Alexander's measures 3 to resolve the peasant issue. Alexander III refused to continue the liberal reforms begun by his father

Slide 2

Attempts to resolve the peasant issue;
Education and Press Policy;
Beginning of labor legislation;
Strengthening the position of the nobility;
National and religious politics.

Slide 3

Personalities

Pobedonostsev Konstantin Petrovich (1827 - 1907), statesman, lawyer. Son of a parish priest.
In 1865, Pobedonostsev was appointed tutor and then teacher of legal history to the heir to the throne, Alexander Alexandrovich (the future Alexander III), and later to Nikolai Alexandrovich (Nicholas II), and had a great influence on Russian politics during the years of their reigns.
After the assassination of Alexander II, when discussing the project of reforms presented by M. T. Loris-Melikov, he sharply criticized the reforms of the 1860-70s. Pobedonostsev is the author of the manifesto of April 29, 1881 “On the Inviolability of Autocracy.”

Slide 5

Attempts to solve the peasant question (1881)

A law was adopted on the mandatory purchase by peasants of their plots;
The temporary obligation of peasants was terminated;
Reduction of redemption payments by 1 ruble.

Slide 6

1882

Measures have been taken to alleviate the land shortage of peasants;
The Peasant Bank was established;
The leasing of state lands was facilitated;

rice. Bunge N.H. Minister of Finance.

Slide 7

1889

The law on resettlement policy was adopted;
Permission for resettlement was given only by the Ministry of Internal Affairs;
The settlers were exempt from taxes and military service for 3 years;
The settlers were provided with small cash benefits.

Slide 8

1893

A law was passed limiting the exit of peasants from the community;
A policy was pursued aimed at preserving and strengthening the community;
A law was adopted limiting the rights of the community to redistribute land and assigning plots to peasants;
A law was passed prohibiting the sale of communal lands.

Slide 9

Education and Press Policy

"Temporary rules on press"
9 publications were closed.
“Voice” by A.A. Kraevsky
“Domestic notes by M.E. Saltykova-Shchedrin

rice. A.A. Kraevsky, engraved portrait of V. F. Timm from the “Russian Art Sheet”

Slide 10

1884, 1887

"New University Charter";
The autonomy of universities has been eliminated;
Circular “On cooks’ children” about the prohibition of admitting “children of coachmen, footmen, laundresses, small shopkeepers and the like” to the gymnasium.

Slide 12

Beginning of labor legislation

1882 A law was passed prohibiting the labor of children under 12 years of age, limiting the working day of children from 12 to 15 years of age to 8 hours
1885 A law was passed prohibiting night work for minors and women.

Slide 13

1886

Laws issued:

On the relationship between entrepreneurs and workers;
On the limitation of fines;
On the ban on payment of labor by barter;
On the introduction of payment books;
On the responsibility of workers for participating in strikes.

Slide 14

Strengthening the position of the nobility

Opening of a noble bank;
Providing preferential loans to support landowners' farms;
Law on zemstvo district commanders;
He abolished positions and local institutions based on non-estate and elective principles: peace mediators, magistrates' courts;
2,200 zemstvo sections were created, headed by zemstvo chiefs.

Slide 15

1890, 1892

The “Regulations on provincial and district zemstvo institutions” were published;
Zemstvo self-government became a grassroots unit of state power;
New city regulations;
The electoral qualifications were increased, and the practice of government interference in the affairs of self-government was consolidated.

Slide 16

National and religious politics

The main task of national and religious policy:

Preserving the unity of the state;
The Chief Prosecutor of the Synod showed particular severity towards sectarians;
Buddhists were persecuted.

Slide 17

1882, 1891, 1887

The attitude towards adherents of Judaism was harsh.
Jews were forbidden to settle outside cities.
They were prohibited from acquiring property in rural areas.
A decree was issued on the eviction of Jews illegally living in Moscow and the Moscow province.
The percentage of Jewish students has been established.

Slide 18

Catholic Poles were denied access to government positions in the Kingdom of Poland and the Western Region.
The Muslim religion and Muslim courts remained intact.

View all slides

Alexander III refused to continue the liberal reforms begun by his father. He took a firm course towards preserving the foundations of autocracy. Reform activities were continued only in the economic field.

Domestic policy:

Alexander III knew that his father, shortly before his death, approved the project of the Minister of Internal Affairs Loris-Melikov. This project could be the beginning of the creation of the foundations of a constitutional monarchy. The new emperor could only formally approve it at a special meeting of senior officials. The meeting took place March 8, 1881. There, supporters of the project constituted the majority, but the emperor unexpectedly supported the minority. As a result, Loris-Melikov's project was rejected.

IN April 1881 year, the tsar addressed the people with a manifesto, in which he outlined the main task of his reign: the preservation of autocratic power.

After this, Loris-Melikov and several other liberal-minded ministers resigned.

However, the king did not immediately move away from the course of reforms. Supporter of reforms N.P. Ignatiev was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs. The moderate liberal N.H. Bunge became the Minister of Finance. The new ministers continued the local government reform begun by Loris-Melikov. To summarize the material received from the zemstvos, a special commission was created, which included senators and representatives of the zemstvos. However, their work was soon stopped.

IN May 1882 Ignatiev was removed from his post. He paid for trying to convince the Tsar to convene a Zemsky Sobor. The era of rapid reforms is over. The era of the fight against sedition had begun.

IN 80s The political system of the Russian Empire began to acquire the features of a police state. Departments for maintaining order and public safety - “secret police” - emerged. Their task was to spy on opponents of the government. The Minister of the Interior and Governors General received the right to declare any region of the country in a “state of exception.” Local authorities could expel undesirable persons without a court decision, transfer court cases to a military court instead of a civilian one, suspend the publication of newspapers and magazines, and close educational institutions. The position of the nobility began to strengthen and an attack on local self-government began.

IN July 1889 A law on zemstvo district chiefs was issued. He abolished elective and non-estate positions and institutions: peace mediators, district institutions for peasant affairs and the magistrate's court. Zemstvo districts were created in the provinces, headed by zemstvo chiefs. Only nobles could hold this position. The zemstvo chief controlled the communal self-government of the peasants, considered minor court cases instead of the magistrate, approved the verdicts of the volost peasant court, resolved land disputes, etc. In fact, in a unique form, the pre-reform power of the landowners returned. The peasants, in fact, were made personally dependent on the zemstvo bosses, who received the right to subject the peasants to punishment, including corporal, without trial.

IN 1890 The “Regulations on provincial and district zemstvo institutions” were published. Zemstvo self-government became part of state administration, a grassroots unit of power. It could hardly be called a self-governing structure. The class principles became stronger when electing zemstvos: the landowning curia became purely noble, the number of vowels from it increased, and the property qualification decreased. But the property qualification for the urban curia sharply increased, and the peasant curia practically lost its independent representation. Thus, the zemstvos actually became nobles.

IN 1892 A new city regulation has been issued. The right of the authorities to interfere in the affairs of city self-government was officially enshrined, the electoral qualification was sharply increased, and city mayors were declared to be in public service. Thus, the essence of city self-government was actually emasculated.

Education Policy.

In the field of education, the authorities began to pursue an unambiguous policy aimed at ensuring that the “lower classes” did not have access to a full-fledged education. This was also one of the ways to combat sedition.

IN 1884 Tuition fees at universities have almost doubled. Any student organizations are prohibited. A new university charter was introduced, according to which universities were deprived of their autonomy.

IN 1887 An order was issued by the Minister of Public Education Delyanov, called the law on “cook’s children.” Its purpose was to make it difficult in every possible way for children from the lower strata of society to enter the gymnasium. Tuition fees increased. Restrictions were introduced on the right to enter gymnasiums. Everything was done to ensure that the children of coachmen, footmen, and cooks, who “should not be taken out of the environment to which they belong,” did not enter them.

The ardent conservative, Chief Prosecutor of the Synod and member of the Committee of Ministers K.P. Pobedonostsev also made his contribution to school affairs. He opposed zemstvo schools, believing that the children of peasants had absolutely no need for the knowledge they received there. Pobedonostsev contributed to the spread of parochial schools, where the only teacher was the parish priest.

IN 1886 At the insistence of Pobedonostsev, the Higher Women's Courses were also closed.

Press Policy.

Harassment of the press began.

IN 1882 A Conference of Four Ministers was formed, with the right to prohibit the publication of any printed organ. Pobedonostsev played the first violin in it.

IN 1883-1885 By decision of the Meeting of Four Ministers, 9 publications were closed. Among them were the popular magazines “Voice” by Kraevsky and “Notes of the Fatherland” by Saltykov-Shchedrin.

IN 1884 For the first time in Russia, libraries were “cleaned”. 133 individual book titles were deemed “inappropriate.”

Attempts to resolve the peasant issue.

IN December 1881 A law on the compulsory purchase of peasant plots was adopted. The law terminated the temporary condition of peasants. The purchase of land by peasants has been made easier. Redemption payments decreased.

The next reform gradually abolished the poll tax.

IN 1882 measures have been taken to alleviate the land shortage of peasants. The Peasant Bank was established, which provided preferential loans for the purchase of land by peasants. The leasing of state lands has been facilitated.

IN 1889 a law on resettlement was adopted. The settlers received significant benefits: they were exempt from taxes and military service for 3 years, and in the next 3 years they paid half the taxes and received small cash benefits.

IN 1893 A law was passed that limited the possibility of peasants leaving the community. Another law narrowed the rights of the community to redistribute land and assigned plots to the peasants. The redistribution period could not be less than 12 years. It was forbidden to sell communal lands.

The beginning of labor legislation.

IN 1882 Labor of children under 12 years of age is prohibited. The working day of children is limited to 8 hours (instead of the previous 12-15 hours). A special factory inspection was introduced to oversee the implementation of the law.

IN 1885 Night work is prohibited for women and minors.

IN 1886 a law was passed on the relationship between entrepreneurs and workers. He limited the amount of fines, and all fine money now went to a special fund, used to pay benefits to the workers themselves. Special pay books were introduced, which stipulated the conditions for hiring a worker. At the same time, strict liability is provided for workers for participating in strikes.

Russia became the first country in the world to control the working conditions of workers.

Economic development in the 80s.XIX century.

Under Alexander III, the government made vigorous efforts aimed at developing domestic industry and capitalist principles in the organization of production.

IN May 1881 The post of Minister of Finance was taken by the prominent economist N.H. Bunge. He saw the government's main task as adopting laws favorable to economic development. He put reform of the tax system first. Bunge advocated weakening the taxation of peasants, achieved a reduction in redemption payments and began the gradual abolition of the poll tax. To compensate for the state's losses from these measures, he introduced indirect taxes and income taxes. Excise taxes were established on vodka, tobacco, sugar, and oil. New taxes were imposed on city houses, trade, and crafts, and customs duties were increased. Measures were taken to develop Russian industry. An increase in customs duties was one of these measures. They not only brought income to the state treasury. Bunge also perceived them as a measure protecting domestic industry from foreign competition. Duties raised the price of foreign goods, this reduced their competitiveness and had a beneficial effect on the development of domestic production.

IN 1887 Bunge resigned and his chair was taken by Professor I.A. Vyshnegradsky. He considered his main task to be a rapid improvement in the state of monetary circulation in the country. To this end, the Ministry of Finance accumulated large reserves of money and then took a large part in transactions on foreign exchanges. As a result, the purchasing power of the ruble increased.

The government continued the policy of increasing customs duties.

IN 1891 a new customs tariff was established. Now, increased taxes have also been imposed on imported engineering products, and not just raw materials, as was the case before.

Vyshnegradsky did a lot to attract foreign capital to the country. This was facilitated, among other things, by high customs duties: foreign companies opened their plants and factories in Russia so that their goods would be competitive in price. As a result, new industries, new jobs and new sources of replenishment of the state budget appeared.

IN 1892 S.Yu. Witte was appointed Minister of Finance. He continued the economic policies of his predecessors. Witte developed an economic program that included:

Carrying out a strict tax policy, increasing indirect taxes, introducing a state monopoly on the production and sale of vodka;

Further increase in customs duties to protect the developing Russian industry from foreign competition;

Currency reform to strengthen the ruble;

Widespread attraction of foreign capital to the country.

The program, approved by Alexander III, was successfully implemented even after his death.

Foreign policy.

The main tasks of Russian foreign policy in the 80-90s:

Strengthening influence in the Balkans;

Good neighborly relations with all countries;

Search for allies;

Establishment of peace and borders in the south of Central Asia;

Consolidation of Russia in new territories of the Far East.

Balkan direction.

After the Berlin Congress, the role of Germany and Austria-Hungary in the Balkans increased. At the same time, Russia's influence in this region was undermined.

At first, everything worked out well for Russia. In St. Petersburg, a constitution was developed for Bulgaria, which had freed itself from the Turkish yoke. The head of Bulgaria, Prince Alexander Battenberg, appointed L.N. Sobolev as head of the government, the Russian military occupied important ministerial posts, and created a modern army from the Bulgarian people's militia, the strongest in the Balkans. But after the coup carried out by Prince Alexander, contradictions began to arise between Russia and Bulgaria. Alexander III demanded that the constitution be restored. This, as well as the excessive and not entirely skillful interference of Russian officials in the internal affairs of the country, made the prince an irreconcilable enemy of Russia. Then Russia did not support the uprising of the Bulgarians in Eastern Rumelia and their desire to annex the province, subordinate to Turkey, to Bulgaria. These actions were not coordinated with the Russian government, which angered Alexander III. The Emperor demanded that the decisions of the Berlin Congress be strictly observed. This position of Russia caused a wide wave of anti-Russian sentiment in the Balkans. In 1886, diplomatic relations between Russia and Bulgaria were severed. Russia's influence in Serbia and Romania has also weakened.

Search for allies.

IN 1887 Relations between Germany and France were strained to the limit. War seemed inevitable. But Alexander III, using family ties, kept the German emperor from attacking France. This angered German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who introduced harsh economic sanctions against Russia: he banned the provision of loans and increased import duties on Russian goods to Germany. After this, a rapprochement between Russia and France began, which provided Russia with large loans.

IN 1891 France and Russia agreed on mutual assistance and cooperation in the event of a military threat to one of the parties.

IN 1892 A military convention was signed between Russia and France. A Russian-French alliance was created, which became a counterweight to the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.

Thanks to these actions of the Russian government, it was possible to avoid war between Russia and Austria-Hungary and Germany and France. Peace established itself in Europe for a long period.

Asian direction.

IN 1882 Russian troops took Ashgabat. The semi-nomadic Turkmen tribes were conquered. The Transcaspian region was formed.

IN 1895 The border between Russia and Afghanistan is finally established. This was the end of the expansion of the borders of the Russian Empire in Central Asia.

Far Eastern direction.

The isolation of this region from the center and the insecurity of Russia's maritime borders in the Far East led to the fact that American and Japanese industrialists rapaciously plundered the natural resources of the region. A clash of interests between Russia and Japan was inevitable. With the help of Germany, a strong army was created in Japan, many times larger than the Russian troops in the Far East. Japan began to intensively prepare for war with Russia. Russia needed to take measures to protect itself from the threat from the East. Economic and military reasons forced the Russian government to begin construction of the Great Siberian Road - the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Alexander III and his time Tolmachev Evgeniy Petrovich

Agrarian-peasant question

Agrarian-peasant question

One of the most difficult and formidable issues that Alexander III faced already in the first months of his reign was the agrarian one. The Russian public, and especially the press, were looking for answers to numerous problems associated with the “organization of the peasants.” There were admissions in the publications that in a number of provinces the peasants received a smaller allotment than under serfdom. It was noted that redemption payments, as a rule, significantly exceed the market value of the land. They talked about the ruin of the village, the proletarianization of the peasant masses, before which the community was powerless (102, p. 341).

With the support of the tsar, the Minister of Finance N. X. Bunge, in alliance with the Minister of Internal Affairs N. P. Ignatiev and the Minister of State Property M. N. Ostrovsky, took a number of measures prepared under M. T. Loris-Melikov to “raise the shaky well-being peasants."

Among them, we must first of all mention two decrees adopted on December 28, 1881: 1) “On the redemption of plots by peasants still in obligatory relations with the landowners in the provinces consisting of Great Russian and Little Russian local positions on February 19, 1861” (220, vol. 1, No. 577) and 2) “On reducing redemption payments...” (220, vol. 1, No. 576).

To understand the meaning of the first law, it should be recalled that by 1880, in 29 Great Russian and 3 Little Russian provinces, which were covered by the indicated local provisions on the land structure of former landowner peasants, more than 85% of the peasants were already transferred to ransom, but the remaining 15% were still in a temporary position and paid rent to their landowners. According to the Regulations of February 19, 1861, after 20 years, i.e., February 1881, there was to be a re-obrok - a change in the size of the quitrent paid by the peasants. But in the conditions of the revolutionary situation at the turn of the 70-80s. XIX century the government made some concessions to the peasants. It was decided to transfer all temporarily liable peasants to compulsory redemption (in this case, the terms of the redemption were used that were applied when carrying out the redemption at the unilateral request of the landowner in accordance with the law, i.e., the government paid the landowners only 4/5 of the redemption amount, which it then collected within 49 subsequent years from the peasants.Another concession was the addition of 20 million rubles of arrears accumulated on redemption payments and a reduction in the size of the redemption payments themselves (see the following document).

According to the second decree, in 29 Great Russian provinces the reduction was established based on the size of the annual redemption amount per plot, i.e. if the average per capita plot for these provinces was 3.3 dessiatines. the peasant paid 8 rubles a year, then from 1881 7 rubles were already required from him. In three Little Russian provinces, where the allotment was provided not per male soul, but per peasant household, the annual amount of redemption payments decreased by 16%. If in 1880 the total amount of redemption payments for the year was 44 million rubles, then according to the law on December 28, 1882 it should have been 32 million rubles, i.e. 27.2% less.

In addition to the above two laws, measures to improve well-being also include the rules developed, although not published publicly, on the resettlement of peasants to empty lands on July 10, 1881, which, however, turned out to be quite impractical, “due to the procedure for resolving resettlement established by them.”

However, since the beginning of the 80s. The spontaneous migration movement from the densely populated land-poor provinces of European Russia to Siberia, the Far East, Central Asia, and the North Caucasus intensified. In its resettlement policy, the tsarist government was guided by the interests of the landowners and the bourgeoisie. The official of the Ministry of State Property dealing with the problems of the village, K. F. Golovin, “paralyzed and blind, carried in his arms like a sack,” did not attach importance to peasant resettlement, and the publicist from the large landowners P. A. Dementyev (Tverskoy), “treated it’s generally negative.” Only after the famine of 1891-92. this measure, “proposed in the liberal and populist press, began to be seriously discussed in the conservative press” (102, p. 347).

On the initiative of Alexander III, on May 18, 1882, the Peasant Land Bank was established (began functioning in 1883). The bank issued loans for the purchase of land to both individual householders and rural societies and partnerships. Through him in 1883-1900. 5 million dessiatines of land were sold to peasants in 45 provinces of European Russia. From the very beginning, the idea of creating the Peasant Bank was treated as a dubious event by K. P. Pobedonostsev, Count P. A. Shuvalov, K. F. Golovin and others. It is not surprising that in the tenth year of the Peasant Bank, the Russian Review called it a harmful institution , generated by the “anti-landowner current in society” (102, p. 346).

It is important to emphasize that with the accession of Alexander III to the throne, the peasants once again revived their hopes for a quick redistribution of land, the addition of taxes and arrears. On March 27, 1881, the Minister of Internal Affairs M. T. Loris-Melikov sent out a secret circular to the governors, ordering them to act extremely carefully “in taking measures to calm minds” and to report “on each individual case” of peasant rumors. Count N.P. Ignatiev, who soon replaced him in this post, sent out a new secret circular on June 3, 1881, recommending “destroying the unrealistic hopes and expectations of the peasants.” But rumors continued to spread. Alexander III, during his coronation on May 21, 1883, made a speech to the 630 volost elders gathered for the coronation, refuting peasant hopes for the redistribution of land. “Follow the advice and guidance of your leaders of the nobility,” said the crown bearer, “and do not believe the absurd and absurd rumors and rumors about the redistribution of land, free cuts and the like. These rumors are spread by your enemies. All property, just like yours, must be inviolable.” The speech of Alexander III was published in the Government Gazette on May 24, 1883.

In 1883, N. X. Bunge submitted to the State Council a proposal for the gradual abolition of the poll tax, starting in 1884. The Minister of Finance planned to compensate for the shortfall in the budget due to the abolition of the poll tax by introducing other taxes levied on various incomes. The per capita tax on tax-paying estates, introduced by Peter I, was finally abolished by law on May 18, 1886 from January 1, 1887 (in Siberia since 1899). At the same time, its abolition was accompanied by a 45% increase in taxes from state peasants by transferring them to ransom starting in 1886, as well as an increase in direct taxes from the entire population by 1/3 and indirect taxes by half.

In the 80s - early 90s. The government's attention was drawn to the ever-increasing number of peasant family divisions. According to reports from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in the first two post-reform decades, an average of 116 thousand family divisions occurred annually, and in the early 80s. their average annual number increased to 150 thousand. As a result, peasant plots gradually became smaller. The insightful D. A. Tolstoy saw in these sections “a great evil leading to the impoverishment of the population.”

Adopted on March 18, 1886, the law was supposed to become a serious barrier to family divisions and the “spirit of self-will and licentiousness” generated by them, in official terminology. Strengthening the old principles of “patriarchy,” the law saw in the peasant family a working unit, “a union of relatives subordinate to the leadership of the senior member and working for the common benefit.” If earlier for division the consent of the majority of the village assembly was sufficient, now the majority was increased to 2/3 and the consent to division of the parent or elder in the family (bolshak) became the main one.

Life has shown that this law could neither suspend nor limit family divisions, which continued to increase, with more than 9/10 divisions occurring arbitrarily, without the sanction of the community and local authorities.

One of the important problems in the agrarian-peasant policy of ruling Russia remained the peasant land community. There was no unanimity in views on the community among government officials and in the press. Some of them explained the inertia and low level of agriculture by communal remnants - mutual responsibility, land redistribution, excessive regulation that fetters the initiative of farmers. Many understood that communal orders were a serious obstacle to the growth of rural labor productivity. Others viewed the community as an important fiscal and police instrument in the countryside, the destruction of which would weaken the apparatus of state power. Already in 1883, D. A. Tolstoy raised the issue of preventing the redistribution of land in peasant communities. However, this, like a number of other issues raised by him, had to be brought to the end by his successor I. N. Durnovo. The new Minister of the Interior was a supporter of the conservation of communal land use. Durnovo took a number of measures aimed at strengthening the peasant community as a bulwark against the “ulcer of the proletariat.” The law of June 8, 1893 limited the right of peasants to land redistribution, which from now on was allowed to be carried out no more often than every 12 years, and with the consent of at least 2/3 of the householders, the zemstvo chief and the district congress. Private land redistributions were prohibited. Land redistributions were placed under the control of zemstvo chiefs. The Law of December 14, 1893 “On Certain Measures to Prevent the Alienation of Peasant Allotment Lands” prohibited the mortgaging of peasant allotment lands and limited the leasing and sale of allotments only within one’s own community. The same law abolished Article 165 “Regulations on Redemption”, according to which a peasant could redeem his plot ahead of schedule and separate from the community. Early redemption of the allotment was permitted only with the consent of 2/3 of the assembly. Life has shown that gatherings usually did not give such permission.

All of the above legal acts were only separate, disparate links of conservative policy in the field of legislation on peasants. At the end of the reign of Alexander III, the serf owners were ready to raise the question of a general revision of all peasant legislation.

A certain contribution to agrarian-peasant policy was made by the Minister of State Property (May 1881 - January 1893) M. N. Ostrovsky and the Minister of Agriculture and State Property (January 1894 - May 1905) A. S. Ermolov. Ostrovsky tried to streamline quitrent articles and establish a procedure for renting them out that would be beneficial for the treasury and the national economy. Under him, a law on forest protection was adopted in 1888, and his concerns about agricultural education were also noticeable. According to the observation of S. Yu. Witte, Ostrovsky “... was an intelligent, educated, cultural person in the Russian sense, but not in the foreign sense, not in the foreign sense. He had no idea about agriculture (before getting this position, he was a friend of the state controller, he knew state control very well). M. N. Ostrovsky had some influence on Emperor Alexander III due to his intelligence or, more accurately, due to his common sense, certainty and political strength of character. His direction was very conservative” (84, vol. 1, p. 307). Ostrovsky was a supporter of the conservative line of K. P. Pobedonostsev and Count D. A. Tolstoy, and took an active part in the development and implementation of government policies of 1880-90.

A. S. Ermolov showed concern for the development of agricultural education, the maintenance of handicraft industry, the improvement of state-owned mineral waters, and the cultivation of state-owned plots on the Black Sea coast of Crimea. He contributed to the establishment of experimental stations and numerous exhibitions. He sought a reduction in railway tariffs for the transportation of agricultural products, the development of an agricultural credit system, and the provision of loans for land reclamation and irrigation.

According to Witte, “Al. Serg. Ermolov is a wonderful person, very educated, smart, but a man without character; he has much more ability to write than to do. Therefore, Ermolov, as the Minister of Agriculture, was very weak... He could not in any way develop a widespread program of assistance to all Russian landowners and mainly peasants... He is a dear... person, but a person who actually cannot create anything, so I nicknamed him “ladybug”, and persons who treat A. S. Ermolov unfavorably call him a “dung beetle”... Ermolov is the most honest and noble man, but the type of educated, liberal and weak-willed official, from whose every note flows the liberal honey that has been so well prepared in recent decades in Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum" (ibid., pp. 342-343).

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2. Peasant question 2.1. Peasant movement. The unresolved agrarian question led at the beginning of the 20th century. to the growth of peasant uprisings. If in the last 5 years of the 19th century. There were less than 100 unrest in the village, then in the first 4 years of the 20th century. 670 disturbances were recorded, including mass ones. In the spring

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Economy and the peasant question Russia lagged significantly behind Western European countries in modernization and industrial development. In England, the industrial revolution began in the 60-70s of the 18th century, when the Arkwright spinning machine and White's steam engine were invented. In Russia

author Vorobiev M N

5. The peasant question And a few more words about the peasant question. On February 20, 1804, “Rules for the peasants of the Livonia province” were given. According to these rules: it was forbidden to sell and mortgage peasants without land; peasants were granted personal civil rights,

From the book Russian History. Part II author Vorobiev M N

8. The Peasant Question The second question that faced Emperor Nicholas: the peasant question. Nicholas was thinking about the “peasant question,” as he called it: ten committees worked successively in this direction. One of the highest ranking

From the book Russian History. Part II author Vorobiev M N

2. The Peasant Question The second reform was an attempt to deal with serfdom. Everyone here talks about Nicholas as a serf owner, but this is absolutely not true. Serfdom, which originated in the 15th century, received its classical expression in the 17th century; in the 18th century

Domestic policy:

Alexander III knew that his father, shortly before his death, approved the project of the Minister of Internal Affairs Loris-Melikov. This project could be the beginning of the creation of the foundations of a constitutional monarchy. The new emperor could only formally approve it at a special meeting of senior officials. The meeting took place on March 8, 1881. There, supporters of the project constituted the majority, but the emperor unexpectedly supported the minority. As a result, Loris-Melikov's project was rejected.

In April 1881, the tsar addressed the people with a manifesto, in which he outlined the main task of his reign: the preservation of autocratic power.

After this, Loris-Melikov and several other liberal-minded ministers resigned.

In May 1882, Ignatiev was removed from his post. He paid for trying to convince the Tsar to convene a Zemsky Sobor. The era of rapid reforms is over. The era of the fight against sedition had begun.

In the 80s, the political system of the Russian Empire began to acquire the features of a police state. Departments for maintaining order and public safety - “secret police” - emerged. Their task was to spy on opponents of the government. The Minister of the Interior and Governors General received the right to declare any region of the country in a “state of exception.” Local authorities could expel undesirable persons without a court decision, transfer court cases to a military court instead of a civilian one, suspend the publication of newspapers and magazines, and close educational institutions. The position of the nobility began to strengthen and an attack on local self-government began.

In July 1889, a law on zemstvo district commanders was issued. He abolished elective and non-estate positions and institutions: peace mediators, district institutions for peasant affairs and the magistrate's court. Zemstvo districts were created in the provinces, headed by zemstvo chiefs. Only nobles could hold this position. The zemstvo chief controlled the communal self-government of the peasants, considered minor court cases instead of the magistrate, approved the verdicts of the volost peasant court, resolved land disputes, etc. In fact, in a unique form, the pre-reform power of the landowners returned. The peasants, in fact, were made personally dependent on the zemstvo bosses, who received the right to subject the peasants to punishment, including corporal, without trial.

In 1890, the “Regulations on provincial and district zemstvo institutions” were published. Zemstvo self-government became part of state administration, a grassroots unit of power. It could hardly be called a self-governing structure. The class principles became stronger when electing zemstvos: the landowning curia became purely noble, the number of vowels from it increased, and the property qualification decreased. But the property qualification for the urban curia sharply increased, and the peasant curia practically lost its independent representation. Thus, the zemstvos actually became nobles.

In 1892, a new city regulation was issued. The right of the authorities to interfere in the affairs of city self-government was officially enshrined, the electoral qualification was sharply increased, and city mayors were declared to be in public service. Thus, the essence of city self-government was actually emasculated.