many Russian provinces sympathised with the abolishment of serfdom?

  19
• When did the local committees that supported the reform make their submissions?

  Late 1859
• When did the local committees that opposed the reform make their submissions?

  Early 1860
• When were the Four Editing Commissions?

  February 1859 to October 1860
• When did the Main Committee receive the reports?

  1860
• When did the State Council meet to discuss the abolishment of serfdom?

  January 1861