Figure 1.--This painting by the genre and historical artist Nikolai Nevrev was entiled 'The Bargain'. The painting depicts a 19th century scene with a landowner negotinting the sale of one of his serf girls. It was painted in 1866, 5 years after Tsar Alexander II ended by liberated the serfs. We are not entirely sure what the artist attempting to depict, probably the kind of abuses that the Tsar ended by liberating Russia's serfs.

The ruthless Mongols left large numbers of peasants homeless. Many gravitated to the lands of powerful Russian nobels which offered them land and protection. At this time the feudal system and serfdom was well established in Western Europe with a legal bsis and the coersive power of the state. This was not the situation in he East. But the peasantry had few of the economic opportunities developing in the West as a result of the quickening of the economy as the mediveal era and fedualim began to transition to the modern world. It is at this time that the Tsarist regime and landlords began to develop the same legal system that has enforced serfdom in the West. The Russian peasantry geadually came to be controlled by landowner suported by the coersive power of the Tsarist state (16th century). It was vital for the landowner to bind the peasant to the land and turn him into a serf. His land had no value with out workers. And once legally bound to the land, the landowner was in a position to exploit the peasantry because the serf had lost any barganing power. This allowed the land owner to exctract a greater proportion of the wealth created. Eventualy serf status became hereditary (mid-17th century). Russian nobles demanded ever increasing shares of the crops. This ever increasing exploitation of the serfs reduced them (end of the 17th century) had so impoverished Russian serfs that they were forced to relinquish many of their former rights, reducing them to a situation scarcely different from slavery. Landowners could even sell serfs to other landowners. This could be individuls or whole fasmilies. Historins believe that about half the 40 million Russian and Ukranian peasantry had been reduced to serf status (19th century). Most worked the greet estates, mostly owned by the aristocracy. The Tsar and religious orders also owned estates.

15th century

Peasants smerds began losing important rights (mid-15th century). Smerds in some votchinas (estates) began losing the right to leave the knyaz (the master of a votchina). The knyaz was not only a land oiwner, but had adminidtrative authority. At first this was for more than a week before and after Yuri's Day (November 26), but gradually the period of time lengthened. Ivan III Vasilyevich commionly referred to as Ivan the Great (1440-1505) played a key role in creating the Tsarist state as is known more ciommonly as Ivan the Great. He was the Grand Prince of Moscow and Grand Prince of all Rus'. He expanded the trippled the territory of the state and importantly defeated the Golden Horde ending the Mongol/Tatar control of the Rus. He laid the foundation of Russian law by codififing the existing confusing practives and common klaw among the mny different territories that Ivan acuired. The Muscovite Sudebnik (law code) 1497 dealt with the peasantry and the developing serf system. Ivan had difficulties with the boyars (great feudal lords or barons). Here he sided with the boyars agsinst the peasantry. The Sudebnik officially established the two week period around Yuri's Day (one week before and after the feast) as the only time of the year when the peasants were free to move from one landowner to another. Yuri's Day was the Russian version of Saint George's Day (Егорий Осенний), an Autumn feast day. It is one of two feasts of Saint George celebrated by the Russian Orthodox Church and the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Autumn celebration was held after the agricultural year was over and the harvest was in. It was especially important to the Russian peasants who traditionally could chose the estate and feudal estate on which they worked. Ivan's Sudebnik of 1497 limited the ability to move to the two weeks around Yuri's Day throughout the realm. He established the amount of the break-away fee or pozhiloye (пожилое). These restructions were reltively modest compared to what eventully developed aspart of Tsarisrt serfdom. It set, however, the precedents, strengthened the authirity of the artistocrstic landowners and making it a legal principle throughout his realm. And most importantly and restricted their mobility and bonding them to the land. Ivan's anti-Catholcism cut off Russia from the contvt with the West and he Renaissance. He was coinstantly batteling the Tartar successor states of the Golden Horde, particularly the Khanate of Crimea. Tartar raids targters the Russian/Ukranian popultion of the birderlands. Noblemen protected the borderlands, in part to pritect and expanded land holding. This freed Ivan from major expenses. These wars impauired the social and economic development of the Russian stae. It was also financed primarily by taxing the peasabtry. .

The 16th century

The steady loss if peasant rights continued in the 16th and you begin to see a situation approching full serfdom by the end of the century. This was the system that that had been common in the West, but was now in decline there. The Tsar's Sudebnik of 1550 not only increased the pozhiloye fee, but introduced an new tax on the peasantry -- the povoz (за повоз) or transportation fee). This was imposed on smerds who refused to bring the harvest from the fields to their lords. An even more onerous step was the forbidden years (Заповедные лета) was a first temporary prohibition on leaving their lords. Boris Godunov issued the ukase of 1597 which was first subsequently made permnanent. This enbded the smnerd's right to free movement around Yuri's Day, binding the majority of the Russian peasantry into full serfdom. The fixed years (Урочные лета, urochniye leta) was set at 5-years to search for runaway serfs.

The 17th century

The majority of the Russian peasabtry had been reduced to serf status in the 17th century. They were now fully bonded to the land. As a result a new ukase clearly defined the penalties for assisting the runaways. Fines were paid to the state and pozhiloye to the runaway's owner (1607). The Sobornoye Ulozhenie or Code of Law (Соборное уложение) of 1649 fiurmly bonded serfs to the estates coming very close to majing them slaves. Runniung away was made a crime (1658). This essentially gave landowners virtully unlimited ownership and power over their serfs. The landowner had the rught to sell the serf and or his family. They could do this without land to another landowner. He could even keep the serf's personal property and family. Virtually the only limitation on the landowner's authority was the right to actually kill the serf. But even this was not really a limitation. The landlord had the rught to punish a serf severely and if he diued from the ounishment there were no repercussions. Russian censuses report that some 80 percent of the Russian peasantry had been turned into serfs (1678 and 1719). Only in the north and northeast did the free (black) peasantry continue to be important. [We are nor sure why the free peasantry was referred as the black peasantry.] Tsar Feodor III abolished slavery (1679), but by that time much of he peasabtry had been reduyced to serfs and a ciondition only msarginslly duifferent ghan sklsves.

The 18th Century

The Polish Partitions began (1772). This extenbded Tsarist control to another grouop of ensered peasants. Here the aristocracy was less supportive and the peasantry less somnolent. A strong nationl ethos would cause the Tsarist regime endless trouble. It would not being down the the Tsarist regime, but would play a major role in the destruction of the Soviet Union. Pugachev's Rebellion began at abiut the same time as thge Polish Partitions to the east (1773-75). It was the most important of several popular rebellions that occurred after the German princess seized power as Catherine II (1762). The Rebellion began as an organized insurrection of Yaik Cossacks headed by Yemelyan Pugachev, a disaffected former lieutenant of the Imperial Russian Army. At the time Russia was experiencing peasant unrest and war with the Ottoman Empire. After some success, Pugachev assumed leadership of an rebel government in the name of the mentally unstable Tsar Peter III (Catherine's husband) who was assasinated. Pugachev proclaimed the abolishment of serfdom. Pugachev's Rebellion was a real challenge to the Catherine and the imperial regime. Notably the serfs did not rise up despite the oppressuon of the Tsarist regime. The French Revolution began (1789). The Russian serfs were far more oppressed than the French peasantry. But few serfs ever heard of the Revolution let alone apired to revolution.

The 19th Century

The French Revolution with its ideals of 'Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite' rocked Europe (1789). Nothing could be further from the the structure of the feudal serfdom system. The Revolution morphed into Napoleon's imperial dictatorship, but retained some of the ideals of the Revolution. The Russian serfs knew little of what was transpiring in the West or had any interest in it. When Napoleon invaded (1812), the French received little support from the Russian serfs. After the Napoleonic Wars, the Tsarist system and serfdom continued little changed. There was some takk of reform, but only Russia's poor performance in the Crimean War (1854-56) resulted in serious soul searching among Tsarist officials. The Tsar acted to liberate the serfs among cionsiuderable oppoitiuon from the nobility (1861). They were granted small plots, bu had to pay for their liberatiin and left heavily indebted.

The 20th Century

Some former serfs made progress after Tsar Alexander II emancipated the Serfs. Most made very little of any advance in their socil and economic conditions. One source writes, "It is true that most peasants lived in intellectual darkness being unable to so much as read their own names. Many were intensely superstitious and ardently believed in witches flying on broomsticks. A patina of Orthodox Christianity covered a mass of centuries of folk beliefs. When a tractor was brought to a Siberian village some peasants condemned it as the vehicle of the Antichrist. Many peasants especially in outlying regions were exceptionally ignorant and knew nothing about foreign countries. Little wonder that Lenin said, ”I come to abolish the village idiot.” [Calers] Russia was in tumault at the turn-of-the 20th century. The economy was rapidly expanding. There was rapid growth of industry and the formation of a new indutrial proleterit in the late-19th century. Urban workers were much more politically concious than the somnolent peasantry. There was a mild recession in world markerts during a period of general growth (after 1897). It was a relstively mild recession and does not show up in ll accounts. [Zarnowitz, pp. 226–29.] Russia because it was growiing so rapidly and had borrowed so heavily in Eyropean markets was impacted. A contraction of Western money markets (1899–1900) resulted in a serious econoimic downturn in Russia. Large numbers of indebted nobels mortgaged their estates to a noble land bank or sold them outright to municipalities, merchants, or peasants. Thus was a proicess that began before the recession. The aristocracy by the time of 1905 Revolution had sold off or morgaged massive areas of land, about two-thirds of the land held at the time of Emanciopation. The Tsarist Government encouraged this opricess hoping to make the forner serfs politically conservative like he French peasantry. The idea was to finance this through hving the peasantry make small installment over decades. [Harcave, p. 19.] This may have worked if individual peasants were allowed to own land, but for the most the land that was acquired by the peasntry known as 'llotment land' was acquired by communal groups. The result was a groiwing agrarian problem. The Tsarist regime recognized the problem. Mimister of Interior 9mraning the Tsarist police) Vyacheslav von Plehve[a stated in 1903 that the agrarian problem was the country's most serious problem. Showing the mindset of the Tsarist regime, the other problems he listed in order of severity were: the Jews, the schools, and the workers. [Harcave, p. 21.] The economic decline all fed into the Revolution of 1905. There was rural unrest, primarily peasants without employment or land. This did not threaten the regime because the most of the peasantry did not ruse up. The situation in the cities was diufferent. And worker disturbances joined by military ynits and the middle class did challenge the regime. The Tsarist regime survived nother decade. World War I (1914-18) would eventully end the Tsarist regime and aristocratic control of Russia's huge estates. Much to the surpriuse of the Bolsheviks, they managed to seized power, not in a country like Germany with a strong industrial proleterit, but in Russia a country with a largely agricultural economy and large numbers of peasats just emnerging from serfdom. The peasants did not play a major role in the urban actions that overthrew the Tsarisrt regime. Most who had been drafted into the Army, deserted headed home to seize land from their aristocratic estates. This undercut the powr of thae artisyocracy whivch had been the primary support of the Tsarist rehime. Lenin's mantra of 'Peace, land, and bread' had great appeal. Two decades later, Stalin would launch a major campaign against the peasantry and seize their land (1930-31).

Sources

Calers. G. "Russia at the turn of the 20th century, WorldPress.com (2011).

Haynes, Mike. "Patterns of Conflict in the 1905 Revolution" in Pete Glatter ed. The Russian Revolution of 1905 (1970).

Harcave, Sidney. The Russian Revolution (London: Collier Books, 1970).

Zarnowitz, Victor (1996). Business Cycles: Theory, History, Indicators, and Forecasting (Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 1996).

Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Russian pages:
[Ballet] [Choirs] [Movies] [Royalty] [School uniform] [Youth groups]

Navigate the Children in History ebsitee:
[Return to theMain Russian enserfment of the peasantry page]
[Return to theMain Russian country page]
[Kazakhstan] [Kyrgyzstan] [Tajikistan] [Turkmenistan] [Uzbekistan]
[Bulgaria] [Czechoslovakia] [Estonia] [Finland] [Germany] [Latvia] [Lithuania] [Poland] [Romania] [Russia]
[Armenia] [Azerbaijan] [Georgia] [Turkey]
[Canada] [United States]

Created: 6:12 AM 7/27/2018
Last updated: 6:12 AM 7/27/2018