At the beginning of the 20th century, large-scale peasant unrest in the Russian Empire forced the authorities to look for ways to solve the agrarian question in the country. Objectively possible were two ways of agrarian reform. The first method led to the preservation of landowner possessions and the destruction of the peasant community. The second path led to the annulment of landlord tenure and the nationalization of land. In the process of introducing land reforms, the concept of “cut” arose. This word was rarely found earlier in speech, but at the beginning of the century, all the peasant farms of the empire knew its meaning.
Stolypin reform
The All-Russian Congress of the United Nobility gave impetus to the implementation of the first path of land reform. Taking into account the inevitability of the death of the old peasant system, the authorities decided to completely destroy the peasant allotment of land, while the lands of large landowners remained untouched. Reforms were carried out under the leadership of Prime Minister P. Stolypin, so soon the name "Stolypin reforms" appeared on hearing . On November 3, 1905, a royal manifesto was presented, according to which the redemption payment was canceled, and allotment lands became the full property of the peasant.
So the opportunity arose to form a cut from land ownership. This word appears at the beginning of 1906 and is successfully used up to
the 1917 revolution . This concept comes from “chopping”, “chopping off” - this is what the division of land between peasant farms was called among the people.
The meaning of the word “cut” means a separate plot allocated from the communal land ownership to the personal use of the peasant.
Personal freedoms
Together with the division of communal lands, it was decided to evict the poor peasant farms on the outskirts of the Russian Empire. Since the peasantry under tsarism did not have full rights and freedoms, the question arose of securing freedom of movement for representatives of this estate. On March 10, 1906, the Regulation of the Council of Ministers granted the peasants the freedom to choose their place of residence, freedom of movement, the annulment of “restrictive rules” in their passports, and equalization of the peasantry in its civil rights with other classes. Thus, the peasant could leave the community and get land in private ownership - a cut. This became possible even in areas where there were few fertile soils - the question of resettlement to the outskirts of the empire was also solved.
Farm
Several households with separate landholdings formed a farm. As a rule, such small settlements arose in the newly annexed regions of tsarist Russia, where communal tenure was not practiced or widespread. The farm and the cut were symbolic symbols of the Stolypin reform, which aimed at reorganizing the peasantry into small farms according to the Prussian model.
The October Revolution prevented the successful completion of the Stolypin reform. With her arrival, many words lost their meaning, including "cut." This concept has lost its meaning after the publication of the Land Decree, signed by V.I. Lenin.