In Russia, serfdom was a system under which the peasants were theoretically free tenants, but were actually in a state of vassalage to, and dependence on, the landowners. Russian peasants were a completely separate class from the landowners and nobility, many of whom must have considered their underlings less than human. Some people condemn feudalism, stating that it was a corrupt system of labor as it exploited serfs, but without the use of the serfs, the entire economy of Europe would have suffered. Serfs were the foundation of the economic structure because they provided labor and goods to the entire kingdom. Serfdom influenced the Russian way of life and culture. The actual system set up in place for serfs goes more in-depth than just
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Liberation meant diverse things in dissimilar countries; in the Russian Empire, it meant peasant emancipation from serfdom. Although the argument seldom came out in open publications, peasants, policymakers, and political economists all progressed the debate about peasant liberation (Confronting Serfdom in the Age of Revolution). The documentation that exists in plans for legal restructuring, in peasant grievances, and in economic treatises, determines that by the end of the first quarter of the 19th century most of the key elements of the eventual emancipation legislation had been scrutinized. Alexander II “The Liberator” inherited a political landscape inured by six decades of semi public conversation of how emancipation could be attained and a state bureaucracy that had vetted a number of outlines for full emancipation and assimilated the lessons of numerous partial reforms. During the first half of the 19th century, slight enhancements were made in the standing of some of the peasants, but not until The Peasant Reform of 1861, under Alexander II’s rule, did Russia free her bondsmen. The first major liberal reform in Russia, it freed nearly 23 million serfs to marry without consent and to own business and property (Russia European Context). In the short term, emancipation had a positive impression on Russia, and Russian economic growth ran at an average of 4.6% between 1860 and 1900, speeding up over the years (History of Russia). The serfs’ transformation in status also steered to a much more vibrant commercial market in Russia, as serfs were at liberty to make more purchasing decisions on their own (History of
Liberation meant diverse things in dissimilar countries; in the Russian Empire, it meant peasant emancipation from serfdom. Although the argument seldom came out in open publications, peasants, policymakers, and political economists all progressed the debate about peasant liberation (Confronting Serfdom in the Age of Revolution). The documentation that exists in plans for legal restructuring, in peasant grievances, and in economic treatises, determines that by the end of the first quarter of the 19th century most of the key elements of the eventual emancipation legislation had been scrutinized. Alexander II “The Liberator” inherited a political landscape inured by six decades of semi public conversation of how emancipation could be attained and a state bureaucracy that had vetted a number of outlines for full emancipation and assimilated the lessons of numerous partial reforms. During the first half of the 19th century, slight enhancements were made in the standing of some of the peasants, but not until The Peasant Reform of 1861, under Alexander II’s rule, did Russia free her bondsmen. The first major liberal reform in Russia, it freed nearly 23 million serfs to marry without consent and to own business and property (Russia European Context). In the short term, emancipation had a positive impression on Russia, and Russian economic growth ran at an average of 4.6% between 1860 and 1900, speeding up over the years (History of Russia). The serfs’ transformation in status also steered to a much more vibrant commercial market in Russia, as serfs were at liberty to make more purchasing decisions on their own (History of