Successes of Emancipation

• A dramatic break with Russia’s socio-economic history was peacefully achieved and with very little open conflict.
• The demands of the peasants for land and the need to compensate the landlords for their loss of property were delicately balanced.
• The legal status of 51 million Russians was transformed.
• Peasant disturbances became far less of a problem for the rest of the 19th century.
• More enterprising peasants known as kulaks exploited the opportunities presented by emancipation and expanded the size of their landholdings and produced surplus grain to sell for a profit.
• Emancipation stimulated some growth of business and industry.
• Some nobles were now free from debt and invested in new enterprises.
• The industrial workforce in towns and cities grew as some peasants now sought paid work away from the land.