Stolypin's reform, an attempt to overcome the crisis

The history of the Russian peasantry of the early 20th century. Always attracted the close attention of historians and researchers. This is not an accident, since Russia was then primarily a country of agrarian. According to the census of 1897, peasants accounted for 76% of the country's population and produced 92% of the country's total agricultural output, while landlords only 8%, in addition, the peasants also participated directly in the landlord economy.

In the late XIX-early XX centuries. The peasant question remained one of the most topical. Many politicians and parties included in their programs the point of solving the peasant question, and also composed their agrarian programs. Among the Bolsheviks, one of the authors of the agrarian program was VL. Lenin, the Socialist-Revolutionaries - V.M. Chernov, the Cadets have AA. Kaufman, the populists - VP Vorontsov, etc.

The subject of disputes between different parties was the community, the forms of ownership and ownership of the land, the nature of the peasant economy and the ways of its development. The beginning of XX century. Was also a turning point for the state itself, which was looking for broader support of the population and trying to strengthen the social support shattered after the revolution.

Thus, before P.A. Stolypin, after his appointment on April 26, 1906 to the post of Minister of Internal Affairs, was tasked with pursuing a completely new course of domestic policy, one of the most important and at the same time difficult aspects of which was the agrarian policy towards the peasantry. In many ways, it consisted in an attempt to eliminate the inefficiency of the peasant economy squeezed by archaic norms of the communal way of life.

The most important step to overcome the crisis in agriculture was the issuance of a decree to the Government Senate on the addition of certain provisions of the current law relating to peasant land ownership and land tenure "of November 9, 1906. Stolypin's agrarian reform was essentially based on this decree.

The decree, like the entire Stolypin's reform, was aimed at implementing a wide range of measures to destroy the collective landownership of rural society and to create a class of peasants - full-fledged landowners.

The first section of the decree of November 9, 1906 is 18 articles of the additions to Article 12 of the General Provision on Peasants. One of the main elements of the entire law is article 1 of section I, the peasant had the right to obtain allotment land on the community field in ownership, including the right to purchase surplus land at 1861 prices (art. 3). According to Article 2, if more than 24 years There were general redistribution, then payment for surplus is not required. Articles 4-11 only clarify the details of the transfer of land to personal property. Article 12 stipulates the possibility of the peasant to demand, in place of several plots of land, where possible in one place.

The second section of the decree is 4 amendments to the procedure for the alienation of allotment land consisting of household property. The third section consists of two articles, which also supplement the rights of peasants to plots of allotment land, consisting of household property.

The fourth section stipulates the transition of entire societies, both community and landed, to possession in the offal areas by the decision of two-thirds of the peasants' votes at the gathering. With the strengthening of the ownership of the plots for new owners, the former right to use inseparable communal lands (meadows, pastures, forests, inconvenient lands, roads) was retained.

This decree became law after the publication on 14 June 1910 of the Law on amending and supplementing certain decisions on peasant landownership. Of course, the aforementioned decree and law are only a part of the reforms being carried out in the country, but it was the lifting of the ban on leaving the community that became the basis of Stolypin's reform in the agrarian sphere.

The main reasons for the agrarian reform were massive peasant demonstrations, an increase in the poor part of the rural population, an increase in arrears, and a low level of yields.

The agrarian reform achieved its goals only partially, but the results were still positive. Increased land cultivated area. There was a significant redistribution of allotment land, more than 2 million households received single plots. Since the beginning of the reform, the provision of peasantry with equipment has increased by 1.5 times, iron harrows by 2.4 times. The number of cooperatives has increased.

After the agrarian reform, to be more precise, from 1901 to 1911, The income from grain and industrial crops increased from 1.7 to 3.4 billion rubles, per capita income increased from 30 to 43 rubles. During the period of the reform, farms significantly strengthened - 10.3% of all peasant households moved to private land ownership in the form of farms and cuts.

Thus, it can be stated that Stolypin's reform in the field of agriculture, carried out between 1906 and 1911, had a progressive impact on Russia's agriculture. However, it should also be noted that reforms and innovations did not solve all the problems of the village, poverty remained the usual feature of the village, relations among various segments of the population were sufficiently acute, including due to unequal access to credit.