Emancipation Edict, 1861

Emancipation Edict, 1861

In 1855-59, Alexander II set off on a tour of the countryside making speeches to nobles to gain support for emancipation of the serfs. The process was complex, involving thousands of officials and committees. Main issues debated were how much land to give the emancipated serfs, and who would pay for the emancipation- how much would it cost? The basic aim of emancipation was to satisfy serfs and landowners alike.

Serfs

Supposedly, serfs would be able to: Marry freely Travel freely Vote freely Trade freely however, this was not what happened

Serfs 2

They had to buy their land through redemption payments, which many couldn't afford, and took up to 49 years to pay off. Peasants weren't allowed to travel until they had paid their redemption payments, and even after this, ad to get permisiion from the Mir to leave. There was a 2 year period of 'temporary obligation' before freedom was granted, during which the land allocations were worked out. Even by 1881, 15% of serfs remained 'temporarily obligated' to their landlords as they could not afford to start their redemption payments. Peasants had less land than before- some received land that did not produce much food, so they could not eat or pay redemption payments. Landowners were given more than market values for the land, so peasants paying  for the land had to pay more than it was worth. The landowners would often keep the best part of the land for themselves (they kept up to 2/3 of their land).