That February 19, 1861. Literary and historical notes of a young technician

The reign of Alexander the Second (1856-1881) went down in history as a period of “great reforms”. Largely thanks to the emperor, serfdom was abolished in Russia in 1861 - an event that, of course, is his main achievement, which played a large role in the future development of the state.

Prerequisites for the abolition of serfdom

In 1856-1857, a number of southern provinces were rocked by peasant unrest, which, however, subsided very quickly. But, nevertheless, they served as a reminder to the ruling authorities that the situation in which the common people find themselves could ultimately result in dire consequences for them.

In addition, the current serfdom significantly slowed down the progress of the country's development. The axiom that free labor is more effective than forced labor was fully demonstrated: Russia lagged significantly behind Western states both in the economy and in the socio-political sphere. This threatened that the previously created image of a powerful power could simply dissolve, and the country would become secondary. Not to mention that serfdom was very similar to slavery.

By the end of the 50s, more than a third of the country's 62 million population lived completely dependent on their owners. Russia urgently needed peasant reform. 1861 was supposed to be a year of serious changes, which had to be carried out so that they could not shake the established foundations of the autocracy, and the nobility retained its dominant position. Therefore, the process of abolishing serfdom required careful analysis and elaboration, and this was already problematic due to the imperfect state apparatus.

Necessary steps for the coming changes

The abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861 was supposed to seriously affect the foundations of life of the huge country.

However, if in states living according to the constitution, before carrying out any reforms, they are worked out in the ministries and discussed in the government, after which the finished reform projects are submitted to parliament, which makes the final verdict, then in Russia there are no ministries or a representative body existed. And serfdom was legalized at the state level. Alexander II could not abolish it single-handedly, since this would violate the rights of the nobility, which is the basis of the autocracy.

Therefore, in order to promote the reform in the country, it was necessary to deliberately create an entire apparatus specifically dedicated to the abolition of serfdom. It was intended to consist of locally organized institutions whose proposals were to be submitted and processed by a central committee, which in turn would be controlled by the monarch.

Since in the light of the upcoming changes it was the landowners who lost the most, the best solution for Alexander II would have been if the initiative to free the peasants had come from the nobles. Soon such a moment came up.

"Rescript to Nazimov"

In the mid-autumn of 1857, General Vladimir Ivanovich Nazimov, the governor from Lithuania, arrived in St. Petersburg, who brought with him a petition to grant him and the governors of the Kovno and Grodno provinces the right to free their serfs, but without giving them land.

In response, Alexander II sent a rescript (personal imperial letter) to Nazimov, in which he instructed local landowners to organize provincial committees. Their task was to develop their own options for future peasant reform. At the same time, in the message the king gave his recommendations:

• Granting complete freedom to serfs.
• All land plots must remain with the landowners, with ownership rights retained.
• Providing the opportunity for freed peasants to receive land plots subject to payment of quitrent or working off corvee.
• Give peasants the opportunity to buy back their estates.

Soon the rescript appeared in print, which gave impetus to a general discussion of the issue of serfdom.

Creation of committees

At the very beginning of 1857, the emperor, following his plan, created a secret committee on the peasant question, which secretly worked on developing a reform to abolish serfdom. But only after the “rescript to Nazimov” became public knowledge did the institution become fully operational. In February 1958, all secrecy was removed from it, renaming it the Main Committee for Peasant Affairs, headed by Prince A.F. Orlov.

Under him, Editorial Commissions were created, which reviewed projects submitted by provincial committees, and on the basis of the collected data, an all-Russian version of the future reform was created.

Member of the State Council, General Ya.I., was appointed chairman of these commissions. Rostovtsev, who fully supported the idea of ​​abolishing serfdom.

Controversies and work done

During the work on the project, there were serious contradictions between the Main Committee and the majority of provincial landowners. Thus, the landowners insisted that the emancipation of the peasants should be limited only to the provision of freedom, and the land could be assigned to them only on a lease basis without redemption. The Committee wanted to give former serfs the opportunity to purchase land, becoming full owners.

In 1860, Rostovtsev died, and therefore Alexander II appointed Count V.N. as head of the Editorial Commissions. Panin, who, by the way, was considered an opponent of the abolition of serfdom. Being an unquestioning executor of the royal will, he was forced to complete the reform project.

In October, the work of the Editorial Commissions was completed. In total, provincial committees submitted for consideration 82 projects for the abolition of serfdom, occupying 32 printed volumes. The result was submitted for consideration to the State Council, and after its acceptance was presented to the Tsar for certification. After familiarization, he signed the corresponding Manifesto and Regulations. February 19, 1861 became the official day of the abolition of serfdom.

The main provisions of the manifesto of February 19, 1861

The main provisions of the document were as follows:

• The serf peasants of the empire received complete personal independence; they were now called “free rural inhabitants.”
• From now on (that is, from February 19, 1861), serfs were considered full citizens of the country with the appropriate rights.
• All movable peasant property, as well as houses and buildings, were recognized as their property.
• The landowners retained the rights to their lands, but at the same time they had to provide the peasants with household plots as well as field plots.
• For the use of land plots, peasants had to pay a ransom both directly to the owner of the territory and to the state.

Necessary compromise of reform

The new changes could not satisfy the wishes of all concerned. The peasants themselves were dissatisfied. First of all, the conditions under which they were provided with land, which, in fact, was the main means of subsistence. Therefore, the reforms of Alexander II, or rather, some of their provisions, are ambiguous.

Thus, according to the Manifesto, the largest and smallest sizes of land plots per capita were established throughout Russia, depending on the natural and economic characteristics of the regions.

It was assumed that if the peasant plot was smaller in size than established by the document, then this obliged the landowner to add the missing area. If they are large, then, on the contrary, cut off the excess and, as a rule, the best part of the allotment.

Norms of allotments provided

The manifesto of February 19, 1861 divided the European part of the country into three parts: steppe, black earth and non-black earth.

• The norm of land plots for the steppe part is from six and a half to twelve dessiatines.
• The norm for the black earth strip was from three to four and a half dessiatines.
• For the non-chernozem zone - from three and a quarter to eight dessiatines.

In the whole country, the allotment area became smaller than it was before the changes, thus, the peasant reform of 1861 deprived the “liberated” of more than 20% of the area of ​​cultivated land.

Conditions for transferring land ownership

According to the reform of 1861, land was provided to peasants not for ownership, but only for use. But they had the opportunity to buy it from the owner, that is, to conclude a so-called buyout deal. Until that moment, they were considered temporarily obligated, and for the use of land they had to work corvée, which amounted to no more than 40 days a year for men and 30 for women. Or pay a quitrent, the amount of which for the highest allotment ranged from 8-12 rubles, and when assigning a tax, the fertility of the land was necessarily taken into account. At the same time, those temporarily obliged did not have the right to simply refuse the allotment provided, that is, they would still have to work off the corvee.

After completing the redemption transaction, the peasant became the full owner of the land plot.

And the state did not lose out

Since February 19, 1861, thanks to the Manifesto, the state had the opportunity to replenish the treasury. This income item was opened due to the formula by which the amount of the redemption payment was calculated.

The amount that the peasant had to pay for the land was equal to the so-called conditional capital, which was deposited in the State Bank at 6% per annum. And these percentages were equal to the income that the landowner previously received from quitrent.

That is, if a landowner had 10 rubles in quitrent per soul per year, then the calculation was made according to the formula: 10 rubles divided by 6 (interest on capital), and then multiplied by 100 (total interest) - (10/6) x 100 = 166.7.

Thus, the total amount of the quitrent was 166 rubles 70 kopecks - money “unaffordable” for a former serf. But here the state entered into a deal: the peasant had to pay the landowner at a time only 20% of the calculated price. The remaining 80% was contributed by the state, but not just like that, but by providing a long-term loan with a repayment period of 49 years and 5 months.

Now the peasant had to pay the State Bank annually 6% of the redemption payment. It turned out that the amount that the former serf had to contribute to the treasury was three times the loan. In fact, February 19, 1861 became the date when a former serf, having escaped from one bondage, fell into another. And this despite the fact that the size of the ransom amount itself exceeded the market value of the plot.

Results of changes

The reform adopted on February 19, 1861 (the abolition of serfdom), despite its shortcomings, gave a fundamental impetus to the development of the country. 23 million people received freedom, which led to a serious transformation in the social structure of Russian society, and subsequently revealed the need to transform the entire political system of the country.

The timely release of the Manifesto on February 19, 1861, the preconditions of which could lead to serious regression, became a stimulating factor for the development of capitalism in the Russian state. Thus, the eradication of serfdom is undoubtedly one of the central events in the history of the country.

March 3 (February 19, O.S.), 1861 - Alexander II signed the Manifesto “On the most merciful granting to serfs of the rights of free rural inhabitants” and the Regulations on peasants emerging from serfdom, which consisted of 17 legislative acts. On the basis of these documents, peasants received personal freedom and the right to dispose of their property.

The manifesto was timed to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the emperor's accession to the throne (1855).

Even during the reign of Nicholas I, a large amount of preparatory material was collected for carrying out the peasant reform. Serfdom during the reign of Nicholas I remained unshakable, but significant experience was accumulated in solving the peasant question, which his son Alexander II, who ascended the throne in 1855, could later rely on.

At the beginning of 1857, a Secret Committee was established to prepare peasant reform. The government then decided to make its intentions known to the public, and the Secret Committee was renamed the Main Committee. The nobility of all regions had to create provincial committees to develop peasant reform. At the beginning of 1859, Editorial Commissions were created to process draft reforms of the noble committees. In September 1860, the draft reform developed was discussed by deputies sent by noble committees, and then transferred to the highest government bodies.

In mid-February 1861, the Regulations on the Liberation of Peasants were considered and approved by the State Council. On March 3 (February 19, old style), 1861, Alexander II signed the manifesto “On the most merciful granting to serfs of the rights of free rural inhabitants.” The final words of the historical Manifesto were: “Sign yourself with the sign of the cross, Orthodox people, and call upon us God’s blessing on your free labor, the guarantee of your home well-being and the good of society.” The manifesto was announced in both capitals on a major religious holiday - Forgiveness Sunday, and in other cities - in the week closest to it.

According to the Manifesto, peasants were granted civil rights - freedom to marry, independently conclude contracts and conduct court cases, acquire real estate in their own name, etc.

Land could be purchased by both the community and individual peasants. The land allocated to the community was for collective use, therefore, with the transition to another class or another community, the peasant lost the right to the “secular land” of his former community.

The enthusiasm with which the release of the Manifesto was greeted soon gave way to disappointment. The former serfs expected complete freedom and were dissatisfied with the transitional state of the “temporarily obliged”. Believing that the true meaning of the reform was being hidden from them, the peasants rebelled, demanding liberation with land. Troops were used to suppress the largest uprisings, accompanied by the seizure of power, as in the villages of Bezdna (Kazan province) and Kandeevka (Penza province). In total, more than two thousand performances were recorded. However, by the summer of 1861, the unrest began to subside.

Initially, the period of stay in a temporary state was not established, so the peasants delayed the transition to redemption. By 1881, approximately 15% of such peasants remained. Then a law was passed on the mandatory transition to buyout within two years. During this period, redemption transactions had to be concluded or the right to land plots would be lost. In 1883, the category of temporarily obliged peasants disappeared. Some of them executed redemption transactions, some lost their land.

The peasant reform of 1861 was of great historical significance. It opened up new prospects for Russia, creating an opportunity for the broad development of market relations. The abolition of serfdom paved the way for other major transformations aimed at creating a civil society in Russia.

For this reform, Alexander II began to be called Tsar the Liberator.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

The cherished dream of the serf owners was to bury the reform one way or another. But Alexander II showed extraordinary persistence. At the most crucial moment, he appointed his brother Konstantin Nikolaevich, a supporter of liberal measures, as chairman of the Main Committee for Peasant Affairs. At the last meeting of the Committee and in the State Council, the reform was defended by the tsar himself. On February 19, 1861, on the sixth anniversary of his accession to the throne, Alexander II signed all the reform laws and the manifesto on the abolition of serfdom. Because the government feared popular unrest, the publication of the documents was delayed for two weeks to take precautionary measures. On March 5, 1861, the manifesto was read in churches after mass. At the divorce ceremony in the Mikhailovsky Manege, Alexander himself lamented it to the troops. This is how serfdom fell in Russia. "Regulations of February 19, 1861." extended to 45 provinces of European Russia, in which there were 22,563 thousand serfs of both sexes, including 1,467 thousand household servants and 543 thousand assigned to private factories.

The elimination of feudal relations in the countryside was not a one-time act of 1861, but a long process stretching over several decades. The peasants did not receive complete liberation immediately after the promulgation of the Manifesto and the “Regulations of February 19, 1861.” The Manifesto announced that peasants for two years (until February 19, 1863) were obliged to serve the same duties as under serfdom. Only the so-called additional taxes (eggs, oil, flax, linen, wool, etc.) were abolished, corvee was limited to 2 women's and 3 men's days per week per week, underwater conscription was slightly reduced, the transfer of peasants from quitrent to corvee and to courtyards. But even after 1863, the peasants for a long time were in the position of “temporarily obligated,” that is, they continued to bear feudal duties regulated by the “Regulations”: paying quitrent or performing corvée. The final act in the liquidation of feudal relations was the transfer of peasants for ransom.

Liberation of the peasants.

From the moment the laws were published on February 19, 1861, landowner peasants ceased to be considered property - from now on they could not be sold, bought, given, or resettled at the will of the owners. The government declared the former serfs “free rural inhabitants” and granted them civil rights - freedom to marry, independently conclude contracts and conduct legal cases, acquire real estate in their own name, etc.

The peasants of each landowner's estate united into rural societies. They discussed and resolved their general economic issues at village meetings. The village headman, elected for three years, had to carry out the decisions of the assemblies. Several adjacent rural communities made up the volost. Village elders and elected officials from rural societies participated in the volost assembly. At this meeting, the volost elder was elected. He performed police and administrative duties.

The activities of rural and volost administrations, as well as the relationship between peasants and landowners, were controlled by global intermediaries. They were called the Senate from among the local noble landowners. Peace mediators had broad powers. But the administration could not use peace mediators for its own purposes. They were not subordinate to either the governor or the minister and did not have to follow their instructions. They had to follow only the instructions of the law.

All land on the estate was recognized as the property of the landowner, including that which was in the use of the peasants. For the use of their plots, free peasants personally had to select corvee or pay quitrent. The law recognized this condition as temporary. Therefore, personally free peasants bearing duties in favor of the landowner were called “temporarily obligated.”

The size of the peasant allotment and duties for each estate should have been determined once and for all by agreement between the peasants and the landowner and recorded in the charter. The introduction of these charters was the main activity of the peace mediators.

The permissible scope of agreements between peasants and landowners was outlined in the law. Kavelin, as we remember, proposed to leave all the lands for the peasants, proposed to leave for the peasants all the lands that they used under serfdom. The landowners of the non-Black Sea provinces did not object to this. In the Black Sea provinces they protested furiously. Therefore, the law drew a line between non-chernozem and chernozem provinces. Non-black soil peasants still had almost the same amount of land in use as before. In the black soil, under pressure from the serf owners, a greatly reduced per capita allotment was introduced. When recalculating such an allotment (in some provinces, for example Kursk, it dropped to 2.5 dessiatines), “extra” land was cut off from peasant societies. Where the peace mediator acted in bad faith, including the cut-off lands, the lands needed by the peasants were found - cattle runs, meadows, watering places. For additional duties, the peasants were forced to rent these lands from the landowners.

Sooner or later, the government believed, the “temporarily obligated” relationship would end and the peasants and landowners would conclude a buyout deal - for each estate. According to the law, peasants had to pay the landowner a lump sum for their allotment about a fifth of the stipulated amount. The rest was paid by the government. But the peasants had to return this amount to him (with interest) in annual payments for 49 years.

Fearing that peasants would not want to pay big money for bad plots and would run away, the government introduced a number of severe restrictions. While redemption payments were being made, the peasant could not refuse the allotment and leave his village forever without the consent of the village assembly.

Of course, this was not the kind of reform the peasants expected. Having heard enough about the approaching “freedom,” they received the news with surprise and indignation that they must continue to serve corvée and pay quitrent. Suspicions crept into their minds as to whether the manifesto they were read was genuine, whether the landowners, in agreement with the priests, had hidden the “real will.” Reports of peasant riots came from all provinces of European Russia. Troops were sent to suppress.

The reform did not turn out the way Kavelin, Herzen and Chernyshevsky dreamed of seeing it. Built on difficult compromises, it took into account the interests of the landowners much more than the peasants, and had a very short “time resource” - no more than 20 years. Then the need for new reforms in the same direction should have arisen.

And yet the peasant reform of 1861 was of enormous historical significance. It opened up new prospects for Russia, creating an opportunity for the broad development of market relations. The country has confidently embarked on the path of capitalist development. A new era in its history has begun.

The moral significance of this reform, which ended serfdom, was also great. Its abolition paved the way for other important transformations, which were supposed to introduce modern forms of self-government and justice in the country, and push the development of education. Now that all Russians have become free, the question of the constitution has arisen in a new way. Its introduction became the immediate goal on the path to a rule of law state - a state governed by citizens in accordance with the law and every citizen has reliable protection in it.

He signed the manifesto “On the most merciful granting of the rights of free rural inhabitants to serfs” and the Regulations on peasants emerging from serfdom, which consisted of 17 legislative acts. On the basis of these documents, peasants received personal freedom and the right to dispose of their property.

In January 1858, the Secret Committee was renamed the Main Committee for the Organization of the Rural Population. It consisted of 12 senior royal dignitaries chaired by the king. Two editorial commissions arose under the committee, which were entrusted with the responsibility of collecting and systematizing the opinions of provincial committees (in fact, one worked under the leadership of General Ya. I. Rostovtsev). The draft “Regulations on Peasants”, prepared in the summer of 1859, underwent many changes and clarifications during discussions.

The documents signed by the emperor on February 19 (March 3), 1861, caused a mixed reaction in all segments of the population, since the transformations were half-hearted.

According to the Manifesto, peasants were granted civil rights - freedom to marry, independently conclude contracts and conduct court cases, and acquire real estate in their own name.

The peasantry was granted legal freedom, but the land was declared the property of the landowners. For the allocated plots (cut by an average of 20%), peasants in the position of “temporarily obliged” bore duties in favor of the landowners, which were practically no different from the previous serfs. The allocation of land to peasants and the procedure for carrying out duties were determined by voluntary agreement between landowners and peasants.

To purchase land, peasants were provided with benefits in the form of a loan. Land could be purchased by both the community and individual peasants. The land allocated to the community was for collective use, therefore, with the transition to another class or another community, the peasant lost the right to the “worldly land” of his former community.

The enthusiasm with which the release of the Manifesto was greeted soon gave way to disappointment. The former serfs expected complete freedom and were dissatisfied with the transitional state of the “temporarily obliged”. Believing that the true meaning of the reform was being hidden from them, the peasants rebelled, demanding liberation with land. Troops were used to suppress the largest uprisings, accompanied by the seizure of power, as in the villages of Bezdna (Kazan province) and Kandeevka (Penza province).

Despite this, the peasant reform of 1861 was of great historical significance. It opened up new prospects for Russia, creating an opportunity for the broad development of market relations. The abolition of serfdom paved the way for other major transformations aimed at creating a civil society in Russia.