What was the role of Alexander 2 in the abolition of serfdom? Why did he decide to make the peasants free? We will answer these and other questions in the article. Peasant reform, which annulled serfdom, began in Russia in 1861. This was one of the most significant transformations of the emperor.
Basic reasons
What is famous for Alexander 2? The abolition of serfdom is his merit. Why was there a need for this unusual reform? The prerequisites for its occurrence were formed at the end of the XVII century. All strata of society considered serfdom as an immoral phenomenon that dishonored Russia. Many wanted their country to be on a par with European states in which there was no slavery. Therefore, the Russian government began to think about the abolition of serfdom.
The underlying causes of the reform:
- Due to the unproductive labor of serfs (poor performance of corvee), landlord economy fell into decay.
- Serfdom hindered the development of industry and trade, which prevented an increase in capital and put Russia in the category of secondary countries.
- The defeat in the Crimean War (1853-1856) revealed the backwardness of the political regime in the country.
- An increase in the number of peasant riots indicated that the serfdom was a “powder keg”.
First steps
So, we continue to find out what Alexander 2 was doing. The abolition of serfdom was first initiated by Alexander 1, but his committee did not understand how to implement this reform. Then the emperor limited himself to the 1803 law on free cultivators.
In 1842, Nicholas 1 adopted the law “On the guilty peasants”, according to which the landowner had the right to release the villagers, providing them with a piece of land. In turn, the village for the use of the plots were to be obliged in favor of the master. However, this law did not exist for long, as the owners did not want to let their serfs go.
The great emperor was Alexander 2. The abolition of serfdom was a magnificent reform. Her official training began in 1857. The king ordered the formation of committees of the provinces, which were to make projects to improve the life of the villagers. Guided by these programs, the editorial commissions wrote a bill that was supposed to consider and establish a Main Committee.
In 1861, February 19, Tsar Alexander 2 affixed with his signature the Manifesto on the abolition of serfdom and approved the "Regulation on the villagers freed from slave status." This emperor in history remained with the name of the Liberator.
Priorities
What good did Alexander 2 do? The abolition of serfdom gave the villagers some civil and personal freedoms, such as the right to apply to court, marry, enter the civil service, engage in trade, and so on. Unfortunately, these people were limited in their freedom of movement. In addition, the peasants remained a unique estate that could be subjected to physical punishment and carried recruiting duties.
The land remained the property of the landowners, and the villagers were allotted a field allotment and a manor settled, for which they were obliged to serve duties (work or money). The new rules from the serfs were practically no different. By law, villagers had the right to redeem the estate or allotment. As a result, they became independent ownership villagers. Until then, they were called "temporarily liable." The ransom was equal to the rent paid for the year, multiplied by 17!
Power Assistance
What led the reforms of Alexander 2? The abolition of serfdom was a rather complicated process. The government organized a specific “redemption operation” to help the peasantry. After the land plot was established, the state paid the landowner 80% of its price. 20% were attributed to the villager in the form of a government loan, which he took on installments and must repay within 49 years.
Bread farmers united in rural communities, and those, in turn, integrated into volosts. The community used field land. In order to make a “redemption payment”, the peasants began to help each other.
The yard people did not plow the land, but for two years they were temporarily liable. Further, they were allowed to join the village or city society. Between peasants and landowners agreements were concluded, which were set out in the "charter of letters". The post of a global mediator was established , which sorted out the emerging differences. The reform case was led by the Provincial Rural Affairs Presence.
Effects
What conditions created the reforms of Alexander 2? The abolition of serfdom transformed labor into a commodity and influenced the development of market relations that exist in capitalist countries. As a result of this transformation, new social strata of the population, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, began to form imperceptibly.
Due to changes in the political, social and economic life of the Russian Empire after the abolition of serfdom, the government had to develop other significant reforms that influenced the transformation of our state into a bourgeois monarchy.
About reform briefly
Who needed the abolition of serfdom under Alexander 2? In Russia, in the mid-19th century, an acute economic and social crisis began, the source of which was the primitiveness of the feudal feudal system of economy. This nuance impeded the development of capitalism and identified the general lag of Russia from progressive states. The crisis proved to be very strong in losing Russia in the Crimean War.
Feudal-feudal exploitation continued to persist, which caused discontent among growers, unrest. Many villagers fled from forced labor. The liberal segment of the nobility understood the need for change.
In the years 1855-1857. the tsar received 63 letters proposing the abolition of serfdom. After some time, Alexander 2 realized that it was better to free the villagers of his own free will by a decision “from above” than to wait for the rebellion “from below”.
These events took place against the backdrop of the strengthening of radical democratic revolutionary moods in society. N. A. Dobrolyubov and N. G. Chernyshevsky popularized their ideas, which found enormous support from the nobility.
The opinion of the nobility
So, you already know which decision was made by Alexander 2. The reasons for the abolition of serfdom were described above. It is known that the Sovremennik magazine was very popular at that time, on the pages of which people discussed the future of Russia. The Polar Star and the Bell were published in London - they were filled with hope for the initiative of the monarchy in the elimination of serfdom in Russia.
After much thought, Alexander 2 began to prepare a draft peasant reform. In 1857-1858 Provincial committees were formed, which included educated and progressive representatives of the nobility (N. A. Milyukov, Ya. I. Rostovtsev and others). However, the bulk of the aristocracy and lords opposed innovations and sought to preserve as many of their privileges as possible. As a result, this affected draft laws developed by the commissions.
Situation
Surely you already remember that Alexander 2 made the peasants free. The abolition of serfdom is briefly described in many scientific treatises. So, in 1861, February 19, the emperor signed the Manifesto on the Elimination of Slave Ideology. The state treasury began paying landowners for land that had been transferred to the allotments of the villagers. The average size of the plot was 3.3 tithes. The peasants did not have enough allotted plots, so they began to rent land from the landlords, paying for it with labor and money. This nuance preserved the dependence of the peasant on the master and became the reason for the return to the old feudal styles of work.
Despite the rapid development of production and other achievements, the position of the Russian peasant was still in an extremely depressing state. State taxes, remaining serfdom, debts to the landlords hindered the development of the agricultural sector.
Peasant communities with their land rights turned into carriers of unitary relations, fettered the economic activities of the most proactive members.
Background
Agree, the reasons for the abolition of serfdom under Alexander 2 were pretty good. The first steps towards the liberation of the peasants from slave dependence were taken by Paul 1 and Alexander 1. They signed the Manifesto on the three-day corvée, which restricted forced labor, and the Decree on free grain growers, which described the situation of independent villagers in 1797 and 1803.
Alexander 1 approved the program of A. A. Arakcheev on the gradual abolition of serfdom by redeeming the lords' villagers from their allotments by the treasury. But this program was practically not implemented. Only in 1816-1819. personal freedom was granted to the inhabitants of the Baltic states, but without land.
The principles of land management of the farmers, on whom the reform was based, intersect with the ideas of V. A. Kokorev and K. D. Kavelin, which received an impressive public response in the 1850s. It is known that Cavelin in his “Letter on the Liberation of Villagers” (1855) suggested that the villagers redeem the land with a loan and pay a 5% fee annually for 37 years through a special peasant bank.
Kokorev, in his publication Billion in the Fog (1859), proposed redeeming farmers using the funds of an intentionally established private bank. He recommended that the peasants be released from the land, and the landlords should pay money for this with the help of a loan paid by the villagers for 37 years.
Reform analysis
Many experts study what Alexander 2 did. The abolition of serfdom in Russia was investigated by the historian and physician Alexander Skrebitsky, who collected all the available information on the development of reform in his book. His work was published in the 60s. XIX century in Bonn.
Subsequently, chroniclers who studied the villagers questioned differently the basic provisions of these laws. For example, M. N. Pokrovsky said that the whole reform for most farmers was reduced to the fact that they were no longer officially titled "serfs." Now they were called "obligated." Formally, they began to consider them free, but their life did not change and even worsened. For example, the landowners began to flog peasants even more.
The historian wrote that the “obliged” villagers firmly believed that this will was fake. He argued that being declared a free man from the tsar and at the same time continuing to pay dues and going to corvee was an outrageous discrepancy that attracted attention. For example, the historian N. A. Rozhkov, one of the most respected experts on the agricultural problem of old-regime Russia, had the same opinion, as well as a number of other authors who wrote about peasants.
Many believe that the February laws of 1861, abolishing legally serfdom, were not its liquidation as an economic and social institution. But they set the stage for this to happen in a few decades.
Criticism
Why did many criticize the reign of Alexander 2? The abolition of serfdom was not liked by radical contemporaries and many historians (especially Soviet ones). They considered this reform half-hearted and argued that it did not lead to the liberation of the villagers, but merely specified the mechanism of such a process, moreover, it was unfair and flawed.
Historiographers argue that this reorganization contributed to the foundation of the so-called strip of hair - an unusual placement of land plots of the same owner, interspersed with other people's allotments. In fact, this distribution has evolved in stages over the centuries. It was a consequence of the constant redistribution of the land of communities, mainly in the separation of families of adult sons.
In fact, the peasant plots after the reorganization of 1861 were corrupted by landowners in a number of provinces who took plots of land from farmers if they had put on more than the capitation prescribed for that area. Of course, the master could give a piece of land, but often he did not. It was in large estates that the villagers suffered from such a reform and received plots equal to the lower norm.