Alexander 2: abolition of serfdom, reasons for reform

What was the role of Alexander 2 in the abolition of serfdom? Why did he decide to make the peasants free? These and other questions will be answered in the article. Peasant reform, which abolished serfdom, began in Russia in 1861. This was one of the most significant transformations of the emperor.

Basic Causes

What is Alexander 2 famous for? The abolition of serfdom is his merit. Why did you need this unusual reform? Prerequisites for its emergence formed in the late XVII century. All the layers of society viewed the serfdom as an immoral phenomenon, which disgraced Russia. Many wanted their country to be on a par with European states, in which there was no slavery. Therefore, the Russian government began to think about abolishing serfdom.

The basic reasons for the reform are:

• Because of the unproductive labor of serfs (poor performance of corvée) the landlord economy fell into decay.
• Serfdom hampered the development of industry and trade, which hindered the increase in capital and placed Russia in the category of secondary countries.
• The defeat in the Crimean War (1853-1856 gg.) Revealed the backwardness of the political regime in the country.
• An increase in the number of peasant revolts indicated that the serfdom was a "powder keg".

First steps

So, we continue to find out what Alexander was doing 2. The abolition of serfdom was first initiated by Alexander 1, but his committee did not understand how to implement this reform. Then the emperor confined himself to the law of 1803 on free grain-growers.

In 1842, Nicholas 1 passed the law "On the Rights of Peasants", according to which the landlord was free to release the villagers, giving them a piece of land. In turn, the village for the use of the plots had to pay duty in favor of the master. However, this law did not exist for long, since the owners did not wish to release their serfs.

The great emperor was Alexander 2. The abolition of serfdom is a magnificent reform. Her official training began in 1857. The king ordered the formation of committees of the provinces, which were to produce projects to improve the life of the villagers. Guided by these programs, the drafting commissions wrote a bill that was to consider and establish the Main Committee.

In 1861, on February 19, Tsar Alexander 2 signed his Manifesto on the abolition of serfdom and approved the "Regulations on Villagers Who Have Freed from the Slave Status." This emperor in history remained with the name Liberator.

Priorities

What good did Alexander 2? The abolition of serfdom gave the villager 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 restricted in their freedom of movement. In addition, the peasants remained a unique estate, which could be subjected to physical punishment and carried a recruitment duty.

The land remained the property of the landlords, and the peasants were allocated a field allotment and a homesteady settlement, for which they were obliged to serve (by work or money). The new rules from the serfs practically did not differ in any way. According to the law, village residents had the right to buy a farm or an allotment. As a result, they became independent peasants-owners. Until then, they were called "temporarily liable." The ransom was equal to the pay for the year, multiplied by 17!

Assistance of the Power

What did the reforms of Alexander 2 lead to? The abolition of serfdom was a rather complicated process. The government in support of the peasantry arranged a specific "redemption operation." After the land allotment was established, the state paid 80% of its price to the landowner. 20% were attributed to the peasant in the form of a government loan, which he took on an installment plan and must be repaid within 49 years.

Hleboroby united in rural communities, and those, in turn, integrated into the volost. Field community was used by the community. In order to carry out the "redemption payment", the peasants began to help each other.

Yard people did not plow the land, but within two years they were temporarily liable. Then they were allowed to be assigned to a village or city society. Between the peasants and landowners agreements were concluded, which were set out in the "Charter Charters". The post of world mediator was established , which analyzed the arising disagreements. The reform was led by "provincial rural affairs".

Effects

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 the capitalist countries. As a consequence of this transformation, new social strata of the population, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, began to form imperceptibly.

In view of 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.

On the reform of the

Who needed the abolition of serfdom under Alexander 2? 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 feudal feudal system of the economy. This nuance prevented the development of capitalism and identified a general lag in Russia from progressive states. The crisis showed itself very much in the loss of Russia in the Crimean War.

Feudal and feudal exploitation continued to persist, causing discontent among grain growers and unrest. Many peasants fled from bondage. The liberal segment of the nobility understood the need for change.

In the years 1855-1857. The tsar received 63 letters proposing the abolition of serfdom. After a while, Alexander 2 realized that it was better to release the villagers at his own request by a decision "from above" than to wait for a mutiny "from below."

These events took place against the backdrop of the strengthening of radical democratic-revolutionary sentiments in society. NA Dobrolyubov and NG Chernyshevsky popularized their ideas, which found colossal support from the nobility.

Opinion of the nobility

So, you already know what decision Alexander has made. 2. The reasons for the abolition of serfdom are described above. It is known that at that time the Sovremennik magazine was very popular, on the pages of which people were discussing the future of Russia. In London, published the "Polar Star" and "The Bell" - they were imbued with the hope for the initiative of the monarchy in the elimination of serfdom in Russia.

After much thought, Alexander 2 began to prepare a draft of peasant reform. In 1857-1858 years. The provincial committees were formed, which included educated and progressive representatives of the nobility (NA Milyukov, Ya. I. Rostovtsev and others). However, the bulk of the aristocracy and the panhes opposed the innovations and sought to retain as much of their privileges as possible. As a result, this affected the draft laws developed by the commissions.

Situation

Surely you already remember that the peasants made Alexander free 2. The abolition of serfdom is briefly described in many scientific treatises. So, in 1861, on February 19, the emperor signed the Manifesto on the Elimination of Slave Ideology. The state treasury began paying the landowners for the land that had retired to the allotments of the villagers. The average size of the farmer's site was 3.3 dessiatines. Peasants did not have enough allotments, so they began to lease land from the landlords, paying for it with labor and money. This nuance kept the villain's dependence 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 oppressive state. State taxes, the remaining feudal relations, debts to the landowners hampered the development of the agro-industrial complex.

The peasant communities with their rights to the land turned into bearers of unitary relations that hampered the economic activities of the most initiative members.

Prehistory

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 Pavel 1 and Alexander 1. In 1797 and 1803 they signed the Manifesto on the three days' corvée, which restricted forced labor, and the Free Farmers Ordinance, which described the situation of independent villagers.

Alexander 1 approved AA Arakcheev's program on the gradual destruction of serfdom by buying out bar-village villagers from their treasury plots. But this program was practically not implemented. Only in 1816-1819 years. Was granted personal freedom to the Baltic people, but without land.

The principles of land management of grain growers, on which the reform was built, intersect with the ideas of VA Kokorev and KD Kavelin, who received an impressive response from society in the 1850s. It is known that in his "Letter on the Emancipation of Villagers" (1855), Kavelin suggested that villagers buy land with a loan and pay a 5% annual fee for 37 years through a special peasant bank.

Kokorev in the publication "Billion in the Fog" (1859) proposed to buy out grain farmers by means of the means of an intentionally established private bank. He recommended that the peasants be released from the land, and the landlords should pay money for this with the help of a loan paid by the villagers for 37 years.

Analysis of the reform

Many specialists are studying what Alexander did 2. The abolition of serfdom in Russia was investigated by the historian and physician Alexander Skrebitsky, who gathered together all available information on the development of reform in his book. His work was published in the 60s. XIX century in Bonn.

Later, the chroniclers who studied the issue of the villagers, differently commented on the basic provisions of these laws. For example, MN Pokrovsky said that the whole reform for most grain growers was reduced to the fact that they stopped officially titled "serfs." Now they were called "obligated." Formally they were considered free, but their lives did not change and even worsened. For example, the landlords even more began to flog the peasants.

The historian wrote that the "obligated" villagers firmly believed that this will was a fake. He argued that being declared a free man by the tsar and at the same time continuing to pay a quitrent and go to the corvee is an outrageous discrepancy that attracts attention. The same opinion was expressed, for example, by historian N. A. Rozhkov, one of the most authoritative experts on the agricultural problem of the old-regime Russia, and a number of other authors who wrote about the peasants.

Many believe that the February laws of 1861, abolishing legally serfdom, were not its liquidation as an economic and social institution. But they paved the way for this to happen in a few decades.

Criticism

Why did many criticize the reign of Alexander 2? The abolition of serfdom was not liked by radical contemporaries and many historians (especially Soviet ones). They considered this reform to be half-hearted and claimed that it did not lead to the release of the villagers, but merely specified the mechanism of such a process, and unjust and defective.

Historians argue that this reorganization contributed to the founding of the so-called interspace - an unusual placement of land plots of one owner alternately with other people's allotments. In fact, this distribution has developed in stages over the centuries. It was the result of the constant redistribution of the land of communities, mainly in the separation of families of adult sons.

In fact, the peasant plots after the reorganization of 1861 were spoiled by the landowners in a number of provinces, which took away plots of land from grain growers, if the allotment was more than the per capita prescribed for that region. Of course, the master could give up a piece of land, but often he did not do it. It was in the large estates that the villagers suffered from such implementation of the reform and received plots equal to the lowest rate.