1. Peasant Life and the Emancipation of 1861
Shannon Parker, Hailey Ensor
ENGL 300

2. What are Peasants?
A person who lives in the country and works on the land as a smallholder or a laborer
A member of an agricultural class dependent on farming
Peasants -vs- serfs S

3. Serfs and Russia
The peasants of Russia became one of the most well-known cases of serfdom until the 1860s.
The fifteenth century was the start of Russia’s formal system of the serfs.
Civil War ( ) caused most of Russia to be destroyed.
Under Peter I about half of the peasants were serfs.
40% consider to be state peasants (owed labor and military service)
Legal Code of 1649:
Granted authority for the landowner to control the serfs. S

4. Categories of Serfs
According to Jerome Blum’s Lord and Peasants in Russia, there are three categories to serfdom:
Serfs were bound to the land and could not be moved by any lord.
Some serfs were bound to their lord with similar conditions to slavery. The lord could move the serfs anywhere he wanted to.
The serfs were not a direct subject to the state. The serf was to the lord that was consider to be a subject to the state. S

5. Serfdom Vs. Slavery
Some shocking similarities. S

6. Serfs and Land-Bound: Reality of Serfdom
Serfs were denied the right to move.
The serfs could never make enough money to repay their landowners.
The debt was passed down to their kids.
Under serfdom, peasants had to repay their landowners- redemption payments for 49 years.
Laws were placed to limit the power of the landlords- the land was still theirs though, so they did as they pleased.
A landlord could transfer a serf to another landlord, send them into exile, or send them to serve in the army. H

7. Tsar Alexander II A brief review of who Tsar Alexander II was...
“The existing condition of owning souls cannot remain unchanged. It is better to begin to destroyed serfdom from above then to wait until that time when it begins to destroy below.” H

8. Emancipation of 1861 Why did it take so long?
Emancipated about 20 million serfs from their landlords.
Transition from feudal to capitalist economy- Bolsheviks, Vladimir Lenin, “Peace, Land and Bread”
The new tsar was afraid of a peasant uprising after the Crimean War.
Freed serfs lived in communities. H

9. Issues After the Emancipation
Economic Pressures:
Peasant communities had to pay the government for the plots of land they had received after the emancipation.
In order to pay the annual redemption payments, the men were sent by the village to work in cities
The peasants were angry.
Caused the end of the Tsarist system H

10. Tolstoy and The Emancipation of Serfdom
Tolstoy wrote Anna Karenina between 1873 and 1877
Levin and the peasants--resentment
Sviyazhsky- educate the serfs
Levin- work with the serfs
Old-fashioned guy- threaten them (sticks)
City people- leave them in the country, separate from society H

11. Works Cited
Lynch, Michael. “The Emancipation of the Russian Serfs, 1861: A Charter of Freedom or an Act of Betrayal.” History Today. December Web. 03 February 2017.
“Peasant, n.1.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, December Web. 03 February 2017.
"Russian Serfs, Emancipation of The." Chambers Dictionary of World History, edited by Lenman , Bruce and Hilary Marsden, Chambers Harrap, Credo Reference, Accessed 01 Feb 2017.
"Serfdom." Greenwood Encyclopedia of International Relations, Cathal J. Nolan, ABC-CLIO, Credo Reference, Fabcintrel%2Fserfdom%2F0. Accessed 03 Feb 2017.
Shelton, Anita, and Alexander Mikaberidze. "Serfdom in Eastern Europe and Russia." World History Encyclopedia, Alfred J. Andrea, ABC-CLIO, Credo Reference, Fabccliow%2Fserfdom_in_eastern_europe_and_russia%2F0. Accessed 03 Feb 2017.