The reign of Alexander the Second (1856-1881) went down in history as a period of “great reforms”. Largely thanks to the emperor, serfdom was abolished in Russia in 1861 - an event which, of course, is his main achievement, which played a large role in the future development of the state.
Prerequisites for the abolition of serfdom
In 1856-1857, a number of southern provinces were shocked by peasant unrest, which, however, very quickly subsided. But, nevertheless, they served as a reminder to the ruling authorities that the situation in which ordinary people are, in the end, could turn into grave consequences for it.
In addition, the existing serfdom significantly slowed down the progress of development of the country. It is an axiom that free labor is more effective than bonded labor was fully manifested: Russia lagged significantly behind the Western states both in the economy and in the socio-political sphere. This threatened that the previously created image of a powerful power could simply dissolve, and the country would become secondary. Not to mention the fact that serfdom was very much like slavery.
By the end of the 50s, more than a third of the 62 million people in the country, completely dependent on their masters, lived. Russia urgently needed peasant reform. 1861 was to be the year of serious changes that should have been carried out so that they could not shake the prevailing foundations of the autocracy, and the nobility retained its dominant position. Therefore, the process of abolishing serfdom required careful analysis and study, and this was already problematic due to an imperfect state apparatus.
Necessary steps for future changes
The abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861 was to seriously affect the life of the vast country.
However, if in the states that are living under the constitution, before any reforms are carried out, they are being worked out in the ministries and the government is discussing, after which the finished reform projects are submitted to the parliament, passing the final verdict, in Russia there are no ministries or representative bodies existed. And serfdom was legalized at the state level. Alexander II could not cancel it alone, as this would violate the rights of the nobility, which is the basis of the autocracy.
Therefore, in order to advance the reform, the country had to create an entire apparatus specially dedicated to the abolition of serfdom. It was supposed that it would consist of institutions organized on the ground, whose proposals should be submitted and processed in the central committee, which, in turn, would be controlled by the monarch.
Since in the light of the upcoming changes it was the landowners who lost the most, then for Alexander II the best solution would be if the initiative to free the peasants came from the nobles. Soon, this moment turned up.
"The Nazimov Rescript"
In the middle of autumn 1857, General Vladimir Ivanovich Nazimov, the governor from Lithuania, arrived in Petersburg to bring with him a request to grant him and the governors of the Koven and Grodno provinces the right to grant freedom to their serfs, but without giving them land.
In response, Alexander II sends a rescript (a personal imperial letter) to Nazimov in which he instructs the local landowners to organize provincial committees. Their task was to develop their own options for future peasant reform. At the same time, in the message, the king gave his recommendations:
- Giving full freedom to serfs.
- All land plots must remain with the landowners, with the preservation of property rights.
- Granting the opportunity to the liberated peasants to receive land plots subject to the payment of a quitrent or mining of corvee.
- To enable the peasants to redeem their estates.
Soon, the rescript appeared in print, which gave impetus to a general discussion of the issue of serfdom.
Creation of Committees
At the very beginning of 1857, the emperor, following his plan, created a secret committee on the peasant question, which secretly was engaged in the development of a reform to abolish serfdom. But only after the "Nazimov Rescript" became public, the institution began to work in full force. In February 1958, all secrecy was removed from him, renaming it the Main Committee on Peasant Affairs, headed by Prince A.F. Orlov.
Under him, drafting commissions were created, which considered projects submitted by provincial committees, and already on the basis of the collected data an all-Russian version of the future reform was created.
Member of the State Council General Ya.I. Rostovtsev, who fully supported the idea of abolishing serfdom.
Contradictions and work done
In the course of work on the project between the Main Committee and the majority of provincial landowners, there were serious contradictions. So, the landowners insisted that the liberation of the peasants was limited only to the provision of freedom, and the land could be secured to them only on a rental basis without redemption. The committee wanted to give former serfs the opportunity to acquire land, becoming full owners.
In 1860, Rostovtsev died, and therefore Alexander II appointed Count V.N. as head of the Editorial Commissions. Panin, who, incidentally, was considered an opponent of the abolition of serfdom. Being an unquestioning executor of the royal will, he was forced to complete the draft reform.
In October, the work of the Editorial Commissions was completed. In total, the provincial committees submitted 82 draft projects for the abolition of serfdom, which occupied 32 printed volumes in volume. The result of painstaking work was submitted to the State Council for consideration, and after its adoption was submitted for assurance to the king. After familiarization, he signed the corresponding Manifesto and Regulation. February 19, 1861 became the official day of the abolition of serfdom.
On March 5, Alexander II personally read out the documents before the people.
The main provisions of the manifesto February 19, 1861
The main provisions of the document were as follows:
- The serfs of the empire received complete personal independence, now they were called "free rural inhabitants."
- From now on (that is, from February 19, 1861) serfs were considered full-fledged citizens of the country with the corresponding rights.
- All movable peasant property, as well as houses and buildings, were recognized as their property.
- The landowners retained the rights to their lands, but at the same time they had to provide the farmers with personal plots as well as field plots.
- For the use of land plots the peasants had to pay a ransom both directly to the owner of the territory and to the state.
The necessary compromise of reform
New changes could not satisfy the desires of all concerned. The peasants themselves were dissatisfied. First of all, by those conditions on which they were provided with land, which, in fact, was the main means of subsistence. Therefore, the reforms of Alexander II, or rather, some of their provisions, are ambiguous.
Thus, according to the Manifesto, the largest and smallest sizes of land allotments per capita were established throughout Russia, depending on the natural and economic characteristics of the regions.
It was assumed that if the peasant allotment was smaller than established by the document, then this obliged the landowner to add the missing area. If they are large, then, on the contrary, cut off the excess and, as a rule, the best part has put on.
Norms for allotments
The manifesto on February 19, 1861 divided the European part of the country into three parts: the steppe, chernozem and non-chernozem.
- The norm of land allotments for the steppe part is from six and a half to twelve acres.
- The norm for the chernozem strip was from three to four and a half acres.
- For the non-chernozem zone, from three and a quarter to eight acres.
In the whole country, the allotment area has become smaller than it was before the changes, so the peasant reform of 1861 deprived the “liberated” of more than 20% of the cultivated land.
In addition, there was a category of serfs who, in general, did not receive any plots. These are courtyard people, peasants who previously belonged to low-land nobles, as well as factory workers.
Terms of transfer of land ownership
According to the reform of February 19, 1861, land was not provided to the peasants for ownership, but only for use. But they had the opportunity to redeem it from the owner, that is, to conclude the so-called redemption transaction. Until that moment, they were considered temporarily liable, and for the use of land they had to work out corvee, which was no more than 40 days a year for men, and 30 - for women. Or pay a quitrent, the amount of which for the highest allotment was from 8-12 rubles, moreover, when assigning a tax, the fertility of the lands must be taken into account. At the same time, the temporarily liable did not have the right to simply refuse the allotment provided, that is, corvee would still have to be worked out.
After the completion of the redemption transaction, the peasant became the full owner of the land.
And the state has not left
Since February 19, 1861, thanks to the Manifesto, the state has the opportunity to replenish the treasury. Such an income item was opened due to the formula by which the size of the redemption payment was calculated.
The amount that the peasant was supposed to pay for the land was equal to the so-called conditional capital, which was put into the State Bank at 6% per annum. And these percentages were equal to the income that the landowner had previously received from the quitrent.
That is, if the landowner had 10 rubles of debt from one soul per year, then the calculation was made according to the formula: 10 rubles were divided by 6 (percent of capital), and then multiplied by 100 (total percentage) - (10/6) x 100 = 166.7.
Thus, the total amount of the quitrent was 166 rubles 70 kopecks - the money was "unbearable" for the former serf. But here the state entered into a deal: the peasant had to pay the landowner at a time only 20% of the estimated price. The remaining 80% was paid by the state, but not just, but by providing a long-term loan with a maturity of 49 years and 5 months.
Now the peasant had to pay the State Bank annually 6% of the amount of the redemption payment. It turned out that the amount that the former serf was supposed to contribute to the treasury exceeded the loan three times. In fact, February 19, 1861 was the date when the former serf peasant, getting out of one bondage, fell into another. And this despite the fact that the size of the repurchase amount itself exceeded the market value of the allotment.
Results of changes
The reform adopted on February 19, 1861 (the abolition of serfdom), despite the shortcomings, gave a solid impetus to the development of the country. 23 million people received freedom, which led to a serious transformation in the social structure of Russian society, and later revealed the need to transform the entire political system of the country.
The timely Manifesto of February 19, 1861, the prerequisites of which could lead to serious regress, became a stimulating factor for the development of capitalism in the Russian state. Thus, the eradication of serfdom, of course, is one of the central events in the history of the country.