reforms

• Alexander II is known as the 'Tsar liberator'
• Immediately when he came to power he released Decembrists, still in prison or exile, who tried to overthrow his father in 1825
• restrictions of travel abroad was lifted as in 1859 26,000 passports were granted
• Serfdom prevented the growth of Russian industry, prevented the use of modern methods of agriculture (Russia behind Europe), Defeat in Crimean war showed army in need of reform
• there had been 1467 peasant revolts since 1800
• The emancipation of the serfs happened Febuary 1861; only privately owned serfs, they were free and could marry whoever, could own property, each serf granted 75 per cent allotments less than 4 dessyatinas
• Peasant families after the emancipation farmed on 20% less land
• the state redemption taxes were for 49 years at 6%; serfs were expected to live till 35
• the state peasants were freed in 1866 and were allowed land 2x larger than privately owned serfs
• household serfs were only given their freedom
• in the four months following the emancipation there were 647 incidents of peasant riots and troops were used on 449 cases
• In Bezdna a peasant, Anton Petrov called a speech which thousand gathered to watch and soldiers fired killing 70
• by 1905 the nobles owned 40% less land than in 1861
• However the peasants knew without land freedom would be meaningless
• Alexander 2 1856 'it is better to begin abolishing serfdom from above than to wait for it to begin to abolish itself from below'
• peasants after serfdom: if redemption payments could not be made had to work on Lord's land, land could be controlled by Mir's, farming remained backwards, the Mir's replaced the landlords and controlled the Serfs
• Gentry: landowners were compensated by the state on high valuation of land, peasants could still work for them
• gentry: debt was a big problem and redemption tax mainly went towards debt, many found estates unprofitable, lost authority
• Army- length of service reduced to 6 years, recruitment raised from 210,000 to 553,000 by 1870, training was more human and efficient
• 1864 Zmestva created; allowed some peasantry to be representatives
• 1870 Dumas set up
• Juries were made to be apart of criminal cases, hierarchy of courts created, Judges well paid and less likely to take bribes
• 1865- Editors no longer had to get approval for texts, less censorship
• New regulations 1863- allowed private schools, common curriculum created in Russian only, regular inspection
• by 1914 Zmestva ran half of the primary schools
• between 1874-94 2.5 million men learned basics of reading and writing
• industrial workforce expanded from 860,000 to 1,320,000 by 1887
• New industrial areas were beginning, textile industries and railway were also growing. railway grew from 2,200 to 14,200 miles
• many liberal policies were being pursued but when an attempt was made to kill the Russian- appointed Polish prime minister and there was a storm of protests less liberal policies were pursued
• Alexander removed some of the restrictions set on Jews and allowed them into higher education
• many found their estates to be unprofitable
• Coal production increased from 300,000 tonnes in 1860 to 4.4 million in 1887
• Tolstroy asserted the influence of the church into education and made it impossible for students to go to Uni without knowing Greek or Latin
• some categories of Jews were allowed to live outside the pale of settlement (not restricted as much)
• Zmestva dealt with issues on public health, prisons, roads and agriculture
• Zmestva could debate local issues
• expansion of coal x16
• expansion of steel x10
• zmestva was made up of 75% gentry
• zmestva could not control certain things e.g., police