Emancipation Edict, 1861

Emancipation Edict, 1861

• In 1855-59, Alexander II set off on a tour of the countryside making speeches to nobles to gain support for emancipation of the serfs.
• The process was complex, involving thousands of officials and committees.
• Main issues debated were how much land to give the emancipated serfs, and who would pay for the emancipation- how much would it cost?
• The basic aim of emancipation was to satisfy serfs and landowners alike.

Serfs

• Supposedly, serfs would be able to:
• Marry freely
• Travel freely
• Vote freely
• Trade freely
• however, this was not what happened

Serfs 2

• They had to buy their land through redemption payments, which many couldn't afford, and took up to 49 years to pay off.
• Peasants weren't allowed to travel until they had paid their redemption payments, and even after this, ad to get permisiion from the Mir to leave.
• There was a 2 year period of 'temporary obligation' before freedom was granted, during which the land allocations were worked out.
• Even by 1881, 15% of serfs remained 'temporarily obligated' to their landlords as they could not afford to start their redemption payments.
• Peasants had less land than before- some received land that did not produce much food, so they could not eat or pay redemption payments.
• Landowners were given more than market values for the land, so peasants paying for the land had to pay more than it was worth.
• The landowners would often keep the best part of the land for themselves (they kept up to 2/3 of their land).