What was the role of Alexander II in the abolition of serfdom? Why did he decide to make the peasants free? We will answer these and other questions in the article. The peasant reform, which abolished serfdom, began in Russia in 1861. It was one of the emperor's most significant transformations.
Basic reasons
What is Alexander 2 famous for? The abolition of serfdom is his merit. Why was this unusual reform necessary? The prerequisites for its emergence were formed at the end of the 17th century. All layers of society considered the serfdom as an immoral phenomenon that dishonored Russia. Many wanted their country to be on a par with European states that did not have slavery. Therefore, the Russian government began to think about the abolition of serfdom.
Basic reasons for reform:
- Due to the unproductive labor of the serfs (poor execution of the corvée), the landlord economy fell into decay.
- Serfdom hindered the development of industry and trade, which prevented the increase of 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.
- The increase in the number of peasant riots indicated that the fortress system 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 law of 1803 on free cultivators.
In 1842, Nicholas 1 adopted the law "On Guilty Peasants", according to which the landowner had the right to free the villagers, providing them with a piece of land. In turn, the villagers for the use of the plots had to bear a duty in favor of the master. However, this law did not last long, as the owners did not want to release their serfs.
The great emperor was Alexander 2. The abolition of serfdom is a great reform. Her formal training began in 1857. The tsar ordered the formation of provincial committees, which were to draw up projects to improve the life of the villagers. Guided by these programs, the drafting committees wrote a bill, which was to be considered and established by the Main Committee.
In 1861, on February 19, Tsar Alexander 2 signed the Manifesto on the abolition of serfdom and approved"Regulations on the villagers freed from slave status". This emperor remained in history with the name 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 go 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 class that could be subjected to physical punishment and carried out recruitment.
The land remained the property of the landowners, and the villagers were allocated a field allotment and a settled place of residence, for which they were obliged to serve their duties (by work or money). The new rules from the serfs were practically no different. By law, the villagers had the right to redeem the estate or allotment. As a result, they became independent village owners. And until then they were called "temporarily liable". The ransom was equal to the rent paid for the year, multiplied by 17!
Power help
What did the reforms of Alexander 2 lead to? The abolition of serfdom turned out to be a rather complicated process. The government, to help the peasantry, arranged a specific "redemption operation." After the land allotment was established, the state paid the landowner 80% of its price. 20% was attributed to the peasant in the form of a state loan, which he took in installments and must repay within 49 years.
Grain growers united in ruralcommunities, and those, in turn, integrated into volosts. The field land was used by the community. In order to make a "redemption payment", the peasants began to help each other.
Dvorovye people did not plow the land, but for two years they were temporarily liable. Further, they were allowed to be assigned to a village or city society. Agreements were concluded between peasants and landlords, which were set out in "statutory charters". The post of a conciliator was established, who sorted out the emerging disagreements. The reform was led by the “provincial presence for rural affairs.”
Consequences
What conditions created the reforms of Alexander 2? The abolition of serfdom transformed labor power into a commodity, 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, quietly began to form.
In view of the 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 the reform in brief
Who needed the abolition of serfdom under Alexander II? In Russia in the middle of the 19th century, an acute economic and social crisis began, the source of which was the primitiveness of the serf-feudal system of economy. This nuance hindered the development of capitalism andidentified the general backlog of Russia from progressive states. The crisis showed itself very strongly in Russia's loss in the Crimean War.
Feudal-serf exploitation continued to persist, which caused discontent among the grain growers, unrest. Many villagers escaped from forced labor. The liberal segment of the nobility understood the need for change.
In 1855-1857 the king received 63 letters with a proposal to eliminate serfdom. After some time, Alexander 2 realized that it was better to free the villagers of their own accord by a decision "from above" than to wait for a rebellion "from below".
These events took place against the backdrop of the strengthening of radical democratic-revolutionary sentiments in society. N. A. Dobrolyubov and N. G. Chernyshevsky popularized their ideas, which found tremendous support among the nobility.
The opinion of the nobility
So, you already know what decision Alexander 2 made. The reasons for the abolition of serfdom are described by us above. It is known that at that time the Sovremennik magazine was very popular, on the sheets of which people discussed the future of Russia. The Polar Star and The Bell were published in London - they were imbued with hope for the monarchy's initiative to eliminate 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). Howeverthe main part of the aristocracy and lords opposed innovations and sought to preserve as many of their privileges as possible. As a result, this influenced the draft laws developed by the commissions.
Situation
Surely you already remember that Alexander II made the peasants free. The abolition of serfdom is briefly described in many scientific treatises. So, in 1861, on February 19, the emperor signed the Manifesto on the liquidation of the slave ideology. The state treasury began to pay landlords for the land that had gone into the allotments of the villagers. The average size of a grain grower's plot was 3.3 acres. The peasants did not have enough allocated plots, so they began to rent land from the landowners, paying for it with labor and money. This nuance preserved the dependence of the peasant on the master and caused a 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 landowners hampered the development of the agro-industrial complex.
Peasant communities with their rights to land turned into carriers of unitary relations that fettered the economic activity of the most enterprising members.
Backstory
Agree, the reasons for the abolition of serfdom under Alexander 2 were quite weighty. The first steps towards the liberation of the peasants from slavery were made by Paul 1 and Alexander 1. In 1797 and 1803 theyyears, signed the Manifesto on the three-day corvee, which limited forced labor, and the Decree on free grain growers, which described the situation of independent villagers.
Alexander 1 approved the program of A. A. Arakcheev on the gradual destruction of serfdom by redeeming the lordly peasants from their allotments with the treasury. But this program was practically not implemented. Only in 1816-1819. was granted personal freedom to the peasants of the B altic states, but without land.
The principles of land management for grain growers, on which the reform was based, intersect with the ideas of V. A. Kokorev and K. D. Kavelin, which received an impressive response from society in the 1850s. It is known that Kavelin in his “Letter on the Emancipation of the Villagers” (1855) offered the villagers to buy land with a loan and pay a fee of 5% annually for 37 years through a special peasant bank.
Kokorev, in his publication “A Billion in the Fog” (1859), suggested buying out the farmers with the funds of a deliberately established private bank. He recommended that the peasants be released with land, and the landlords should pay money for this with the help of a loan repaid by the villagers for 37 years.
Reform analysis
Many experts are studying what Alexander 2 did. The abolition of serfdom in Russia was researched by the historian and physician Alexander Skrebitsky, who brought together all the available information on the development of the reform in his book. His work was published in the 60s. XIX century in Bonn.
In the future, the chroniclers who studied the issue of the villagers commented on the basic provisions of these laws in different ways. For example, M. N. Pokrovsky said that the whole reform for the majority of grain growers was reduced to the fact that they were no longer officially titled "serfs". Now they were called "obliged." Formally, they began to be considered free, but their life has not changed and even worsened. For example, the landowners began to flog the peasants even more.
The historian wrote that the "obligated" villagers firmly believed that this will was fake. He argued that being declared a free man by the king and at the same time continuing to pay dues and go to corvée was an outrageous discrepancy that drew attention to itself. The historian N. A. Rozhkov, one of the most authoritative experts on the agricultural problem of old-regime Russia, had the same opinion, for example, as well as a number of other authors who wrote about the peasants.
Many believe that the February laws of 1861, legally abolishing serfdom, were not its liquidation as an economic and social institution. But they set the stage for it to happen decades later.
Criticism
Why did many criticize the reign of Alexander 2? The abolition of serfdom did not please radical contemporaries and many historians (especially Soviet ones). They considered this reform half-hearted and argued that it did not lead to the release of the villagers, but only concretized the mechanism of such a process, moreover, unfair and flawed.
Historiographers claim that this reorganization contributed to the foundation of the so-called striped strip - an unusualplacement of land plots of one owner interspersed with other people's allotments. In fact, this distribution developed in stages over the centuries. It was a consequence of the constant redistribution of the land of the communities, mainly with the separation of the families of adult sons.
In fact, the peasant plots after the reorganization of 1861 were spoiled by the landlords in a number of provinces, who took away land from the grain growers if the allotment was more than the capitation prescribed for that area. Of course, the master could give away a piece of land, but often he did not do this. It was on large estates that the peasants suffered from such an implementation of the reform and received plots equal to the lowest norm.
