The densest tree in the world. Hardwood
the abolition of serfdom in Russia is brief and clear
- Serfdom is the entire complex of state laws that attached peasants to a specific plot of land and made them directly dependent on the landowner, which at times led to the deprivation of personal freedom to the peasants. In Russia, serfdom existed since 1649.
On the eve of its introduction, there was a local system, which in its content was not serfdom, but was a rigid form of rental relations. During them, the peasant leased a plot from the landowner, on which the former had to work out the agreement until the harvest, as a result of which he would return part of it to the landowner in the form of rent payment.
This payment was made during the period of one week before St. George's Day on November 26, and another week after it. The peasant had no right to leave without making payment, and when he paid what was required, he could follow as he wished.
During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, in 1649, it was published Cathedral Code, which represented a new Russian list laws. This code recognized the power of the landowner over the peasants who worked on his land. Such workers did not have the right to leave their plot and move to another owner, and also to refuse to work on the land altogether, going, for example, to the city to earn money.
As a result, peasants were attached to the land, which gave rise to the name: serfdom. If land was transferred between landowners, workers were transferred along with it. The nobles had the right to sell their serfs to another owner without land. But the essence of serfdom and its difference from slavery was the obligation of the new owner to provide the purchased farmer with an allotment and necessary property.
The owner himself had no power over the life of the worker. A striking example This may be due to the fate of the famous Saltychikha, who killed her serfs, for which she was executed.
Since the middle of the 18th century, serfdom has intensified in Russia, as a result of which landowners received the right to sell their peasants as recruits, and then exile them to Siberia or to hard labor. But serfdom did not spread throughout the entire territory of the country: in the northern part, in Siberia and on the Cossack lands, it was practically absent.
For most of the nobility, serfdom was very beneficial, although the Russian tsars were aware of its similarities to slavery. Both Alexander the First and Nicholas the First spoke about the need to get rid of this vicious system, but, in fact, only in 1861, during the reign of Emperor Alexander the Second the Liberator, serfdom was abolished in Russia. - In the 18th century, serfdom became the main obstacle to the development of Russia's productive forces and hindered cultural and social progress. In the first half of the 19th century, the solution to the whole complex social issues rested on the problem of the abolition of serfdom. The nobility's monopoly on the ownership of serfs was being undermined. According to the decree of 1841, only persons who owned inhabited estates were allowed to have serfs. The development of capitalist relations led to the emergence of a layer of capitalist peasants who had the means to buy their freedom, which, however, was entirely dependent on the landowner. In the first half of the 19th century, projects for limiting and abolishing serfdom began to be developed in Russia. In 1808 it was forbidden to sell serfs at fairs, and in 1833 it was forbidden to separate members of the same family during the sale. The emancipation of a small number of peasants was carried out on the basis of the laws on free cultivators (1803) and temporarily obliged peasants (1842). Serfdom was completely abolished during the peasant reform on February 19, 1861 (under Alexander II).
- According to the Tsar's manifesto of February 19, 1861, all serfs immediately received personal freedom - no one could sell them, exchange them, flog them, etc. Meanwhile, the right to own land by peasants was limited. The land was recognized as the property of landowners. But the landowners were obliged to allocate land plots to the peasants (community) for indefinite use. For this, the peasants for some time continued to pay quitrents to the landowner-landowner or work off corvee labor - the so-called “temporarily obligated” condition. In order to gain personal freedom and land independence and completely break with serfdom, the peasant had to buy his allotment from the landowner. But not all peasants had the funds necessary to buy out the allotment - and for them the state bought the land from the landowners. After such a ransom, the peasants became debtors to the state and returned the ransom amount to it in installments of 49 years, also paying 6% per annum. These “redemption payments” were canceled by P. A. Stolypin from January 1, 1907.
- encyclopedia on Russia
1. After the death of Nicholas I, in 1855, his 37-year-old son Alexander, who went down in history as Emperor Alexander II, ascended the throne. His name is associated with the rise of the reaction of the Nicholas era and the implementation of democratic reforms.
The most important of them was the abolition of serfdom in 1861. Along with this, reforms were carried out:
- zemstvo;
- urban;
- judicial;
- financial;
- military;
- other reforms;
- The first official draft Constitution in the history of Russia was prepared.
2. The first step of Alexander II as emperor was to weaken the policy of reaction pursued during the era of Nicholas I:
- the Decembrists and Petrashevites were amnestied;
- Press censorship and repression of dissent have been reduced;
- travel abroad is allowed;
- a group was created to prepare reforms.
3. Among the priority reforms was the solution to the peasant question - serfdom led to the disinterest of peasants in work, the degradation of the bulk of the population; led Russia to obvious economic backwardness from the advanced countries of Europe and spiritual alienation from Western civilization. Russia's defeat in Crimean War, the demonstration of the country's industrial underdevelopment accelerated the abolition of serfdom.
Fundamentally, the issue of abolition of serfdom in Russia was resolved immediately after the end of the Crimean War - in 1857, when a number of commissions were created to prepare this decision. On February 19, 1861, Emperor Alexander II issued historical documents by which serfdom was officially abolished:
- Manifesto “On the most merciful granting to serfs of the rights of rural inhabitants”;
- “Regulations on peasants emerging from serfdom.” The liberation of the peasants was carried out on the following conditions.
- the peasants became personally free and acquired common civil rights;
- at the same time, the peasants were freed without land - the main means of subsistence, which remained in the hands of the landowners;
- for another 9 years, peasants were still obliged to work corvée;
- after that, they acquired the status of temporarily obligated - until they bought the land;
- the peasant community remained, which subjugated the individual peasant and prevented him from “making his way into the people”;
- only about 20% of the peasants found the strength to buy the land (some of them became wealthy peasants);
- the state reimbursed the landowners for the cost of 80% of the lands transferred to the peasants;
- in turn, the peasants were obliged to pay redemption payments to the state for 50 years - the peasants were in double dependence: to the landowners and to the state.
Since most peasants could not buy the land, they became agricultural hired laborers or went to work in the cities and turned into the proletariat. Redemption payments were finally canceled only on January 1, 1907 - after the first Russian revolution, at the beginning of the premiership of P.A. Stolypin, which completed almost half a century of the process of abolition of serfdom.
4. The essence of the zemstvo reform of 1864 was the creation of a system local government in Russia. For these purposes, the institution of the district zemstvo was introduced - the primary cell of self-government:
- Residents of the district became members of the district zemstvo;
- residents elected the zemstvo assembly - a representative body;
- elections of deputies (“glasny”) of the zemstvo assembly took place not from the population as a whole, but from estates, and from smaller quantity more deputies were elected from landowners and nobles than from the same number of peasants;
- as a result of this, zemstvo assemblies were under the control of the nobility, although representatives of the peasants also took part in their work;
- district zemstvo assemblies formed executive agency- district zemstvo government;
- also, district zemstvo assemblies elected deputies to provincial zemstvo assemblies - representative bodies of the provinces;
- The provincial zemstvo assembly also formed the executive body - the provincial zemstvo government.
Zemstvo bodies were separated from politics - they had to resolve exclusively economic issues local significance: road repair, school construction, distribution of local financial resources. At the same time, they became the first organs of self-expression of the people and enjoyed authority among the population.
5. In 1870, urban reform was carried out:
- representative bodies were established in cities - city councils;
- city councils formed the executive body - the city government;
- elections to the city duma were held not from estates, but from the population of the city as a whole;
- the only condition for participation in elections was the ownership of property - the proletariat was excluded from governing the city. Despite the existence of a property qualification, urban reform was a step forward in the development of cities and industry. The abolition of class elections contributed to the emergence of a single urban class that owns property - the bourgeoisie.
6. The judicial reform of 1864 consisted of the introduction of European judicial institutions and bourgeois principles of legal proceedings in Russia:
- separation of the court from the administration;
- adversarial nature of the process (presence of prosecution and defense);
- jury trial,
- justices of the peace who consider simple cases and are close to the people;
- Bar (sworn attorneys);
- transparency of legal proceedings.
New judicial system has become much closer to world standards. At the same time, some remnants of the old system were retained:
- a special court for officials;
- in a number of regions - peasant courts;
- the so-called “foreign courts” include representatives of non-Russian nomadic and mountain peoples;
- excessive accusatory bias in the process.
7. As a result of the military reform, universal conscription was introduced and modern European standards of army organization were introduced.
8. Other major reforms were financial - the creation of the State Bank and the introduction of a clear financial statements(the birth of official accounting); education reform 1863 - 1864 - return of autonomy to universities.
9. The completion of the reforms was the preparation of the first official project Constitution, which went down in history by the name of one of its developers as the “Loris-Melikov Constitution. The draft Constitution provided:
- securing the basic civil rights of subjects;
- consolidation of imperial power - the presence of a strong emperor endowed with real powers;
- the presence of a representative body - a bicameral parliament, in which the lower house - The State Duma, would be elected from the estates, and the top - State Council, was appointed by the emperor.
The Constitution was planned to be “bestowed” by the Imperial Manifesto in 1881, but the assassination of Alexander II by the populists on March 1, 1881 led to the revival of reaction, the curtailment of constitutional and a number of other reforms, and the resuscitation of political investigation.
Thus, the bourgeois reforms of 1861 - 1874 remained unfinished. However, they were a great step forward economically and political development, laid the foundation for the development of capitalism in Russia.
The understanding of the need to abolish serfdom arose among the advanced part of Russian society back in the 18th century. As the capitalist system developed in the economy, the conviction matured that forced labor hindered the development of the country's economy. Emperor Alexander II ascended the Russian throne on February 19, 1855.
Reasons for abolishing serfdom:
- The economic development of the country was slowed down
--- Serfs were not interested in the results of labor on their landowner's land
--- The lack of free hands hindered the development of industry.
- The defeat of Russia in the Crimean War (huge expenses in connection with the war. Recruitment, confiscation of livestock, increased duties ruined the population. On April 2, 1854, a decree of Nicholas1 was promulgated on the creation of a people's militia. Families of those who signed up were freed from serfdom. Mass exodus of peasants)
- Russia is the only European country that has retained serfdom. (Herzen is a “shameful spot on Russia”)
- Strengthening the peasant movement in the villages.
Cancellation progress:
January 3, 1857- creation of a secret committee “to discuss measures to organize the life of the landowner peasants.” Members who were opponents of liberation slowed down the work.
March 1859– establishment of editorial commissions by the “working body” (chaired by Ya.I. Rostovtsev-general)
February 19, 1861 manifesto on the abolition of serfdom ( signed by AlexanderII),
Goals:
-personal liberation of peasants, allotment of land to them(for a ransom: a quitrent, which was previously received - 6% must be immediately paid; 25% of the rest must be paid to the state within 49 years; without a ransom, a peasant could receive only ¼ of the land, the size of the entire allotment is from 3 to 12 dessiatinas).
-introduction of peasant self-government.
World mediators monitored the implementation of reforms.
The meaning of the abolition of serfdom:
Positive traits: The reform created the conditions for the establishment of the capitalist structure in the country's economy as dominant. Peasants are free people.
Negative features:
Landownership was preserved
The peasants never received full ownership of the land.
The peasants could not build their own farms.
29. “Great” reforms of the 60s and 70s of the 19th century in Russia: their essence and significance.
Local government reform:
- Creation of local self-government bodies – zemstvos. K.D. Kavelin – the role of the first estate of the empire in a matter of such importance turned out to be pitiful and humiliating (the role of the nobility in the abolition of serfdom).
The real reason for the reform– the desire to partially compensate the nobles for the loss of their former power.
January 1, 1864 - Decree “Regulations on provincial district zemstvo institutions”- creation of zemstvos.
-Elections to zemstvos:
Landowners (at least 200 acres or property worth 15 thousand rubles),
Urban voters (merchants, business owners),
Peasant Curia.
-Multi-degree selections: village assemblies, volost assemblies, electors, representatives to county bodies).
-Zemstvo bodies were divided into:
--- administrative- zemstvo assemblies (elected from all classes for 3 years). Zemstvo assemblies elected
--- executive bodies- zemstvo councils, working for 3 years. Chairman - leader of the nobility.
Zemstvo institutions decided: construction of communications, schools, hospitals, development of local trade and industry. The material basis for the activities of zemstvos is tax.
Minus - elections based on class.
Urban reform– 1870 estate city councils were replaced by city councils and city councils.
The right to choose for men over 25 years of age who paid taxes, there are 3 curias:
Large owners of houses and commercial enterprises who paid 1/3 of all taxes.
Small taxpayers – 1/3 of city taxes.
Other taxpayers.
City government – solving economic issues, improving the city, developing local trade and industry, healthcare, education, maintaining the police, prisons. Activities were controlled by the state. The mayor was approved by the governor or the minister of internal affairs. provincial presence on city affairs. the reform contributed to the involvement of broad sections of the population in solving the issue of management - this is a prerequisite for creating civil society and the rule of law.
Judicial reform – 1864
Principles of legal proceedings (judicial statutes November 1864):
1) classlessness - the court’s decision did not depend on class affiliation.
2) openness - the public and the press are present at meetings
3) adversarial – lawyer and prosecutor
4) election of the magistrate and jury
5) independence of judges from the administration .
Magistrates' and general courts were created:
-Worldwide- minor criminal and civil cases, in cities and counties, were chosen by county assemblies and city councils.
-General courts- district courts (appointed by the emperor - complex criminal cases and civil ones) and judicial chambers, where appeals were filed regarding decisions of the district court. also considering cases of crimes committed by officials.
The highest court is the Senate.
Military reform – 1874 The board sought to reduce costs and overcome the backlog in the military field (the reform was carried out by the Minister of Military Affairs Milyutinnoyab. 1861). 1863-1864 military reform educational institutions. Military gymnasiums and schools for children of nobles. for the rest, cadet schools. 1867-military Law Academy. 1877 - Maritime Academy. 1868 - military training schools.
Instead of recruiting duties, there is all-class military service. From January 1, 1874 - conscription of persons of all classes from the age of 20 (later from 21) in the land service - 15 years (6 active service, 9 in reserve) in the navy - 10 years (7/3) for persons who have graduated from primary schools - 4 years. With higher education - 6 months. Released from service the only sons, the breadwinners of the family.
Corporal punishment has been abolished in the army.
Rearmament of the army and navy. modern mass army .
Reform in the field of education is three stages: primary, secondary, higher.
June 1864- the provision on primary public schools - this led to the creation of state, zemstvo, parochial, and Sunday schools.
Main types of gymnasium educational institutions:
Duration of study is 7 years (from 1871-8 years).
With the new university charter, the rector elected professors and deans, approved curricula, and resolved financial issues.
Development of women's education - women's gymnasiums.
30. Alexander III. Domestic policy. Socio-economic reforms S.Yu.Witte.
Alexander Alexandrovich ( 1845) was in imperial family second son. He was preparing to inherit the throne older brother Nikolai, who received the appropriate upbringing. Became heir at the age of 20 after the death of his brother in 1865. Army upbringing, penchant for military sciences and Russian history (teacher S.M. Solovyov).
Autumn 1866 married Dagmar, a Danish princess. (Maria Fedorovna upon marriage). He loved his wife, adored children, was fond of fishing, hunting, enormous growth and physique. hardworking, modest, straightforward. steel will, perseverance, vowed to strangle the revolutionary movement in Russia while looking at his dying father (Alexander 2 died from a bomb thrown by Grenevitsky)
Board goals:
Suppression of opponents of the government and cleansing the state of “alien” Western influences.
Return to autocracy, Orthodoxy, nationality. Hopes to follow his father's instructions.
Domestic policy professor of literature K.P. Pobedonostsev.
Manifesto on the “inviolability” of autocracy was published on April 29, 1881. The manifesto was prepared by K. P. Pobedonostsev and M. N. Katkov. It reflected the opinion of the new Emperor Alexander III: it announced a departure from the previous liberal course and further reforms, proclaimed “faith in the strength and truth of autocratic power,” which the emperor will “affirm and protect from any encroachments on it.”
“The order on measures to preserve state order and public peace and placing certain areas in a state of enhanced security” (August 14, 1881) granted the right to the political police in 10 provinces of the Russian Empire to act according to the situation, without being subordinate to the administration and the courts..
August 27, 1882 d.temporary rules on the press, strict control over periodicals .
1882– creation of a peasant bank – loans for the purchase of land.
1885 – creation of a noble bank.
June 5, 1887- Law on cook children. Prohibition for lower classes to enter gymnasiums.
1889 – regulations on zemstvo district police officers, united judicial and administrative powers in their hands .
1890 – zemstvo counter-reform– strengthening government supervision over zemstvos.
City regulations 1892 replaced the previous system of three-class elections with elections by territorial polling stations.
June 1, 1882– prohibition of labor for children under 12 years of age. Working day for children from 12 to 15 years old - 8 hours
1885– prohibition of night work for women.
1882- a meeting of 4 ministers - could prohibit the publication of any printed publication.
1891 – decree on the eviction of all illegally residing Jews from Moscow.
Socio-economic reforms S.Yu.Witte.
1892 Witte was appointed Minister of Finance, who developed the economic program:
1) Carrying out a strict tax policy, increasing indirect taxes, introducing a state monopoly on the production and sale of vodka.
2) A further increase in customs duties, designed to protect the developing Russian industry from foreign competitors.
3) Monetary reform in order to strengthen the ruble, introducing its free exchange for gold.
4) Widespread attraction of foreign capital to the country.
The prerequisites for the abolition of serfdom arose back in late XVIII century. All layers of society considered the serfdom an immoral phenomenon that disgraced Russia. In order to stand on par with European countries, free from slavery, the Russian government was faced with the question of abolishing serfdom.
The main reasons for the abolition of serfdom:
- Serfdom became a brake on the development of industry and trade, which hampered the growth of capital and placed Russia in the category of secondary states;
- The decline of the landowner economy due to the extremely ineffective labor of the serfs, which was expressed in the obviously poor performance of the corvee;
- The increase in peasant revolts indicated that the serf system was “ powder keg» under the state;
- Defeat in the Crimean War (1853-1856) demonstrated backwardness political system in the country.
Alexander I tried to take the first steps in resolving the issue of abolition of serfdom, but his committee did not figure out how to bring this reform to life. Emperor Alexander limited himself to the law of 1803 on free cultivators.
Nicholas I in 1842 adopted the law “On Obligated Peasants”, according to which the landowner had the right to free the peasants by giving them a land allotment, and the peasants were obliged to bear duties in favor of the landowner for the use of the land. However, this law did not take root; the landowners did not want to let the peasants go.
In 1857, official preparations began for the abolition of serfdom. Emperor Alexander II ordered the establishment of provincial committees, which were supposed to develop projects to improve the life of serfs. Based on these projects, the drafting commissions drew up a bill, which was transferred to the Main Committee for consideration and establishment.
On February 19, 1861, Emperor Alexander II signed a manifesto on the abolition of serfdom and approved the “Regulations on peasants emerging from serfdom.” Alexander remained in history with the name “Liberator”.
Although liberation from slavery gave peasants some personal and civil freedoms, such as the right to marry, go to court, trade, enter the civil service etc., but they were limited in freedom of movement, as well as in economic rights. In addition, peasants remained the only class that bore conscription duties and could be subject to corporal punishment.
The land remained the property of the landowners, and the peasants were allocated a settled estate and a field allotment, for which they had to serve duties (in money or work), which were almost no different from serfs. According to the law, peasants had the right to buy out an allotment and an estate, then they received complete independence and became peasant owners. Until then, they were called “temporarily obligated.” The ransom amounted to the annual quitrent amount multiplied by 17!
To help the peasantry, the government organized a special “redemption operation.” After the establishment of the land allotment, the state paid the landowner 80% of the value of the allotment, and 20% was assigned to the peasant as a government debt, which he had to repay in installments over 49 years.
Peasants united into rural societies, and they, in turn, united into volosts. The use of field land was communal, and to make “redemption payments” the peasants were bound by a mutual guarantee.
Household people who did not plow the land were temporarily obliged for two years, and then could register with a rural or urban society.
The agreement between landowners and peasants was set out in the “statutory charter”. And to sort out emerging disagreements, the position of peace mediators was established. The general management of the reform was entrusted to the “provincial presence for peasant affairs.”
Peasant reform created the conditions for the transformation of labor into goods, market relations began to develop, which is typical for a capitalist country. The consequence of the abolition of serfdom was the gradual formation of new social strata population - the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.
Changes in social, economic and political life In Russia, after the abolition of serfdom, the government was forced to undertake other important reforms, which contributed to the transformation of our country into a bourgeois monarchy.
The era of Alexander II's reign is called the era of Great Reforms or the era of Liberation. The abolition of serfdom in Russia is closely associated with the name of Alexander.
Society before the reform of 1861
The defeat in the Crimean War showed the backwardness of the Russian Empire from Western countries in almost all aspects of the economy and socio-political structure of the state. Progressive people of that time could not help but notice the shortcomings in the thoroughly rotten system of autocratic rule. Russian society by the middle of the 19th century it was heterogeneous.
- The nobility was divided into rich, middle and poor. Their attitude to the reform could not be unambiguous. About 93% of nobles did not have serfs. As a rule, these nobles held government positions and were dependent on the state. The nobles who had large plots of land and many serfs were opposed to the Peasant Reform of 1861.
- The life of serfs was the life of slaves, because this social class did not have civil rights. Serfs were also not a homogeneous mass. IN central Russia There were mostly quit-rent peasants. They did not lose touch with the rural community and continued to pay taxes to the landowner, hiring in factories in the city. The second group of peasants was corvée and was in the southern part of the Russian Empire. They worked on the landowner's land and paid corvee.
The peasants continued to believe in the “good father of the king,” who wants to free them from the yoke of slavery and allocate a plot of land. After the reform of 1861, this belief only intensified. Despite the deception of the landowners during the reform of 1861, the peasants sincerely believed that the tsar did not know about their troubles. The influence of the Narodnaya Volya on the consciousness of the peasants was minimal.
Rice. 1. Alexander II speaks before the Assembly of Nobility.
Prerequisites for the abolition of serfdom
By the middle of the 19th century, two processes were taking place in the Russian Empire: the prosperity of serfdom and the emergence of a capitalist system. There was constant conflict between these incompatible processes.
All the prerequisites for the abolition of serfdom arose:
- As industry grew, production became more complex. The use of serf labor in this case became completely impossible, since the serfs deliberately broke the machines.
- The factories needed permanent workers with highly qualified. Under the serf system this was impossible.
- The Crimean War revealed acute contradictions in the Russian autocracy. It showed the medieval backwardness of the state from the countries of Western Europe.
Under these circumstances, Alexander II did not want to take the decision to carry out the Peasant Reform only upon himself, because in the largest Western countries reforms were always developed in committees specially created by parliament. The Russian emperor decided to follow the same path.
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Preparation and beginning of the reform of 1861
At first, preparations for the peasant reform were carried out secretly from the Russian population. All leadership for designing the reform was concentrated in the Secret or Secret Committee, formed in 1857. However, things in this organization did not go beyond the discussion of the reform program, and the summoned nobles ignored the tsar’s call.
- On November 20, 1857, a republic was drawn up and approved by the tsar. In it, elected committees of nobles were elected from each province, who were obliged to appear at the court for meetings and agreement on the reform project. The reform project began to be prepared openly, and the Secret Committee became the Main Committee.
- The main issue of the Peasant Reform was the discussion of how to free the peasant from serfdom - with land or not. The liberals, who consisted of industrialists and landless nobles, wanted to free the peasants and allocate them plots of land. A group of serf owners, consisting of wealthy landowners, was against the allocation of land plots to the peasants. In the end, a compromise was found. Liberals and serf owners found a compromise between themselves and decided to free the peasants with minimal plots of land for a large ransom. This “liberation” suited the industrialists, since it provided them with permanent labor. The Peasant Reform supplied the serf owners with both capital and labor.
Speaking briefly about the abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861, it should be noted three basic conditions which Alexander II planned to carry out:
- the complete abolition of serfdom and the liberation of the peasants;
- each peasant was allocated a plot of land, and the amount of the ransom was determined for him;
- the peasant could leave his place of residence only with the permission of the newly formed rural society instead of the rural community;
To resolve pressing issues and fulfill obligations to fulfill duties and pay ransom, peasants on landowners' estates united into rural societies. To control the relationship between the landowner and rural communities, the Senate appointed peace mediators. The nuance was that peace mediators were appointed from local nobles, who naturally sided with the landowner when resolving controversial issues.
The result of the reform of 1861
The reform of 1861 revealed a whole a number of disadvantages :
- the landowner could move the site of his estate wherever he pleased;
- the landowner could exchange the peasants' plots for his own lands until they were fully redeemed;
- Before the redemption of his allotment, the peasant was not its sovereign owner;
The emergence of rural societies in the year of the abolition of serfdom gave rise to mutual responsibility. Rural communities held meetings or gatherings, at which all peasants were assigned duties to the landowner equally, each peasant being responsible for the other. At rural gatherings, issues about the misdeeds of peasants, problems of paying ransom, etc. were also resolved. The decisions of the meeting were valid if they were adopted by a majority of votes.
- The main part of the ransom was borne by the state. In 1861, the Main Redemption Institution was created.
The main part of the ransom was borne by the state. For the ransom of each peasant, 80% of the total amount was paid, the remaining 20% was paid by the peasant. This amount could be paid in a lump sum or in installments, but most often the peasant worked it off through labor service. On average, a peasant paid the state for about 50 years, paying 6% per annum. At the same time, the peasant paid a ransom for the land, the remaining 20%. On average, the peasant paid off the landowner within 20 years.
The main provisions of the reform of 1861 were not implemented immediately. This process lasted almost three decades.
Liberal reforms of the 60-70s of the 19th century.
Towards liberal reforms Russian empire came with an unusually neglected local economy: roads between villages were washed away in spring and autumn, there was no basic hygiene in the villages, not to mention medical care, epidemics mowed down the peasants. Education was in its infancy. The government did not have money to revive villages, so a decision was made to reform local governments.
Rice. 2. First pancake. V. Pchelin.
- On January 1, 1864, the zemstvo reform was carried out. Zemstvo represented local authority authorities, who took charge of the construction of roads, the organization of schools, the construction of hospitals, churches, etc. An important point was the organization of assistance to the population that suffered from crop failure. To solve especially important tasks The zemstvo could impose a special tax on the population. The administrative bodies of the zemstvos were provincial and district assemblies, and the executive bodies were provincial and district councils. Elections to the zemstvos were held once every three years. Three congresses met for elections. The first congress consisted of landowners, the second congress was recruited from city property owners, the third congress included elected peasants from volost rural assemblies.
Rice. 3. The zemstvo is having lunch.
- The next date for the judicial reforms of Alexander II was the reform of 1864. The court in Russia became public, open and public. The main prosecutor was the prosecutor, the defendant had his own defense lawyer. However, the main innovation was the introduction of a jury of 12 people at the trial. After the judicial debate, they rendered their verdict - “guilty” or “not guilty.” The jurors were recruited from men of all classes. The justice of the peace dealt with minor cases.
- In 1874, a reform was carried out in the army. By decree of D. A. Milyutin, recruitment was abolished. Russian citizens who reached the age of 20 lei were subject to compulsory military service. The period of service in the infantry was 6 years, the period of service in the navy was 7 years.
The abolition of conscription contributed to the great popularity of Alexander II among the peasantry.
The significance of the reforms of Alexander II
Noting all the pros and cons of the reforms of Alexander II, it should be noted that they contributed to the growth of the country's productive forces, the development of moral consciousness among the population, improving the quality of life of peasants in villages and the spread of primary education among peasants. It should be noted that the growth of industrial growth and positive development Agriculture.
At the same time, the reforms did not affect the upper echelons of power at all; remnants of serfdom remained in local government; landowners enjoyed the support of noble intermediaries in disputes and openly deceived peasants when allocating plots. However, we should not forget that these were only the first steps towards a new capitalist stage of development.
What have we learned?
Liberal reforms studied in the history of Russia (grade 8) generally had positive results. Thanks to the abolition of serfdom, the remnants of the feudal system were finally eliminated, but before the final formation of the capitalist system, like developed Western countries it was still very far away.
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