1861 - in what year serfdom was abolished in Russia. This date was the result of long meetings of government officials with landowners, nobles who were directly related to the ownership of people and received their income from the use of their slave status. The prerequisites for the abolition of serfdom were several factors that created a situation of political and economic impasse in the development of Russia.
Causes and consequences of the abolition of serfdom
The main reason can be considered the defeat of the Russian empire in the Crimean War. Its outcome completely exposed Russia’s backwardness from European states in the development of industrial production, political and military leadership of the country. The long-overdue need for reforms in relation to the peasantry, in particular, and changes in activity, in general, served as the main active force in the development of agricultural reforms. Special Councils and commissions were created under the government, which began the development of a document that gave freedom to serfs, explaining the rights of their former owners and the order of the new life of the peasantry, and drawing closer the year of the abolition of serfdom.
Not only for the sake of the freedom of the ordinary peasant, all government minds and enlightened people of the empire fought. Free hands were needed for the rise of industry, the construction of new cities, military service, finally. Serfdom did not make it possible to use the labor of peasants. Serving his master, cultivating his fields and lands is the lot of the serf and all his descendants for long summers. In what year serfdom was abolished , in the same year the peasant first encountered the problem of choice - what to do with this freedom that he had been dreaming of for so long? Remain in the familiar and acquired place, or go along with a wealthy acquired belongings in search of a better life?
The date of the abolition of serfdom - new conditions for the life of the peasantry
The year of the abolition of serfdom was the result of painstaking and comprehensive work. Emperor Alexander II February 19, 1861 signed the Manifesto of the abolition of serfdom. What has changed for the ordinary peasant and his family after this date? In which year serfdom was abolished, in the same year the development of a plan for the development of the country in the conditions of the economy of civilian labor was given. A peasant could remain in the position of a tenant of state, landlord or noble land, paying for work or money for its use. He could buy the land, however, almost none of the peasants could not afford it - the price was not available.
Selling their skills became absolutely new for a peasant who always belonged to his master. To receive compensation for this, to conduct trade, to enter into the very beginnings of a market economy — the life of the peasant was changing, his political views began to change . One of the main results of the abolition of serfdom can be considered the emergence among the peasantry of political leaders who explained the rights and obligations of each participant in the new system - the seller and the buyer. Previously, the peasant could not have his own opinion, now they listened to him, he could to some extent fight for his small, but still rights. 1861 - the date that answers the question in which year serfdom was abolished - it became the year of strengthening and glorification of the autocracy. Alexander II received eternal gratitude and memory from the people as a "savior and liberator." The abolition of serfdom served as an impetus for the development of the industrial-defense complex of the empire, the implementation of military reform, the development of new lands and the migration of the able-bodied population, the strengthening of ties between the city and the village, and participation in each other's affairs and problems.