peasents

• Peasant Frustration


  • Frustrated by land pressure due to population growth and terms of emancipation
  • Had less land than under serfdom, had to buy freedom over 49 years in redemption dues
  • Renting and buying land became expensive, recurrent harvest failures led to bitterness
• Major disturbances in 1902
• Official Expectations


  Tsarist officials hoped peasants would remain docile during 1905 unrest, believing in their loyalty to their 'little father'
• Reality


  • Peasant unrest during 1905 intense, with over 3000 disturbances and 15% of gentry's manors destroyed
  • Peasants of all socioeconomic levels participated, unrest took various forms regionally
• Authorities' Response


  1. Responded with ruthless force, deploying army 2,700 times between Jan and Oct 1905

  2. In Chernigov Province, peasants forced to kneel in snow for hours, then whipped