Russian serfs become free

On 19 February 1961serfdom is abolished in Russia. That means that all peasants that have been bound to the land and the will of their local landlord, are free. It comes as part of Tsar Alexander II reform efforts to modernize Russia. He does so as a response to the Russian defeat in the Crimean war, which showed how backward Russia was in relation to the Western European powers. It takes place in the same decade as slavery is abolished in the US (1865), but hundreds of years after peasants were freed in Western Europe.

But the way the liberation is implemented makes life more difficult for most of the former serfs. They take on huge debts in buying the land, agriculture was still underdeveloped, and they stayed poor. This in turn contributes to political unrest. Alexander II makes other important reforms of: the judicial system, local government and assemblies (zemstvos), welfare, village schools. He releases political prisoners and makes life easier for Jews. Still he is upholding autocratic policies and suppresses uprisings, like the Polish in 1863. Police crack down on secret societies and unrest increase. After several attempts to assassinate the Tsar, he is killed in 1881.

His son Tsar Alexander III introduce counter reforms that are orthodox, Russo-nationalistic and anti-liberal. Under Tsar Nicolai II, who rules from 1894 tensions come to a boiling point, and the radical Bolsheviks grab power in the Revolution of 1917. In short, the belated economic, social and political reforms and then counter reforms, lead to a violent Russian revolution and setbacks that many Eastern Europeans suffer from today.  A strategy of steady reform adapting to changes in society and the rest of the world assures more stability and quality of life for the inhabitants of a country.

Peasants listening to the proclamation of the Emancipation Manifesto in 1861

Tsar Alexander II of Russia.

Background
Serfdom in Europe started during the Roman Empire as peasants, often descendants of slaves, became dependent on huge landowners for protection. They began to swear fealty to the landlord and became more bound to him. The roman Emperor Constantine made a law demanding labor services to be paid to the lord. Their social status became lower, more servile. The word Serf comes from servi. They constituted a huge number of people in Europe during the next centuries.  By the 14^th Century conditions for serfs were more or less the same in Eastern as in Western Europe, maybe even better in some parts of Eastern Europe as new land was cleared from forest, and many serfs became free farmers.

Eastern and Western Europe split

The Black Death around 1350 led to drastic population decline, much free arable land and labor shortage in Western Europe. Life was still difficult, and many peasant uprisings occurred, but they gained more liberties, and that led Western Europe into a dynamic economic and political change.

In Eastern Europe devastating wars increased the power of the nobles, and decreased the power of the central governments. At the same time the export of grain to Western Europe increased, and many landlords took peasants’ land and put heavy demands on them to maximize their profits. So from Germany to Moscow conditions for peasants deteriorated sharply. In the late 18^th century Austria-Hungary liberated the serfs, in Russia it didn’t happen until 1861. 

The assassination of Alexander II. Drawing by G. Broling 1881.

Sources and more information

http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/535485/serfdom
http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/513251/Russia

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Warmly
Bjarte Bjørsvik