Russian/Ukranian Peasantry


Figure 1.--Here we see some Russian peasant children. We are not sure where or when this photograph was taken, but would guess about the early 1900s before World War I (1914-18). We are also not sure what the building in the background is. We wonder if it is not a school. Note in addition to the children in the foreground there are two mothers with infants in the background. The photograph comes from a biography about a Soviet Military commander during World War II. Unfortunately the caption say nothing as to the location of the photograph.

Nowhere was the NEP more successful than in the countryside. As a result of the Revolution, the Bolshevicks had given the long-suffering peasantry actual ownweship of their land. Serfdom was ended by Tsar Alexander II, the liberator Tsar, (1861). Even so the peasantry continued to be exploited laboring on huge rural estates owned by aristocrats. The Bloshevicks and desering soldiers had disposed of the landlaords, often brutally, if they had not fled. The NEP had in essence granted the Soviet peasant economic freedom. The NEP essentially gave the peasant in large measure the right to sell his crop as he saw fit. Here there were limitations with both priceing and taxing policies, but during the 1920s the Soviet peasantry under the NEP experienced considerable propsperity and Soviet agricultural production reached impressive levels. The land and the wealth produced from it was in the hands of the person who tilled it. [Conquest, p. 13.]

Serfdom

Serfdom, the Russian form of feudalism, played a major role in Russian life through the 19th century when it was abolished. Serfdom was more humane than American race-based chattle slavery, but serfdom as also a brutal system which tied millions of Russians to the land. Even freed slaves were descriminated against. The influence continued into the 20th century. An assessment of Russian boys' clothing would thus be incomplete withoutan assessment of serfdom. Some Russian boys even in the 19th century look much like European boys. Other Russian boys, especiall serf boys and rural village boys dressed very destinctly.

Emancipation

Serfdom was ended by Tsar Alexander II, the liberator Tsar, (1861). Even so the peasantry continued to be exploited laboring on huge rural estates owned by aristocrats. Tzar Nicholas I refused to act on the issue of serfdom. Alexander II , by contrast was amenable to reform. Alexander's advisers argued that Russia's feudal serf-based economy could not compete with modern industrialized nations such as Britain, France, and Prussia. The Tzar began to consider the end of serfdom in Russia. The Russian nobility feeling their livelihood jeopardized, objected strenuously. Alexander responded, saying "It is better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait for the time when it will begin to abolish itself from below." Alexander in 1861, issued his Emancipation Manifesto. There were 17 legislative acts designed to free the serfs in Russia. Personal serfdom would be abolished and all peasants would be able to buy land. The State would advance the the money to the landlords and would recover it from the peasants in 49 annual sums known as redemption payments. This was necessary because the Crimean War had bankrupted the national treasury while confiscating land from the nobility would have been untenable politically. The action earned him the title of "The Liberator".

Free Peasantry

Emancipation was a major step in Russia. Emancipation didn't in fact bring immediate changes in the condition of the peasants. Emancipation neither freed the peasants from substantial obligations or radically reordered the social and economic constraints placed upon them. The legislative measures accompanying Emancipation delayed the process. Three measures in particular impaired the potential economic self-sufficiency of the peasants. A transition period of 9 years continued peasant obligations to the old land-owners. Large areas of common land were conveyed to important land-owners as otrezki. This made many forests, roads and rivers the property of the land owners and gave them the right to charge access fees. The serfs also were required to pay the land-owner for their parcel of land in a series of redemption payments. These fees were used to compensate the landowners who had been issued bonds. The peasants would repay the funds plus interest to the government over 49 years. The Tsar finally canceled the redemption payments in 1907. Emancipation thus disappointed many peasants. Often in took years to get title to the land. Many serfs were cheated by exorbitant land prices. Historians significantly differ in their assessment of emancipation. Many are very critical. One historian claims that the ukase emancipating the serfs was motivated by "cowardice and by caprice" and for those reasons was not effective. [Ludwig, p.167.] The goal was to the abolition of serfdom would shift the rural economy to individual peasant land owners and the development of a market economy. This goal was also impaired because the serfs were not educated and the land process poorly administered by the reluctant nobility. The uneven application of the legislation also caused problens. The serfs in Congress Poland and northern Russia were left largely landless. Emancipation was more successful in other areas where they became the majority land owners.

Military Service


World War I

Russia entered World War I with a largely peasant army. Unlike the Germans, thevcumbersome Russian system meant that it would take weeks to fully mobilize the army. The Russians dithered, but by 1913 had promissed the French an attack on Germany in strength within 15 days of mobilization. [Keegan, p. 41.] One the Tsar gave the order to mobilize on July 30, it was almost inevitable that Germany would declare war and strike before the Russian Army could fully mobilize. No country suffered more in World War I than Russia. World War I accounts often focus on the British casualties on the Somme or the French and German caualties at Verdun. Russiuan losses were far higher than any other country. Accounts vary. One source suggests that Russia sustained over 9 million caualties, about half of total casualties during the War. Most of these men were peasant conscripts. Their officers showed little concern over their welfare. Many entered battles without weapons. They did not even have gas masks when the Germans began using poison gas. The result after 3 years of dreadful carnage was a social collapse. If the peasantry did not have reason to opose the Tsarist state before the War, the terrible bloodletting irrevocably servered any loyalty to the Tsar.

The Revolution

The Bolsevick pushed the slogan "Peace and Land" when working with the peasantry. Their approach was very non-socialist. They encouraged the peasants to seize the land and supported such operations. This mean essentially small-propritor ownership. the ‘Decree on the Land’ was presented by Lenin and approved by the Second Congress of Soviets on same day the October insurrection was staged. Thus as a result of the Revolution, the Bolshevicks gave the long-suffering peasantry actual ownweship of their land. The Bloshevicks and deserting soldiers had disposed of the landlaords, often brutally, if they had not fled. The Bolshevicks issued the Decree of the Land. This won over the peasantry and peasant support was key for the success of the revolution. [Solzhenitsyn, pp. 55-56.]

New Economic Policy (1921)

Nowhere was the NEP more successful than in the countryside. The NEP had in essence granted the Soviet peasant economic freedom. The NEP essentially gave the peasant in large measure the right to sell his crop as he saw fit. Here there were limitations with both priceing and taxing policies, but during the 1920s the Soviet peasantry under the NEP experienced considerable propsperity and Soviet agricultural production reached impressive levels. The land and the wealth produced from it was in the hands of the person who tilled it. [Conquest, p. 13.]

Stalin's Assault on the Peasantry (1928)

Agricultural production after impressive gains durng the NEP of the 1920s declined in the 1930s. This was in sharp contrast to rising industrial production and wholly the result of Stalin's decession to end individual peasant propretorship (1929-31). We do not fully understand Stalin's thought processes here. There may have been an element of idelogical purity involved. The organization of the collective proved useful in fighting the NAZI invasion. The principal reason, however, appears to be that private proprietors were an independent interest group outside his control and he wanted total control of not only the Sovet state, but of Soviet society as well. The mechanisms used were brutal. Successful peasants were vilified as Kulaks. Most were forced into collectives others were deported to Siberia where many died. Resistance flared. Many peeasants slaughtered their livestock rather than turn it over to the collectives. [Wells, pp. 960-961] The Soviet livestock industry did not recover until well after World War II. Resistance was espcially pronounced in the. and was brutally supressed by the NKVD. The center of resistance was the Ukraine. There a terrible famine not only resulted, but was enginered by Stalin.

Hitler and the NAZIs

Reading the sad history of the Soviet peasantry under Stalin, it is difficult to imagine that anything worse could befall them. Stalin tarketed the peasantry for ideological and political reasons. Unfortunately at the samr time that Stalin unleased the NKVD, deportation, and famine on the country's peasantry, in German Hitler and the NAZIs seized control in Germany. Their idelogy tarketed the Soviet peasantry on biological grounds, because most were Slavs. Hitler's plans were to kills millions of Slavs and replace them with German colonists. The Slavs that were spared would be turn into slave laborers.

Sources

Conquest, Robert. The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine.

Keegan, John. World War I (Knopf: New York, 1999), 475p.

Ludwig, Emil. Bismarck: The Story of a Fighter (Little Brown, Boston, 1927), 661p.

Silzhenitsyn, Aleksandr I. The Gulag Archipelago 1918-56: Ab Experiment in Literary Investigation (Harper & Row: New York, 1973), 660p.







HBC





Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to Main Soviet agriculture page]
[Return to Main Stalinist era page]
[Return to Main Great Patriotic War page]
[About Us]
[Introduction] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Climatology] [Clothing] [Disease and Health] [Economics] [Freedom] [Geography] [History] [Human Nature] [Ideology] [Law]
[Nationalism] [Presidents] [Religion] [Royalty] [Science] [Social Class]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Children in History Home]






Created: 1:10 AM 3/14/2005
Last updated: 1:48 AM 10/25/2006