Alexander III's Peasant Life

Peasant life also improved under Alexander III, who in 1882 established the Peasant Land Bank to help peasants buy additional land from the nobles. Which mitigated some of the financial burden faced by the peasantry after the emancipation of 1861 and diminished distress and unrest in the countryside. Polunov asserts Nikolai Bunge is credited with the founding of “a Peasant Land Bank, on May 18, 1882”, however, it's likely Alexander III would receive the credit even if he was not at the forefront of the movement. As Goodson claims “Alexander III established the Peasant Land Bank” which further shows how Alexander III wanted to portray himself as someone who cared for the peasants. Nicholas II perpetuated such reforms sanctioning state and crown …show more content…
A quote from a peasant woman in the reign of Alexander II illustrates how the peasants were heavily taxed “O, wretched is our life, little our land, great are our taxes, and we do not know what to do”. The raised taxation made many peasants destitute, along with the poll tax which, according to Kotsonis, “remained the largest single direct tax, and by now it fell exclusively on peasants”. Alexander efficaciously made the peasants situation worse than when they were under serfdom. Leontovitsch deeply supports this suggesting that peasants had financial burdens after the emancipation as “Immediately after the emancipation, taxes and redemption payments were higher than the income that could be derived from the allotment land”. This can be viewed as superficial, Alexander II sought change, in his coronation Manifesto he planned reform, Karesh and Hurvitz state “Many poor people in Russia benefited: back taxes were cancelled, tax exemptions granted, better distribution of poll tax announced”. Lieven backs this view of Alexander declaring “urban residents paid more in taxation during this period, but the rural population saw