Emancipation

• The Crimean War ended in March 1856.
• Alexander II set up committees to examine emancipation.
• Alexander II toured Russia in 1858-59 to deliver pro-emancipation speeches.
• Provincial nobles failed to agree on emancipation measures and debate took place between them and Alexander II.
• Alexander II established a 38-man committee that was led by Nicholas Milyutin.
• The emancipation of the serfs was proclaimed in Alexander II's Edict of 1861.
• Emancipation only applied to privately-owned serfs with state owned serfs not receiving their freedom until 1866.
• Emancipation permitted modernisation but supporters of it found that it was not as "liberating" as expected.
• Landlords received government bonds and compensation from emancipation and they used it to redeem their debt and invest in enterprises.
• Some landlords could only pay off debts with their compensation and they were forced to sell land.
• Serfs were declared free and they could marry, own property, travel and have rights.
• Serfs were given a cottage or an allotment of land from emancipation but the quality of the latter varied.
• Enterprising peasants could buy land and they could sell surplus grain.
• Serfs could move to an industrialised city if they sold land.
• Rights often remained theoretical for serfs because of other terms of the Edict.
• Serfs were required to pay annual redemption payments for 49 years.
• Redemption payments provoked unrest.
• The issue with land prices was that they were fixed above the market value which left the serfs in debt.
• Some peasants had to work for their old masters or rent land to survive.
• The Mir was responsible for tax and redemption collection and serfs had to remain there until their redemption payments were finished.
• The Mirs supervised farming of allocated land and promoted backward farming practices.
• Mirs constrained the peasants to the countryside.
• Landowners were allowed to retain personal lands which led to some serfs struggling because they couldn't make a living without additional land and they lost their protection from their landowners.
• The Mirs opened communal open fields for everyone.
• The Obruk was the labour service that remained for two years of "temporary obligation".
• Peasants felt resentful about the Obruk and 647 riots took place over 4 months.
• John Gooding said that from a European perspective, the Emancipation Edict did not "seem like freedom at all".