Abolition of Serfdom

Russia 1861

Synopsis

From the founding of the Russian nation in 1552 to the middle of the nineteenth century, Russia had been the ultimate imperial power. Russia developed out of the area immediately surrounding Moscow and extended from the Bering Strait to what is now Poland; the Russian czars understandably assumed the nation's invincibility. The Crimean War, however, shattered this assumption. The backward, semimedieval Russian industry could not support a modern war. Armaments produced for the war effort took months to reach the front line because of the lack of modern communications. Moreover the Russian army mainly consisted of relatively inexperienced serf volunteers, men who had joined the army solely to seek their freedom from the land. These severe limitations, combined with the threat of revolution that was the scourge of the European ancient regime after 1848, signaled that radical change was a necessity.

In 1856 Czar Alexander II initiated sweeping social reforms, the most historically important of which was the Emancipation of the Serfs Act, 1861. This act created a new Russian population of people who had expected to become free citizens but instead had become wage slaves. The increase in demands from the people, combined with the repressive response from the successors of Alexander II, paved the way for the revolution that would take place in 1917, 56 years later.

Timeline

• 1842: In Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population of Great Britain, British reformer Edwin Chadwick draws attention to the squalor in the nation's mill town slums and shows that working people have a much higher incidence of disease than do the middle and upper classes.
• 1845: From Ireland to Russia, famine plagues Europe, killing some 2.5 million people.
• 1851: China's T'ai P'ing ("Great Peace") Rebellion begins under the leadership of schoolmaster Hong Xiuquan, who believes himself the younger brother of Jesus Christ. He mobilizes the peasantry against the Manchu emperors in a civil war that will take 20 to 30 million lives over the next fourteen years.
• 1853: Crimean War begins in October. The struggle, which will last until February 1856, pits Russia against the combined forces of Great Britain, France, Turkey, and Sardinia-Piedmont. A war noted for the work of Florence Nightingale with the wounded, it is also the first conflict to be documented by photojournalists.
• 1857: Sepoy Mutiny, an unsuccessful revolt by Indian troops against the British East India Company, begins. As a result of the rebellion, which lasts into 1858, England places India under direct crown rule.
• 1859: American abolitionist John Brown leads a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His capture and hanging in December heighten the animosities that will spark the Civil War sixteen months later.
• 1861: Within weeks of Abraham Lincoln's inauguration, the Civil War begins with the shelling of Fort Sumter. Six states secede from the Union, joining South Carolina to form the Confederate States of America (later joined by four other states) and electing Jefferson Davis as president. The first major battle of the war, at Bull Run or Manassas in Virginia, is a Confederate victory.
• 1861: Italy is unified under Sardinian king Victor Emmanuel II.
• 1861: Louis Pasteur publishes a paper that introduces the concept of germ theory and refutes spontaneous generation.
• 1863: President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in Confederate territories, on 1 January. Thus begins a year that sees the turning point of the Civil War, with decisive Union victories at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga. Thereafter, the Confederacy is almost perpetually on the defensive, fighting not to win but to avoid losing.
• 1867: United States purchases Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million.
• 1871: In the wake of defeat by the Germans, Parisians establish the Commune, a revolutionary government that controls the capital—similar revolts break out in other cities—for about two months. In the end, the Third Republic suppresses the Commune with a brutality exceeding that of the Reign of Terror.

Event and Its Context

Why Reform?

Historians have engaged in a lengthy debate over the reasons behind Russian reform and in particular the ending of feudalism. Some emphasize the triumph of liberalism over authoritarianism, describing Alexander II as the "Czar Liberator." The promotion of liberals Iurii Samarin and Nikolai Miliutin, both staunch advocates of reform, to the czar's cabinet reinforces this perception. The arguments of the liberals in cabinet, however, were usually countered by the arch-conservative majority; therefore, the liberals' influence was at best limited. Furthermore, the majority of commentators insist that the reforms were always going to be limited as Russian czarism constantly resisted any move that would result in a transition to a constitutional monarchy. Therefore, the notion that Russia could become liberal under Alexander II is largely viewed as an exaggeration.

Marxist historians put forward an alternative view and point to the economic pressures as driving the reforms. Combined with the drive to modernize Russian industry, many of the czar's advisors agreed that serfdom was uneconomic, labor-intensive, and encouraged the nobility, the serf owners, to eschew change. In contrast, emancipation of the serfs would provide an industrial workforce and encourage the modernization of agriculture in a manner consistent with that adopted across western Europe. Clearly this was part of the effect Alexander II desired, and in light of the debacle in the Crimean War, modernization gained acceptance as a necessity. However, there were alternatives to emancipation that would also reap economic benefits, and Alexander particularly was keen to reject any ideas that permeated from western liberal economies. Therefore, the majority of historians seek alternative explanations for his reforming zeal.

The chief concern highlighted in histories of the period is the fear of revolution. As defeat in the Crimea loomed, on 30 March 1856 the czar made a now famous speech to the nobility of Moscow. In the speech he allayed their fears that he intended to abolish serfdom immediately and ensured serf-owners that they would receive reparations for any economic losses they might incur. However he stressed that reform was inevitable: "But, of course, you yourselves realize that the existing system of serf-owning cannot remain unchanged. It is better to begin abolishing serfdom from above than to wait for it to begin to abolish itself from below."

The need for modernization was thus married to other imperatives. The lessons of France almost a century earlier, the impending collapse of the Habsburg empire as a result of the events of 1848, and the fact that these ideas had permeated Russian society (usually imported by troops who had enjoyed contact with other nations and their peoples) all informed the czar's policy. Thus modernization was not only an imperative for continuing Russia's imperial policy, but also for the survival of czardom itself.

Emancipation by Consensus

The competing demands of the nobility, the czar's power base, and the pressures of modernization meant that emancipation would take some time to be enacted. The 1856 speech can be read as Alexander II, metaphorically, testing the water. It is likely that he hoped the nobility would seize the initiative in their tradition of service to the czar. However, it was soon apparent that the serf-owners were reluctant to unravel the system under which power could be measured "per head." The majority felt that the serfs, who were seen as barbaric, would be unable to become citizens of Russia and so could not be freed from the control of the nobles.

Alexander II used the traditional strategy of his predecessors; on 1 January 1857 he set up a secret commission to investigate how Russian society could be restructured. Indicative of the czar's political predispositions, the commission comprised only a minority of reformers. This meant that their work was carried out with little enthusiasm and that the solutions offered by the commission would favor the serf-owners. The czar became increasingly frustrated with the commission and even introduced advisors from western Europe into his entourage. Alexander II was able to make progress on reforms only by circumventing his own commission.

On 20 November 1857 a directive known as the Nazimov Rescript was issued to the governor general of Vilna. This directive, which had been distributed to all regional governors by 18 December, ordered that provincial assemblies be established to discuss how emancipation of the serfs could be achieved in each of the regions. This allowed each region to offer the most appropriate solutions for the individual circumstances, but parameters on discussions were set. The nobility would be granted full ownership rights over all lands and would retain responsibility for maintaining law and order on their land. The former serfs would be allowed to purchase land and would gain "administrative control" over their lives, which suggested freedom of movement at the very least. D. Bibikov, minister of the interior, made it clear that the directive was compulsory: "The nobility is obliged to execute the will of the Sovereign, who summons them to cooperate in the amelioration of peasant life." As with much that surrounded the reforms of Alexander II, even this order was open to interpretation.

The nobility had vast economic power within czarist Russia, and the emancipation of the serfs posed a threat to this power. Therefore the nobility in areas where land values were highest refused to comply. Their only concession was for the state to offer to buy the serfs from their owners. Alexander had no choice but to implement emancipation himself.

By December 1858 the liberals held a majority of the commission. New ideas emerged with full support of the czar, thus enhancing his image as a liberator. A scheme for creating a new rural class, based on communes, was tabled. This would allow former serfs to establish virtually autonomous communities, which would be self-regulating and would have the right to purchase adequate land to provide for its members. The commission also discussed fair terms for purchase and, crucially, initiated the removal of police powers from the serf-owners. The nobles' dissent could not prevent emancipation from becoming law, although it took an additional two years to complete the final drafting, mainly because the commission felt obliged to add further protections for the nobility.

The Emancipation Act became law on 19 February 1861. The 360-page document was highly complex and designed only to inform the bureaucrats. The purpose for this complexity seems clear. The act did little to meet the expectations of the serfs themselves. It offered limited emancipation that was, in reality, subject to the whim of the nobility. The "amelioration of the peasants" actually caused greater hardship for the majority of the rural peasantry.

The Seeds of Revolution

Under the terms of the Emancipation Act, the serfs were granted "the status of free rural inhabitants." However, they were not free citizens of Russia. They were allowed self-administration within the collective responsibility of the commune, but this effectively made them slaves to communal law. Moreover, they were issued passports that restricted their movement. A poll tax that was introduced to secure funding for the state further resulted in economic hardships for the freed serfs.

The most controversial aspect of the act was the land settlement. Initially the serfs remained under their obligations for a two-year period during which the government compiled inventories of land ownership. Government and landowners had to reach agreement over what portions of land would pass into commune ownership before the obligations were annulled. A government-financed scheme awarded the land to a commune and presented the former serfs with a contract that obligated the commune to repay the redemptions over a 49-year period. All payments were higher than was expected because landowners had submitted inflated valuations of their land, often up to twice the market value. This meant that the former serfs were financially tied to the communes. Increased hardship resulted because the peasants lost the use of between 10 and 26 percent of the land they had previously worked. The communes were thus hard-pressed to raise sufficient crops to feed the commune and a surplus to pay off the redemptions. Revolution seemed a far grater threat in 1861 than it had in 1856.

The widespread fear of revolution was an outgrowth of the level of unrest. In 1859 and 1860, when emancipation was within reach, there were only 217 recorded incidents of disorder within 24 months. In 1861, as the ramifications of the act became clear, 1889 incidents were recorded. Though the figure subsided to 849 in 1862, 509 in 1863, and 156 in 1864, nobles recorded that the village communes "seethed with resentment and murderous intent." The serfs' support for the czar, "their little father," was impaired, and many refused to sign the inventories as they felt that a signature was an indication of satisfaction. The nobility were equally dissatisfied. They found it difficult to secure labor for the lands they retained, which led to decreased production and financial difficulties. The latter were compounded by the fact that 62 percent of serfs had been mortgaged. The resulting rift between czar and people would never be completely healed.

Although many of the nobility embraced liberal ideas, it was mainly to counter the growth of radical, revolutionary politics. This outlook did, however, encourage the nobility to demand a greater input into the political process. As an industrial revolution began some serfs did become mobile; however, lingering dissatisfaction and the conditions offered to workers in the mines and steelyards caused further anti-czarist feeling and spawned the assassination of Alexander II in 1882. Over the following 50 years further hardships for the people, a return to repression, and failures in war allowed the newly created dispossessed Russian peasantry to unite in opposition to the czarist regime. The longer czardom survived, the more inevitable revolution became; after the experiences of the 1860s it was purely a matter of when.

Key Players

Alexander II (1818-1881): Czar of the Russian Empire, 1855-1881. Alexander oversaw the emancipation of the serfs and the "great reforms" that transformed Russian society starting in 1857.

Miliutin, Dmitri (1816-1912): As minister of war, Miliutin drafted a report in January 1856 comparing Russia's industry, economy, and military to those of western Europe. He was a keen reformist but a staunch Czarist, and was an influential advisor throughout Alexander II's reign.

Reutern, Mikhail (1820-1890): Reutern, Czar Alexander's minister for finance, was an influential, reforming conservative who spearheaded industrial reform and particularly promoted the forced migration of serfs from the land to the cities.

See also: Revolutions in Europe; Russian Revolutions.

Bibliography

Books

Eklof, Ben, James Bushnell, and Larissa Zakharova. Russia's Great Reforms: 1855-1881. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994.

Field, Daniel. The End of Serfdom: Nobility and Bureaucracy in Russia, 1855-1861. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1976.

Lincoln, W. Bryce. The Great Reforms. De Kalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1990.

Rieber, Alfred J., ed. The Politics of Autocracy: The Letters of Alexander II to Prince A. I. Bariatinskii, 1857-1864.Paris: Mouton, 1966.

Venturi, Franco. The Roots of Revolution. New York: Knopf,1960.

Zaionchkovsky, Petr A. The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia, edited and translated by Susan Wobst; introduction by Terence Emmons. Gulf Breeze. FL: Academic International Press, 1978.

—Darren G. Lilleker