SERFDOM IN RUSSIA

Peasant Children. painting by Vladimir Makovskiy 1890

Serfdom in Russia was very much like serfdom in the Polish-Lithuanian Confederation, but it developed and ended later in Russia than it did in Poland. Serfs were tied to the land, expected to work a specific number of days for the landlord and allowed to farm some land for themselves. Serfdom in Russia, as in Poland, was not connected to feudalism. It developed in both places because the nobility needed a cheap source of labor to work their large estates.
More about serfdom in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 

"Barge Haulers on the Volga" Ilya Repin, 1870-73.

Muscovite Russia 1533-1682

Serfdom developed during the Muscovite Period, 1533-1682, on foundations which were laid earlier. The practice was the cornerstone of Muscovite agriculture and supported the structure of the state.  No laws were passed regulating serfs in the early days, but the government did limit movement of serfs and required that runaway serfs be returned to the landowner. In 1649 Tsar Alexis issued an Utoshe, a decree that tied peasants to their landlord’s estates, and required their labor. The Utoshe confirmed the idea that once a peasant became a serf, he and his descendants would always be serfs.  In Muscovite Russia, the peasant class included serfs, slaves and state peasants. Peasants could sell themselves into slavery, which happened during hard times.   State peasants worked for the government, not landlords.  As serfdom grew, the distinctions between serfs and slaves disappeared.

Imperial Russia 1682-1914

Peter II, The Great, enlarged Russian territory during his rule.  He put a tax on the male population, and made paying it the responsibility of the landlord.   However, the landlords passed the tax on to the serfs. As a result of this tax, landlords began to think of their serfs as property, which could be bought and sold.

During the rule of Peter’s successors, Catherine I, Anne, and Elizabeth, serfs were forbidden to buy and sell real estate, mills or factories. They could borrow money only with their landlord’s permission. In 1736, laws were enacted that required serfs to get their landlord's permission to leave the estate for temporary employment.   In 1754, serfs were listed in the criminal code as property of the landowner. Since Russian serfs, like serfs in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were attached to the land, when the land was sold, the serfs were included in the sale. However, in Russia individual serfs could be bought and sold.

Russian territory increased during the rule of Catherine II, The Great. as a result of the Partitions of Poland (1772-1795), The population increased by six million people and land by 178,000 sq. miles. Serfdom already existed in the areas of Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth acquired by Russia, and Catherine wanted to expand Russian style serfdom to the new acquired areas. Although Catherine was considered a reformer, her reforms did not improve conditions for the serfs. In 1775, when she reformed local government, the serfs were overlooked. Rights of the landlords were strengthened and they were acknowledged as the full owners of their estates without any restrictions. She gave huge grants of state land and peasants to her supporters and favorites. Serfs were forbidden to leave estates and to remain in their place and calling.  In the Census of 1794-6, 53% of all peasants and 49% of Russia’s population were serfs.

 

Catherine the Great, about the time of the Polish Partition.

Painting by D.G. Levitsky

Russian serfs owned and farmed their own plots, which were larger than the plots of serfs in the Austrian Empire.  They could also sell their surplus crops for a profit.   If they paid a fee, the “Obrok”, to their landlord,  they were allowed  to leave the estate to work elsewhere for wages.  By 1857, 67% of serfs were on the “Obrok.”, which became a source of income for the landlord. One half of Russian peasants were state serfs who paid a tax to the state and were allowed to leave the community to find work. They generally were better off than peasants who were privately owned. Landlords could  take serfs from the land and use them has servants in their house. House serfs did not work the land and had no  plots of land for themselves. 
 

Peasant Children.   Photograph by William Carrick, 1860

It was possible for serfs to become wealthy, but this was not common. Western European travelers in Russia during the 19^th century  noticed that Russian peasants appeared to be better off than peasants in France or Ireland, had larger houses, more farm animals and larger plots. Though some Russian serfs were more prosperous than peasants in other areas of Europe, they lacked  rights enjoyed by peasants in most other European countries.  They had no civil rights and no way to address wrongs inflicted on them by their landowner. They could not leave the landlord's estate without his permission. They could be exiled to Siberia for bad behavior.  Some had to get the lord's permission to marry. They could be bought and sold. Their lives were totally subject to the will of their owner.

Serfdom Ends in Russia

Attitudes toward serfdom began to change during the 19^th century. Many Russians believed that serfdom was inhumane and should be done away with. The Crimean War showed that  there problems in Russian society and changes were necessary.  In 1856, Tsar Alexander II said “Better to abolish serfdom from above than wait until it abolishes itself from below.” When he came to the throne in 1858, 37% of all Russians were serfs.  

"Reading the Manifesto." painting by Boris Kustodiev, 1907

Tsar Alexander II

Serfdom was abolished on February 19, 1861 by a decree issued by Tsar Alexander II.
The serf was now free and owned his land.  The provisions of the emancipation were designed to protect the interests of the landlords as well as those of the peasants.  The landlord retained about half of estate’s land, the peasants received the other half.  The average size of peasant plots was about 27 acres in the Russian Empire, 18 acres in the parts of Ukraine, which were acquired in the Partitions of Poland. The landlords were compensated by the sale of government treasury bonds, which were to be paid for by  the  former serfs over a period of 49 years.   The former serfs continued to pay the head tax, even though it was no longer paid by other Russians.
 

"Harvesting" painting by G. Myasoyedov 1887

The emancipation benefited the landlords more than the peasants. Serfs received land, but not enough. Their new land allotment was 10% to 40% smaller than what they had before emancipation, depending on where in Russia they lived. In most areas, the land was given to the village commune (Mir), not to individual peasants.  The Mir divided the land and paid the taxes. Peasants were free, but still had restrictions on their movement. They were still tied to their communes, they were judged by customary law.  Only serfs who worked the land received land, household serfs got nothing.   State peasants received larger land grants and fared better than peasants on the land of private owners.  Peasants in Ukraine, which came to Russia in the Polish Partitions, did not have a tradition of communes,  the land was owned by individuals, so they continued to own their own plots. 
 

Peasant Girls. photo by Prokudin-Gorsky, Library of Congress.

Emancipation was a compromise, serfs had freedom, but not full equality.  They had land, but not enough.  Many were dependent on their former landlords.  Unlike  the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, where free public education was provided for former serfs, no provisions were made their education in Russia. Unable to better themselves in Russia, many chose to leave and immigrate to the United States, Canada and the countries of South America.

Sources:
The Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, www.encyclopediaofukraine.com
Conquest, Robert, The Harvest of Sorrrow, New York, 1986.
Pipes, Richard, Russia Under the Old Regime, New York, 1974.
Plokhy, Serhii, The Gates of Europe, New York, 2015.
Riasanovsky, Nicholas, A History of Russia, New York, 1963.
Subtelny, Orest, Ukraine, A History, Toronto, 1988.   

The Partitions of Poland, The Pale and The Shtetl

Catherine II of Russia, Joseph II of Austria and Frederick the Great of Prussia decide how to cut up Poland.

This story starts with secret pacts which change the map of Europe and ends with the First World War.  The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, was a huge state of over one million km in Central and Eastern Europe established in 1569 by the Union of Lublin.  It was ruled by an hereditary nobility, which elected its King. By the middle of the 18th century, it was weakened by  many years of war and  controlled by Russia. In 1730, the rulers of Austria, Prussia and Russia signed a secret pact to maintain Polaand's status, keeping it weak.  They also decided how to divide the Commonwealth up at some future time.

 The Partitions of Poland

In August 1772, Austrian, Prussian and Russian armies invaded Poland and took over 30% of its land, according the the agreement of 1730.  Although the Poles fought back, they lost, and a treaty was signed on September 22, 1792.  Prussia took parts of Northern Poland, enlarging its eastern territories.  Austria gained all of Galicia and other sections of "lesser Poland."  Russia, the strongest power, took over Belarus and a part of northeast Poland known as Livonia. Poland still existed, but was significantly weakened by the First Partition.

The Second Partition, in 1773, Russia and Prussia took more Polish land, leaving only one third of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Austria did not participate in this partition. 

In 1795,  the  Third Partition, Poland disappeared from the map of Europe.  In total, Russia now controlled 66% of Poland, Prussia 19% and Austria 14.5%.  Russia was the dominant power in Central and Eastern Europe, a quest started by Peter the Great and completed by Catherine II, also called The Great. 

The effects of the Partitions were enormous.  Poland disappeared as a country for 123 years.  Prussia was on its way to becoming a major European power.  Austria, the weakest power of the three, was now the ruler of many  competing ethnic groups, one of many factors that would lead to its end in the First World War.  Russia was now the ruler of many non-Russian people, including one million Jews.  Many Polish Jews  found themselves living in Russia which was not as tolerant or understanding of their religion or culture as Poland. 

The Pale of Jewish Settlement

"Pale" is and English term which originally referred to the lands of the "Wild Irish", which were considered to be "Beyond the Pale" during the time when the English were settling Northern Ireland with English and Scottish people in the 17th century during the rule of James I. 

In Russia,  The Pale was the area where the Jewish population was required to live. The Pale was over one million square km, and included  all of Lithuania Belarus, and Moldava  and parts of  Poland and Ukraine. 

Before the First Partition of Poland, there was a very small Jewish population in Russia.  The Russian way of dealing with Jews was to force them to convert to the Russian Orthodox religion or leave.  The Russian Tsars were fearful of incorporating the large Jewish population into their society and stated the official reason for the Pale was to protect the "Russian people from economic enslavement that might be imposed on them by the Jews." 

In Russia, Jews had only the rights specifically given to them by the government.  Jews were required to live in the Pale, had limited educational opportunities,  were forbidden to own land, and were restricted to  certain occupations.  They could not live in the capital cities of St Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, or Nikoleav, Sevastopol and Yalta in the Crimea.They could not live in peasant villages.   Most Jews lived in small towns and cities, and worked in  commerce and crafts.   The Jewish population of the Pale grew from one million to five million between 1800 and 1900, resulting in an over concentration of Jews in small number of occupations. The competition between shopkeepers, merchants and semi-skilled craftsmen was intense and led to poverty.  Although many left for Western Europe and the United States, it not enough to counter balance the growing population.

In the 1860's certain educated and skilled Jews were allowed to live inside the Pale, but the numbers were limited.  Many others lived there illegally.  There were government crackdowns and those who were caught were brought back to the Pale in chains with a military escort.  The rules for residency in the Pale were always changing.  After the assassination of of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, thousands of Jews were forced to leave the capital cities.  Pogroms followed and the May Laws put more restrictions on the Jewish people. The pogroms and anti-Jewish laws resulted in immigration to the Western Europe and the United States

Although life in the Pale was difficult, people managed to adapt and adjust. Charity and helping other was an important part of life. Since there were few opportunities for education, Jews started chedars,  schools to give children religious education, and Yeshivas to train rabbis.  They had their own system of rabbinical courts to sort out conflicts. ORT , The Society for the Spread of Productive Work, was founded  to provide job training which would enable men to learn new skills and find different occupations.  Many Jews joined Hasidic  groups, others joined the reform movement, Haskala. Political groups formed including the Bund and socialist parties.  Zionism became important in many towns. A strong framework for the Jewish community was built, which transferred to new Jewish communities in  Western Europe, the United States, South America and other parts of the world.

World War One and the Bolshevik Revolution ended the government  policies that made the Pale possible.

The Shtetl

 

Shtetl mean small town in Yiddish. Most Jews in the Pale lived in small towns and cities because they  were not allowed to live in the major cities of Russia or in the countryside.  Many of them were merchants, shop keepers and tradesmen such as tailors and shoemakers.  Jews were not the only people in the towns,  but there was little mixing of Jews and Russians. Most of the other people in the area were peasant farmers, who lived outside outside the town in the countryside.  Every town had Russian Orthodox churches and several synagogues. 

Berdichiv on the Gnilopyat River. Source:  Yad Vashem

Berdichev, a town 93.1 miles SW of Kiev, was the model for the towns described by Shalom Aleichem in his stories. It was considered to be the typical shtetl. By 1861 it was the largest Jewish community in Russia. It was one of the most important trading and banking centers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and by 1765 it was the largest commercial enter in eastern Poland, as a result had a large Jewish population.  In 1789, four years after the Third Partition of Poland, Jews made up 75% of the town's population and were a major force in its economy. The main street was known as "Gold Street,"  and many of its banking houses were owned by Jews. Many of the estates surrounding the town were owned by Polish noblemen and employed Jews as their agents.  There were over 80 synagogues in town and several Yeshivas.  One of its synagogues was known as the musical synagogue, famous for training cantors.    It was the center for Jewish book publishing in Russia.  Because of this, Berdichiv was known as "The Jerusalem of Volhynia"  (Volhynia is the name of the area where Berdichiv is located).

The musical synagogue of Berdichiv. source: Kehilalinks.jewishgen.org

 In the 1800's the Russian government opened areas in southern Russia for settlement.  Many of the people of Berdichiv decided to move to Odessa where they have more opportunity.  Others decided to leave Russia altogether and move to the United States or to Palestine. 

Map of Berdichev, labels are in Yiddish. 

Sources: Lukin, Benjamin, Berdichiv, YIVO, Enclycopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe.
Rosenthal, Herman, Pale of Settlement, Jewish Encyclopedia.com
Berdichiv, Jewish Virtual Library.org.