The Emancipation edict of March 3, 1861

The law that emancipated the serfs was more than 400 pages long. Alexander’s edict, issued on March 3, 1861, summarized that lengthy legal document for the general population.

Tensions were running high. The government feared that the peasants would react angrily to an emancipation that forced them to pay for the land they believed was theirs as recompense for hundreds of years of unpaid labor, an article of deep faith summed up by a saying the serfs used to describe their relationship to their masters: “We are yours, but the land is ours.” Another potential complaint concerned limits on personal freedom. Peasants were free of their landlords but still subject to the authority of their communes. They could not leave their localities unless the commune granted them a passport, a disability that set them apart from the rest of Russia’s population.

The government’s fears were generally exaggerated. Still, while there was no violent reaction remotely comparable to the great upheavals of the past, official records list more than 1,100 disturbances during 1861 and about 400 annually during the following two years.

The following is a small selection of the Emancipation Edict, which was read in churches and publicized in other ways to what was an often uncomprehending peasant audience:

By the Grace of God, We, Alexander II, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, Tsar of Poland, Grand Duke of Finland...

Declare to all Our loyal subjects....

Having called upon God for help, We decided to put this into effect.

By virtue of the aforesaid new regulations the serfs will in due time receive the full rights of free rural inhabitants.

The landowners, preserving the right to ownership of all land belonging to them, allot to the peasants in perpetuity, in return for fixed obligations, the homesteads on which they are settled and, in addition, for the security of their daily lives and the fulfillment of their obligations to the Government, a definite amount of field and other lands, as defined in “Regulations.” In return for the use of the land allotments, the peasants, on their part, are duty bound to discharge for the benefit of the landowners the obligations defined in the “Regulations.”...

In addition, they are given the right to redeem the homesteads on which they are settled, and by agreement with the landowners they can acquire ownership of the field and other lands allotted to them in perpetuity. By acquiring ownership of a definite amount of land, the peasants will be freed from obligations to the landowners on the land they have purchased and will acquire the definitive status of free peasant proprietors....

And now we hopefully anticipate that the serfs for whom a new future has been opened up will comprehend and accept with gratitude the important sacrifice made by the nobility for the improvement of their daily lives....

And now, make the sign of the cross, O Orthodox people, and call upon God to bless your free labor, which is the guarantee of your domestic well-being and common good....[2, 269]