What were the conditions of the peasant reform of 1861. Controversy and work done

In Russian history, one of the saddest pages is the section on "serfdom", which equated most of the population of the empire with the lowest grade. The peasant reform of 1861 freed dependent people from bondage, which became impetus for reorganization the whole state into a democratic free state.

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Basic concepts

Before talking about the process of abolition, we should briefly understand the definition of this term and understand what role it played in the history of the Russian state. In this article you will get answers to the questions: who abolished serfdom and when serfdom was abolished.

Serfdom - these are legal norms that prohibit the dependent population, that is, the peasants, from leaving certain land plots to which they were assigned.

Talking about this topic briefly will not work, because many historians equate this form of dependence with slavery, although there are many differences between them.

Not a single peasant with his family could leave a certain land plot without the permission of an aristocrat who owned land. If the slave was attached directly to his master, then the serf was attached to the land, and since the owner had the right to manage the allotment, then the peasants, respectively, too.

People who fled were put on the wanted list, and the relevant authorities had to bring them back. In most cases, some of the fugitives were defiantly killed as an example for others.

Important! Similar forms of dependence were also common during the New Age in England, the Commonwealth, Spain, Hungary and other states.

Reasons for the abolition of serfdom

The predominant part of the male and able-bodied population concentrated in the villages, where they worked for the landowners. The entire crop harvested by the serfs was sold abroad and brought huge incomes to the landowners. The economy in the country did not develop, which is why the Russian Empire was at a much lagging stage of development than the countries of Western Europe.

Historians agree that the following causes and conditions were dominant, as they most sharply demonstrated the problems of the Russian Empire:

This form of dependence hindered the development of the capitalist system - because of this, the level of the economy in the empire was at a very low level.
The industry was going through far from its best times - due to the lack of workers in the cities, the full functioning of factories, mines and plants was impossible.
When agriculture in the countries of Western Europe developed according to the principle of introducing new types of equipment, fertilizers, methods of cultivating the land, then in the Russian Empire it developed according to an extensive principle - due to increase in the area of crops.
The peasants did not participate in the economic and political life empire, and yet they constituted the predominant part of the entire population of the country.
Since in Western Europe this type of dependence was considered a kind of slavery, the authority of the empire suffered greatly among the monarchs of the Western world.
The peasantry was dissatisfied with this state of affairs, and therefore uprisings and riots constantly took place in the country. Dependency on the landlord also encouraged people to go to the Cossacks.
The progressive layer of the intelligentsia constantly put pressure on the king and insisted on profound changes in.

Preparations for the abolition of serfdom

The so-called peasant reform was prepared long before its implementation. As early as the beginning of the 19th century, the first prerequisites for the abolition of serfdom were laid.

Cancellation preparation serfdom began during the reign, but it did not go beyond projects. Under Emperor Alexander II in 1857, editorial commissions were created to develop a project for liberation from dependence.

Standing in front of the organ difficult task: a peasant reform should be carried out according to such a principle that the changes would not cause a wave of discontent among the landowners.

The Commission has created several reform projects, reviewing various options. Numerous peasant revolts pushed its members towards more radical changes.

Reform of 1861 and its contents

The manifesto on the abolition of serfdom was signed by Tsar Alexander II March 3, 1861 This document contained 17 points that considered the main points of the transition of peasants from a dependent to a relatively free class society.

It is important to highlight main provisions of the manifesto about the liberation of people from serfdom:

the peasants were no longer the dependent class of society;
now people could own real estate and other types of property;
to become free, the peasants had to initially buy the land from the landowners, taking a large loan;
for the use of the land allotment they also had to pay dues;
the creation of rural communities with an elected head was allowed;
the size of allotments that can be redeemed were clearly regulated by the state.

The reform of 1861 to abolish serfdom followed the abolition of serfdom in the lands subject to Austrian Empire. The territory of Western Ukraine was in the possession of the Austrian monarch. The elimination of serfdom in the West happened in 1849. This process has only accelerated this process in the East. They had practically the same reasons for the abolition of serfdom as in the Russian Empire.

The abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861: briefly

The manifesto has been released throughout the country from March 7 to mid-April of the same year. Due to the fact that the peasants were not just freed, but forced to buy their freedom, they protested.

The government, in turn, took all security measures, redeploying troops to the most hot spots.

Information about such a path of liberation only outraged the peasantry. The abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861 led to an increase in the number of uprisings compared to the previous year.

The uprisings and riots almost tripled in scope and number. The government was forced to subdue them by force, which caused thousands to die.

Within two years from the moment the manifesto was published, 6/10 of all the peasants in the country signed the advising letters "on liberation". Buying the land for most people stretched over more than a decade. Approximately a third of them had not yet paid their debts in the late 1880s.

The abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861 was considered by many representatives of the estate of landlords. the end of Russian statehood. They assumed that now the peasants would rule the country and said that it was necessary to choose a new king among the mob, thereby criticizing the actions of Alexander II.

Results of the reform

The peasant reform of 1861 led to the following transformations in the Russian Empire:

the peasants now became a free cell of society, but they had to redeem the allotment for a very large sum;
the landlords were guaranteed to give the peasant a small allotment, or sell the land, at the same time they were deprived of labor and income;
"rural communities" were created, which further controlled the life of the peasant, all questions about obtaining a passport or moving to another place were again decided on the council of the community;
conditions for obtaining freedom caused discontent, which increased the number and scope of the uprisings.

And although the liberation of the peasants from serfdom was more profitable for the landowners than for the dependent class, it was progressive step in development Russian Empire. It was from the moment when serfdom was abolished that the transition from an agrarian to an industrial society began.

Attention! The transition to freedom in Russia took place quite peacefully, while due to the abolition of slavery in the country, Civil War, which became the bloodiest conflict in the history of the country.

The reform of 1861 did not completely solve actual problems society. The poor still remained far from government and were only an instrument of tsarism.

It is the unresolved problems peasant reform emerged rapidly at the beginning of the next century.

In 1905, another revolution began in the country, which was brutally suppressed. Twelve years later, it exploded with renewed vigor, which led to and drastic changes in society.

Serfdom long years kept the Russian Empire at the agrarian level of development of society, while in the West it had long since become industrial. Economic backwardness and peasant unrest led to the abolition of serfdom and the liberation of the dependent stratum of the population. These were the reasons for the abolition of serfdom.

1861 was a turning point in the development of the Russian Empire, since it was then that a huge step was taken, which later allowed the country to get rid of the vestiges that hindered its development.

Prerequisites for the Peasant Reform of 1861

The abolition of serfdom, a historical overview

Conclusion

In the spring of 1861, the great All-Powerful Alexander II signs a manifesto on the liberation of the peasants. The conditions for obtaining freedom were taken very negatively by the lower class. And yet, twenty years later, most of the once dependent population became free and had its own land allotment, house and other property.

PEASANT REFORM of 1861, a system of legislative acts, as a result of which serfdom was abolished in the Russian Empire and peasant self-government was introduced. The peasant reform is a key link in the so-called Great Reforms of the 1860s and 70s. The socio-economic and socio-political prerequisites for the reform, as well as the awareness of the need for its implementation, developed gradually (in historiography, it is generally accepted that the defeat of Russia in the Crimean War of 1853-56 was the immediate reason for the peasant reform). The idea of abolishing serfdom was developed in the Secret Committees (the first was established in 1826), two of which (in 1846 and 1848) were headed by the heir to the throne, Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaevich (future Emperor Alexander II).

Preparing for reform. For the first time, Emperor Alexander II openly declared the need for agrarian reforms in his speech to representatives of the nobility of the Moscow province on March 30 (April 11), 1856. According to him, "it is better to start destroying serfdom from above than to wait for the time when it will begin to destroy itself from below." In 1857, Alexander II headed the last Secret Committee on Peasant Affairs [formed on January 3 (15); transformed by imperial decree of 21.2 (5.3.) 1858 into the Main Committee for Peasant Affairs, in the absence of the emperor it was headed by A.F. Orlov, from 25.9 (7.10.) 1860 - by Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich]. In preparing and carrying out the peasant reform, Emperor Alexander II relied on a group of "liberal bureaucrats" who were patronized by Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich and Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, who in October 1856 presented the emperor with a project for the liberation of the peasants in her estate Karlovka in the Poltava province, specially developed by N. A. Milyutin.

In October 1857, the emperor received a most loyal address from the nobility of 3 northwestern provinces (Vilna, Grodno and Kovno) with a request to abolish serfdom, provided that all land ownership was retained by the landowners. In response, the Supreme Rescript of 20.11 (2.12.1857) was sent to the Vilna, Kovno and Grodno governor-general V.I. land for service. The rescript was of a local nature, but its content was immediately officially made public: the text was sent to all governors and provincial marshals of the nobility for review and published in the newspaper Le Nord (Brussels), specially created on the initiative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and in the Journal of the Ministry of the Interior ". A similar rescript was sent to St. Petersburg Governor General P. N. Ignatiev. After that, the government initiated addresses from the nobility of the rest of the European provinces of Russia, in response to them, rescripts were given to the governors (on the model of rescripts to Nazimov and Ignatiev). For the first time, broad circles of the nobility were involved in the discussion of government policy issues: 46 provincial committees on peasant affairs were opened (1858-59) and two General commissions for the northwestern and southwestern provinces, which were to develop their own reform projects. Two opposing camps of landlords formed in the provincial committees: a conservative majority (I. V. Gagarin, D. N. Shidlovsky, P. P. Shuvalov, and others; they defended the right of landowners to land and patrimonial power) and a liberal minority (A. I. Koshelev, A. M. Unkovsky, V. A. Cherkassky, A. G. Shreter, and others; advocated the abolition of patrimonial power and the redemption of allotment land by peasants).

Development of reform. Emperor Alexander II on 18 (30) 10/1858 gave "guiding principles" for the development of the reform - protecting the interests of the landlords while unconditionally "improving the life of the peasants" and maintaining the inviolability of power. This helped the liberal minority in the provincial committees to gain the upper hand. On December 4 (16), 1858, the Main Committee adopted a new government program for the abolition of serfdom, which provided for the redemption of allotment land by peasants into property, the elimination of the patrimonial power of landowners and the creation of peasant public self-government. To consider the projects of the provincial committees on 4 (16) .3.1859, a new non-departmental institution was created - Editorial Commissions of representatives of the bureaucracy and public figures (chairman - Ya. I. Rostovtsev, since 1860 - V. N. Panin), most of which were supporters of liberal projects reforms. Their generally recognized leader was N. A. Milyutin, it was his project to free the peasants with land for ransom that was put forward as a single proposal by representatives of the liberal bureaucracy. It served as the basis of the official model for the all-Russian legislation. Representatives of provincial committees (2 from each committee) took part in the discussion of the draft reform in the Editorial Commissions. They criticized the draft developed by the Editorial Commissions, but its main principles remained unchanged. By September 1859, the final draft of the Editorial Commissions was prepared. It was adopted by the Main Committee for Peasant Affairs and on January 28 (9.2). 1861 transferred to the State Council, where it was approved under pressure from Emperor Alexander II and Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich.

Implementation of the reform. Emperor Alexander II 19.2 (3.3). 1861, on the day of the 6th anniversary of his tenure on the throne, signed the Manifesto on the abolition of serfdom [“On the most merciful granting to serfs of the rights of the state of free rural inhabitants”; promulgated 5(17).3.1861], “The General Regulations on Peasants Who Escaped Serfdom” and 17 additional documents. According to them, the landlord peasants (about half of the entire Russian peasantry) received personal freedom and the right to dispose of their property. The landowners retained ownership of all the land they owned, but were obliged to provide the peasants with an estate for redemption (see Redemption operation), as well as a field allotment for permanent use (the peasants did not have the right to refuse it for 9 years). For the use of land, the peasants served corvee or paid dues. The size of the field allotment and duties were to be fixed in charter letters, for the preparation of which a two-year period was allotted. The drafting of statutory letters was entrusted to the landowners, their verification - to the world mediators. Peasants had the right to redeem a field allotment at the request of the landowner or by agreement with him. Peasants who redeemed their lands were called peasant proprietors who did not switch to redemption - temporarily liable peasants. Peasants could switch to a gift allotment (1/4 of the allotment, but without redemption), in which case they were called gift-giving peasants. Many peasants did just that, since the value of the land for redemption actually exceeded its actual price. The peasant community survived. The allotment land was transferred to the peasants under the rights of communal use, and after redemption - communal property.

In 4 "Local Regulations" the size of land allotments and duties for the use of them in 44 provinces of European Russia were determined. “The local regulation on the land arrangement of peasants ... in the provinces: Great Russian, Novorossiysk and Belorussian” extended to 29 Great Russian provinces, 3 Novorossiysk (Ekaterinoslav, Tauride, Kherson), 2 Belarusian (Mogilev, part of Vitebsk) provinces and part of the Kharkov province. The dimensions of the shower allotment were determined depending on the strips (non-chernozem, chernozem, steppe). In the non-chernozem zone top size per capita ranged from 3 to 7 acres (from 3.3 to 7.6 hectares), the lowest - 1/3 of the highest. In the chernozem zone: the highest - from 23/4 to 6 tithes (from 2.5 to 6.5 ha), the lowest - less than 1 tithe (1.1 ha). In the steppe zone: in the Great Russian provinces - from 6 to 12 acres (from 6.5 to 13.1 ha), in Ukrainian - from 3 to 6.5 acres (from 3.3 to 7.1 ha). If the allotment was larger than the highest, the surplus could be cut off, but if it was less than the lower norm, then the landowner was obliged to cut the missing amount of land. The quitrent was set from 3 to 12 rubles a year for a shower allotment. The corvee for the highest shower allotment was 40 men's and 30 women's working days per year. The rest of the “Local Regulations” basically repeated the “Local Regulations on the Land Arrangement of Peasants ... in the Provinces: Great Russian, Novorossiysk and Belorussian”, but taking into account the specifics of each region. Thus, the “Local Regulations” for the Chernigov, Poltava and part of the Kharkov provinces, in which there was no communal land ownership, provided for the allocation of land to peasants on the basis of the hereditary family principle. Each province was subdivided into several localities, for which the highest norm per capita was set: from 23/4 to 41/2 acres (from 2.5 to 4.9 ha). The lowest rate was 1/2 of the highest. Duties in Left-bank Ukraine were less than in the Great Russian provinces (rent - from 1 ruble 40 kopecks to 2 rubles 80 kopecks for 1 tithe; corvée - from 12 to 21 men's working days for 1 tithe). The "local position" for 3 provinces of the Right-Bank Ukraine (Kyiv, Volyn, Podolsk) assigned to the peasants all the land that they used according to the Inventory Rules of 1847-48. Duties here were somewhat lower than in Left-Bank Ukraine. According to the "Local Regulations" for the Vilna, Grodno, Rovno, Minsk and part of the Vitebsk provinces, the peasants were assigned all the land that they used before the peasant reform. Duties were determined in a slightly reduced amount compared to those recorded in the inventories of the estates. Under the influence of the Polish uprising of 1863-64, changes took place in the conditions of the peasant reform in the western provinces and in Right-Bank Ukraine. Here, a mandatory redemption was introduced, redemption payments were reduced by 20%, the size of the peasant allotment was revised (peasants who lost part of their land ownership in 1857-61 received their allotments back in full, previously landless - partially). The allotments of the peasants, in comparison with the amount of land fixed in the statutory charters, increased significantly.

The implementation of the peasant reform began with the drafting of charters. This process was largely completed by the middle of 1863. In total, about 113 thousand letters were drawn up (in general, 22.5 million landlord peasants of both sexes were freed from serfdom).

The "Regulations on the arrangement of courtyard people" dated 19.2 (3.3). 1861 provided for the release without land, but for 2 years the courtyard people remained completely dependent on the owners. Features of the peasant reform for certain categories of peasants and specific areas were determined by 8 additional rules of 19.2 (3.3). Finance, etc.).

The peasant reform also affected the specific peasants, who, by decree of 26.6 (8.7). The law of November 24 (December 6), 1866, began the reform of the state peasants (they made up 45% of the Russian peasantry, were personally free). They retained the lands that were in their use. According to the law dated 12 (24) 6/1886, state peasants were transferred for redemption.

Serfdom was also abolished in the national outskirts of the Russian Empire: in the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, and Bessarabia. The conditions for reforms in these places were more difficult (all the land remained with the landlords, the redemption of not only the field allotment, but also the estate depended on their will).

The peasant reform of 1861 marked the beginning of a series of reforms - the judicial reform of 1864, the zemstvo reform of 1864, the military reforms of the 1860s and 70s, which were called the Great Reforms. They meant the restructuring of the state system as a whole, contributed to the development of capitalism and modernization processes in Russia, the creation of prerequisites for the transition from estate to civil society. Seen by most contemporaries as a turning point Russian history, and Emperor Alexander II went down in history as the "tsar-liberator". At the same time, the peasant reform of 1861 was criticized by the revolutionary democrats for the insufficient, in their opinion, the size of the land plots received by the peasants.

Source: Peasant reform in Russia in 1861. Sat. legislative acts. M., 1954; Russian legislation of the X-XX centuries. M., 1989.T. 7: Documents of the Peasant Reform.

Lit .: Materials for the history of the abolition of the serfdom of landlord peasants in Russia during the reign of Emperor Alexander II. Berlin, 1860-1862. T. 1-3; Ivanyukov I. The fall of serfdom in Russia. 2nd ed. St. Petersburg, 1903; Kornilov A. A. Peasant reform. St. Petersburg, 1905; Dzhanshiev G. A. The era of great reforms. 10th ed. St. Petersburg, 1907; Great Reform. M., 1911. T. 1-6; Zaionchkovsky P. A. Implementation of the peasant reform of 1861. M., 1958; he is. The abolition of serfdom in Russia. 3rd ed. M., 1968; Druzhinin N. M. Russian village at a turning point. 1861-1880 M., 1978; Zakharova L. G. Autocracy and the abolition of serfdom in Russia, 1856-1861. M., 1984; Gorlanov L. R. Specific peasants of Russia, 1797-1865. Smolensk, 1986; Litvak B. G. The coup of 1861 in Russia: why the reformist alternative was not realized. M., 1991; Great reforms in Russia. 1856-1874. M., 1992; Dolbilov M. D. Alexander II and the abolition of serfdom // Questions of History. 1998. No. 10; The abolition of serfdom in Russia. Index of Literature (1856-1989). Tomsk, 1993.

The peasant reform in Russia (also known as the abolition of serfdom) is a reform carried out in 1861 that abolished serfdom in the Russian Empire. It was the first in time and the most significant of the reforms of Emperor Alexander II; was proclaimed by the Manifesto on the abolition of serfdom of February 19 (March 3), 1861.

At the same time, a number of contemporaries and historians of the late XIX - early XX centuries. called this reform "feudal" and argued that it did not lead to the emancipation of the peasants, but only determined the mechanism for such emancipation, moreover, flawed and unfair.

background

In most of the territory of the Russian Empire, there was no serfdom: in all Siberian, Asian and Far Eastern provinces and regions, in the Cossack regions, in the North Caucasus, in the Caucasus itself, in Transcaucasia, in Finland and Alaska.

The first steps towards the restriction and subsequent abolition of serfdom were taken by Paul I and Alexander I in 1797 and 1803 by signing the Manifesto on the three-day corvee to limit forced labor and the Decree on free cultivators, which spelled out the legal status of peasants released into the wild.

In 1816-1819. serfdom was abolished in the Baltic (Ostsee) provinces of the Russian Empire (Estland, Courland, Livonia, Ezel Island).

According to historians who have specifically studied this issue, the percentage of landlord serfs in the entire adult male population of the empire reached its maximum by the end of the reign of Peter I (55%), during the subsequent period of the 18th century. was about 50% and increased again by the beginning of the 19th century, reaching 57-58% in 1811-1817. For the first time, a significant reduction in this proportion occurred under Nicholas I, by the end of whose reign it, according to various estimates, decreased to 35-45%. So, by the 10th revision (1858), the proportion of serfs in the entire population of the empire fell to 37%. According to the 1857-1859 census, 23.1 million people (of both sexes) were serfs out of 62.5 million people who inhabited the Russian Empire. Of the 65 provinces and regions that existed in the Russian Empire in 1858, in three Baltic provinces (Estland, Courland, Livonia), in the Land of the Black Sea Host, in the Primorsky Region, the Semipalatinsk Region and the Region of the Siberian Kirghiz, in the Derbent Governorate (with the Caspian Territory) and the Erivan province had no serfs at all; in 4 more administrative units (Arkhangelsk and Shemakhinsk provinces, Zabaikalsk and Yakutsk regions) there were no serfs either, with the exception of a few dozen courtyard people (servants). In the remaining 52 provinces and regions, the share of landlord serfs in the population ranged from 1.17% (Bessarabian region, in which instead of serfs there were feudal-dependent tsars) to 69.07% (Smolensk province).

During the reign of Nicholas I, about a dozen different commissions were created to resolve the issue of the abolition of serfdom, but all of them turned out to be ineffective due to the opposition of the landowners. Nevertheless, during this period there was a significant transformation of this institution (see the article Nicholas I) and the number of serfs was sharply reduced, which facilitated the task of the final elimination of serfdom. By the 1850s there was a situation where it could happen without the consent of the landowners. As the historian V. O. Klyuchevsky pointed out, by 1850 more than 2/3 of the noble estates and 2/3 of the serf souls were pledged to secure loans taken from the state. Therefore, the liberation of the peasants could take place without a single state act. To do this, it was enough for the state to introduce a procedure for the forced purchase of mortgaged estates - with the payment to the landowners of only a small difference between the value of the estate and the accumulated arrears on the overdue loan. As a result of such a buyout, most of the estates would pass to the state, and the serfs would automatically move into the category of state (that is, actually personally free) peasants. It was precisely such a plan that P. D. Kiselev, who was in charge of managing state property in the government of Nicholas I.

However, these plans caused strong discontent among the landlords. In addition, peasant uprisings intensified in the 1850s. Therefore, the new government, formed by Alexander II, decided to speed up the solution of the peasant issue. As the tsar himself said in 1856 at a reception with the marshal of the Moscow nobility: “It is better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait until it begins to abolish itself from below.”

The main reasons for the reform were: the crisis of the feudal system, peasant unrest, which especially intensified during the Crimean War. The peasants, to whom the tsarist authorities turned for help, calling for the militia, believed that by their service they would earn their freedom from serfdom. The hopes of the peasants were not justified. The number of peasant uprisings grew. If for 10 years from 1845 to 1854. there were 348 speeches, then over the next 6 years (1855 to 1860) - 474 A significant role in the abolition of serfdom was played by the moral aspect and the issue of state prestige.

As historians point out, in contrast to the commissions of Nicholas I, where neutral persons or experts on the agrarian question prevailed (including Kiselev, Bibikov, and others), now the preparation of the peasant question was entrusted to large feudal landowners (including ministers Lanskoy, Panin and Muravyov ), which largely predetermined the results of the reform.

On January 3, 1857, a new Secret Committee on Peasant Affairs was established, consisting of 11 people (the former chief of the gendarmes A. F. Orlov, M. N. Muravyov, P. P. Gagarin, etc.) July 26 by the Minister of Internal Affairs and a member Committee S. S. Lansky presented an official draft of the reform. It was proposed to create noble committees in each province with the right to make their own amendments to the draft. This program was legalized on November 20 in a rescript addressed to Vilna Governor-General V. I. Nazimov.

The program of the government, set out in the rescript of Emperor Alexander II of November 20, 1857 to the Vilna Governor-General V.I. Nazimov, provided for the destruction of the personal dependence of the peasants while maintaining all the land in the ownership of the landowners (patrimonial power over the peasants also, according to the document, remained with the landlords) ; providing peasants with a certain amount of land, for which they will be required to pay dues or serve corvee, and over time - the right to redeem peasant estates (a residential building and outbuildings). Legal dependence was not eliminated immediately, but only after the transition period (12 years). The rescript was published and sent to all the governors of the country.

In 1858, to prepare peasant reforms, provincial committees were formed, within which a struggle began for measures and forms of concessions between liberal and reactionary landlords. The committees were subordinate to the Main Committee for Peasant Affairs (transformed from the Secret Committee). The fear of an all-Russian peasant revolt forced the government to change the government's program of peasant reform, the drafts of which were repeatedly changed in connection with the rise or fall of the peasant movement.

The new program of the Main Committee for Peasant Affairs was approved by the tsar on April 21, 1858. The program was based on the principles of the rescript to Nazimov. The program provided for the mitigation of serfdom, but not its elimination. At the same time, peasant unrest became more frequent. The peasants, not without reason, were worried about landless liberation, arguing that "the will alone will not feed bread."

On December 4, 1858, a new peasant reform program was adopted: giving the peasants the opportunity to buy out land allotments and creating peasant public administration bodies. Unlike the previous one, this program was more radical, and numerous peasant unrest (along with pressure from the opposition) largely pushed the government to adopt it. This program was developed by Ya. I. Rostovtsev. Basic provisions new program were as follows:

getting peasants personal freedom

providing peasants with plots of land (for permanent use) with the right to purchase (specially for this, the government allocates a special loan to peasants)

approval of a transitional ("urgently obligated") state

To consider the projects of the provincial committees and develop a peasant reform, in March 1859, Editorial Commissions were created under the Main Committee (in fact, there was only one commission) chaired by Ya. I. Rostovtsev. In fact, the work of the Editorial Commissions was led by N. A. Milyutin. The project, drawn up by the Editorial Commissions by August 1859, differed from that proposed by the provincial committees by an increase in land allotments and a decrease in duties.

At the end of August 1859, deputies from 21 provincial committees were summoned. In February next year deputies from 24 provincial committees were called. After Rostovtsev's death, V. N. Panin, a conservative and serf-owner, took over as chairman of the Editorial Commissions. The more liberal project aroused the discontent of the local nobility, and in 1860, with the active participation of Panin, allotments were somewhat reduced and duties were increased. This direction in changing the project was preserved during its consideration in the Main Committee on Peasant Affairs in October 1860, and during its discussion in the State Council from the end of January 1861.

On February 19 (March 3), 1861 in St. Petersburg, Emperor Alexander II signed the Manifesto "On the most merciful granting to serfs of the rights of the state of free rural inhabitants" and the Regulations on peasants emerging from serfdom, which consisted of 17 legislative acts.

The manifesto was published in Moscow on March 5 (O.S.), 1861, in Forgiveness Sunday in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin after the liturgy; at the same time it was published in St. Petersburg and some other cities; in other places - during March of the same year.

February 19 (March 3), 1861 in St. Petersburg, Alexander II signed the Manifesto on the abolition of serfdom and the Regulations on peasants emerging from serfdom, which consisted of 17 legislative acts. The Manifesto “On the most merciful granting to serfs of the rights of the status of free rural inhabitants” dated February 19, 1861 was accompanied by a number of legislative acts (17 documents in total) relating to the emancipation of peasants, the conditions for their redemption of landowners' land and the size of the redeemed allotments in certain regions of Russia.

[edit] Main provisions of the reform

The main act - "The General Regulations on Peasants Who Have Emerged from Serfdom" - contained the main conditions for the peasant reform:

Peasants ceased to be considered serfs and began to be considered "temporarily liable"; peasants received the rights of "free rural inhabitants", that is, full civil legal capacity in everything that did not relate to their special class rights and obligations - membership in a rural society and ownership of allotment land.

Peasant houses, buildings, all movable property of the peasants were recognized as their personal property.

The peasants received elective self-government, the lowest (economic) unit of self-government was the rural society, the highest (administrative) unit was the volost.

The landowners retained ownership of all the lands that belonged to them, but they were obliged to provide the peasants with “estate residence” for use ( adjoining plot) and field allotment; the lands of the field allotment were not provided personally to the peasants, but for the collective use of rural communities, which could distribute them among the peasant farms at their discretion. The minimum size of a peasant allotment for each locality was established by law.

For the use of allotment land, the peasants had to serve a corvée or pay dues and did not have the right to refuse it for 9 years.

The size of the field allotment and duties had to be fixed in charter letters, which were drawn up by the landowners for each estate and checked by peace mediators;

Rural societies were given the right to buy out the estate and, by agreement with the landowner, the field plot, after which all obligations of the peasants to the landowner ceased; the peasants who redeemed the allotment were called "peasant-owners". Peasants could also refuse the right to redeem and receive from the landlord free of charge an allotment in the amount of a quarter of the allotment that they had the right to redeem; when endowing a free allotment, the temporarily obligated state also ceased.

The state, on preferential terms, provided the landlords with financial guarantees for the receipt of redemption payments (redemption operation), accepting their payment; peasants, respectively, had to pay redemption payments to the state.

[edit] Lot sizes

According to the reform, maximum and minimum dimensions peasant allotments. Allotments could be reduced by special agreements between peasants and landlords, as well as upon receipt of a donation. If the peasants had smaller allotments in use, the landowner was obliged either to cut the missing land from the minimum size (the so-called "cuts"), or to reduce duties. The additions took place only if at least a third remained behind the landowner (in steppe zones- half) of land. For the highest shower allotment, a quitrent was set from 8 to 12 rubles. per year or corvee - 40 male and 30 female working days per year. If the allotment was larger than the highest, then the landowner cut off the “extra” land in his favor. If the allotment was less than the highest, then the duties decreased, but not proportionally.

As a result the average size peasant allotment of the post-reform period was 3.3 acres per capita, which was less than before the reform. In the black earth provinces, the landowners cut off a fifth of their land from the peasants. The peasants of the Volga region suffered the greatest losses. In addition to the cuts, other tools for infringing on the rights of peasants were resettlement to barren lands, deprivation of pastures, forests, reservoirs, paddocks and other lands necessary for every peasant. Difficulties for the peasants were also represented by the striped land, forcing the peasants to rent land from the landowners, which went like wedges into the peasant allotments.

The peasants were in a temporarily obligated state until the conclusion of a redemption deal. At first, the period of this state was not indicated. On December 28, 1881, it was finally installed. According to the decree, all temporarily liable peasants were transferred for redemption from January 1, 1883. A similar situation took place only in the central regions of the empire. On the outskirts, the temporarily obligated state of the peasants remained until 1912-1913.

During the temporarily obligated state, the peasants were obliged to pay dues for the use of land and work on corvee. The amount of dues for a full allotment was 8-12 rubles a year. The profitability of the allotment and the size of the quitrent were in no way connected. The highest dues (12 rubles a year) were paid by the peasants of the St. Petersburg province, whose lands were extremely infertile. On the contrary, in the chernozem provinces the amount of dues was much lower.

Another vice of quitrent was its gradation, when the first tithe of land was valued more than the rest. For example, in non-chernozem lands, with a full allotment of 4 tithes and a quitrent of 10 rubles, the peasant paid 5 rubles for the first tithe, which was 50% of the quitrent (for the last two tithes, the peasant paid 12.5% of the total quitrent). This forced the peasants to buy land, and gave the landowners the opportunity to profitably sell infertile land.

All men aged 18 to 55 and all women aged 17 to 50 were required to serve corvee. Unlike the former corvée, the post-reform corvee was more limited and orderly. For a full allotment, a peasant was supposed to work on corvée no more than 40 men's and 30 women's days.

The rest of the "Local provisions" basically repeated the "Great Russian", but taking into account the specifics of their regions. The features of the Peasant Reform for certain categories of peasants and specific regions were determined by the “Additional Rules” - “On the arrangement of peasants settled on the estates of small landowners, and on the allowance for these owners”, “On people assigned to private mining plants of the department of the Ministry of Finance”, “On peasants and workers serving work at Perm private mining plants and salt mines”, “About peasants serving work at landowner factories”, “About peasants and courtyard people in the Land of the Don Cossacks”, “About peasants and courtyard people in the Stavropol province”, “ About Peasants and Household People in Siberia”, “About people who came out of serfdom in the Bessarabian region”.

Liberation of the yard peasants

The “Regulations on the arrangement of courtyard people” provided for their release without land and estates, but for 2 years they remained completely dependent on the landowner. Domestic servants at that time accounted for 6.5% of the serfs. Thus, a huge number of peasants found themselves practically without a livelihood.

Main article: Redemption operation

The regulation “On the redemption by peasants who have emerged from serfdom of their estate settlement and on the government’s assistance in acquiring field land by these peasants” determined the procedure for the redemption of land by peasants from landowners, the organization of the redemption operation, the rights and obligations of peasant owners. The redemption of the field plot depended on an agreement with the landowner, who could oblige the peasants to redeem the land at their request. The price of land was determined by quitrent, capitalized from 6% per annum. In the event of a ransom under a voluntary agreement, the peasants had to make an additional payment to the landowner. The landowner received the main amount from the state.

The peasant was obliged to immediately pay the landowner 20% of the redemption amount, and the remaining 80% was paid by the state. The peasants had to repay it for 49 years annually in equal redemption payments. The annual payment was 6% of the redemption amount. Thus, the peasants in total paid 294% of the redemption loan. AT modern terms, the redemption loan was a loan with annuity payments for a period of 49 years at 5.6% per annum. The payment of ransom payments was discontinued in 1906 under the conditions of the First Russian Revolution. Mikhail Pokrovsky pointed out that "the ransom was beneficial not to the peasants, but to the landowners." By 1906, the peasants paid 1 billion 571 million rubles in ransom for land worth 544 million rubles. Thus, the peasants actually (taking into account the interest on the loan) paid a triple amount, which was the subject of criticism from observers who stood on populist positions (and later from Soviet historians), but at the same time it was a mathematically normal result for such a long-term loan. The loan rate of 5.6% per annum, taking into account the non-mortgage nature of the loan (for non-payment of redemption fees, it was possible to seize the personal, non-productive property of peasants, but not the land itself) and the manifested unreliability of borrowers, was balanced and consistent with the prevailing lending rates for all other types of borrowers at the time. Since penalties for late payments were repeatedly written off, and in 1906 the state forgave the rural communities for all the unpaid part of the debt, the redemption operation turned out to be unprofitable for the state.

Basic Laws of the Reform. On February 19, 1861, Alexander II signed the Manifesto on the Emancipation of the Peasants, various provisions and special rules that took into account the peculiarities of the regions of the country and the situation of various categories of serfs, a total of 17 documents. AT " General position about the peasants who came out of serfdom ", the legal status of the peasants, their administrative structure, which was the same everywhere, was determined. The provision on redemption (conditions for the redemption of allotments), on the release of courtyard people (after 2 years and free of charge), and on local institutions for peasant affairs were also common.

So, according to the reform of 1861, the peasants received:

1. Personal freedom, the right to acquire real estate, open industrial and commercial establishments.

2. Land - manor and field plots. The size of the land received was smaller compared to the land that the peasants actually used before the reform. Part of their land was cut off in favor of the landlords (the so-called "cuts"): in total, in 27 provinces, the peasants lost about 13% of the land. As a result, the average allotment per peasant soul was 3.4 acres.

The connection between the peasants and the landlords was not immediately severed. According to the law, the peasants became temporarily liable for some time and had to perform duties in the form of corvée and dues, and then switched to redemption. The peasants had to pay this ransom for the land they received for 49 years.

The redemption operation was organized as follows. The state paid the landlords for the land transferred to the peasants, and the latter paid their debt to the treasury for 49 years. At the same time, the landowners did not receive total amount redemption - 588 million rubles, from which their debts to state credit institutions in the amount of 262 million rubles were withheld. The rest of the amount the nobles received not in cash, but in securities with their gradual repayment also over 49 years.

Creation of new administrative bodies for reform. It was clear to the authors of the reform that if the matter of its implementation were transferred to the hands of the landlords, then it would fail. Therefore, new (temporary) bodies were created. supreme institution became the Main Committee on the arrangement of the rural state with direct subordination to the emperor. The middle link was the provincial presence for peasant affairs, the chairman of which was the governor, the members were the provincial marshal of the nobility, the manager of state property and four local landowners. The lowest link was the conciliators who performed the following tasks: documenting new relations between landowners and peasants, supervision of rural self-government and judicial functions. Thanks to their activities, the reform was gradually but steadily carried out.

The limitations of the peasant reform. With all the great positive value reform was not free from shortcomings. This is explained by the fact that the reform of 1861 was a compromise between consistent liberals and the bulk of the landlords, who had a negative attitude towards the liberation of the peasants from the land. We have already seen how during the discussion of the project the reformers had to make concessions.

What were the shortcomings of the reform?

1. The peasants received an insufficient amount of land and were forced to rent additional plots from the landlords, primarily pastures, watering places, etc.

2. Saved various forms semi-serf dependence of the peasants on the landowners, firstly, in the form of corvée and quitrent duties, and, secondly, for the land rented from the landowners, the peasants, due to lack of money, worked out on the landlords' fields.

3. As a result, the redemption payments turned out to be significantly higher than the originally planned amount.

4. The peasants continued to be an inferior taxable estate, paying a poll tax, which did not depend on the size of property and income.

5. Mutual responsibility remained - the collective responsibility of the community for the payment of taxes by each of its members.

6. As a result, there remained the actual attachment of the peasants to the land, a significant restriction on freedom of movement.

The attitude of the peasants to the reform. The peasants were disappointed with the reform, as they expected more. There was talk that the landowners hid from the peasants the original documents on the abolition of serfdom. Unrest began on this basis: only in January-May 1861, 1370 mass peasant uprisings took place. The largest was the performance of the peasants in the village of Bezdna, Kazan province. They protested against the purchase of land, as they traditionally considered it theirs. Troops fired into the unarmed crowd, killing more than 350 people. In total, 1889 peasant unrest took place in 1861, more than half of them were suppressed by force.

In the spring of 1862, the movement resumed with renewed vigor in protest against the signing of charters. During this year, 544 demonstrations were registered, which were again suppressed by armed force. In 1863, the peasants of the western provinces were active, after which there was a decline in the movement. Spontaneity and disorganization, the presence of scattered outbreaks, were characteristic of all peasant uprisings. In general, the peasant unrest of the first post-reform years reflected the dissatisfaction of the peasants with the reform, the gradual change in the age-old way of life, and the troubles of the organizational period.

Agriculture after the reform. After a short period of decline in agricultural production, caused by the course of transformations, organizational and economic restructuring, a number of positive processes have been outlined in the agricultural sector.

1. The process of intensification of agriculture has begun, associated with an increase in the culture of agriculture, the use of machinery, fertilizers, and advanced technologies. Gross grain harvest increased. Average annual grain harvest in 1851-1860 was 26.8 million tons, in 1861-1870. - 28.3, in 1871-1880. - 31.8 million tons

2. Agriculture acquires a commercial character to a greater extent (landowner farms - 25%, kulak farms - 30-40%, middle peasants - 15-20%).

3. The export of bread increased: in 1860 - 5% of the gross harvest, in the 70s. - 10, in the 90s-20%.

4. Land lease developed. The main tenants are kulak farms (entrepreneurial lease) and poor peasants (rent from need).

5. The number of privately owned land from the peasants increased: from 1862 to 1882 they acquired 6 million acres.

6. The crushing process has begun farms due to the growth of the rural population, small and tiny allotments (up to 2 acres) and homeless households (to late XIX in. up to 2.4 million).

7. Landownership was reduced: from 87 million acres in 1861 to 53 million acres by the end of the 19th century.

8. The debts of the landowners began to grow again: by the beginning of the 1880s. they amounted to 400 million rubles, by the end of the 1880s. already 600 million

Thus, the abolition of serfdom contributed to the rapid development of capitalist relations in agriculture, despite the preservation of a number of remnants of serfdom, as mentioned above.

The development of capitalism in industry. Peasant reform, along with others liberal reforms, and above all financial, has accelerated the industrial development of the country.

1. The rate of development of the industrial revolution increased, which basically ended by the beginning of the 1880s. The capitalist factory finally ousts manufactory.

2. Light industry developed most rapidly; capital gradually poured into the heavy one.

3. Foreign capital actively participated in the industrial development of Russia, mainly from France, Belgium, England, and Germany. He rushed to the mining, chemical industries, engineering.

4. New industrial regions were formed: Donbass, Krivoy Rog, Baku oil-producing region.

5. Rapid railway construction unfolded,

6. The consequence of all these processes was the rapid growth of the proletariat (by the middle of the 1890s - about 10 million) and the bourgeoisie (2.4 million). allowance / Ed. prof. Ya.A. Playa. - 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M.: Vuzovsky textbook: INFRA-M., 2011. - 509 p..

1861 was marked by a peasant reform, as a result of which the peasantry of Russia was freed from centuries of feudal bondage.

The main provisions of the peasant reform.

The peasants received:

personal freedom;
limited freedom of movement (remained dependent on peasant communities);
the right to general education, with the exception of especially privileged educational institutions;
the right to engage in public service;
the right to engage in trade, other entrepreneurial activities;
henceforth peasants could join guilds;
the right to go to court on equal grounds with representatives of other classes;
the peasants were in the position of temporarily obligated to the landowners until they bought out a plot of land for themselves, while the amount of work or dues was stipulated by law, depending on the size of the plot; the land was not transferred free of charge to the peasants, who did not have sufficient funds to buy out plots of land for themselves, which is why the process of complete emancipation of the peasantry dragged on until the revolution of 1917, however, the state approached the issue of land quite democratically and provided that if the peasant did not could redeem the whole allotment, then he paid a part, and the rest - the state.

The procedure for the redemption of land allotment by peasants was as follows:

the land was completely retained by the landowners, while the peasants were entitled only to "their settled share", for which they had to pay 25% of the redemption amount in cash;
further, all other funds came to the owner of the land from the treasury, however, the peasants had to reimburse this amount with interest to the state within 49 years.

Coming out of serfdom, the peasants had to establish rural societies, i.e., settlements owned by one or more owners.

Such villages, located in the neighborhood, united in volosts (parishes).

In rural society, a kind of peasant self-government: at the head of the volost were the volost headman and the volost gathering, composed of householders of the volost. These bodies were of economic and administrative importance.

Depending on the land where the land allotment was provided to the peasants (non-chernozem, chernozem or steppe zone), different sizes capitation.

Therefore, based on the fertility of the land in each individual locality, the maximum size of the land allotment allocated to the peasants was established. This size was the starting point for determining the specific size of the redeemed allotment, which could not be less than 1/3 of the maximum size. Land owners could provide a smaller plot of land free of charge, the so-called "beggarly plot".

For the whole of Russia, the highest norm of a peasant allotment was 7 acres, and the lowest - 3.

chief a positive result of the peasant reform is the equalization of members of society in their natural rights and, above all, in the right to personal freedom.

Disadvantages of the peasant reform:

preservation of large landed estates;
the small size of peasant allotments;
the establishment of peasant communities and the establishment of mutual responsibility within these communities.