Following the abolition of serfdom, there was a need for urgent changes in the system of local self-government. At the beginning of 1863, a special commission prepared a project on the emergence of a new form of local government, which later became known as "zemstvo institutions." They were created on the basis of the “Regulations on provincial and district zemstvo institutions”. This document was signed by Tsar Alexander II on January 1, 1864.
Zemstvo functions
"Regulations on zemstvo institutions" divided all zemstvos into provincial and district. Their functions are described by the main provisions and can be summarized as follows:
- management of property, funds of Zemstvo;
- managing shelters, charity homes and other charitable institutions;
- establishing and maintaining schools, hospitals, libraries;
- lobbying local trade and industry;
- providing the necessary economic needs of the army and mail;
- collection of local fees and taxes determined by the state;
- organizational and administrative measures aimed atmaintaining the normal activities of zemstvos;
- assistance to the conservation of agricultural crops, prevention of livestock deaths, control of small rodents and locusts.
These and other powers of zemstvos indicate the exclusively economic spectrum of their activities.
Where Zemstvos were created
According to the "Regulations …" Zemstvo institutions were created in 33 provinces. The exceptions were the Bessarabian region, the lands of the Don army, such provinces as Mogilev, Yuriev, Astrakhan and Arkhangelsk, as well as the Polish, Lithuanian and B altic provinces. In these lands, until 1911, there were special committees for zemstvo affairs. The difference was that the zemstvo institutions were created by election, and the committees were officials appointed by the Ministry of the Interior. In order to understand the reason for such a decision, it is necessary to consider the election procedure, as a result of which the Zemstvo Council was formed.
How were the elections to Zemstvo
The organizers of the zemstvo reform could not openly proclaim the class principles of the formation of local authorities, but they also seemed unacceptable to grant suffrage to everyone without exception.
The formation of local authorities can be represented in the form of such a table.
As you can see, the curia was the main elected body. There were curias of landowners, peasants and city dwellers. A land qualification was established for landowners, which in variousprovinces ranged from 200 to 800 acres of land. City residents had the right to vote with an annual turnover of funds over 6,000 rubles. Rural curia did not have a property qualification - the peasant congress empowered its representatives, who were supposed to lobby the interests of the third estate in the zemstvo. The largest estate had less than 10% of the votes in the zemstvo assembly.
Many lands on which zemstvo institutions were not created were located in border or recently annexed provinces. The central authorities were afraid to allow the local population to govern, whose decisions could harm the central authorities or encourage dissent in their region.
Counter-reforms of 1890
In 1890, the "New Regulations on Zemstvo Institutions" was published, according to which a significant part of the population lost their voting rights. The elections, held according to the new rules in 1897, showed a sharp increase in the number of nobles and officials in the board and a decrease in the representatives of the peasantry - 1.8% of the total number of zemstvo members.
Further transformations
Legislation on local self-government was finalized during the revolution of 1905-1907. Then laws were passed that equalized the rights of peasants, and in 1912 zemstvo institutions were already created in the western regions of Russia. After the revolution of 1917, the Zemstvo was abolished.
