Who was the last to abolish serfdom? When was serfdom abolished?

The prerequisites for the abolition of serfdom arose at the end of the 18th century. All layers of society considered the serfdom an immoral phenomenon that disgraced Russia. In order to stand on a par with European countries free from slavery, the Russian government was faced with the issue of abolishing serfdom.

The main reasons for the abolition of serfdom:

1. Serfdom became a brake on the development of industry and trade, which hampered the growth of capital and placed Russia in the category of secondary states;
2. The decline of the landowner economy due to the extremely ineffective labor of the serfs, which was expressed in the obviously poor performance of the corvee;
3. The increase in peasant revolts indicated that the serf system was a “powder keg” under the state;
4. The defeat in the Crimean War (1853-1856) demonstrated the backwardness of the political system in the country.

Alexander I tried to take the first steps in resolving the issue of abolition of serfdom, but his committee did not figure out how to bring this reform to life. Emperor Alexander limited himself to the law of 1803 on free cultivators.

Nicholas I in 1842 adopted the law “On Obligated Peasants”, according to which the landowner had the right to free the peasants by giving them a land allotment, and the peasants were obliged to bear duties in favor of the landowner for the use of the land. However, this law did not take root; the landowners did not want to let the peasants go.

In 1857, official preparations began for the abolition of serfdom. Emperor Alexander II ordered the establishment of provincial committees, which were supposed to develop projects to improve the life of serfs. Based on these projects, the drafting commissions drew up a bill, which was transferred to the Main Committee for consideration and establishment.

On February 19, 1861, Emperor Alexander II signed a manifesto on the abolition of serfdom and approved the “Regulations on peasants emerging from serfdom.” Alexander remained in history with the name “Liberator”.

Although liberation from slavery gave peasants some personal and civil freedoms, such as the right to marry, go to court, trade, enter the civil service, etc., they were limited in freedom of movement, as well as economic rights. In addition, peasants remained the only class that bore conscription duties and could be subject to corporal punishment.

The land remained the property of the landowners, and the peasants were allocated a settled estate and a field allotment, for which they had to serve duties (in money or work), which were almost no different from serfs. According to the law, peasants had the right to buy out an allotment and an estate, then they received complete independence and became peasant owners. Until then, they were called “temporarily obligated.” The ransom amounted to the annual quitrent amount multiplied by 17!

To help the peasantry, the government organized a special “redemption operation.” After the establishment of the land allotment, the state paid the landowner 80% of the value of the allotment, and 20% was assigned to the peasant as a government debt, which he had to repay in installments over 49 years.

Peasants united into rural societies, and they, in turn, united into volosts. The use of field land was communal, and to make “redemption payments” the peasants were bound by a mutual guarantee.

Household people who did not plow the land were temporarily obliged for two years, and then could register with a rural or urban society.

The agreement between landowners and peasants was set out in the “statutory charter”. And to sort out emerging disagreements, the position of peace mediators was established. The general management of the reform was entrusted to the “provincial presence for peasant affairs.”

The peasant reform created the conditions for the transformation of labor into goods, and market relations began to develop, which is typical for a capitalist country. The consequence of the abolition of serfdom was the gradual formation of new social strata of the population - the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.

Changes in the social, economic and political life of Russia after the abolition of serfdom forced the government to undertake other important reforms, which contributed to the transformation of our country into a bourgeois monarchy.

155 years ago, on February 19 (new style - March 3), 1861, Emperor Alexander II signed the Manifesto “On the Most Merciful Granting to Serfs of the Rights of Free Rural Citizens,” which was published two days later in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. This document actually abolished serfdom, essentially slavery, which had existed in Russia for several centuries.

Social elevator

The significance of the reform is evidenced by the following fact: it created a social elevator that allowed former serfs to rise high up the social ladder and bring enormous benefit to their Fatherland. Here's a concrete example. In the Vladimir province, among the liberated peasants was the family of Grigory Stoletov. (True, the head of the family, being a serf, still had the right to engage in trading activities). The eldest son Vasily learned the construction trade and became a major contractor. He invested a considerable part of his income in the education of his younger brothers - Alexander and Nikolai.

As a result, Alexander became a prominent physicist, professor at Moscow University, who was one of the first to study the photoelectric effect. After some time, these works found wide practical application. Nicholas chose a military career, rose to the rank of lieutenant general, and participated in many campaigns. He was one of the leaders of the defense of Shipka and actually created the Bulgarian army. In Bulgaria, Stoletov was elected an honorary citizen of the famous city of Gabrovo during his lifetime.

After the reform of 1861, capitalist relations began to develop in Russia, and some of the former serfs, endowed with energy and enterprise, took up entrepreneurship. Let's say, from the peasants of the Kaluga province came bankers and owners of an entire network of textile factories, the Ryabushinskys.

Slavery existed by...tradition

Attempts to abolish serfdom were made in Russia over the course of a century and a half. Peter the Great thought about this. But the emperor quickly realized: carrying out such a reform in a situation where many rights and privileges were already taken away from the boyars and nobles was dangerous. Because this could provoke a powerful confrontation.

By the way, the founder of the Northern capital also tried to find out

When and by what law was serfdom itself established? And then it turned out that there was no legal basis: serfdom in Russia exists and is based on tradition.

The great-grandson of Peter Alekseevich, Emperor Paul I, limited corvee service to three days a week. But many landowners did not obey the royal will, forcing the peasants to work for five, six, and seven days.

In Estland, serfdom was abolished in 1816, in Courland - in 1817, in Livonia - in 1819. That is, during the reign of Emperor Alexander I.

It can be assumed that Nicholas I was to some extent prevented from abolishing serfdom by the Decembrist uprising. The emperor feared that after what had happened, granting freedom to the peasants could have dangerous consequences for the state.

The emperor's nerves could not stand it

By the middle of the 19th century, it became completely clear that without the abolition of serfdom, further development of the country was no longer possible, says Doctor of Historical Sciences Yuri Zhukov. - The decisive actions of Alexander II and his associates were prompted by the defeat in the Crimean War and the increasing frequency of peasant uprisings. “It is better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait until it begins to abolish itself from below,” the emperor himself once said at a reception with the leader of the Moscow nobility.

While preparing for the reform, Alexander II used the developments made by his father. A few years before the release of the Manifesto of 1861, by decree of the emperor, a Secret Committee was created, which was involved in the preparation of the historical document. Why secret? Yes, it’s very simple: so that the nobles, dissatisfied with the expected reforms, do not begin to muddy the waters ahead of time.

The drafters of the Manifesto did not intend to exactly copy the Western system of social relations, as some experts claim. On behalf of the tsar, officials visited a number of countries, studied the relationship between the state and peasants, between peasants and land owners, and thought through how much this experience could be used in Russia.

And yet it was impossible to keep the historical document being prepared secret for a very long time. After all, this is tantamount to hiding in a bag not just an awl, but a whole sword. And heated discussions began.

Very influential people opposed the reform. Even many members of the government, most of whom were landowners, expressed their disagreement quite harshly. Among them is the Minister of Internal Affairs Pyotr Valuev, who, in his own words, was “the pen of the opposition,” that is, the opposition to the cause of the liberation of the peasants.”

But the sovereign still had someone to rely on. Alexander II was supported by his brother Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich and the sister of the late Emperor Nicholas I, the intelligent, energetic and strong-willed Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna.

During the discussion of the reform, the intensity of passions was such that the emperor’s nerves sometimes could not stand it, and he allowed himself to shout at his opponents. The ardent supporter of the abolition of serfdom, Governor-General of New Russia and Bessarabia, Count Alexander Stroganov, later recalled this with bitterness.

Both peasants and landowners were dissatisfied

The Manifesto of 1861 and subsequent reform are the result of a compromise between various forces. And, as always happens in such cases, they were not without serious shortcomings.

The main provisions of the reform were as follows, says historian and writer Elena Prudnikova. - The peasants were granted personal freedom, and the landowners retained all the lands that belonged to them, but were obliged to provide the peasants with land plots for use. For their use, peasants had to continue to serve corvée or pay quitrent - until they redeemed their land. And when it turned out that the peasants did not have the means to pay for the ransom, the state contributed money for them, obliging them to repay the debt within 49 years at the rate of 6 percent per annum - a high percentage for those times. In such conditions, many peasants simply abandoned the land.

Not wanting to cause strong discontent among the landowners, the area of ​​land allocated to the former serfs was made less than necessary for the profitability of peasant labor. On average, each peasant farm received three and a half dessiatines of land, and in order to have at least some profit, you need at least five to six dessiatines. That is, farms were doomed to gradual ruin. A well-known cartoon of that time is “A Little Man on One Leg,” where a peasant is depicted on a tiny piece of land.

According to the ideologists of the reform, landowners deprived of free labor will begin to think about how to increase the efficiency of agricultural production, notes Prudnikova. - In reality, it turned out differently. Not all landowners were ready to run a capitalist economy. Some went bankrupt, others simply preferred to rent out the land. And few people wanted to invest money to improve the efficiency of farms. Large, high-yielding plantations existed mainly only in the west and south of Russia.

It turns out that both landowners and peasants were not particularly happy with the reform that abolished such a shameful phenomenon as slavery in Russia. Remember Firs, the servant from “The Cherry Orchard”: they say, there used to be order, “men are with the masters, gentlemen are with the men.”

The fates of the peasants freed from serfdom developed differently. Some were able to achieve great success using the mentioned social elevator, some remained on earth, managed to adapt to new working conditions and gradually established their economy. But many went bankrupt and left for cities, where they could not always find use for their strength.

Each comparison, as we know, is lame, but the peasant reform of the mid-19th century is somewhat reminiscent of ... the privatization of state property, which was carried out in the nineties of the 20th century, says Yuri Zhukov. - In both cases, one might say, effective owners did not appear in the country, but the number of disadvantaged people increased sharply.

Reform gave rise to terrorism

...In July 1867, the newspaper St. Petersburg Vedomosti published an essay about the arrest of a whole group of robbers who robbed trains. All of them were former serfs who were unable to either work in the new conditions on the land or find employment in the city. One of these thugs, a former slave of a landowner in the Tula province, was distinguished by his extraordinary love of horses, his ability to break them and prepare them for races. The trouble was that the landowner, who had lost a significant part of his income due to the reform, sold his stud farm, and the serf found himself out of work.

But even this is not the worst thing.

Unlike Western European countries, in Russia the liberation of peasants was not accompanied by political changes, says Yuri Zhukov. - In our country there were no political parties, democratic institutions, in particular, parliament. And the only form of struggle became terror.

Let us recall that twenty years after the abolition of serfdom, on March 1, 1881, members of the People's Will organization killed Tsar-Liberator Alexander II, and at the beginning of the 20th century, Russia was completely overwhelmed by a wave of political terrorism.

Interesting Facts

In the Netherlands, serfdom was abolished in the 11th century, in Great Britain in the 12th century, in France in the 11th century. Of all the so-called civilized countries, slavery ceased to exist only in the United States later than Russia.

During the period from 1855 to 1900, the population of St. Petersburg increased almost 2.5 times: from 513,000 people to one million 248 thousand people.

At the beginning of the 20th century, most terrorists belonged to the first generation of artisans or laborers, who came from impoverished peasant families. According to statistics, at least fifty percent of all political murders carried out by the Socialist Revolutionaries were committed by terrorist workers. A somewhat similar situation is now observed in modern Russia.

March 3 (February 19, O.S.), 1861 - Alexander II signed the Manifesto “On the most merciful granting to serfs of the rights of free rural inhabitants” and the Regulations on peasants emerging from serfdom, which consisted of 17 legislative acts. On the basis of these documents, peasants received personal freedom and the right to dispose of their property.

The manifesto was timed to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the emperor's accession to the throne (1855).

Even during the reign of Nicholas I, a large amount of preparatory material was collected for carrying out the peasant reform. Serfdom during the reign of Nicholas I remained unshakable, but significant experience was accumulated in solving the peasant question, which his son Alexander II, who ascended the throne in 1855, could later rely on.

At the beginning of 1857, a Secret Committee was established to prepare peasant reform. The government then decided to make its intentions known to the public, and the Secret Committee was renamed the Main Committee. The nobility of all regions had to create provincial committees to develop peasant reform. At the beginning of 1859, Editorial Commissions were created to process draft reforms of the noble committees. In September 1860, the draft reform developed was discussed by deputies sent by noble committees, and then transferred to the highest government bodies.

In mid-February 1861, the Regulations on the Liberation of Peasants were considered and approved by the State Council. On March 3 (February 19, old style), 1861, Alexander II signed the manifesto “On the most merciful granting to serfs of the rights of free rural inhabitants.” The final words of the historical Manifesto were: “Sign yourself with the sign of the cross, Orthodox people, and call upon us God’s blessing on your free labor, the guarantee of your home well-being and the good of society.” The manifesto was announced in both capitals on a major religious holiday - Forgiveness Sunday, and in other cities - in the week closest to it.

According to the Manifesto, peasants were granted civil rights - freedom to marry, independently conclude contracts and conduct court cases, acquire real estate in their own name, etc.

Land could be purchased by both the community and individual peasants. The land allocated to the community was for collective use, therefore, with the transition to another class or another community, the peasant lost the right to the “secular land” of his former community.

The enthusiasm with which the release of the Manifesto was greeted soon gave way to disappointment. The former serfs expected complete freedom and were dissatisfied with the transitional state of the “temporarily obliged”. Believing that the true meaning of the reform was being hidden from them, the peasants rebelled, demanding liberation with land. Troops were used to suppress the largest uprisings, accompanied by the seizure of power, as in the villages of Bezdna (Kazan province) and Kandeevka (Penza province). In total, more than two thousand performances were recorded. However, by the summer of 1861, the unrest began to subside.

Initially, the period of stay in a temporary state was not established, so the peasants delayed the transition to redemption. By 1881, approximately 15% of such peasants remained. Then a law was passed on the mandatory transition to buyout within two years. During this period, redemption transactions had to be concluded or the right to land plots would be lost. In 1883, the category of temporarily obliged peasants disappeared. Some of them executed redemption transactions, some lost their land.

The peasant reform of 1861 was of great historical significance. It opened up new prospects for Russia, creating an opportunity for the broad development of market relations. The abolition of serfdom paved the way for other major transformations aimed at creating a civil society in Russia.

For this reform, Alexander II began to be called Tsar the Liberator.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

“The previous system has outlived its usefulness” - this is the verdict of one of the ideologists of this system, M.N. Pogodin, sentenced three months after the death of Nicholas I.

In 1855, the 37-year-old took the throne.

Unlike his father, he was prepared to govern the state, received an excellent education and was ready to immediately begin solving state issues. A.I. Herzen wrote: “Sire! Your reign begins under a surprisingly happy constellation. There are no blood stains on you, you have no remorse. The news of your father's death was not brought to you by his killers. You didn't have to walk through a square drenched in Russian blood to sit on the throne. You did not need executions to announce your ascension to the people” (“The Past and Dumas”).

The new Russian Emperor began with the conclusion of the Paris Peace. The defeat in the Crimean War (1853 - 1856) showed not only the inconsistency of the foreign policy course, but also presented the autocracy with a choice: either the empire as a European power should leave the scene, or hastily catch up with its rivals. It was necessary to restore Russia's reputation in European public opinion. This forced Alexander II and his government to look for new ways and make unconventional decisions.

In 1855 - 1856 significant handwritten literature appeared: notes by P.A. Valueva, A.I. Kosheleva, K.D. Kavelina, Yu.F. Samarina, B.N. Chicherina, A.M. Unkovsky and others. They were published in the Free Printing House of A.I. Herzen in London in “The Polar Star” (1855), in “Voices from Russia” (1856) and in “The Bell” (1857). The authors of the notes and projects not only exposed the evils of the system, but also proposed various options for reforms and encouraged the government to act.

The first document with which it is customary to begin the history of the abolition of serfdom was the tsar’s rescript on November 20, 1857 to the Vilna Governor-General V.I. Nazimov. The rescript proposed to give peasants the right to buy out only the estate and use the field allotment for duties; all land remained the property of the landowners, and patrimonial power was maintained. The government entrusted the task of preparing reform projects to the nobility themselves. For this purpose, during 1858 - early 1859. Noble elections were held in 46 provincial committees to prepare the reform.

Peasant unrest in April 1858 in Estland, where serfdom had been abolished 40 years earlier, played a special role in changing the views of Alexander II and the government on reform. The unrest was suppressed, but the “Baltsee option” (the liberation of peasants without land) was debunked in the eyes of the tsar. The positions of supporters of this option in the government have weakened.

Against this background, a new direction begins to gain priority in government policy, which set the goal of turning peasants into owners of their plots, destroying the patrimonial power of landowners and introducing the peasantry to civil life.

On February 17, 1859, a new, unconventional institution was created - the Editorial Commission, chaired by Ya.I. Rostovtseva. The majority of the Editorial Commissions consisted of liberal-minded figures and bureaucrats, mostly aged between 35 and 45 years. The soul of the commission was N.A. Milyutin. Among its members is the famous Slavophile Yu.F. Samarin, Westerner K.D. Kavelin, lead. book Konstantin Nikolaevich, prominent scientists P.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, N.Kh. Bunge, D.A. Milyutin, public figures V.A. Cherkassky, A.M. Unkovsky and others. Of course, there were also serf owners in the commissions, but they were in the minority and could not stop the progress of its preparation.

On February 19, 1861, he signed the Manifesto “On the most merciful granting to serfs of the rights of free rural inhabitants” and “Regulations on peasants emerging from serfdom.”

In accordance with the general provisions of the reform, the peasant was provided with:

1. free personal freedom. The landowner retained the right to all lands, but
2. was obliged to provide the peasant with a plot of land for use, and the peasant was obliged to buy it. The landowner was obliged to give an allotment, and the peasant was obliged to accept this allotment.
3. It was not each peasant who was liberated individually, but the whole world, the community. Therefore, the landowners and the state had relations with the community, which bought the land and paid duties. Since the peasants did not have money for ransom, and the landowners did not want to free the peasants in debt, then
4. The state acted as an intermediary between the landowners and the peasantry. The government paid the landowners a lump sum of 80% of the redemption amount, and the remaining 20% ​​was contributed by the community, which received a loan from the government at 6% per annum for a period of 49 years.

For the use of the estate and allotment, the peasant had to fulfill duties to the master for 8 years. Hence the term: temporarily obliged peasants. There were two forms of conscription: quitrent and corvée.. The national average for quitrent was 10 rubles. per year, and corvee - 40 days for men and 30 days for women. The size of the redemption for the allotment was such an amount that, if deposited in a bank paying 6% per annum, would give the landowner an annual quitrent amount. With this money, the landowner could buy agricultural machinery and hire workers, and could invest in shares and modernize his farm. On average throughout the country, the redemption exceeded the market value of the land. 10 million male souls of former landowner peasants received 34 million dessiatines. land, or 3.4 dessiatines. per capita. For the subsistence minimum one had to have from 5 to 8 dessiatines. The prospect of ruin for a significant part of the peasantry became inevitable.

In 1911, the year of the 50th anniversary of the reform of 1861, it was called Great. The fact of the abolition of serfdom, this humiliating form of the human condition, was an act of great humanistic significance.

Servants who do not have a master do not become free people because of this - lackeyness is in their soul.

G. Heine

The date of the abolition of serfdom in Russia is December 19, 1861. This is a significant event, since the beginning of 1861 turned out to be extremely tense for the Russian Empire. Alexander 2 was even forced to put the army on high alert. The reason for this was not a possible war, but a growing boom in peasant discontent.

Several years before 1861, the tsarist government began to consider legislation to abolish serfdom. The Emperor understood that there was no longer room to delay. His advisers unanimously said that the country was on the verge of an explosion of a peasant war. On March 30, 1859, a meeting between noble nobles and the emperor took place. At this meeting, the nobles said that it was better for the liberation of the peasants to come from above, otherwise it would follow from below.

Reform February 19, 1861

As a result, the date for the abolition of serfdom in Russia was determined - February 19, 1861. What did this reform give to the peasants, did they become free? This question can be answered unequivocally, the reform of 1861 made life much worse for peasants. Of course, the tsar’s manitsest, which he signed in order to free ordinary people, endowed the peasants with rights that they never possessed. Now the landowner did not have the right to exchange a peasant for a dog, beat him, forbid him to marry, trade, or engage in fishing. But the problem for the peasants was the land.

Land question

To resolve the land issue, the state convened world mediators, who were sent to the localities and dealt with the division of land there. The overwhelming majority of the work of these intermediaries consisted in the fact that they announced to the peasants that on all controversial issues with the land they must negotiate with the landowner. This agreement had to be drawn up in writing. The reform of 1861 gave landowners the right, when determining land plots, to take away the so-called “surplus” from peasants. As a result, the peasants were left with only 3.5 dessiatines (1) of land per auditor's soul (2). Before the land reform there were 3.8 dessiatines. At the same time, the landowners took the best land from the peasants, leaving only infertile lands.

The most paradoxical thing about the reform of 1861 is that the date of the abolition of serfdom is known exactly, but everything else is very vague. Yes, the manifesto formally allocated land to the peasants, but in fact the land remained in the possession of the landowner. The peasant received only the right to buy that plot of land, who was assigned to him by the landowner. But at the same time, the landowners themselves were given the right to independently determine whether or not to allow the sale of land.

Redemption of land

No less strange was the amount at which the peasants had to buy the land. This amount was calculated based on the rent that the landowner received. For example, the richest nobleman of those years, P.P. Shuvalov. received a quitrent of 23 thousand rubles a year. This means that the peasants, in order to buy the land, had to pay the landowner as much money as was necessary for the landowner to put it in the bank and annually receive those same 23 thousand rubles in interest. As a result, on average, one audit soul had to pay 166.66 rubles for tithes. Since the families were large, on average across the country one family had to pay 500 rubles to buy out a plot of land. It was an unaffordable amount.

The state came to the “aid” of the peasants. The State Bank paid the landowner 75-80% of the required amount. The rest was paid by the peasants. At the same time, they were obliged to settle accounts with the state and pay the required interest within 49 years. On average across the country, the bank paid the landowner 400 rubles for one plot of land. At the same time, the peasants gave the bank money for 49 years in the amount of almost 1,200 rubles. The state almost tripled its money.

The date of the abolition of serfdom is an important stage in the development of Russia, but it did not give a positive result. Only by the end of 1861, uprisings broke out in 1,176 estates in the country. By 1880, 34 Russian provinces were engulfed in peasant uprisings.

Only after the first revolution in 1907 did the government cancel the land purchase. Land began to be provided free of charge.

1 – one dessiatine is equal to 1.09 hectares.

2 – auditor soul – the male population of the country (women were not entitled to land).