Reasons for Emancipation of the serfs (2)
- Created by: MonsurAli
- Created on: 01-06-17 14:40
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- Reasons for emancipation of the serfs
- Background of emancipation
- Serfdom: there was little incentive to produce due to paying higher rents with higher output. About 50/50 state to privately owned serfs.
- Nicholas I said serfdom was 'evil parapet to all'. He had 10 committees to discuss the issue. Alexander II was quiet about it initially but soon in 1858 gave speeches about it.
- Nobles helped form a structured plan: portrayed as a gesture from the nobility (their power never corroded from emancipation).
- Land owners accepted it - but wanted compensation. They believed it would cause revolts, but Alex II opposed this by tightening censorship.
- Moral
- Westernisers (to be like the west), Slavophiles (keep peasant society but modernise), and Nihilists (abolish any tradition and autocracy) all wanted emancipation.
- Alex II was had personal connections due to his uncle's death; and he was patriotic, wanting his country to excel
- Should not treat people like animals.
- Political
- Nobles were in debts due to falling incomes for serfs; this forced them to take out mortgages.
- Younger nobles criticised the regime and were demotivaed
- ABOLISH SERFDOM FROM ABOVE BEFORE IT FORCES ITSELF FROM BELOW.
- Economic
- Serfs could travel to find jobs.
- Greater incentive to produce due to profits not being taken by masters.
- Create a grain surplus which can be exported to create money for the state. This creates investment in Russian industry, creating greater prosperity.
- To reverse the Crimean War backwardness
- Background of emancipation
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