Results of the Emancipation

Cards (6)

  • kulaks did well out of the land allocations.  They bought up extra land so they could produce surplus grain for export.
  • Others who sold up their allocation or obtained a passport to leave the mir raised their living standard by finding work in the industrialisng cities.  Similarly some landowners used the compensation offered to get out of debt and enterprising individuals made profits through investment in industry.
  • Many peasants felt cheated not least because the land allocations were rarely fair.  The small allotments(which provided little opportunity to adopt new farming methods) were incredibly divided as several sons inherited and the land was shared between them
  • The mir system also proved to be a highly traditional institution and subsistence farming and technological backwardness persisted so that in 1878 only 50% of the peasantry was capable of producing a surplus. "
  • The loss of former benefits restrictions on travel (which required an internal passport) and the burden of the redemption payments made rural life difficult.  Resentment of the Kulaks led to further violent outbreaks in the countryside.
  • Landowners resented their loss of influence.  Noble bankruptcies also continued as landowners had to sell or mortgage their own allocated land. Some nobles found an opportunity to air the resentments in another of Alexander II's reforms the new local elected govs called Zemstva