Economic effects of coerced labor the emancipation of serfs. There is longlasting debate among historians on the effects of serfdom for russias economic development. Four and a half years of war communismthe attempted instantane ous obliteration of the market economyhad brought only starvation, death, and destruction. Serfdom article about serfdom by the free dictionary. While the title might suggest so, he does not go into folk culture and serf art, but into a deep analysis of how the russian elite interpreted serf and peasant life.
The impact of serfdom on economic development world. During serfdom, russias serfs were the property of the gentry, who had formal usage and transfer rights over them. Believing that the elimination of serfdom is imminent, peasants riot in penza december. Russia until 1861, serfs paid their obligations either as labor. Hayek the condensed version of the road to serfdom by f. Serfdom was one of key institutions in russian history. In this book jerome blum goes into depth on the dynamics of serfdom in russia. Can the impact of russian serfdom and emancipation be understood in a similar way.
Russias age of serfdom 16491861 offers a broad interpretive history of the russian empire from the time of serfdoms codification until its abolition following the crimean war. The extent of serfdom in russia kateryna, painting of a ukrainian serf girl by taras shevchenko himself born a serf. We then document several aspects of the variation in serfdom just prior to emancipation. The history of the countryside in imperial russia has long been viewed from a post emancipation vantage point. This is a difficult area to document exactly, and social status is by no means the only variable. This essay looks at the agrarian question in three eastern european countriesrussia, poland and ukraine from serfdom to postrevolution. The pleasure and the power in this interesting book, stites analyses different aspects of the arts, from sheet music to opera. It takes up large parts of both continents, and both continents have helped shape its history.
Petrovskoe, a village in tambov university of chicago press, 1986 hoch, steven and wilson r. The procedures set in motion by alexander ii undid the ties that bound together 22 million serfs and 100,000 noble estate owners, and changed the face of russia. This category is about agricultural labor where workers are not free to leave the land. The economic backwardness of tsarist russia has longed been blamed. Economic effects of coerced labor the emancipation of. The abolition of serfdom in the russian empire entailed two distinct dimensions.
Serfdom and state power in imperial russia the institution of serfdom has been a central and much debated feature of early modern russian history. It also examines agricultural production and rural institutions in the long run from 1861 to the present. The most numerous group of peasants, apart from the land owners serfs, were the state or treasury. Serfdom, land inequality, and economic development in. Catherine the great catherine ii even extended serfdom during the enlightenment and further encouraged peasants to work the land by introducing the potato after her return from ireland. Russian serfdom was different than in other eastern european countries, because it was not changed by german law and people coming from germany. Serfdom definition of serfdom by the free dictionary. Serfdom simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. How abolishing serfdom led to the russian revolution.
By the mid19th century, the peasants composed a majority of the population, and according to the census of 1857 the number of private serfs was 23. American slavery and russian serfdom by kolchin, peter, author. The road to serfdom with the intellectuals and socialism friedrich a. I have come to the conclusion that it would be unwise to do so. February 1, 2016 abstract we document a very large increase in agricultural productivity, peasants living standards, and industrial development in late 19th century imperial russia as a result of the abolition of serfdom in 1861. Serfdom and russian economic development vox, cepr policy.
Most obvious, it is one of only a handful of surviving autobiographies written by exserfs in russia students of russian serfdom do not have access to anything remotely like the dozens of slave autobiographies that shed light on the peculiar institution in the southern united states equally important. Russia, geographically the worlds largest nation, is located in both europe and asia. Serfdom had existed in russia since the eleventh century. This paper examines the longrun consequences of russian serfdom. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude, which developed during the late antiquity and early middle ages in europe and lasted in some countries until the mid19th century. As a consequence, it is taught widely on russian history courses around the world particularly alevel history courses in the uk i know, because i did the course myself, long ago. From the earliest of times, landowners held a right of taxation over the peasants living on their land. Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. Evidence from the emancipation of serfs in russia andrei markevich and ekaterina zhuravskayaa abstract. In russian baltic provinces it ended in the beginning of 19th century russian serfdom reforms.
Serfdom definition is the condition of a tenant farmer bound to a hereditary plot of land and to the will of a landlord. This long descriptive paper is part of an even larger project serfdom, emancipation, and economic development in tsarist russia that is very much a work in progress. Serfdom was the fundamental institution of feudal russia. Mongols from eastern asia conquered russia in the th century and ruled it for about 200 years. Serfdom and state power in imperial russia european history. Peter and the rulers who followed him on the throne intensified the bonds of serfdom, forced it upon millions who had been free men, and transformed others into the less onerous but still servile social category of state peas ants. This is a condensed and abridged version, reproduced without permission. New evidence steven nafziger1 department of economics, williams college may 20 note to readers. Peasant life and serfdom under tsarist russia guided history.
Communal ownership of land in the framework of serfdom. Lenin, ruler of revolutionary russia, stood before the tenth. Slowly the laws that governed ownership rights evolved, and the power of landowner over peasant became allencompassing. The emancipation of the russian serfs, 1861 history today. Russian serfdom and emancipation yale economic yale university. But in russia, a different, more lenient form of this was called serfdom. First, not all russian peasants were obligated to private landowners prior. Cambridge studies in economic history includes bibliographical references and index. Russian serfdom, emancipation, and land inequality. In russia the political repercussions of the crimean war brought about the emancipation of the serfs on 19 february 1861. There was still serfdom in russia until february 19, 1861. Russian serfdom was a system of labor coercion that existed from the. Dec 09, 2001 in february 1861 tsar alexander ii issued the statutes abolishing the institution of serfdom in russia.
Using a variety of previously unexplored data, we then document several aspects of the variation in serfdom just prior to emancipation. This book on russia examines the history of reforms and state interventions affecting agriculture. Did serfdom in russia continue after serfdom in western. This paper is the first to estimate the effects of emancipation of serfs on agricultural productivity, living standards of peasants, and industrial production and employment in russia. Nov 22, 2011 yes, serfdom in russia officially ended under the reign of alexander ii nicknamed the czar liberator in 1861. The abolition of serfdom in russia was a complex and multilayered process that lasted decades and wasnt even properly finished as the revolution of 1917 happened. It differs from slavery in that the workers cannot legally be transferred off the land absent criminal activity. Oct 10, 2012 serfdom was one of the initiatives taken by the state to unify russia by keeping peasants from leaving the land. Russian serfdom krepostnoe pravo was an outgrowth of state. Most of these were the property of the nobility but large numbers were owned by the tsar and religious foundations. Coverage focuses on those of the empires european territories populated predominantly by ethnic russian peasants.
Serfdom was extended to all categories of the taxed population. Labor coercion and human capitalpromoting institutions. Michael lynch takes a fresh look at the key reform of 19thcentury russia. Russian agriculture in the last 150 years of serfdom. Because the peasant class in this region made up the large majority of the population over 80% at the beginning of the 20th century, as much as 90% in some areasits fate was inevitably tied. Russia abolishes serfdom history channel on foxtel. The road to serfdom jamess liberty file collection index. Feudalism is a system of land grants given by kings to high nobles, subdivided by these nobles to petty nobles, subdivided by petty nobles to large gentleman farmers, etc. By the early 1580s decrees proclaiming forbidden years, which prohibited all peasant movement for specific periods, were already functioning in certain districts, and they were extended to the rest of the realm in the reign of fyodor ivanovich ruled 1584 1598. Serfdom is a term that refers to an institution of forced agricultural labour that existed in the middle ages all over europe. This column argues that relatively late abolition of serfdom was an important factor of divergence in economic development between russia and western europe.
Serfdom and feudalism arent the same, but they are related. The problem was that this led to more revolutionary actions and eventually led to the communist revolution. Evidence from the russian empire andrei markevich and ekaterina zhuravskaya a this draft. The country, and the government with it, were at the very edge of the abyss. Serfdom, an institution of forced agricultural labor, was widespread in europe in the middle ages. The serfs of russia where no minority, but actually the majority.
The origins of serfdom as a form of migration control can be seen in midfifteenthcentury documents that restricted peasant movement to the period on or around st. By the early modern period, it disappeared from most parts of western europe, while persisting in most parts of eastern europe and, in particular, in the russian empire, until the mid19th century. The 1861 emancipation of russian serfs was the single most important reform of the reign of tsar alexander ii. Russian empire exploring the crossprovince variation in the prevalence of serfdom and overtime variation generated by the emancipation of different types of serfs in different provinces. The second half of the 18th century saw the final stage in the development of state legislation aimed at strengthening serfdom in russia. Serfdom was distinguished by the severely limited civil and economic rights of the peasants great soviet encyclopedia, v23, p. A 1907 painting by boris kustodiev depicting the muzhiks listening to the proclamation of the emancipation manifesto in 1861 in 1861 serfdom, the system which tied the russian peasants irrevocably to their landlords, was abolished at the tsars imperial command. Serfdom and state power in imperial russia 31 downloaded from ehq. Serfdom was formally abolished in russia on february 19 march 3, 1861. He believed it was better to abolish serfdom from above than have a rebellion. It looks at the reform process in a crisis and analyzes the shortrun effects of economic adversity. Aleksandr nikitenkos memoir, up from serfdom, is a doubly atypical work. A final comparing of slavery and serfdom would be to try to find out wheter it was worse in the usa or in russia.
Our results show that a greater legacy of serfdom is associated with lower economic wellbeing today. By the 19th century it was estimated that about 50 per cent of the 40,000,000 russian peasants were serfs. Serfdom was a status of legal bondage, almost invariably referring to peasants in enforced dependence on seignorial overlords. Leon trotsky on war communism introduction in march 1921, v. We use novel data measuring the intensity of labor coercion at the district level in 1861. The abolition of serfdom was triggered by the exogenous shock of. The abolition of serfdom, triggered by the exogenous shock of 1 serfdom is an institution of forced labor in agrarian economies. Russia in the age of enlightenment download ebook pdf, epub. The origins of serfdom in russia, krepostnichestvo may be traced to the 12th century, when the exploitation of the socalled zakups on arable lands, roleyniye pashenniye zakupy and corvee smerds russian term for corvee is, barschina was the closest to what is now known as serfdom. Richman department of history, george mason university the collapse of the productive forces surpassed anything of the kind that history had ever seen. During the 15th century, russia broke free of mongol rule.
1449 898 668 465 1190 1532 716 1206 228 205 15 781 165 93 825 340 1255 802 1018 505 173 1193 1006 1385 296 999 758 8 591 1291