The period of the reign of Nicholas I in the history of Russia is called the period of reaction and conservatism. Indeed, after the defeat of the Decembrist rebellion, the emperor tried in every possible way to strengthen the empire, doing this for the most part by force. The tsar himself realized that only by such methods the country could not be reassured, therefore he went on a series of reforms, one of which was the reform of Kiselyov.
On the eve of transformation
The beginning of the reign of Alexander's successor was marked by a powerful uprising, in which the privileged sections of Russian society also participated. It extremely frightened the new emperor, so the most stringent measures were taken against the conspirators, and five leaders of the riot were executed. During the investigation that began, Nikolai saw the whole ugly picture of the country's internal situation. The liberal strata of high society insisted on carrying out broad reforms, with which the king categorically did not agree. However, he made small concessions to public opinion, so the odious figure of Alexander rule Count Arakcheev was removed. But in reality this was not the end, the work of the Arakcheevschina was continued by many followers of the count who remained in power, who enjoyed the full confidence of Nicholas.
The first steps of Nicholas I
Nevertheless, the emperor surrounded himself with truly progressively thinking people. These were M. M. Speransky, E. F. Kankrin and P. D. Kiselev. The basic transformations of the Nikolaev era are connected with these figures. At the beginning of his reign, the emperor did not give much attention to the peasant question, but over time the tsar and his entourage more and more were inclined to think that serfdom was evil, and the landowners were on the powder keg of new riots. But the government was afraid to radically solve the issue, so there was a bet on evolutionary and careful reform. One of these steps was to be the reform of the state village of Kiselyov. Pavel Dmitrievich was known as a consistent supporter of the abolition of serfdom, during the 20-30s of the XIX century several times filed notes in the highest name with proposals to improve the situation of peasants. Therefore, Nicholas found his candidacy quite suitable for solving the peasant question.
Kiselev Reform
Especially for the reforms in 1837, the Ministry of State Property was formed, the head of which was appointed Count P. D. Kiselyov. The essence of Kiselev’s reform was to create a competent administration that would fully understand the peasant issue, as well as improve the life and economic life of the peasants. Immediately after the appointment, the graph begins to transform. First of all, he changed the management system of the peasants. In the provinces, special state chambers were introduced; in their turn, the districts consisting of several counties were subordinate to them. In addition, Kiselev’s reform involved the introduction of rural municipality and rural self-government, a special court for solving minor offenses among peasants. A new tax collection system was also put in place, its main idea is to take into account the profitability of the peasant economy.
Ideas and implementation of reform
Kiselev's peasant reform did not end there. At the direct insistence of the count, medical and educational institutions began to open in many rural districts, and they tried to combat land shortages through a resettlement policy. Peasant communities left for other regions of the country, while receiving a small cash refund for the first time. This direction of peasant policy did not receive much development; peasant families did not want to leave their native lands. The main provision of Kiselev’s reform implied an increase in the agrotechnical level in the cultivation of the land, and an increase in the profitability of the peasant economy. To this end, members of the rural community were taught advanced methods of farming, but the peasants were very distrustful of all the innovations, which led officials to a state of discontent, and often administrative measures were taken against the peasant community.
Consequences of Transformation
One of the consequences of the policy of resolving issues with management decisions was the widespread introduction of potato planting. Frequent crop failures and famines were a thing of the past. Provincial and rural municipality officials forcibly seized the best land from peasants, forcing them to plant potatoes on them, harvested the crops and redistributed them at their own discretion, sometimes even sent them to other settlements. Thus, the authorities tried to insure themselves against the case of crop failures, this phenomenon was called public plowing. But the peasant community saw this as an attempt to introduce a state corvee, a wave of riots swept through all state-owned villages demanding that the public stockpile be canceled. In this direction, Kiselev’s reform crashed.
Landowner discontent
In general, the transformations went with great slippage, primarily because of the fact that most landowners treated them with great concern, and some even expressed dissatisfaction with the policies of Count Kiselyov. Their fears boiled down to the fact that an improvement in the situation of state peasants would increase the desire of their serfs to become state. But if they still put up with it at the very least, Pavel Dmitrievich's broad plans for the personal liberation of the peasants from serfdom, endowing them with small plots of land and accurately determining the size of the quitrent and corvée caused them fierce discontent. The reform of the state village of Kiseleva was recognized by most landowners as harmful, and this caused concern in the government. According to reactionary ministers, the beginning of the dismantling of serfdom could lead to an increase in social movement throughout the country. This was most wary of Nicholas I, so all further attempts to resolve the peasant question were postponed at the emperor's direction for a distant future.
On the whole, for the entire reign of Nikolai Pavlovich, Kiselev’s reform was the only significant attempt to resolve the peasant question, it largely paved the way for the future liquidation of serfdom, and Pavel Dmitrievich Kiselev played an important role in this.