Theme:
* the emancipation of the serfs

A. What was new about Alexander II?

* Alexander (b. 1818) became a new Tsar after the death of his father, Nicholas I, in February 1855. The accession to the throne coincided with Russia's defeat in the Crimean War.

"The Tsar is the best of men. He would be a wonderful sovereign in a well-organised country and in the time of peace.- - But he lacks the temperament of a reformer. - - They [the Tsar and the Empress] are too kind, too pure, to understand people and to rule them. They do not have the energy or the impulse to take a charge of events and direct them as they see fit; they lack passion. - - Without realising it himself, he has become involved in a struggle with powerful forces and dreadful elements he does not understand.- - They [the Tsar and the Empress] do not know where they are going." Diary entries written by A.F. Tiucheva in January 1856. She was one of the ladies in waiting at the royal court.

TASK 1:
1.1. According to the source, what were new Tsar's limitations as a ruler?
1.2. Evaluate the value of Tiucheva's diary as an evidence of Alexander's lacks as a reformator.
1.3. Read pages 20-25/ 24-29 on your textbook. Do you find facts supporting Tiucheva's attitudes towards Alexander's person and capabilities as a reformator?
1.4. Activity on page 25/ 29 (just underline).

B. The emancipation of the serfs

B1. Backround
- about 90% of the total population were serfs
- half of the population were privately owned serfs
> had to pay their masters (landlords) with labour (usually for 3 days a week) or in cash or goods (sometimes all kind of payments)
- about a third of the population were state serfs
> lived on estates owned by the state, church or Tsar
> in more fertile areas serfs paid with labour; in less fertile northern regions a fixed cash sum was paid to state officials
- serfs were free to farm the land given to their own use
- there were also household serfs who had no land and were not paid a money wage but were given an accommodation. They perform domestic duties for their masters as butlers, cooks, coach-drivers, gardeners etc.
- the village life was controlled by the serfs
> the village community/ farmstead was called obshchina ('commune') or mir ('world')

"The facts here described constitute the basis of the Russian communal system one of the most remarkable and interesting political institutions in existence and one that undeniable possesses great advantages for the social condition of the country. The Russian communes show an organic coherence and compact social strength that can be found nowhere else and yield the incalculable advantage that no proletariat can be formed so long as they exist with their present structure. A man may lose or squander all he possesses but his children do not inherit poverty. They still retain their claim upon the land by a right derived not from him but from their birth as members of the commune. On the other hand it must be admitted that this fundamental basis of the communal system the equal division of the land is not favourable to the progress of agriculture which under this system could for a long time remain at a low level." By German scientist August von Haxthausen who travelled in Russia in 1843.

TASK 2:
2.1. To what extent did serfs benefit from the commune?
2.2. Compare Haxthausen's aspects with viewpoint given by a cartoon drawn by Gustave Dore, a French artist, in 1854 (on page 26/ 30.) How do you explain the contradiction between the sources?
2.3. Consider, why the existing system was "not favourable to the progress of agriculture".

B2. Arguments for emancipation
TASK 3: Read pages 27-29/ 32-33 in detail and create a spider diagram to show the various factors that led Alexander emancipate the serfs.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationadvice/9839678/Spider-diagrams-how-and-why-they-work.html

B3. How emancipation was carried out
- in January 1857 Alexander II appointed a secret committee to examine the issue of emancipation; the chairman of the committee was conservative anti-emancipationist Prince Orlov
- a committee made little progress < mainly composed of land-owning nobles and other conservatives who opposed emancipation
> in August Alexander brought his pro-emancipationist brother Constantine to join the committee
> Tsar's instructions to the Committee:
a) land owners should retain ownership of the whole of their land
b) emancipated serfs should be protected in their right to use part of the land
c) land owners should receive compensation only for such land as they granted to the peasants or also for the sacriface of their rights over the persons of the serfs
- in November 1857 the 'Nasimov rescript': commitment to give emancipated serfs their own land
> the landlords and other conservatives were concerned about the security of the state if the reform would be carried out by giving serfs complete freedom and ownwership of the land
> Alexander said that he understood the concerns of the landowners' but wanted to get things move forward (Source B on page 31/ 2.2. on page 37: Alexander II's declaration in 1860)
- Alexander appointed a new commission under liberal reformist Nikolai Milyutin
> The Emancipation Edict was proclaimed on 19 February 1861 and next month it became a law

TASK 4:
4.1. Do you find any inconsistency in decisions made by the Tsar?
4.2. Activity related to the Source C on page 33/ 2.3. on page 39.
Then read pages 33-35/ 38-41 >
4.3. Give reasons for the disappoinment of the serfs.
4.4. Is it fair to state that after emancipation the serfs were 'free peasants'?

The Emancipation Manifesto by Alexander II, 19 Febr 1861
http://academic.shu.edu/russianhistory/index.php/Alexander_II,_Emancipation_Manifesto,_1861

B4. The long-term and short-term impact of emancipation
TASK 5: Activity on page 38/ 44.