In the second half of the 19th century, it became clear that the preservation of the power and political influence of the Russian Empire would be impossible without the reform and transformation of the political system. Among the economic prerequisites, the crisis of the landlord economy, the poverty of the peasants and the low purchasing power of the population, held back development of the domestic market. Serfdom held back development of the wage labor market and created a shortage of labor for industry. Therefore, the reign of Alexander II became a period of fundamental transformation of Russian society.
Abolition of serfdom
In February 1861, Emperor Alexander II signed the Emancipation reform of 1861 and the Manifesto. Both documents were distributed in 45 provinces. The development of small business was restrained by the existence of serfdom. Thus, new opportunities for entrepreneurs were opened only after the abolition of serfdom in 1861. The power of the landowners over the peasants was abolished, and the peasants received personal freedom. The former serf became a legal entity that had the right to own property, engage in trade and crafts, marry without the consent of the landowner, initiate legal claims and participate in elections to local governments. The peasants received the estate and the allotment for permanent use, which they could not get rid of earlier than 9 years later. Land left to the peasants remained the legal property of the landowner until the conclusion of the redemption transaction. Prior to its conclusion, the peasants were considered temporarily liable and differed from the serfdom in the more precise fixing of peasant duties by law. The size of the allotment and the volume of duties were fixed by the charter, for the preparation of which was given 2 years. That is why the implementation of the reform began in 1863.
Later, the originally proposed norms were significantly reduced. If the pre-reform allotment was less than the established one, then cutting was provided at the lower rate, and if more, then the surplus was cut off in favor of the landowner. These lands are called segments. Especially, a lot of land was cut off from peasants in the Central Black Earth Region. On average, peasants received 3.3 tithes per male soul, which did not provide them with a living wage. Women were not given land. Another of the injustices of the new land system was that the landowner left most of the grazing land and forests that serfs formerly use freely. Now they had to be rented for a fee, which constantly created the basis for clashes between peasants and landowners.
Peasants bought the estate and allotment. The repurchase amount in the Non-Chernozem zone included capitalization of the quitrent. The cost of land purchased by peasants included the price of serf souls. In other words, the bank must be paid such an amount that the annual 6% of it makes an income equal to the rent. Redemption payments included not only the market value of the land received, but also in hidden form the value of the identity of the peasant. The role of the intermediary banker in carrying out the redemption operation was assumed by the government.
The peasants paid the landowner 20% of the redemption amount. The remaining 80% of the cost of land was paid for by the state. The state provided the peasant with a redemption loan, thus giving him money on credit. The peasants had to pay off installment debt for 49 years in the form of "redemption payments" at the rate of 6% per annum of the redemption amount. In general, the peasants bought not only land, but also the value of serf labor, which enabled the state to cash in on the redemption operation.
Unlike Austria and Prussia, the Russian government did not invest a single ruble in agrarian reform, but managed to make the redemption operation beneficial to the state. The debts of the landowners were transferred to the shoulders of the peasants. They financed the development of the noble economy, helping it grow into capitalism and switch to bourgeois rails. The more the landowner economy was capitalized, the less the peasant had the opportunity to become a farmer. Russian agrarian capitalism was competitive in the world market, remaining backward. Feudal remnants were present, as this guaranteed cheapness and ease of management.
Growth of capitalism
The problem of the serf economy was that in agriculture and industry there were neither conditions for introducing free labor, nor free workers themselves, because the country produced a limited volume of production, and society constantly needed to increase labor in agriculture (in labor serfs).